Last Friday, the children and teaching staff in Te Ara Whakatau were treated to a very special visit from De (Autumn’s Mumma) and sister Oaklee, who arrived in an Army Pinzgauer Ambulance. This exciting visit gave our tamariki a hands-on opportunity to learn more about Anzac Day and the important role of medics in the New Zealand Army.

De shared with the children what it means to be a medic and spoke about how she helps people both here in New Zealand and around the world. She talked about some of her trips abroad and the ways she supports others in times of need, helping the children make meaningful connections to service, care, and helping communities.

One of the highlights of the visit was exploring the Army ambulance. Every child had the chance to climb aboard, look around, and ask questions. The excitement was clear to see in the smiles on their faces and the thoughtful, curious questions they asked. It was wonderful to see such engagement as the children explored the vehicle and learned about its purpose.

This was a fantastic way to bring learning about Anzac Day to life and provide a real-world connection for our tamariki. We feel so lucky to have had such an awesome opportunity and would like to thank De for sharing her time, knowledge, and experiences with us. What a memorable and inspiring experience for everyone involved!

Today, we welcomed our newest cohort of students to Ara Tū Whakatā – Gilberthorpe School. We look forward to getting to know them and seeing them thrive in their learning journeys.

We hope you have all had a lovely Easter weekend! Here is some fun we had on Thursday (our last day of school) when someone with some big paws left us a special surprise in the garden! I wonder who it might have been?

This term, we’re exploring “How we are special and unique” by looking at our culture—the treasure chest of things inside us that make us special—who we are, our families, languages, and traditions.

We have been using Kiwiana as a fun way to talk about New Zealand culture. The kids loved making and tasting lolly cake (Mrs V tried it for the first time — she loved it!). Check out our pictures of the tamariki getting hands on and having fun baking below.

This week in Kura Pounamu, we learned the days of the week. The children worked in small groups to put the days in the right order.

Each child had a turn. Students listened to each other, gave ideas, and helped one another figure out where each day should go. When someone was unsure, classmates offered gentle reminders or tips to help them remember.

It was a fun activity that showed great teamwork. Children practised taking turns, listening, and helping others. Seeing them support each other was a real highlight.

We have also been linking the days to things happening at school — for example, Tuesday is Kapa Haka day and Wednesday we do gymnastics — so the children can start to remember routines. For now, the students are getting confident with the days of the week — and with working together.

Building a hut with sheets is a simple, creative way to turn any room into a cosy escape, and we made huts as part of our Play Based Learning. Students had a lot of fun creating and exploring their huts together. With school holidays coming up and some cooler days ahead, this is something you can easily try at home. It’s a small reminder that joy can come from simple things.

Last week the children had so much fun using empty boxes and their imaginations. They worked together to create tall towers, cities, rocking chairs, cars, hats, mountains and houses. It was wonderful to step back and watch their creativity come to life as they played and explored with such simple materials.

Activities like this are a great reminder that children don’t need expensive toys to have meaningful play experiences. During the school holidays, you might like to try something similar at home by saving a few empty boxes and letting your child build, create and imagine. You might be surprised at the amazing things they come up with!

This is my blog post.

Intro

Today, we were learning how to use Google Drawings. We used the shape and pen tools. I found the pen tool difficult, but I will work on using it in the future.

Reflection

Even though I found the pen tool difficult, I am proud of how I kept trying and made some really cool fish.

Question

How would you make this better?

Te Rōpū Whakaute and Te Rōpū Wawata had a very busy afternoon being super creative!

Can you guess what we were making?

Today we went to the Duffy Theatre show! This is definitely a highlight of the whole term for us, it was so much fun! Duffy is the programme that provides all of our fantastic tamariki with two free books in terms 1, 2, and 3. Today’s show was about how Duffy had to use his reading and writing skills to help him when he got stuck inside a computer game with his cousin. It is such a fun and interactive show, you could ask your child/children about it and they could tell you their favourite part!



We have been having so much fun learning about the Winter Olympics! Last week Te Rōpū Whakaute and Te Rōpū Wawata got together with our Senior buddy classes Te Rōpū Mangōpare and Te Rōpū Manawaroa to have some epic Winter Olympic fun! We watched a video of luging and then we made our own luges before finally testing them on the slide! Check out our fun below!

Check out all the pictures we made with the Numicon Shapes. Can you guess what they are?

Everyone had an awesome time at the colour run and were so excited to see how they looked at the end.

Here are some wonderful Acrostic poems written by Kānuka students last week to start off our poetry writing unit this term. Luckily, the tamariki have a lot of poetic writing skills already after our Descriptive writing learning last term! An Acrostic poem is a poem in which the first letter of each line spells out a word, name, or phrase when read vertically. What are each of these poems about?

Messi is the best because he looks like an

Elephant because he is the goat with Ronaldo and they

Scored the goal and they scored the Champion’s League

So they have to be the goat

So I need to practice to be like the goats.

Amir H. 

Puppy was digging in the sand.

Under water tricks.

Pop the Moosie Lolo.

Pop pop good job little man.

You are the best Lolo. You are genius. You are the happiest puppy Lolo.

Maysa 

Pushing through the forest of North America

At a waterfall the cubs run to their mother.

No, black panther is a type of panther.

Tall trees and the fall make a habitat for the animals.

High above head eagles swoop and dive.

Er, er, and alligator snaps at the cubs.

Rescue is on the way. Mum charges at the gator and claws out, the panther bites the gator’s neck.

Ben 

Did the puppy jump over the fence?

Oh, the puppy did jump over the fence!

Good puppy is the richest, cutest, fluffiest puppy!!!

Haowen

Kites, kites. OH NO DON’T CHASE THE KITES!!!

In the bed you jump to snuggle. Aww so cute.

Tight claws a bit sharp for a little animal like you.

Trying to climb. Umm…you’re a bit too small.

Eww hair ball.

Not very happy about you scratching the curtains.

Indy

Do not touch my bone. I will chase you cat

Or I will eat you for dinner.

Great. Now I had my dinner.

Shreyan

Kittens being cute. They are white, black even blue.

In my house, there’s no trouble, but at night…

They’re on the double for…

Trouble!!!

Eh, well they’re just a little

Naughty.

Olivia

Dotty pup jumps, runs around and plays.

Oh, do you want to play boy?

Good boy Spotty! I love you.

Indy

Digging in the sand. “Don’t get dirty!” I called out.

Obviously, he was going to get dirty.

“Get here now! You need a bath!”

Olivia

Today it was my birthday and Mrs Ryan’s birthday too! We decided this must mean that we had to have a party of course! We enjoyed playing pin the tail on the donkey, having some dancing time, and playing pass the parcel,  and had fairy bread, it was so much fun!

We started this term by giving a very big warm welcome to Fletcher, James, Emilia, Udvan, and Kudrat! We are so excited to see your smiling faces and we are looking forward to learning more about you all!

Today, we explored our new classroom, new toys and new friends. When we explore we learn new things.

We had a picnic to finish the term.

What an end to the term!

Today the Honu reading group shared a play they have been working on. They had a focus of expression, fluency and cooperation.

Some of the members were a bit nervous but we thought they did amazing.

This week we looked at our Hero Helpful Hemi. We learnt we can be like Helpful Hemi by sharing. Taking turns, using kind words and helping our friends when they need it. We can also be helpful by tidying up our classroom and looking after our things.