Sunday, 30 July 2017

Week 2 (31 July-4 Aug)

Welcome to Week 2 :)

Spelling
A slight change of plans - our first lot of spelling words will be coming home on Monday this week. We decided not to send them on Friday since we were out of the classroom and wanted to talk the children through the process before sending them home.

Please send notebooks back to school on Thursday for testing.

Reading Returns Roster
We would love some volunteers to help shelve our class reading books. If you can spare a few minutes - please add your name to a week on the roster outside Kohara. This can be done on any day Tuesday to Friday to suit you. Thanks in anticipation!

Classroom Release Time
Room 18 have PE with Mr Lukes on Tuesday morning 9-10.30am.

Measurement
Some of our maths groups have been exploring measurement. We are learning that you can use non standard measures (hand spans, paces, feet, cubes, ice block sticks etc) to measure things as well as standard measures like centimetres and metres using rulers, tape measures etc.

You might like to explore measuring things around your home. What kind of measures can you find to measure length? We would love to see any photos of the children measuring at home. Feel free to email them to us on tracy.campbell@waimairi.school.nz or monique.osullivan@waimairi.school.nz

Parent Help
Thank you to those who have returned parent help notices (sent home last week). We will send a confirmation notice out this week to those involved. A reminder that police vetting must be done before you start helping - Sandra or Jackie at the office will talk you through how this is done.
Remember to grab a volunteer green lanyard from the office on your way to parent help.
Thanks so much for helping - not only do the children love seeing you, but we both really appreciate the help as well.

PTA Fundraiser - Foodwrap
A notice went home last Thursday to the oldest in the family for our foodwrap fundraiser. A great time to stock up on tin foil, gladwrap or baking paper. These rolls are great and last for ages. Orders close on the 9 August so start asking your friends and family for their orders!

The next PTA meeting is on Tuesday August 15th at 7pm in the school library for anyone who is keen to come along and join our friendly group or just find out more about what we do. You are welcome to pop in for a visit without committing to joining.

Recorder Lessons
For any children who are learning recorder at school, private lessons are now being held on a Monday.

Library day - Friday

Kapa Haka - Tuesday

Lunchtime Clubs
French Club - Monday 12.30pm with lunch in He Tangata
Craft Club - Tuesday 12.45pm in Room 21

Have a great week :)

Friday, 28 July 2017

Appointments in School Time

Please remember to sign your child out at the office if you are taking your child to an appointment during the school day. You will also need to sign them back in when they return.

Headlice

Headlice is currently doing the rounds at school. Please check children's hair :)

Tuesday, 25 July 2017

Awatea's Stress Ball

Awatea decided to make a stress ball because being in Kohara is so stressful!!!!!

No, she really decided to make it because she lost her last one from when Isaac was teaching Kohara how to make them. If you want to make one you would need 2 balloons and some rice. A funnel is also helpful for pouring the rice into the balloon.


Statistics with Addison and Gemma

Addison and Gemma had a wonderful time sorting and classifying our animals into groups. Then they made a chart of how many animals were in each group. Have a look at their results - can you find out which animal group had the most? Which group had the least? Were there any groups that had the same amount?



Mufti Day this Thursday 27 July

This Thursday 27 July is mufti day. Please bring a donated item (80s/90s themed) for use at The Big Event which is the next big PTA fundraiser. Ideas include pop posters, tapes, badges, retro items! If you don't have anything suitable, then a donation of a can for the City Mission would be appreciated.

It is also Drift Bike Day on Thursday - children may bring a drift trike to use at break times if they wish. Helmets are compulsory.

Sunday, 23 July 2017

Term 3 Week 1 (24-28 July)

Welcome back to Term 3. We hope you have all had a restful holiday and enjoyed some family time. We are looking forward to another busy term. This term is our Arts term so watch out around the school for plenty of dance, drama and other performing arts.

Classroom Release
On Thursday Room 19 have PE with Mr Lukes from 9-10.30am.

Staffing
On Friday Mrs O and Mrs Campbell will both be released to work with Pam Hook as part of our Mathematics Inquiry group.

Parent Help
A notice will be coming home later in the week with new times and days for those wanting to parent help this term. Parent help will start from Week 2.
A huge thank you to all those who helped last term - the children really look forward to you coming in each week and we certainly appreciate all your help.

Reading
This week will be a bit of a mixture. Due to the large number of children away at the end of term we are going to share our plays this week for reading. If your child does not have a reading book to bring home, please enjoy reading some old favourites from home, or some library books instead. Don't forget we also have a number of great literacy games linked on our blog that you can enjoy together.

Warm Weather Gear
Please remember to pack a warm jacket each day in case of emergencies and/or wet weather. We encourage the children to keep these hung up under their bags on the bottom hook but please help remind them to take them home each night as many were left behind last term and we would hate for them to go missing overnight.

There was also a pair of black gumboots left in class for most of last term. None of the children have claimed them - if you are missing some please let us know!

Circle Time
Last term we began running a weekly circle time in class. This is a great opportunity to come together, make connections with each other and share things about ourselves as well as playing some cooperative games. We have also been exploring a range of different feelings and it has been great to see the children opening up and sharing their wonderful ideas. Circle time is also a good time to explore issues that are bothering the children and work out possible solutions. We also have a puppet Tom who helps us role play different situations. Usually we run circle time at the end of the day on a Friday.

Could we please ask that parents refrain from popping in while this is underway as we are really working on getting the children to open up and for some children the extra attention is a bit overwhelming. If you see us all sitting on chairs on a big circle - then you'll know we are doing circle time. Sometimes we slot it in on other days if we have time as the children really love it and we are seeing some positive problem solving and resilience building up within the children already. But please feel free to ask your child about circle time - they'll definitely have their favourite parts to share with you!

Spelling
This term we are looking at starting a weekly spelling programme with each child having 3-5 words to practice over the week. These will be individualised for each child. Watch out for the small notebooks coming home at the end of the week - there will be more information  for you inside the front cover. Words will come home on a Friday and the children will need to return their notebooks to school for testing on a Thursday.

You can practice these any way you like - writing them, spelling them out loud, making them out of magnets, writing them in chalk outside, tracing them with your finger in shaving foam, making them out of play dough, etc. You can also use spare pages in the notebook to practise them if you wish.

Library Day Fridays - please return books before Friday to the class library containers.

Lunchtime Clubs
French club - Mondays 12.30pm (with lunch)
Craft club - Tuesdays 12.45pm
Art club - Thursdays 12.45pm

Have a great week :)

Friday, 7 July 2017

Gold Fidget Spinner Found

If you are missing a gold fidget spinner, don't panic. Mrs O has it and will keep it safe until you get back to school. Unless she decides to play with it...

Sunday, 2 July 2017

Week 10 (3-7 July)

Welcome to Week 10 :)

Classroom Release Time
The Tuesday afternoon Room 18 will have Art with Mrs McHaffie and Room 19 will have PE with Mr Lukes from 1.30-3pm.

Staffing
On Wednesday from 11.45pm we will be away visiting a local Montessori as part of our teacher maths inquiry.

Parent Help
A big thank you to our fabulous Kohara parents who have given up their time as parent helpers over the term, whether it has been on a weekly basis or just popping in from time to time to help with baking, woodwork, or putting reading books away. Your help is greatly appreciated and the children love having you at school!

There will be no parent help the first week back of Term 3 - but look out for a new roster of available times and dates coming home after the holidays.

Reading
This week we are exploring reading plays and using expression when reading aloud. The children will not be bringing daily reading books home - instead feel free to read your favourite picture books or library books.

Thanks to the PTA
Our PTA have been hard at work this term and it sounds like they ran another fun disco once again on Friday. On behalf of us all, a huge thank you to our hardworking PTA parents for everything they continue to do for our school community. If you haven't already, check out the Waimairi School PTA Facebook page and stay up to date with events and information.

End of Term
Term 2 finishes this Friday 7 July at 3pm. School resumes on Monday 24th July. Wishing the children a happy and safe holiday break. Remember there are lots of links on the class blog for fun literacy and maths games or why not create your own go noodle account and let the kids get active!