Amokura, Maggie and Enzo have been learning about prefixes and suffixes.

Amokura

Enzo

Maggie

Waiora has been busy learning different spelling techniques through her reading activites.

Hudson has been doing some great reading learning as well.

Can you guess what sounds Juliana and Laura have been learning about?

Juliana

Laura

Maple has been busy with her reading learning as well.

Mason has been doing some reading activites as well.

Can you guess what sounds Pascal and Tyruss have been learning?

Pascal

Tyruss

Our whole school went to see the Strike Percussion Drumming Show at Te Ahu.  We watched an amazing performance of drumming and were able to visually see the drum patterns. The audience got to participate in making music. We were all dancing in our seats!

Our lovely Prisha turned 9 on the last day of the school holidays! She kindly invited everyone to her birthday and everyone who went had a fabulous time. Prisha was also kind enough to share a whole bag of treats with the class! There are so many treats that the tamariki will enjoy them for the rest of the term – Ngā mihi nui to Prisha and her lovely whānau for thinking of our class.

We love seeing kids discover the joy of reading — not just for learning, but for fun! That’s why we borrow books from the National Library to bring fresh, exciting stories into our classrooms.

When children read for pleasure, it helps them grow in so many ways. It builds confidence, boosts their language skills, sparks imagination, and even helps them better understand others. Whether it’s a favourite series, a graphic novel, or a non-fiction book about something they love — it all counts!

With the National Library’s support, we can offer a variety of books that inspire children to read just because they enjoy it. And when kids enjoy reading, they’re more likely to become strong, lifelong readers.

We’d love your support — talk about books at home, read together, or simply encourage your child to pick up a story they enjoy. Because reading for pleasure really is a gift that lasts a lifetime.

Logan and Kylo turned 8 today!!! The class were treated to delicious cakes and lollipops – YUMMO.

Ngā mihi nui to Logan and Kylo and their lovely whānau for the special sweet treats….

What a way to finish our ANZAC Day learning journey! Today our class stepped back in time to experience what it might have been like to eat like a soldier in World War 1.

On the menu:
Bully beef stew – today it was bully beef, onions and a little soy sauce.
Hardtack (just like the old-school army biscuit!) – recipe at the bottom of the post
ANZAC biscuits (the sweet ones we all know and love) – recipe at the bottom of the post

First up was the bully beef stew—a tin of corned beef turned into a hearty dish. While some wrinkled their noses at first, a few brave tamariki gave it a go… and were surprised at how much they liked it! Some even asked for seconds (and thirds!)

The hardtack was very tasty and enjoyed by many! We learnt that ANZAC soldiers would sometimes soak it in tea to make it softer. We didn’t have tea today but some tried their hard tack with a little jam which was very tasty! 

Finally, the students had an ANZAC biscuit—golden, very sweet, and crunchy. These are very different from the hard, dry original army biscuits.

These were some of the words they used to respond to their eating experience;

Be honest, thumbs up or thumbs down?

The students asked for the recipes for Hard Tack and the ANZAC biscuits so here they are:

Hardtack Recipe ( I doubled the recipe for the class)

2 Cups – All Purpose Flour – Do not use self-rising flour
3/4 Cup – Water

• Preheat oven to 200C
• Mix the flour and water in a bowl.
• After mixing completely, the dough should be a little dry (and not stick to your fingers).
• If your mix is still too sticky, you can add more flour in small increments until the dough is dry enough. See the tips section below for more information.
• Use a roller to spread out the dough on a counter, large cutting board, etc.
• To prevent sticking to the counter or cutting board, you should spread a little flour on the surface before rolling the dough. Also spread a little flour on top of the dough to prevent the roller from sticking to the dough.
• Cut the dough into pieces or it can all stay together like the picture below.
• Poke narrow holes in the hardtack biscuits with a chopstick or fork. The holes should go all the way through to the other side of the hardtack. This prevents the hardtack from puffing up.
• Place the hardtack biscuits on a baking sheet/tray.
• Put the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 30 minutes at 200C or until brown.

I didn’t cook ours for too long as did not want them to be too hard. They were softish but firm.

Edmonds ANZAC Biscuits – I quadrupled the recipe for our class

The tamariki explored a fun and creative way to write a piece of poetry. The exemplar provided an excellent scaffold for students to reflect on and share memories from their holidays. We began by reading an example of the poem and discussing how its rhythm, repetition, and simple sentences help to paint a picture of personal experiences.

From there, each student planned and wrote their own version of That Was My Holiday, capturing the moments that stood out for them — whether it was whānau time, outdoor adventures, or hanging out at home.

The next step was publishing, and this is where they were able to use their creativity!

Using Google Drawings, students learnt how to;

• Change the background colour
• Add and format text
• Insert and reshape images
• Add borders to their pictures

Learning these tools takes time, but it’s always worth it. There’s a lot of clicking, experimenting, and sometimes undoing — but they stuck with it.  Tau ana, tamariki mā!

There are 5 more to be completed – watch this space!

As part of our ANZAC Day learning, our class explored the importance of remembering those who served in WWI and WWII and learning about whānau who have served or are currently serving in the armed forces. Students were encouraged to talk with their whānau about relatives who took part in the wars, and many brought in taonga to share, such as photos, medals, and special family stories. It was a meaningful way to connect with our history, honour the courage and sacrifice of those who served, and reflect on the legacy they’ve left behind. We felt proud to learn more about our whānau and remember them together as a class.

Click on the link to check out our ANZAC Day learning.

Support Staff Day is a special time to thank the amazing people who help our school run smoothly every day. In our class, we are especially grateful for Whaea Darlene, our wonderful teacher aide. She supports us in so many ways—helping with our learning, encouraging us when things get tricky, and always showing kindness and patience. We appreciate everything she does to make our classroom a better place, and we want to say a big thank you for all her hard work and aroha. Ngā mihi nui, Whaea Darlene!

This week we celebrated New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week with a special visit from Billie-Jean and Leah from Te Puawai. They taught us how to sign the alphabet and how to introduce ourselves by saying, “My name is…” and signing our name. Everyone had a turn sharing their name with the class—it was fabulous! We also began learning how to sign the Duffy Song and our kai karakia. What an awesome way to celebrate one of Aotearoa’s official languages!

Click on the link to our class site to learn more about NZSL

Breakfast Club is Back!

This morning we kicked off our first Breakfast Club for 2025 in Te Pūawai!

We have taken over this mahi from our tuakana class Te Kauru as they have their hands full doing after lunch clean up duty and PALs.

A huge thank you to our awesome helpers Maringi, Macey, and Leah, who made sure everything ran smoothly.

We served up Weet-Bix, milk, and delicious fruit pots to fuel our tamariki for a great day of learning.

Tomorrow’s menu: toast with peanut butter or Marmite – yum! We’ve got plenty of keen helpers ready to serve with a smile.

We love being kaitiaki for our kura and starting the day the right way!

Saturday sports started with a roar last weekend, and we have lots of Te Manga kids participating in netball, soccer, and rugby on Saturdays. We also have students who play darts, take part in gymnastics, dance, and play basketball. They are a very active group. Congratulations to all the tamariki and their wonderful supporters who make sure they get to practice and games, plus all the in-between running about.

What a fun day we had on the last day of term finishing off mahi then making Easter Baskets. The Easter Bunny dropped off some treats and everyone went home ready for a restful holiday break! Look after yourselves and your whānau over the holidays and enjoy!

Today we were treated to sweet birthday delights from Kyle and Josiah. Kyle brought in delicious chocolate chippie cookies and Josiah brought in delicious cupcakes and easter eggs as they have birthdays at the beginning of the school holidays. Ngā mihi nui to them and their whānau for sharing their treats with us, especially on the last day of Term 1. Hari Huritau ngā tama!

This term, we read Tangaroa’s Gift as part of our Seaweek learning. We started with chalk to create swirly waves. Then we used pastels and paper towels to blend our colours. Next came the green and yellow pastel for the seaweed, then the blue dye to create the underwater scene. The paua was another process. We added designs to our paua, coloured them in, then scrunched up tissue paper to add effect and volume to our artwork. Finally, we added beads, and Whaea Deb added a sprinkle of glitter to finish them off. Our paua nestled amongst the seaweed under the ocean make our classroom look like an undersea garden. Tino pai to pikitia ngā tamariki!

Today, we had Cathy and Whaea Jen visit our class to talk about the problem with Plastic in our oceans and alternatives that we could use instead of plastic. The tamariki talked about Glad Wrap in their lunch boxes, and Cathy showed the class beeswax re-usable wraps. The tamariki were so excited to make their own using cloth, fabric pens, and then dipped in beeswax. We had a few bees try and come to see what was happening but we managed to get through the session without one bee sting. The class are looking forward to using their wraps ASAP!

Ngā mihi nui to Cathy and Whaea Jen from CBEC for coming to share there learning with us and to Whaea Jade and Mrs Stevenson for organising this cool kaupapa for Te Manga!

We celebrated Mrs Dane’s special birthday today with a fantastic assembly. It was really lovely for all of us to be part of her special day, and the tamariki wrote very sweet messages for her card. I think she will have a great birthday if she even gets half of what Te Manga are offering!

What an awesome day of Rippa Rugby at Arnold Rae Park! With 57 enthusiastic tamariki from Te Manga and Te Tinana spread across six teams, the action was non-stop. Each team played five exciting games, showing off their speed, skills, and teamwork.

The whānau support was incredible, creating a wonderful atmosphere for our players. It was fantastic to hear so many positive comments from referees and supporters about the great behaviour and sportsmanship on display. The tamariki gave it their all, and their hard work and dedication shone through in every match.

A huge ngā mihi nui to the organisers for putting together such a fantastic event. Ka mau te wehi, everyone!

Kia ora whānau,

What a fantastic and busy term we’ve had in Te Pūawai! Since our last update, we have been diving deep into our learning about Our Oceans, exploring Healthy Oceans, Our Moana in Aotearoa, Kaitiakitanga, and Making a Difference. Through this inquiry, we have learned about marine reserves, sea creatures, marine food webs and chains, seaweed species, and—most importantly—the impact and influence we, as humans, have on our moana.

As we move into the final two weeks of the term, our focus will shift to ANZAC Day , ensuring our tamariki understand the significance of this important commemoration, which takes place during the upcoming school holidays.

In Writing, we recently reviewed our school gala, reflecting on the highlights of this exciting event. To extend our digital skills, we explored Canva to publish snippets of our reviews, which we have shared on our individual blogs.

Looking ahead to Term 2, we hope to begin our mahinga kai learning —provided Ranginui blesses us with some much-needed rain to end our current drought!

Reading Reminder: Please encourage your tamariki to read every night to build their reading mileage! They have access to ReadWorks and ReadTheory, which offer a range of passages and articles to help expand their general knowledge and strengthen their comprehension strategies.

Mathematics Focus: We will continue with a strong number focus next term. So far, our Year 4⃣ students have been working with three-digit numbers for addition and subtraction, while our Year 5⃣ students have extended their learning to numbers up to 10,000. We have also covered identifying, reading, writing, ordering, and comparing numbers, along with estimating sums and differences and using addition and subtraction strategies with and without regrouping.

Sports Update: This term has been packed with sporting events, including football festivals and rippa rugby tournaments . Our students have demonstrated outstanding determination and sportsmanship at these events—ka mau te wehi!

Te Reo me Tikanga Māori: We have been exploring pūrākau connected to our school pou . Over the holidays, we encourage students to continue working on their pepeha/tātai rangatira , as we will be focusing on presenting these in Term 2 to our class and syndicate.

Food for Thought Nutrition Programme

This term, we were lucky to take part in the Food for Thought nutrition programme, which ran over three sessions with Whaea Melissa. Our tamariki learned how to read nutrition labels, explored the different food groups, discovered how much sugar is hidden in our drinks, and discussed ways to make healthy choices about what we consume. To wrap up our learning, we were fortunate to receive a gift card to organise our own class morning tea —a delicious way to celebrate the end of a busy term!

Whānau Welcome! As always, whānau are welcome to visit our class at any time. Thank you for your ongoing support—we look forward to another exciting term of learning ahead!

Ngā mihi,
Te Pūawai