Years 1, 2 & 3

Feb - We are settling into our routines well in our Kānuka class of 17. We have picked up where we left off last year with our Better Start Literacy Approach in reading. It has been really heartening to see how well the skills and knowledge gained through this phonics based teaching approach have been retained over the long Christmas break! Thank you to our wonderful Kanuka helpers .... Val and Tessa during literacy time and Miriam literally 'diving in' to help our children in the pool!

April - The Kanuka students are certainly going to miss Mr Couper… and his special smelly stickers! They love racing off to his office to share their Reading, Writing and Maths. We are fortunate that he always welcomes us with a big smile and is keen to celebrate our learning. Freya said…’He always helped me when the chain came off my bike’. Chanelle said …’He was always pumping balls up’. Elsie said…’He helps our community, pays for stuff and gives out prizes!’ Sarai said… ‘He sets up and  organises the WHOLE triathlon’. Wairua said…’He helped me pull my tooth out!’ Margot said…’He helps when someone gets hurt’. Also a HUGE thank you to Tessa and Grace for assisting with Literacy this term

June - It's sometimes hard to curb the enthusiasm in Kānuka these days! There has been a frenzy of book writing; tales from pterodactyls in prehistoric Dinoland, to pet dogs in own back yards in Little River! Authors, illustrators and publishers are coming out of the woodwork and baring their creative souls. 

The enthusiasm for writing has spilled over into our topic maths. Our Geometry unit has seen art, maths and writing collide. We created artworks with geometric shapes (just one of the artworks pictured), counted and recorded the shapes we used, then wrote the story behind our picture.

Enthusiasm again abounded at the recent Cross Country:

Amazing - Elsie    

Spectacular - Freya    

Exciting - Stella

I loved the race - Margot    

I loved the team run! - Izzy          

I loved my team buddies but I got a stitch - Chanelle

I loved running with my team mates - Heidi               

I was proud of how I ran - Isobel

I liked running by myself - Mila       

I was nervous - Erin          

It was extremely exciting - Oliver

It was extreme! - Gabe                 

I loved the chocolate food and all the other food! - Matthew

August - On Tuesday our school went to watch NZ Playhouse Theatre perform ‘Treasure Island’, see our pictures (above left).

These are our Kānuka thoughts:

Heidi, Mila and Chanelle loved it when they sang the Apples and Cheese song because it was funny.

Freya really liked it when they were sailing on the boat and they arrived at Treasure Island because they made the boat with props and it was really cool and clever. All of us loved it when the people had the sword fight! They used tiny swords! It was so funny!

September -  It's been wonderful having Mrs McFarlane/mum/aunty/Grace teaching these past couple of weeks while Mrs Cochrane has been travelling. Along with creative writing about our pets, we've done lots of art; painting daffodils and making tulips to bring spring time into our classroom. For Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori we have been learning our mihi and created a visual pepeha each…Anna Lopas

December - Last Friday, Kānuka and Tōtara got to go to Duvauchelle School for the Fun Day!!! We loved when we dipped our faces in the flour to pick up the lollies, we got sprayed while we were going under a net, we had to throw gumboots, and do a race on play horses. We also had to eat dried Weetbix!!!!... a whole one!! It was funny when the parents had to do it! We got to play on the cool DPS playground afterwards. We loved it!! Thank you DPS :) …Anna Lopas & Andi Cochrane