Koru Team News: Term 3 Week 9

Kia ora e te whānau,

We hope you are all having a lovely weekend together with your families! We have been very busy in the Koru team over the past fortnight:

we've had some very exciting new outdoor equipment arrive, and the children have been having fun experimenting with its use
we've had two fun Learning Through Play themes: 'Puppets' and 'Shops'
and the children are continuing to make great progress in their Literacy and Maths learning! Thank you so much for your support with this at home - it makes such an enormous difference.

It has also been wonderful to see our tamariki independently unpacking their bags, putting away their lunchboxes and drink bottles, and putting their folders in the correct reading folder containers each morning. We appreciate and thank you for your continued support with this.

We would like to say a very warm welcome to Finley who started school last week. It is so lovely to have Finley in the hub with us. He has settled in beautifully, and our 'Golden Oldies' have made him feel very welcome and at home.

Word of the Week: Throughout the year, each week we have a school-wide 'Word of the Week'. Some of our focus words this term, have included: Determination, Empathy, Resilience, Respect, and Kindness. This week we have been focusing on Co-operation. We have been discussing and reflecting on what our play and relationships will look like, sound like, and feel like when co-operation is being incorporated into what we say and do. You'll see some impressive examples of cooperation in the photos below! We encourage you to talk with your children about these values and to ask them what they believe each of these words means.

Learning Through Play: During each school day, our tamariki are involved in Learning through Play activities incorporating different social competencies, all while the children are engaged in play. This can involve:

improving social skills, such as turn-taking, sharing, negotiating, and ensuring that things remain fair
being aware of the use of our school kete values in the classroom environment
learning new tricks and skills, as well as being inventive, with the outdoor equipment
role playing within some of the different play areas like the family corner, the puppet theatre and the shops display, and
learning how to work together with others and practise the skills needed to work collaboratively and to be a team player.

We also have different themes to help spark interest in the Learning Through Play. Throughout Term 3, our themes have included: obstacle courses, cafes, vets, puppets, and shops. These themes have provided tamariki with endless opportunities and new ideas for their play. In the photos below, you will see how creative and imaginative our tamariki are. The children have been very creative in their use of the new outdoor equipment which has arrived.

Awesome balancing on the new 'stilts'!

What a cool creation for Bounce and Skip, and what a wonderful example of cooperation!

That's a tall tower team (and more fantastic cooperation).

Showing We Love Challenge with this incredibly challenging jigsaw puzzle.

"Come with me - let's go play!"

Practising our fancy footwork before the disco.

Playing shops: "I would like this one, please."

"Thank you for shopping, and have a lovely day!"

What an awesome hut you've built - so cosy!

Trying out the Hungry Hippos game and using excellent turn-taking skills.

Woohoo! What impressive balancing!

Look at all the different little things in here.

Teamwork makes the dream work. What amazing balancing skills!

What a fantastic tower you've built out of the hexagons.

Disco: On Friday afternoon, we had our school disco. What a fun time the children all had practising their dance moves and enjoying spending time with friends and having a boogie! We loved seeing them in their amazing and beautiful disco outfits. Here are photos of some of our tamariki at the disco!