Week 6 Term 2

KIA ORA WHANAU


Arbor Day

Thank you to all the parents who have already volunteered to come to help with Arbor Day planting on Friday. We have all the parents we need - but you are still able to come along to help if you would like too. The more the merrier!

Here is an instructional video you might like to watch with your children about tree planting featuring a CQS parent - Tim Park.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gkWxLvCVzI



Kapa Haka

Each Monday we have Kapa haka and the last two weeks (in honour of Sign Language Week) Hemi has been teaching us a waiata in sign language.

 Animals, Animals

We were so fortunate to have Xanthe bring in Tom and Ginny's bantams to look at and touch.
Tom and Ginny told us all about their pets and how they care for them.

Ginny & Tom bought in their pet chooks!

S.T.A.R. Testing

For most students this week marked their first formal multi-choice standardised test - the STAR  (Supplementary Test of Achievement in Reading) test. This test relates to word recognition, sentence comprehension, paragraph comprehension and vocabulary range and helps inform teachers what students need to learn next and how they are doing for their age.

Year 3's sat the STAR test for reading

Dress Up Day for Nepal

What a colourful bunch raising money for the Red Cross' work in Nepal

Pānui

Before she left, Ella created this marvellous TV for the students sharing their news.  As well as being a bit of fun, it is helpful as a point of focus for the children who are listening to the news that helps them remember to look at the speaker.  We have had some really interesting news topics and children asking great questions based on the items children are sharing. Thanks for supporting your children to have a successful news sharing time.

Watching the News on Channel Rashmi.

Star of the Week ... TBC!

I was at a meeting on Friday and so we will all have to hold our breaths to find out who the star will be until Tuesday!

Week 5 Term 2

WELCOME to the NEWEST MEMBERS OF NIKAU

It was wonderful to add to our numbers this week as four children from Kowhai shuffled over to this side of the hall to join us.  We are now a cosy 23!

Welcome to Alex, Casper, Dennis and Locky and their whanau!

Welcome to the Year 2's who joined us this week!

ZOO TRIP
What a fantastic time we had on Friday. I would personally like to that all the parents who volunteered to come on the first day that was postponed and the actual trip. Thank you for making time and arrangements that meant we could have such small and engaging groups. Your help is much appreciated.

Here are a few pictures ...

STAR STUDENT

This week's star is Sammy! Congratulations to you. Sammy is a wonderful student who is well respected by his peers. We appreciate the way he thinks about things, his sense of humour and the way he treats other people. Our class is a better place with you in it!

Fantastic job there Sammy! You're a STAR!

 Apologies for the late post! The good news is you won't have to wait so long for the next :)

Highly engaged mathematicians working with place value.

Week 4 Term 2

ZOO TRIP

We were disappointed not to go on the Zoo trip on Tuesday but I'm sure you all agree we made the right call considering the weather. The trip will now be on Friday 22nd of May. If adults are still able to help, please me know as soon as possible. Thank you.



ANIMAL ADVENTURE DAY

Kowhai and Nikau banded together on  Tuesday and had a fun day learning about animals together. Mixed teams played animal charades. We had some amazing animals made of 3 to 4 people!
 We also worked in groups to create a habitat diorama. Each team chose a habitat such as the savanna, rain forest,  wetlands, ocean etc. Each diorama contained 3 animals and food sources for each of these animals. We had a fabulous time sharing our creations and learning from each other.


CLASSIFYING ANIMALS

Mel has an enormous collection of animal cards that she generously shared with us. Here we are sorting the animals into different classes such as mammals, birds, insects, amphibians, reptiles and more!

STAR STUDENT

This week's star is Sam Cousins. Sam should great perseverance this week in his Character writing about Batman. He was so excited to be recording his ideas he didn't want to stop.  Sam will make a wonderful leader this week as he makes good choices and acts as a role model to other students.

Octopus's Garden on the Uku

On Friday we learned the Beatles classic "Octopus's Garden". I had some requests for the ukulele chords - so here is a link to Ukulele Mike's version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxbpo9_7uAU

News Timetable

And now … the News in Nikau

News (Oral Language) Timetable

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Zen Sandro Felicity Iris Aryan	Louie Toby Sam C Mira Carly	Amelie Sam G Rashmi Theo Ted	Isla Sammy Tom Eleanor	Catch up day (if a child missed their turn during the week)

The children in Nikau voted and the majority decided they would prefer to have their news day the same time each week. This means everyone gets a fair chance to speak in front of the class.

I have put together this timetable so children can be prepared for their news day.

Example of things to share on News day:

Personal News: Sharing something they’ve done recently or anything that is important to you.

Picture News: Bring a photo or and interesting picture to talk about.

Current Events: Bring a newspaper clipping/online story to share. This can be local, national or international. Please try to make it news that celebrates not scares.

Poetry: Read or perform a poem to the class.

Book Selling: Convince us that you have a great book. What did you enjoy about it? Is there a favourite part you could share?

In the event of News being delayed because of an event or sickness, children will have the chance to share on a Friday.

This will start Monday 18^th May.

Week 3 Term 2

Kia ora Whanau

Inquiry: What is an Animal?

We are learning about animal habitats. This week we explored Clyde Quay School as a habitat. What animals live here? We used magnifying glasses and went out to explore with our scientist eyes. We are learning to develop our skills of observation.We saw birds, many insects and even a mammal or two.

Science knowledge is based on data from observations of the natural physical world. We gather data by using our senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell - to make observations. Making careful observations often includes measuring something. Observations are influenced by what you already know. (Paraphrased from http://scienceonline.tki.org.nz/Introducing-five-science-capabilities/Gather-interpret-data)

Sammy thought he had found a worm, but on closer inspection he noticed lots and lots of tiny legs.

Finding creatures who share our space is exciting!

Close and careful observation happening with Carly.

Watch out behind you, Sandro! I see a reptile!

Discovery Time
This Friday we started our second Discovery time choice. These pictures are from Ella's Science Experiments group.

Milk, food colouring and dishwashing liquid! Amazing patterns

 Star Student

Toby is our Star Student this week. Congrats!

This week's Star Student is Toby. It is fantastic to see the positive attitude you bring to Nikau. We enjoy that you are someone who includes others and are so keen to help. Toby is doing an excellent job of being a leader this week. He is acting responsibly and being a good role model to other students.



 Have a great week :)

Our special guest from Friday

Did you know...
Dalmatians are born white without spots

Week 2 Term 2

Kia ora Whanau!

STAR OF THE WEEK

So pleased to acknowledge the hard work Rashmi has put in to being star of the week!

Rashmi was named Star Student this week. Her peers were not at all surprised as they have noticed Rashmi's growing confidence. Those of us who have read her stories know she loves to write and is so keen to teach others the skills she has learned. Thank you Rashmi, for making our classroom a smarter place and sharing your thoughts and skills with us.


INQUIRY ... What is an animal?

We have been finding out more information about how animals are sorted into groups based on different characteristics. We have been sifting and sorting information and trying to make sense of the way scientist classify (group) things.

This is a sorting activity called a Silent Card Shuffle. A table showing different types of animals and their characteristics has been cut into a puzzle. Without talking, students rearrange the puzzle until they get to a point they all agree that the puzzle is completed. The students were really engaged and worked as a team, taking turns and at the end we talked through the reasons we'd placed pieces in different areas. 

Look at the concentration.

As each child has a turn, their team mates are evaluating the moves they're making.

 

ZOO TRIP

The Junior Whanau are very excited about our trip to Wellington Zoo. Thanks to all the people who have returned slips, paid money at the office and especially those who have volunteered to come along as parent helpers. We would not be able to go without the support from our fantastic parent community. It is not too late to come along. If you have not seen the note with the details, let me know and I can send another one home with your child.

POETRY FOLDER

As part of out reading programme, we have a clearfile that gets a poem and or song words added to it each Friday. There has been an increasing number of students who are forgetting to bring back their Poem folders after the weekend. I would appreciate it if you could help your child locate their Poem folder and send it back to school before Friday. Thanks

DISCOVERY TIME

It has been a fun filled two weeks of Discovery time on a Friday.  This week I got to work with some enthusiastic film makers who practiced the skills of recording, acting, directing, writing part of a story. We could have carried on all day! So much to learn and have a go at.  The children I have spoken to have been very positive about the groups they've attended such as sewing, bush walk, art, game making, dance, magic, junk construction etc. It has been great being able to have the Student teachers (Ella from Nikau and Kate from Harakeke) included so we can offer even more experiences to the children. If you have any feedback going forward about Discovery Time, please let me know. I would be very grateful to know your thoughts.