Thanks Matteo and Louis

Anika's twin brothers came into Kohara with their magnifying glasses looking for my lost diamond. I really appreciated that boys. Thank you. Sadly they had no luck!

Cecilia Got Caught...

Cecilia got caught growing her brain. ...her maths brain. Great effort Cecilia. We love maths in Kohara!

Headlice Check

Just a reminder that headlice is still doing the rounds at school. Please keep checking on a regular basis. Many Thanks.

Junior Swim Sports Cancelled (Wed)

Unfortunately the weather has meant our junior swimming sports are cancelled today (Wednesday). The ground conditions are too wet for the children to be sitting on, in between group activities.

We will work out another day for the Kohara children to have their pyjama race during part of our normal swimming programme as many of the children were looking forward to this.

Lost diamond out of Mrs Campbell's engagement ring.

Hi All
I just noticed this afternoon that the diamond in my engagement ring was missing. We will check in with the children tomorrow (Wednesday) but I would really appreciate it if you could ask them if they  saw anything shiny on the floor in the classroom. You never know!!
Many thanks.

Maths Patterns

Today there was some wonderful maths patterns being made - lots of them were symmetrical which means that both sides of the pattern are the same. We are learning the names of some of the more interesting shapes. Can you name all the shapes you see here?

Making pattern pictures with the shapes generates some wonderful oral language and conversations. There is also a lot of collaboration between the children as they learn to share their ideas, compromise on decisions and work together.

Special Mail Delivery!

Kohara was very excited today when we received some mail. Inside the package were two very special friends - Olly the Orangutan who joins us from Borneo, and Gary the Gorilla who has flown all the way from Africa. They tell us that they have some good friends who live at Orana Park here in Christchurch and that they are looking forward to learning lots with our Kohara children and exploring Christchurch with them.

Each night someone in Kohara gets to take them home for the night to write a short story about their adventures at home and maybe add a photo or two, or the children can draw a picture. Olly and Gary need to be returned the next day for sharing and so that the other children also get to have a turn with him. This term you can earn a time with Gary or Olly by doing the right thing (having courteous manners on the mat, being a kind friend or by working really hard on your learning). If they come to stay at your house they will bring their own book bag and diary home with them.

We are super excited to have them in Kohara. Today Olly loved having a book read to him by Sarah, Gary enjoyed being part of a reading group who had a story about chimps and Gary also helped Atlas and Mikey make a really cool maths pattern. We wonder what they'll learn tomorrow?

Olivia and Nova's Finger Puppets

Check out Nova and Olivia's first project - they have sewn these gorgeous frog finger puppets. First they needed to trace around a template, then they sewed the edges, and last they decorated it with eyes, legs and a crown! The girls needed to follow a sequence to finish these and we think they look fabulous. You can view them on the wall above our trophy cabinet/shelf in Kohara.

Week 5 (26 Feb-2 Mar)

Welcome to Week 5 :)

Junior Swimming Sports
On Wednesday 28 Feb from 11.45-12.30pm Kohara will be having our junior swimming sports - a mix of water confidence games, swimming demonstrations and our favourite - the Pyjama race at the end. Feel free to pop along and join us at the school pool from 11.45am.
Children will need their togs, goggles, 2 towels and a pair of pyjamas/nightie/shorts and t shirt to put over their togs at the end for the PJ race.

Swimming
Please send the togs on Monday, Tuesday and Friday for normal class swimming lessons and on Wednesday for swimming sports. There is also an optional lunchtime swim on Monday lunchtime for our Year 1/2 children if they wish.

Classroom Release Time
The Room 19 children have Art with Mrs McHaffie and the Room 18 children have PE with Mr Lukes on Wednesday afternoon. Due to swimming sports as well on Wednesday, the children will not have a reading book for homework on Wednesday night.

Catch the Vibe
Our social studies inquiry this term is centred around the theme of 'Catch the Vibe'. We have been talking with the children about the kind of vibe we would like in Kohara and how we can make this happen. We all agreed that we want Kohara to have a friendly and welcoming vibe. We are working on making people feel welcome by introducing ourselves to new people (including parents and visitors), smiling at people, using friendly words and actions and helping others. We have learnt that is is extra nice to greet people by name and we can ask them if we are not sure who they are. We are practising in many ways - greeting the teachers by name in the morning, smiling and talking to other children and their parents before school, and getting to know our older buddies in Ara Atu and Kahukura who make upour Rakaia River team.

PTA Meeting
This is now taking place this Tues 27th Feb at 7.30pm in the school library. You are most welcome to pop along and see what it's all about.

Did you know that all proceeds from the 4 Rivers cafe and the Friday Hot Dogs go to the PTA to help purchase resources for the school. Every cuppa and hot dog you buy directly benefits the children. You can also purchase reuseable coffee cups from the coffee shop - Julie and Vanessa will name these and children can return them to the coffee shop when they have finished with them and they will store them there until the next time they need them.

Reading Returns Roster
Thanks to everyone who has put their name beside a week this term to help re-shelve our reading books. We really appreciate your time - thanks so much :)

Library day is Friday
Kapa Haka day is Tuesday.

Upcoming Dates
One for the diary - Cross Country is coming up on Thursday 22 March.

Have a great week.

Richie's Milk Run

Just sitting at home watching Graham Norton and on the ads comes Richie's Milk Run.  Who wouldn't want Richie to deliver milk to our school! If you have a moment send in your request for Richie to come visit. I've already sent one!
Have a lovely weekend.

Baking Parent Helper Needed

We would love to have a parent helper to help a group with a baking project on Tuesday next week (27th Feb). Due to school policy, you would need to have been police vetted through the school to be able to help on this occasion.

If you are keen, please let us know via email - first in, wins!!
monique.osullivan@waimairi.school.nz

Missing Scooter - NOW FOUND!!

Elliot has misplaced his scooter - it is a red MGP with a red base and handles and a grey bar. There is an identical one at school that he took home by mistake last night and returned today but his one is still missing. Someone may have mixed them up in error. Could the children please check at home if they have one similar. Many thanks.

Friday Reminders

Friday is our class swimming day and our class library day.
Please send swimming togs and library books to school.

We are preparing for the upcoming junior swimming sports next week so it would be great if all children have their togs at school.

Mufti Day Friday

Remember to send the children in mufti on Friday (23 Feb) to help celebrate the Chinese New Year and to raise money to support the international food section at the upcoming school fair. The theme for Friday is RED clothes - a lucky colour in the Chinese culture.

Car Parks and Out of Bounds Areas

Today one of our staff members found some children playing in the staff car park at lunchtime and two other children playing just outside the school gate. We have spoken with the whole class about how dangerous this is and reinforced that these are not areas that children may play in. It would be really great if you could also reinforce this by having a conversation with your children around safe areas to play at school (the scooter park, playgrounds, field, library and courts are all safe places to play). Duty staff will continue to monitor these areas as part of their duty. Thanks so much for your help to reinforce this really important safety message.

Gate Safety

With the recent bad weather, it is timely to remind the children about keeping safe coming in and out of school with the extra traffic at drop off and pick up time. The children (and parents) should only be using the gate / entranceway nearest the pool - not the side by the staff carpark please.

Also please help spread the word that the turning area at the end of Tillman Ave is not a drop off zone. Please avoid double parking along Tillman Ave as well - it is much safer to park a short distance away and walk in. Thanks of your help with keeping all our Waimairi families safe.

PTA Meeting Rescheduled

This weeks PTA meeting has been postponed to next Tuesday 27th February 7.30pm in the school library. Everyone is most welcome - we'd love to see you there.

Mufti Day Friday 23 Feb

This Friday 23 February there is a mufti day to celebrate the Chinese New Year - 2018 Year of the Dog.

Children to wear red as this symbolises good luck in the Chinese culture.

A gold coin donation please with all donations going towards the international food stalls at our upcoming school fair.

Jacob and Elliot growing their brains

Jacob and Elliot were found in the lounge teaching themselves to sketch animals. They loved working together and were able to identify the good things in their sketches and what they would improve next time.

Dustyn, Lucia and Arlo's Numicon Learning

Numicon is a maths resource we have for children to use. It is a visual way of seeing numbers represented by a variety of shapes and sizes. Arlo, Dustin and Lucia put all the numicon pieces together to create this long pattern. Then they measured it to see how long it was. They used non standard measurement to work out it was 2 and a half children long! Then they used a combination of rulers and other objects to see how long it was - 2 metres, 60 centimetres plus a felt pen and a crayon long!

What other ways do you think they could measure it?
We have all sorts of things to measure with in Kohara - tape measures, small and long rulers, ice block sticks, cubes and much more...

The children also found out the the short way of writing the measurements - m for metres, and cm for centimetres.