Wow! What a fun afternoon we all had doing the Colour Run.

We began the run getting splashed by the firefighters, Mrs Harris and Mr Smith – we noticed that the spray from the hoses made mini rainbows! We ran through a range of different obstacles, like nets, hurdles, and balance beams, all while getting covered in different coloured paints.

It was great to see the Top 4 fundraisers for Te Manu Tukutuku were all members of Team Toi Toi – Yeeyah Toi Toi! A big shout out to Maringinoa, Noah, Lucas M, and Layla.

A big thank you to Mr V for organising such a fun day.

We have been learning about the letter N. We used crayon and dye to colour some nests for our wall display.

Today we all came to school to celebrate Colour Your Day. Everyone looked absolutely amazing in their bright colourful clothes. This was a celebration for E Tu Tangata, which reminds us to stand up for standing out.

Congratulations to the following students from Team Toi Toi who won the Colour Your Day colouring in competition.

Mrs Norris – Fu Tian

Miss Lauder – Nivah, Yuvan

Miss Pringle – Sienna, Kiel

Miss McBride – Lilliana, Kevin

Miss Hollings – Millie, Frankie

Miss Simpson – Mila, Ethan

During our maths sessions, Kōwhai (Whaea Neriza’s whanau class) have been learning about New Zealand money.

First, we learnt about what the different New Zealand coins looked like.

Then we got to colour them in ourselves.

The following day we learnt about bank notes and who and what was on them.

We then got to make our own bank notes by cutting out pictures of the fronts and backs of bank notes and sticking them together.

To end our learning about money we got to play shops. We all had a turn at playing the shop keeper: selling things, giving change and telling people when they had to go to the bank to get more money!

It was so much fun! We had an awesome time learning about money.

Have a look at our problem solving this week. Can you play this at home with your family? Rememeber this is on our Toroa Website under Maths-Book 2

Week seven started with St Patrick’s Day. There was green everywhere. Great to see so many people, students and teachers, enjoy the challenge of wearing green.

On Thursday we were lucky enough to have Dahlia Malaeulu come into the school and chat to the students. Dahlia is a Duffy Schools Role Model. The students listened intently as she discussed how she has written books, the first being about her children. She was able to show the books to us and we even have some that will be put into our library for the students to enjoy in their own time.

Following the assembly the Duffy books were distributed to the classes and handed out by the teachers. We are very lucky to be part of the Duffy Books in Schools programme and receive books for our students throughout the year. These books are for the students to enjoy and keep at home.

This afternoon, the ākonga enjoyed exploring mathematics in all sorts of ways with our friends from Pūkeko!

The children love when they have the opportunity to come together as a whole hub. It was awesome to hear and see them work together and participate in Numicon activities that were set at their individual interests.

Last week, on Thursday, Mrs Grimwood took all of Matuku out for an awesome writing session about bubbles.

She first tasked the children to notice what the bubbles looked like, sounded like, and felt like. Then they went outside and noticed the bubbles that were coming out of bubble machines Mrs Grimwood provided.

The kids noticed that the bubbles were round and rainbow coloured, that they made no sound when they popped, and that they felt wet and sticky!

The children were then tasked with  drawing bubbles and writing a sentence about what they experienced.

The kids had an awesome time writing about bubbles with Mrs Grimwood! Thanks Mrs Grimwood!

On Monday and Tuesday afternoon we have a group of students who get to learn through play. Have a look at what we have been doing this week.

This week, we had the pleasure of welcoming two wonderful educators from Science Alive! They delivered an engaging 40-minute lesson to each class in Team Toi Toi, sparking excitement and curiosity among our learners. The children were eager to explore fascinating facts about the sun, the moon, and the Earth. The interactive sessions made them feel like real scientists, giving them opportunities to share their knowledge while discovering even more about our incredible solar system.    

It was a scorcher outside today, so an excellent day to kick off our two weeks of Swimming at King’s Swim School.

We had a great time singing Waiata on the bus and engaging in some new learning in the water.

We have been looking at the whakatauki ‘He Waka Eke Noa’ translating as we are all in the same boat, working on listening to and supporting each other and today that definitely came through. Everyone cooperated and worked together to help our first swimming trip run super smooth.

This week we were lucky enough to have the Duffy Theatre come and perform for us.

The show this year was called “Duffy and Scruffy’s Pawesome Adventure.”

Duffy and Scruffy’s Aunty Ana/Uncle Ben is the best! They are the epitome of a cool aunty/uncle but they have some sad news, they need to move to Australia for their job! Duffy and Scruffy are devastated until Ana/Ben suggests they start a book club and write physical letters to each other as a way of staying in touch. The letters spring back and forward between Aotearoa and Aussie until one day when they mysteriously stop; Aunty Ana/Uncle Ben has gone missing! Scruffy thinks they know why and is ready to solve another mystery. This story is full of super-hero adventures and furry animals, will reading be able to save the day again!

Thank you Duffy for coming to visit Te Manu Tukutuku South Hornby School!

This week in Whāriki Nui we have been learning about how to form our numbers and count correctly.

Today to have to help the rabbit get across the river by counting.

Check it out below

Matuku had their first swimming lesson today at King’s Swim School.

They had a fun ride on the bus before making their way to the pool.

When they got there the kids were very independent and got themselves changed and ready to get into the water. They were buzzing with excitement!

The kid’s were put into groups based on their confidence in the water.

For some of our kids it was their first time in the water.

It was great to see them having a go and having lots of fun!

What an awesome first day of swimming lessons! We can’t wait to come back tomorrow!

We had the biggest pleasure meeting all our families in our Toi Toi team. Thank you to all that made the brave effort to adventure down to your child’s class in the thunder storm and share some kai. It was lovely to introduce ourselves more as teachers and to see  families interacting. Our students were very excited to show off their learning spaces, work books and art that is displayed on the walls. If you couldn’t make it, our doors are always open to have a chat or to see your child’s work.

Last week, one of the students in our class told us that a Monarch Butterfly had hatched in her house. There was a lot of excitement in Whio Rata and we wanted to find out more about Monarch Butterflies.

Learn

We wrote down our questions and wonderings about Monarach Butterflies and then we carried out some research. We have been focussing on Poetry in our Writing so we decided to write poems about Monarch Butterflies and include some of the elements that we have been learning about. Finally, we have just started to learn more about sketching for Visual Art this term so we wanted to include a realistic drawing of a Monarch Butterfly. We were able to use our Chromebooks to carry out some research and to help us to find real life drawings on Monarch Butterflies.

Create

Everyone wrote a poem and drew a picture of a Monarch Butterfly.

Share

We decided to share our work on the class blog so that everyone could see what we have been doing.

A Chrysalis in Whio Rata: On Friday we were luck to have our own chrysalis in Whio Rata and we saw a Monarch Butterfly hatching! This was an amazing experience and we can’t wait to learn more about butterflies.

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“Come and look at what we have built Whaea Muriel?” What a beautiful piece of structural engineering from these three friends. They have built a multi faceted staircase that leads to the pinnacle and longest Number Rod. All placement of Number Rods are correct and the number of Rods varied depending in their placement in the structure. Ka rawe koutou mā! (Nice everyone)

Last week we read the story called ‘Paper Dolls’ by Julia Donaldson. It is a fabulous story about the importance of memories and change over time.

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Learn:

We were inspired to think deeply about the special memories we have from when we were little. For example, baking with a grandparent, riding a bike for the first time or making something with a friend. Everyone was able to share a special memory orally and this helped us to get to know each other better.

Create:

Everyone made their very own paper doll.

Share:

Our paper dolls have been displayed in our classroom for everyone to see. They are a wonderful representation of us and they have been coloured beautifully.