EASTER FUN AT FERRYMEAD WITH MR ANDERSON

Hi All

Mr Anderson will be driving this beast at Ferrymead on Easter Monday. Rock up and say Hi and he'll give you a ride in the cab!!!

Sporty Mufti for Cross Country

Remember children may wear sporty mufti on Wednesday for Cross Country (28 March).
Please also send a drink, warm jersey and sunhat along with the children.
If your child needs their asthma inhaler, please make sure they have it with them in their bag.

Lucia and Anika's Turtle Habitats

Lucia and Anika started the year with a cooperative project making paper turtles from an idea they found in a craft book. Then then extended their thinking to the kind of habitat a turtle might like. They created wonderful environments for their turtles with lots of different things for their turtles to do and areas for them to play, sleep and eat in. We were really impressed by all the details they thought of. What lucky turtles!

Caleb and Thomas Make an Ice Cream Shop

Check out the ice cream shop that Caleb and Thomas have been making. There are plenty of cones to choose from and they have their own storage area at the back. We found out that Caleb and Thomas did some pretty neat problem solving along the way as their box accidentally got cut. But rather than throwing it out and starting again they just painted a piece of cardboard and covered up the floor of the ice cream shop - just like real flooring!

What flavour ice cream would you order? Mmmmm you'll have to ask Caleb and Thomas if they sell your favourite kind!

Jackson's Puppy Comes to Visit

Kohara love animals and we were super excited to get to meet Jackson's new puppy this week. Jackson told us that Frankie is a Jack Russell dog. Thanks for letting us meet your puppy Jackson.

Anika's Visitor

Last week we had another furry visitor to Kohara. This is Gem, short for Gemma. Anika is looking after her for her grandparents. Gem showed us her tricks - she can sit and also roll over!

Week 9 (26-29 March)

Welcome to Week 9 :)

Easter Break
A reminder that there is no school this Friday 30th March (Good Friday) and school is also closed on both Monday 2 April (Easter Monday) and Tuesday 3 April (School Holiday) next week. We hope you all enjoy a relaxing Easter break with your family.

Classroom Release
This week Room 19 children have Art with Mrs McHaffie on Tuesday morning and Room 18 have PE with Mr Lukes on Thursday morning.

Social Studies
This week we are getting underway with our Rakaia River preparations for the school fair as part of our Social Studies inquiry 'Catch the Vibe'. As part of this we are working in mixed class groups over three sessions this week and next, working alongside our older buddies from Kahukura and Ara Atu to make our goods that we will be selling at the fair or to prepare the fun activities we will be hosting on the day. Today (Monday) we had our first session and it was so delightful to see the odler children taking such great care of our younger learners and to see them enjoying working cooperatively together.

Reading
With a short week, and a larger focus on our Social Studies and fair preparation, along with the Cross Country on Wednesday, there will be no instructional reading books sent home. The children may bring their poetry folders home to share with you (and re-read old favourites) or else please use your usual reading homework time to practice revising the high frequency word lists. Let us know when your child has learned these and is ready for a new list. Don't forget to muddle up the order you get the children to read them as often the children learn them in sequence! Have fun cutting them up and shuffling them up!

Cross Country
Our new date is this Wednesday 28 March. Our junior children will leave a little bit later than the senior children and we will leave school just before 11.30am to walk down to St James Park. Please feel free to pack a picnic lunch and join us down ther after our races for a community lunch.
Remember to pack:
*sunhat
*drink bottle
*lunch
*warm jersey or jacket
Children can come to school in sporty mufti on Wednesday.

Staffing
On Thursday Kate Burridge will be relieving in Kohara for Mrs O'Sullivan.

Float your Boat Competition
On the day of the fair, the children from Whanaketanga (Room 7/8) are hosting an event called Float Your Boat. It is a donation to enter. For this event the children need to make a boat at home to bring along to the fair and race it across the school pool. If you are planning on attending the fair on Saturday 7 April and would like your child to be part of this, please sign up by letting Monique or Tracy know and we can add their names to the list of competitors. You can use anything from home to make your boat!

If you decide on the day of the fair, that your child would like to enter, then there will also be some materials available at school for them to use to create a boat.

Fair Parent Help
Thank you to everyone who has returned your parent help notice with your offers to help on the day. We really appreciate this and will be in touch before the fair to confirm your times.

We are also still looking for donations of unwanted nail polish or face paint (half jars are fine), cotton balls or cotton buds, and old adult t shirts. Please send along to school if you have any of these items you are happy to donate to a good cause.

Library
 No library this week due to the Easter break.

Swimming
Please send togs along on Tuesday - it looks to be even hotter than Monday!!

If you purchased a pool key, watch out for details in the newsletter soon on when to return these to the office.

Kapa Haka on Tuesday.

Have a great week and a happy Easter.

Jacob, Elliot and Tao Get Creative

Wow look at this amazing detailed picture of Jacob, Elliot and Tao's city. But watch out you don't get thrown in their jail! Olly looks like he was really enjoying watching them work together on their collaborative artwork.

Gary and Olly's Learning Choices

We have been talking with the class about taking great care of our class toys Gary and Olly as they are very special to us all. Tonight Gary and Olly have been having some quiet time at school instead of going home for a sleepover. But what have they have been up to?

Olly, are you using your great swinging skills to play basketball?

What are Olly and Gary making for the block challenge?

Planning projects is so much fun in Kohara. We wonder what their first project will be?

Olly and Gary are such kind friends in Kohara. They are always so happy to join in our games. Maybe they will challenge you at chess this week?

Excuse me Gary and Olly... but what are you doing on Mrs Campbell's computer?

Jackson and Harry the Cake Bakers

On Monday Harry and Jackson did their first baking project in Kohara. They decided to make a chocolate cake with the help of Jackson's mum Michelle. They were very organised with their ingredients and we all thought the cakes looked amazing!

They even had to do some problem solving when we realised we didn't have a cake pan. But nothing is ever a problem for long... they just decided to make it in two loaf pans instead. That meant they had to use their fractions to pour half of the cake mixture into each pan.

Maths Problem of the Day
How would you write the symbol for half?
When is another time that you need to use halves?

Masterchefs Bella, Siale-Maia and Luca

Today our group of Masterchefs whipped up some scrumptious looking cupcakes with Bella's Grandad Alex. During their baking they were measuring, and mixing and even improvising on the recipe with a few tweaks. They had great fun icing and decorating them at the end before they shared the cupcakes equally.

Maths Problem of the Day
Bella, Siale-Maia and Luca made 12 cupcakes.
If they shared them equally, how many did they each get?

If they only had to share them between two people, how many would they each get?
What fraction would that be?

Parent Helpers for Craft Activities Next Week

If anyone is keen to help out next Monday 26th or Thursday 29th in the afternoon with our fair crafts and activities please let us know. This will be between 1.30-3pm. This includes helping the children with either t shirt bags, decorating bags, or with painting rocks. We will be in mixed groups across our River classes.

We will not be doing the Wednesday afternoon next week as this is the postponement date for the Cross Country.

Cross Country Postponed

Update (7am Thursday22nd March)

Cross Country has been postponed until next Wednesday 28th March due to the weather.
Normal school uniform today (Thursday) instead.

Cross Country

Thursday is Cross Country Day. Fingers crossed the predicted rain stays away. Postponements will be made via school wide tweet or our class blog if needed.

We will be down at St James Park for our cross country running. Kohara will leave about 11.20ish to walk there. Please join us for lunch if you are able to (bring a picnic).

Children will need sporty mufti, a sunhat, lunch and a drink bottle.

James the Author

In Kohara this week we are having a go at learning to skip. Some children have been having a turn outside with our skipping ropes. It is great for fitness and we are enjoying the challenge. For some children this is a new skill. Luckily we have great helpers in Kohara to help teach them. James wrote a great story all about it today.

I am learning to skip.
I am getting the hang of it.
I had some help.
I had David.

By James

Items Needed for the Fair

As part of our Rakaia River fair activities we will be running a variety of activities on the day of the fair including face painting, hair braiding, and a nail salon. If you have any of the following that you no longer need, we would love them for our activities:

* hair ties
* nail polish (half bottles are fine)
* nail polish remover
* cotton wool balls or cotton buds
* face paint

These can be given to class teachers or dropped off to Ara Atu (Room 14 or 15).

Parent Help Required

Next week on Monday 26th March, Wednesday 28th March and Thursday 29th March in the afternoons (1.30-3pm) we are working in mixed class groups with our Rakaia River team to start making our goods to sell at the fair. We would love some parent helpers to assist. The activities include painting pet rocks, making t shirt bags, making butterfly themed bags and craft activities. Please note because our groups are mixed, you may not be working in the same room as your child.

If you can help please let class teachers know by this Thursday 22nd March.

Adult T Shirts Needed

As part of our Rakaia River craft activities that we are selling at the fair, we are after some donations of adult sized t shirts to make into bags. They need to be clean with no holes please. If you have any that you would like to donate to a good cause, please send them to school this week as we will be starting to make these next week.
Many thanks.

Kobe the Author

Kobe has been working so hard on his writing and using really interesting vocabulary. Check out his wonderful story he wrote today.

I am a bunny that has a magic wand.
Harry goes after me.
He duplicated the wand.

By Kobe

James, Sullivan and Fletcher's Symmetrical Pattern

Check out another fabulous symmetrical pattern - this one was made by Fletcher, James and Sullivan with some sideline support from Gary the gorilla. Great to see the children cooperating and working together to create these amazing patterns - they are certainly a popular learning choice at the moment.

Taylor's Song

Taylor loves Paw Patrol so it was only natural that she decided to make her first project something to do with the tv show. Taylor decided to learn the lyrics of her favourite Paw Patrol song and present it to Kohara. We all thought she was very brave getting up in front of the whole class and singing it to us. We thought she did a great job and she was so confident on the chorus parts. Well done Taylor - we loved hearing your fabulous singing.

Theo's Jet Pack

Theo has been working really hard on his jet pack project. He has had to do several things to get it looking so flash. He started off with two milk bottles and taped these together. Then he painted them and added crepe paper to make the flames shooting out. Finally he decided it needed straps so we measured the ribbon against Theo's body to work out how long it needed to be. Lots of art, maths and oral language in this project as well as problem solving, perseverance and detail! Watch out - you might see Theo blasting off soon into space.

Tao's Shape Picture

Tao was concentrating hard on his big shape picture - he tells us he was making a big, bad dog! Tao has used lots of 2D shapes in his picture - what shapes can you spot?

Leo and Arlo Sketch Hedgehogs

Wow look at these fabulous hedgehogs that Leo and Arlo were drawing together. It's great to see children in Kohara making new friends and trying out new activities together. Look at the detail on these gorgeous hedgehogs!

Week 8 (19-23 March)

Welcome to Week 8 :)

Swimming
Hopefully the pool will be open again this week - please send swimming togs along on Monday, Tuesday and Friday.

Union Meetings
On Tuesday we will both be attending Union Meetings at 10am (Tracy) and 1.30pm (Monique). Release will be provided by Ms Hudson in the morning and Mr Anderson in the afternoon so the classroom programme will continue as normal.

Cross Country
This Thursday we have our school Cross Country down at St James Park between 11 and 1pm. Please join us for a picnic lunch down there. Racing begins with Year 6 children followed by Year 5, Year 4, Year 3, Year 2, Year 1, New Entrants (so no exact times as it will depend on how quickly the races are finished). If wet, postponement will be advised via the school tweet system or you can check on our blog on the day.

If you are not signed up to receive the school tweets (text message system), this is really easy to do and Mr Anderson is happy to show you how - you can find him on the couch in the office area most mornings before school. That way you'll never miss an update, cancellation, postponement or school event information as they are texted out to you every morning once you sign up. If you're unsure, feel free to ask us as well. Details on how to do this are also posted on our school website on the main page on the left.

Library Day is Friday.

Kapa Haka on Tuesday afternoon.

Have a great week :)

Found: Glasses in Black Case

Someone handed in a black converse case with black reading glasses. If your child is missing these you will find them in the office.

Luca's Egg Penguin

Luca found a great activity you could make with an egg shell. You had to break the egg and save the yolk and white for another day. Next you had to carefully wipe out the inside of the egg. Then the fun started. Layer after layer of tissue and glue....it took many days as Luca had to wait for each layer to dry. Finally Luca painted her penguin and added the final details. What do you think?

Mikey REALLY looking for detail!

Mikey is enjoying quiet time drawing a dolphin. We love sketching and drawing in Kohara  because it helps with our handwriting and looking for detail. Nice work Mikey.

Mufti Day (Friday)

Friday 16th March is Mufti Day - instead of a monetary donation we are requesting one item as a donation towards the fair. Please can children bring one item only (choose from the list below).
* lemons
* chocolate bar
* an item of women's clothing
* a book (adult book not a children's book)

Acorn Dave

Today we went exploring after Kapa Haka and found this fabulous acorn picture created by the senior children in He Tangata. We used our skills of observation to find out that this person is called Dave and he was walking his dog Murphy. He had a moustache, glasses, a hat and a walking stick all made out of acorns. We hope this might inspire us to create some patterns and pictures of our own! Thanks Sarah and Lola for taking the first photograph for us to share.

Theo and Arlo at Buckingham Palace!

Theo and Arlo were enjoying creating Buckingham Palace. They found out the this is where the Queen lives and that it is all the way over in London! They noticed that the Palace had several stories so they used layers to show this in their design. Maybe Theo and Arlo are the soldiers who stand outside to guard the Palace?

Jackson and Caleb's Bug Catcher

Jackson and Caleb started off with a plan to make a real bug catcher but along the way they adapted the plan to create a pretend one that they could play with and use with their imagination. It's always interesting to see how our plans adapt and change during the making process. Now Jackson and Caleb have a nifty bug catcher with a special fly tray on the end where there is special food to trap them. They then get sucked down the tube into the main container! Wouldn't it be great if you could really trap flies that way!

Fletcher's Rocket

Fletcher's rocket is nearly tall as him! Fletcher has made a rocket as part of a series - watch out for his friends who are making rocket number 1 and 3!! We love how Fletcher has added height to his rocket by joining cans and containers together. We wonder when he will be blasting off and where he will land?
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5...

Oscar the Artist

Lately we have been so impressed with Oscar's art on the whiteboard. Look at the high level of detail in his drawings. We have also found out that Oscar is a bit of an expert on dinosaurs!

Did you know that sketching and drawing helps develop fine motor skills which in turn helps with handwriting!

This picture was a group effort with Taylor and David. Great collaboration!

Author Visit and Virtual Dragons!

On Monday we enjoyed meeting the author James Russell and hearing him read several of his dragon books to us. He was very funny and we learned that his books are based on his own two children Flynn and Paddy.

His children wrote him some top secret questions for us to ask him such as "when did you go bald?", "who was your first kiss?" and "do you like children?" This had the children in fits of laughter especially as Lucia was chosen from the audience to read the questions to him. The last question was "Can I have a dollar?" and luckily for Lucia he gave her a dollar!!

At the end some children were chosen to ask James a question. Caleb was a big fan and he had brought all three of the dragon books along with him from home and Sarah found out it takes him about three weeks to write the stories as he has to think hard about words that rhyme to use in his books. All the books are available in our school library - although after his visit they may be very popular for a while!

In the front of his books are a map that goes with his stories. James told us that if you download the app called AR Reads which is free from the apple app store, you can use it over the map to create a virtual reality view of the map. You can see the characters come alive and the dragons flying around and even try to catch them in your hand. If you tilt the map, you can create different 3D effects of the land as well. For those of you who don't have the books, I have added a link below where you can print his map out and use it at home. You then just need to download the app on a iPad or phone and then you can have some fun with it.

Click to get Map  (you can hover your phone or iPad over the map on the computer and that will also work if you don't have a printer).

Or print from the following link...
http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/1502853/27039983/1464039817397/map.pdf?token=m%2FKRJqsgyIyq2MFR%2FByp%2BokOeww%3D

Mufti Day Friday 16 March

This Friday (16th March) we have a mufti day. Children are requested to please bring along any one item as a donation on the day to go towards the fair.

Either:
* lemons
* a chocolate bar, or
* an adult's clothing item (in good, clean condition please)

There may be one more option... my brain has forgotten what it is (I will update this post once I remember!)

A Few Changes

A couple of changes this week.

Classroom Release Times
These have changed - Room 19 will now have Art on Thursday morning from 9-10.30am and Room 18 will have PE on Friday afternoon 1.30-3pm.

Swimming
The pool was unexpectedly closed for maintenance today - at this stage we are unsure if the pool is open tomorrow but please send togs along just in case it reopens in time for our afternoon swim.

Touch Rugby Uniform returns
Due to the postponement of last week's games, team gear will now be returned by coaches on Friday 23 March. Please make sure all touch rugby t shirts are returned to your coach at the end of this week's game.

Pippa's Duck Pond

Wow look at Pippa's amazing duck pond. She designed it to help take care of sick ducks. It has lots of interesting parts to it - including a pool to swim in, a cover to keep them safe in bad weather, and an area to play in. Can you see her little yellow ducks splashing in the water? Bella helped Pippa out with some of it too - we love collaborative projects!

Dragon Designs

Kohara really enjoyed reading The Dragon Hunters by James Russell and are looking forward to meeting the author on Monday. His story inspired some of the children to have a go at creating miniature dragons out of plasticine. We were really impressed with the level of detail. We worked out different ways to attach the plasticine and how to use a pencil to add lines or holes to create effects. There was some fabulous concentration and great conversation happening around the table as the children worked.