Swimming Diaries: Day One!

Yes! Today was our first day of swimming this term. Most of us who were going swimming were very excited. We got changed at school, lined up and walked down to the bus which was waiting to take us to New Windsor School's swimming pool. It was a very quick trip and we were there, ready and eager for swimming before we knew it!

By the time our instructors had finished lessons with the previous class any nerves had disappeared and we were all eager to get into the water. We all got into the pool and the swimming instructors gave us a quick assessment and put us into three groups depending on how able and confident we were in the water. It was so much fun!

Then we got stuck into lessons straight away. We got to do lots of cool things in the water like using straight 'Superman' arms and kicking from the rail, being a starfish by floating on our backs, blowing bubbles in the water, and using 'noodles' and kickboards.

We'll be back in the pool tomorrow so please come and watch us swim whanau! Our lesson is at 11:30am at New Windsor School Pool. It's only half an hour long so come along and support us with our swimming lessons!

Congratulations Valentino and Ceazah-Blue!

Valentino and Ceazah-Blue both receive certificates for their writing this week. Both boys have been learning to be more independent with their writing. Valentino did a great story this week where he remembered finger spaces and really thought about what sounds he could hear words starting with to write in his story. Well done Valentino!

Likewise, Ceazah-Blue is having a go at using finger spaces, full stops and identifying sounds he hears in words and writing them down without having to check with the teacher. He's also writing words he finds on the sound/alphabet card in his stories. (If we can read a word, we can write a word - by finding it and copying it down!) Keep up the good work boys!

Hosanna! Jesus is our King!

This week is Holy Week and on Sunday it was Palm Sunday. Today during prayer time we read the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem. We learnt that the crowd was happy to see Jesus but the leaders were angry and jealous. We talked about how we are jealous sometimes and we thought about prayers we could say for Jesus to help us to not be jealous but to show peace and joy (two of our school values). At writing time we wrote stories to retell Jesus' ride to Jerusalem: 

'First Jesus told his friends to get himself a donkey', Ashleigh began.

'Next, Jesus ride with a donkey to Jerusalem', wrote Aden.

'Jesus had everybody staring', wrote Rosina. 

'The people are waving the palms', wrote Cyprus.

In the afternoon we made our own palms to welcome Jesus. We talked about how palms were special where Jesus was because they showed where water could be found in the desert. By waving palms and placing them down in front of Jesus the people were honouring him like a King.

The day allowed us to make lots of connections to work we did in the first week of term when we began our inquiry topic 'Identity' by talking about the identity and name of our school - 'Christ the King Catholic School'. We remembered how Christ is another name for Jesus and that he is our King. In the first week of term we made crowns to help us make this connection. 

"Jesus is our King!"

This afternoon your children all came home with a worksheet to share with you. Read it together, talk about the picture and the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem on the donkey. Maybe you have a Bible at home you can find the story in together. If you went to church on Palm Sunday remember together what happened.

Then, please finish the drawing of Jesus being welcomed and bring it back to school tomorrow. Thank you for supporting our learning at home!

Congratulations Cyprus and Rosina!

Congratulations to Cyprus and Rosina who received this week's Room Two excellence awards. Cyprus received his award for some great work in reading. He is doing lots of things that good readers do including thinking about the story and listening to his own reading. Listening to his own reading means Cyprus can notice when he makes a mistake and fix it himself (we call this 'self-monitoring') and it's fantastic to hear him doing it all by himself. Mahi pai Cyprus!

Rosina gets her award for growing confidence in writing. Rosina is building resilience in writing and has begun to have a go at writing words she wants in her stories all by herself. Well done Rosina - we are really impressed by how you are having a go all by yourself!

Our New Class Reps!

Today we voted for two class representatives. These representatives will meet regularly with Mrs Kopua and Mr Hadnett to talk about life at Christ the King Catholic School. They will be able to talk and listen to other reps and Mrs Kopua and Mr Hadnett about things going on in the school such as what we are doing well and what we can improve on.

Ten out of the twelve children in Room Two put themselves forward to be our class reps but we could only have two - so we had a vote.

Miss McKenna printed out pages with all the nominees photos on it and we got to circle the two we thought would be the best reps for our class. Trelia asked a great question which was "Can we vote for ourselves?" "Great question. Yes you can!" said Miss McKenna. So we all went away and secretly made our selection by circling the two photos of the students we wanted as our reps.

Miss McKenna and Miss C. were interested that some children voted for themselves - but some children voted for two other candidates.

In the end it was a close result but the girl with the most votes was Ashleigh and the boy with the most votes was Valentino. So they are our new class reps - congratulations Ashleigh and Valentino! 

Of course it is disappointing for some of us that we didn't get voted to be a class rep but we still showed lots of joy for Ashleigh and Valentino - we are happy for them and think they'll do a great job. Good luck you two!

Ashleigh and Valentino, our new class representatives!

An Invitation to Families of Five-Year-Olds Who Have Started This Year

"Are You The Wolf?"

Every time Miss Ewen goes past Room Two the children ask her excitedly "Are you the wolf?". That's because they love one of the games we've been playing in P.E. It's a bit like "What's the time Mr. Wolf?" except the children have to creep silently behind Miss Ewen and then freeze when she turns around and ask her "Are you the wolf?" If she says no and turns around the children continue to creep quietly after her. When she turns around again they repeat the question, "Are you the wolf?" Eventually she says yes and chases them all back to the start - and if they're not quick enough (or they've crept too close to her and can't get away quickly enough) they might be caught - like Deevon in the photo below!

This week in P.E. we focused on tennis skills (holding a racket correctly with two hands and practising hitting a ball while moving). The children had fun with this and there were some great hits made - we might have some budding future tennis stars in Rooms One and Two! Here are a few photos:

Aden about to make contact with the ball.

Joseph keeping his eye on the ball and about to make a hit.

Valentino after a great shot.

Cyprus aiming carefully for the ball.

Ceazah-Blue giving it a go.

We also continued to work on our throwing and catching skills. This week our focus was on underarm throwing. We had to make our arm like an elephant's trunk and swing our beanbag into the coloured hoop that was called out. The hoops were actually 'battleships' and if we got four beanbags in the targeted hoop we sunk it - this game was lots of fun and we are getting better with our aim and throwing. Well done Rooms One and Two!

 

Growing Resilience and a Growth Mindset

Congratulations to Tevita and Ashleigh who are the Room Two certificate recipients this week. Tevita gets his certificate for always taking care with the presentation of his work. Tevita works hard to produce lovely artwork. He always makes an effort to produce his best work when he is drawing - and if he thinks he can do better he tries again and makes improvements. Well done Tevita - you are showing resilience because you keep trying!

Ashleigh gets her certificate for reading aloud with enthusiasm and expression. She is using punctuation and other clues in the story (such as exclamation marks and bold text) to read with expression.

Reading with expression means Ashleigh is making her voice interesting when she reads. She is reading the text with feeling that matches what it means. This really helps with understanding a text because it instantly increases a child's access to meaning as they read.

When Ashleigh realises she hasn't read part of the story with the expression it needed she goes back and re-reads the text again - this time with expression. Mahi pai Ashleigh - you are showing a growth mindset because you know you can try again and do better!

P.E. with Room One and Miss Ewen

From this week on, every Monday, Thursday and Friday afternoon (apart from those weeks we are going swimming) we will be joining Room One to do P.E. with Miss Ratumaibuca and Miss Ewen. "Why do we do P.E.?" asked Miss Ewen. "Cos we can get healthy," replied Trelia. "And strong", said Joseph. That's two great reasons - and there's lots more. (Comment below to add to our list of why P.E. is important for our tamariki.)

This term our focus is on small ball skills. We will look at skills associated with different sports which use small balls (such as tennis and hockey). This week we focused on learning to catch and throw. We played some really fun games to help us learn these skills.

One of the games we played was called 'Bombs Away'. The children had to drop (not throw) a ball down and then scoop it up again with their hands to catch it after it had bounced. One of the important things the children had to remember was to 'glue' their pinkies together when they caught the ball so it didn't slip through. Some of us are really good at catching and we all had lots of fun practicing.

When we were practicing overarm throwing we had to hold the ball by our ear, make sure our elbows were up and aim with our other arm. Keanu thought we looked like archers with a bow and arrow - he's right!

Each lesson we end with a fun game. 'Pirate Treasure' was a fun game where we had to steal Miss Ewen's treasure while she wasn't looking and freeze when she turned around. It was lots of fun being active and practicing skills. Don't forget to comment below as to why you think P.E. is an important part of learning for our tamariki!

Congratulations Aden and Ayla!

A big congratulations to brother and sister Aden and Ayla who have both been working hard in Room Two and each received a certificate this week.

Aden's certificate is for always putting in a good effort at writing time by settling to work fast and trying his best. Aden has been learning to make sure he always puts a capital letter at the beginning of sentences, and punctuation (such as a full stop or exclamation mark) at the end of sentences. Aden has been concentrating hard on this and editing his work if he forgot to include capital letters or other punctuation when he was drafting.

Ayla was so excited to receive her certificate. It is for participating well at mat-time by sharing ideas and listening to others. Ayla always has an interesting contribution to make to discussions but she also listens well to the ideas of others which is just as important.

Mahi pai Aden and Ayla - keep up the great work!

Helping Each Other With Our Learning

In Room Two we are building learning relationships by helping each other with our learning. Knowing how to access resources to help us (in this case the teacher and other children) is a very important skill. And giving help to others displays our school values of love and service.

Today in class Trelia curiously brought her sound card to Miss McKenna and asked "Where is my?". Ceazah-Blue, who was sitting next to Miss McKenna, jumped up and said "Here, I'll find it!" and showed Trelia where it was.

Well done Trelia for asking questions to help your learning and thank you Ceazah-Blue for showing love and service by helping your classmate. What great learning relationships we are building!