Using devices to read and work on comprehension skills

Kayla reading a piece of text then answering questions related to the text, using an iPad app.

Silent Reading in the Library

Welcome Back to Term 3

Well it's official, we are now half way through the year, time seems to be flying past to fast. This term we are looking at what an artist is and focusing on art, music, dance and events from the 1930s, 1960s and 1990s. Using some of the new technology we are lucky to now have at school we hope to create some informative posters and newspapers about these eras which we hope to share with you at the end of the term.

Sport is still happening over the next six weeks weather permitting although not looking good for this week. Ski trip in week 4 on the 11th of August so look out for notices in bags.

Lastly homework is now all online and needs to be in by Friday - if your child is unable to access internet at home then I am in my class form 8am in the morning, or in class at lunch-time for them to be able to complete their homework requirements.

I will be sharing this blog entry from Karen Boyes with my students. Really interesting life lessons.

Gratitude and Abundance - 5 life lessons

Matariki  Celebration

Thanks to the generosity of our parent community we had so much kai for our hangi. We also had many helpers on the day who dug holes, organised the food, made up platters for classrooms, distributed food (thanks students from S7 for all your help with this) and then parents who cleaned up afterwards. A real team effort which took several days and lots of organisation.

Most importantly the kids loved it and it provided some real learning opportunities throughout the school. Here are just a few of the photos that were taken throughout the day.

Pouring with rain, but fire lit and burning well at about 5.30am.
Time for breakfast.

Burning hot, rain eased and pit almost ready.

It's a dirty job but someone has to do it.

A lot of meat, lining baskets with cabbage leaves, then covered with vegetables.

Food in the hangi just before 9am now needs to cook for 4 hours.
Mark, one our hardworking parents, keeping warm by the fire made from logs scraped out of the pit.

The great unveiling, lots of interest in this part of the process. Good timing too, as this was during lunchtime.

The smell was amazing and the parents worked like trojans to plate up food as quickly as possible.

A great big thanks to a lot of people who helped make this event successful, absolutely so many people who gave their time it is hard to name them all individually but special shout out to Matua Mark for organising the event Henie, Uncle Eddie and Mark who organised the hangi pit etc. and all those people who gave up their time to prepare, cook, plate up or clean. Kia Ora.

Some more quality homework.

Great to see students using google documents to complete their homework to a high standard. Adding pictures and researching for further information are the sorts of things which improves outcomes. Well done Makayla for completing this task.

To see the article go to:

Quality Homework

Check out some quality work done by Noah last week. Well done for answering the questions fully and obviously reading the article and finding the key ideas. Read the article yourself.

Matariki

This week we will be focusing on Matariki and we have some cool activities planned for the next three days which will end with a hangi on the school grounds on Wednesday. Children will also be bringing a shared lunch on this day with a small plate of food to share with others.

I will be doing flax weaving with several groups over the next few days and it wold be useful if they checked out this link to flax weaving. Weaving a flax flower. Any parents who are available to help over the next few days either in the morning for flax weaving or on Tuesday afternoon for food preparation, or Wednesday for help with the hangi - don't be shy, come along and join in.

Simple flax flowers.

An example of what we might achieve with our weaving.

FRIDAY SPORT

Thanks all those parents who remind their children to come fully prepared on the day for Friday Sport. This week all teams played with some success and some big defeats. I would like to say that everyone played in good spirit and showed good sportsmanship which is what enjoying sport is all about.

This week hockey took out the honour of being the 'dirtiest' sport to be played - just look at the picture of Liarna and Tiana below and you will see what I mean. The funniest comment came from a parent who wanted to know if she needed to drop off a trailer load of soil to Dudley Park to replace what her son had bought home on his clothing. SORRY if you were one of the parents with the less than clean child but the smiles afterwards tell it all.

Hockey?? More like mud-wrestling, thankfully we don't wear white.

S7's Serious Selfie

Sometimes its good not to be too serious!!!

Skiing at Mt Hutt

As one of the coordinators for the upcoming ski trip I had the opportunity to go up for an early season ski on Sunday, to check out facilities and conditions before our ski trip next term. This was a great day out with three of my children. Even though it looks like a nice day it was still very cold on the mountain and we were glad we were well rugged up in layers of clothing. Hats and helmets were a must as we saw even experienced skiers fall throughout the day.

Water, water everywhere.

Apparently the wettest our roads have been in a long time, and as I write this, no sign of a let-up in the amount of rain falling. Actually time is now 10.53am and rain is almost torrential. Very few children at school today as many couldn't make it or decided that roads were impassable - again welcome to winter. Great to see so many children in gumboots, carrying umbrellas or wearing good raincoats. This is so important if your child is walking to school (or even walking from the car in this weather) as there is nothing worse than being in wet clothes all day.

Thanks for everyone getting in their ski forms so we can begin further planning of groups etc. Keep looking out for ski gear as this will definitely be needed on the day.

Keep warm everyone and hopefully a few more can make it to school tomorrow.

Welcome to Winter

Winter seems to have hit with some very cold temperatures in the last week or so. Please make sure that you are properly dressed for all conditions at school. A jersey is a must at this time of year and it would be sensible to have a jacket in your bag, that is windproof and waterproof, at all times. 

Planning for our upcoming ski-trip is well under way and I will keep you as up-to-date as possible about what is needed and when. Start looking for gear to wear on the day. Some things are non-negotiable and we will be checking before we leave that children have all the relevant gear.

Gear that is absolutely needed

• waterproof jacket
• waterproof pants
• waterproof gloves
• warm hat
• sunglasses/googles
• warm layers of clothing, e.g. thermals.

Check out the pictures in the next few days of what you should be wearing on the ski-field.

Remember there are many options for accessing gear - check out the second hand shops, online traders, or ask neighbours and friends.

Colourful Flowers

White flowers left in dye and food colouring for one day.

Two days later.