Last week!

Hi all,

We are into the last week of school for 2012! AMAZING!

A busy one it is set to be too...

- tomorrow Kowhai are having a shared lunch to celebrate the end of our year together. Please send a plate of food along tomorrow morning. We will also be having a swim in the school pool so remember togs too!

- it is the Tararua Disco on Wednesday afternoon from 1.30pm. There will be glow sticks and chips for kids to purchase. Wednesday is also a mufti day for Tararua.

- Thursday is our final assembly. This is held in the St Matthew's Hall at 1pm. All children will be bused there from school but need to be collected from St Matthew's at 2.30pm. 

A reminder: PLEASE RETURN ACHIEVEMENT BOOKS TOMORROW!!!

Look forward to seeing you during the week at some stage.  

Sarah 

2 weeks to go!

Hi everyone,

What a wonderful time we had on the Year 5 camp last week - brilliant weather, kids and parents! Below are a couple of photos

We only have 2 more weeks at school for the year after today. Everyone now knows what class they are in next year and have spent 2 hours with their new teacher. Hopefully everyone is happy!

Achievement books are going home next Tuesday afternoon - this time they need to be returned within the week. Enjoy sharing all the hard work your child has done over the year!

Please don't hesitate to come and see me/visit Kowhai anytime :-)

Sarah 

Week 5

Kia ora,

We are half way through the last term for 2012! A scary thought!

We had a fabulous time at Carter Observatory last Thursday - I'm sure your child came back buzzing and tired. Below are some photos of our day:

8 Kowhai kids will be representing Solway at the Interschool Athletics this Wednesday  - we wish Siena, Sarah, Olivia, Malachi, Mack, Jake G, Rose and Beau-Leah the best of luck!

Ka kite,
Sarah

Photography competition

4 budding photographers from Kowhai have had their photos chosen to enter the 2012 Wairarapa Schools Photography competition. The major prize is a camera so fingers crossed!

Check them out below...

Paige's flower:

Anjalina's leaf:

Jazzelle's Kowhai flowers:

Beau-Leah's flower:

We are looking forward to the NZSO concert tomorrow afternoon. Please send along the slip if you are able to come to Wellington with us - we are short of transport at this stage (2 weeks away today!). 

Sarah

Welcome back

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow! We're straight back into it this week - look out for the Kowhai Term 4 newsletter in the school bag this week. 

Hope you have all had a wonderful holiday and ready for the 9 weeks ahead!

Sarah

Week 11

Kia ora koutou,

What a busy week we have ahead of us! 

Here's the run down:
Monday - Pied Piper Show at St Matthew's 1pm
Wednesday - Flower Day (am), Pet Day (1pm onwards)
Thursday - Skip-a-thon, 1.30pm
Friday - Reflection assembly, 9.15am (please come and support us)

Hope to see you at some of the events next week!

Sarah 

A real Eiffel Tower!

Wow Briar, we were blown away by your Eiffel Tower model this morning! The hours of effort that have gone into this are incredible!!!

Nearly there!

We are into the home stretch of Term 3, only 2 more weeks to go!

We had a fabulous day on Friday sampling some French cuisine...

There is a change to the oral language schedule this week. We decided on Friday that everyone will talk about something French or France related - the specifics are up to individuals. It may be what they have learnt over the last 3 weeks, it may be a little research project on a French building.

Thank you to all those who have offered to help with transport to the MIS concert this week and the Pied Piper show the following week.

We are beginning a unit on Myths and Legends this week - please send along any books you have at home that we could borrow.

Sarah

Week 9

Kia ora,

I was extremely impressed with the quality of oral language talks last week - we learnt about lots of new games Kowhai kids enjoy and many of them made their way to school for the day. 

We have lots to look forward to this coming week. The Tararua team are set to be the first audience for the Taratahi teams production on Tuesday. We are all travelling by bus to Masterton Intermediate School for this, returning before 3pm. 

A note should have come home on Friday about our French Feast this Friday. This will round off our passion study for the term. Please could each child contribute $2 towards the cost? Send to school ASAP. Lunch will not be required on this day. Thanks!

Kowhai kids produced some brilliant French Art last week - please do pop in for a look!

Sarah

Week 8

Kia ora whanau,

Thanks for being so generous again last Friday for Daffodil Day, another large amount was handed over, this time to the Cancer Society.

Hard to believe there are only 4 weeks left of the term! We are into the business end now and Kowhai continue to work hard. The kids are getting right into our French unit and enjoying learning some of the lingo. 

Please do pop in and have a look around at the learning your child has been busy with!

Sarah

Week 7

Mufti Day on Friday was hugely exciting! Here are Kowhai complete with their red noses. Solway School raised well over $300 for Cure Kids - amazing effort!

This week we will be wrapping up our Olympic Inquiry Unit and beginning our passion study for the term - FRENCH!! Hopefully your child will be able to teach you something French related over the next couple of weeks. 

I have sent links to the oral language recordings to some people and am waiting for email addresses for others. If you have not received the link, please let me know your correct email address. 

Have a great week - au revoir!

Sarah

Week 5

Another busy week coming up....

Tomorrow morning we welcome students from Masterton's sister city in Japan, Hatsukaichi. The choir are required to help welcome the students from 8.30am. 

Life Education are also spending the week at Solway. Kowhai will spend 2 sessions on board their truck. We will be studying the 'Friends' module which focuses on friendships and relationships. We will take a break from learning about the Olympics to concentrate on this. 

Oral language talks will be recorded this week for the Term 3 achievement book sample - kids need to be prepared to talk about a prominent Olympic athlete for at least 2 minutes. Looking forward to hearing them!

Well done to all those Kowhai kids who have represented Solway so brilliantly at various events over the past two weeks. 

Week 4

Kia ora koutou,

Week 3 finished on a high after an awful rainy week. The kids who spent the day singing took part in a stunning concert on Friday night - it was beautiful to listen to. The rest of us got crafty with the Olympics! A great day was had by all!

Fingers crossed the ground has dried out enough for the Rippa Rugby tournament to be held tomorrow. We also have a number of children participating in the Large Ball Skills tournament on Wednesday afternoon. Many thanks to those parents who are helping out with all these events.

Here's hoping for some outside lunchtimes this week!

Sarah

Week 3

Kia ora koutou,

Everyone has settled back into school mode very easily and some wonderful learning is going on in Kowhai.

Jake impressed us all with his Olympic Lego creations last week which he brought along for oral language. He made the Olympic rings and a rowing pair!

We have the choir trip this Friday. A lot of Kowhai kids are taking part in this - looking forward to hearing them perform Friday evening!

Ka kite ano,
Sarah

Class Newsletter

Welcome back to Kowhai for Term 3! I hope you enjoyed the holidays and everyone returns to school rearing to go. We have yet another action packed term ahead of us – 11 weeks this time! A special welcome to our newest Kowhai kid, Amelia Lambess and her whanau.

Special congratulations must go to Siena Cockburn and Sean Preston who received the special key competency awards in Solway’s reflection assembly last term.

Below is a brief outline of Term 3...

·    Attached to this newsletter is our Term 3 Oral Language timetable and talking topics. Please note the change in timetable. Children are welcome to bring along pictures/articles/props to aid their talk.

·    Our main focus in maths will be fractions, proportions and ratios. One day a week we will be working on algebra for the first half of the term, then swapping to geometry.

·      Every Monday we will continue to do personal experience writing (e.g. weekend news) with our major focus on writing narratives this term.

·      Our values this term are respect and obedience.

·      Our inquiry topic for Term 3 is The Olympics. We will be doing this for the first six weeks of term. The next two weeks will be spent on a teacher passion unit (to be confirmed!) and then the Tararua Syndicate will be focusing on science and myths and legends for the remainder of the term.

·      We will begin Term 3 focusing on ball skills for PE, moving onto poi and skipping later in the term.

·      You can expect your child to bring home a reading book each night as well as their spelling list to practice. Please listen to them read aloud every night – this is the only way they will improve their reading. Spelling tests will be held on Fridays. Homework books will go home on even weeks this term and are expected to be returned on Friday. In addition, homework for Term 3 includes preparing for their talking day and practicing their basic facts. Please support your child with these things on a daily basis.

·      Our library day is Tuesday. Children need to bring their home library book back before our library session so they can choose another book to take home.

As always please feel welcome to visit us in Kowhai anytime. Please do not hesitate to contact me via the school phone number (06 377 4850), email (sarahg@solway.school.nz) or of course in person.

See you soon!

Sarah  

Term 3 2012

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Luke Briar Tegan Mack Sophie	Beau-Leah Jake G Jacob Siena Gabby Paige	Amelia Jake H Daniel Malachi Yash Sarah	Chloe Rose Anjalina Jaden Olivia	Sean Linda Destiny Jazzelle Briley

Talking topics:

Week 1: Holidays – what did you do? What was the best part? Why?

Week 2: What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

Week 3: Tell us about a local, national or international current event – who, what, where, when, why and how?

Week 4: Tell us about your best day ever – and why!

Week 5: ACHIEVEMENT BOOK SAMPLE - Choose a prominent Olympic competitor and prepare a factual report about them for the class. What sport do they compete in? Where are they from? Have they won any medals? What has been their biggest success? Tell us any other facts you can find out about the athlete.

Week 6: Free choice

Week 7: Values – choose one of our values for Term 3 (respect or obedience). Tell us what the value means, how you show the value at home and at school and give us an example of how someone in your family shows the value in their life. 

Week 8: Bring along your favourite toy, game, puzzle etc from home and tell us about it.

Week 9: Choose your best piece of narrative writing from the term and read it to the class.

Week 10: Reflection on Term 3 – favourite part? Did you achieve your goals? What are you most proud of? What do you want to do better next term?

 

Welcome back

Hi,

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow - hope you have enjoyed the holidays. 

Look out for the class newsletter in the school bag this week!

Sarah

Holidays!

Hi,

Great to see so many Kowhai whanau in the audience this morning at the reflection assembly. We hope you enjoyed the morning. 

I hope you all have a fabulous holiday with your fantastic kids. Looking forward to Term 3 already!

Check out some pictures of our 'Table Challenge' this morning...

Last week of Term 2!

Hard the believe the last week is upon us already!

I hope you can join us on Friday for Solway's Reflection Assembly at 9:15am in the hall. 

Below are some photos from Week 9 - NZ Symphony Orchestra visit and Rippa Rugby.

 

Week 9

Well done to all the Solway children who all did so well at the Inter School Cross Country during the week - we are very proud of you! Check out some photos via the Solway website.

The kids are still working very hard - they are particularly enjoying getting stuck into researching a native bird of their choice. We'll be working on designing posters this week.

Oral language for this week: choose a poem to read to the class.

This Wednesday we are very lucky to be having a visit from the NZ Symphony Orchestra. They will be playing to the Tararua Syndicate in the early afternoon. 

We will also be continuing with Rippa Rugby which the kids loved on Friday (photos also on school website)!

Ka kite ano,

Sarah 

Rakau video

Check out Kowhai taking part in rakau (Maori stick games) today!

Week 8

Kia ora,

How nice to see the sun this weekend!

It'll be a shock to the system having a five day week this week. Plenty to keep us busy though - we will be starting ti rakau (Maori stick games) and gymnastics this week. 

It was a shame cancelling the school cross country due to the weather last week. However we do wish the following Kowhai kids luck when they run at the Masterton Inter-school cross country at Rathkeale this Wednesday: Jake G, Sarah, Malachi, Rose, Mack, Sophie, Siena, Jazzelle, Linda, and Beau-Leah.

I am busy writing National Standard Interim Reports at the moment. You can expect them to arrive home with your child's achievement book. These will go home at the beginning of Week 10. Not far away now!

Have a great week,

Sarah

Week 7

Kia ora,

I hope the extra long weekend was a good one for you and your whanau. The big event for Week 7 is of course the cross country on Wednesday afternoon (fingers crossed the weather holds). The whole school have been training hard for the event. Below are some photos from last week:

This week the kids are reciting their mihi as part of oral language. A lot of hard work has gone into learning these - can't wait to hear them!

See you on Wednesday.

Sarah

Cross country transport HELP!

HELP HELP HELP!

Can you help transport Kowhai kids to the Solway Primary cross country next Wednesday 6th June??? We will be leaving Solway at 12.30pm for the Solway Showgrounds, ready for a 1pm race start.

You will be able to take your child directly home once the event is over (around 3pm). 

Please let me know ASAP if you can help.

Much appreciated!

Sarah

Week 6

Hi everyone, 

Believe it or not we are already half way through the term. Unbelievable! Kowhai are continuing to work as hard as ever. The eagerness to learn in our room is awesome!

Our oral language topic for this week is related to our inquiry unit:

Choose a New Zealand native bird (a bird that only lives in NZ) and tell us about it:

- What are the features of the bird (e.g. beak, feathers, legs, claws etc?)

- How do these features help this bird to survive?

- Where does it live?

- What does it eat?

- Have you found out any other interesting information?

We had a great start to our cross country training last week weather wise. Everyone is trying their best which was fantastic. 

Sarah