Art Gallery come to West Melton School

Today all children in the Harakeke Community participated in an art lesson run by the Christchurch Art Gallery, with their educator, Bianca.  All children got to "create" a creature using clay.  To do this they followed a design process and learnt new many new skills and techniques along the way.  Everyone said they "loved" making their creature (and want to do it again)!  The finished product will now take a week to dry.  

How wonderful to share today with so many grandparents and special guests of the children. Thank you to all those who were able to join us!

Week 8 KIT notice Term 3

11 September 2015       Term 3     Week 8 **********Head Lice ********** Please check your child’s hair for head lice as unfortunately they are persisting at the moment.  Information has previously been sent out via email on treatment. If you require another copy please see your child’s home teacher.   This week the children have enjoyed: Cricket with Sam from Canterbury Country Cricket - our local club is based at Weedons Domain Jump Jam with Mrs Kilpatrick Writing poems about ‘chips’ Bird Inquiry Our students have had a busy week designing and making bird posters in the Red room. Looking at the feeding habits and diet of birds and then designing and constructing bird feeders in the Green room and planting Kowhai seeds in the Yellow room to grow Native plants to attract and retain birds in the West Melton area. All of the children have had a wonderful time today on our trip to Orana Park. It was great to see the students enthusiasm for gaining more knowledge about the birds and their habitats. Many thanks to the parent helpers for their assistance in supervising the students on this trip. Please check out the blog as we post photos etc from this trip. Regards - Thelma,  Morgan, Heather and Jane http://kiwi-team.blogspot.co.nz/ http://wmsharakeke.blogspot.co.nz/ Upcoming Events and Reminders Basic Facts- Tests were undertaken yesterday (Thursday) for all children Spelling - Next test Friday 18th September Poetry books, please make sure that these are returned to school on Monday Library Books - Please try to have these back by Wednesday or Thursday

Superstars Cricket Academy

Today, Sam from Canterbury Country Cricket came to share his cricketing knowledge and skills with the Kiwi Team.  All children got to participate in an action packed session which included:

• Snowball tag played three different ways - running, jumping and skipping

• Batting practise 

• Fielding practise

Digital Creativity in the Harakeke Community

The Harakeke Learning Community are beginning to use Seesaw to create, record and share their learning. Please click on the  links below a taste of what is to come. These are just two of the poems that we have been working on these past few days, and we are excited to be able to share these with you. In the near future we will send parents and caregivers a link which will give the ability to be notified via email when their child has shared new learning and then to be able to comment on their work as well!


https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.9bdf129c-884c-42ff-afdc-d12301be2749&share_token=_DD62ZeyQASW4qhcBf_SDg&mode=share

https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.ffe45dfa-2c2b-4aee-9e94-62b49d8c7582&share_token=hcp9hPBXQ0Stc3EYGMIrFw&mode=share

Spring is here...

Spring is here I see sunny coloured daffodils, white puffy clouds filled with rain and magpies fluttering everywhere. I hear busy bees buzzing around the camellias and leaves rustle in the breeze. I smell sweet lavender and fragrant daphne. I feel the cool damp dew on the grass. Harakeke Green Room ~ Spring 2015

RED AREA - Lead Kiwi Sharing

Today the Niamh, Olivia M and Thomas P from the "RED" area, led Kiwi Sharing. They did a  fantastic job of presenting in front of so many people.

Ms Riley and the Head Students (Abbey and Caitlyn) came to hand out the certificates.  Certificates were given out to children for:

• Being a "KC Kid"
• Mathletics (Gold and Silver)
• Welcome certificates (NE children and Hunter, from  our community)

Six children also got their name pulled out of the "KC Coupon Box" to have a picnic lunch with Mrs Jackson, our principal.  Five of the six children were from Harakeke!   Go Harakeke!

The Harakeke children also enjoyed the opportunity to lead the rest of the Kiwi team in learning the school song.  They have been practising with Mrs Adcock and Gary the Guitar.  

Thank you, to everyone for being a great audience and a special thank you,to Kauri (3A) for sharing a song that they have been learning.

Cheeky Little Fantail

Customs Officers and Luka the Sniffer Dog come to talk about their careers

Today we were very lucky to have Jordyn's mum come along with her colleagues and Luka the Labrador to talk about their careers and to answer the children's questions about their training and the best parts about their jobs. Luka was able to find a 'planted' pre-arranged object in Jordyn's bag. This was a great demonstration of the capabilities of our countries border protection staff. 

Rakau Practise

Enjoy the video of the Harakeke learners practising their rakau at school this week.

Week 7 KIT book notice

5 June 2015 Hi everyone Welcome to week seven updates and information.  We hope you all enjoyed the extra day at the weekend. This week the children have enjoyed: Continuing to make up routines with their rakau sticks before the school day has started and today as part of their learning Having our first guest speakers come and talk about their occupations - thanks to Kerryn (Police Officer) and Kelvin (pilot) for their time Arbor Day “green” mufti and planting new trees to enhance our school environment Playing draughts and chess whenever there is time Going onto Mathletics and earning a certificate Thanks for the great week and making sure that Mrs Herring had a wonderful time being back in  the Harakeke Community. Regards -  Thelma,  Morgan and Heather Upcoming Events and Reminders Basic Tests were undertaken today and results will be sent home along with new lists (if appropriate). Next test - 19 June Spelling - next test - 12 June Library Books - remember to return these by Thursday please Poetry Books - thank you to the children who are returning these on Monday morning, it would be appreciated if all children could do this Mrs Herring will be away in Sydney for three days next week with the Leadership Team.  Mrs Co will being taking the “Red” children in her absence Harakeke/Kiwi Team Blogs: Make sure you check these out.  It’s a great way to check what the children have been doing. http://kiwi-team.blogspot.co.nz/ http://wmsharakeke.blogspot.co.nz/

Fractions at home and school

We have been looking at dividing shapes and objects into fractions. We cut up some fruit and Mr Tomlin's lunch in maths time. Then we cut up some more at home.This is what we had to say about our experiences of making fractions at home:

Lily- It was hard because we couldn’t think of anything to cut up at the start. My sister had two halves of the Feijoa- that equals a whole one! Mum and I also made fruit salad.

Finnian- It was easy to cut it up, but I had to be careful using the knife.

Josie-It will be tricky to cut it up evenly, I am looking forward to doing it tonight.

Matua- It was easy because you just had to put 1/8 or 1/10. I cut up a bagel.

Ollie- At my birthday party we had to cut up my cake into lots of pieces, everyone got a piece. My toast was yummy this morning, I cut it up into quarters.

Mitchell- Mum cut up the onion because it makes your eyes a wee bit stingy.

KIT book notice for week 5 term 2.

22nd May 2015

Some of the highlights from this week have been:

Mathletics: We have unlocked and altered some of the groups for mathletics. We have some very enthusiastic mathletes that practise their maths at home.

Te Reo Maori: Harakeke students have been practising their Maori designs and experimenting with contrasting colours so that they have a bold design on their Rakau sticks. We have around 100 magazines so far and need another 50 so that all students can make a pair of them.

Reading: We have been able to hear all of the students reading each day with the help of our parent volunteers. A big thank you to our parents who are giving up their time help listen to our students, they really appreciate being able to read to you.

Social Science: Children have been learning about different skills that are needed for possible future careers, in jobs of interest. If you are able to spare some of your time to speak to the children about your occupation please email Mr Tomlin on morgan.tomlin@westmelton.school.nz We will endeavour to fit your availability.

Harakeke and Kiwi Team Blog: Please make sure that you regularly check for updates on our blogs, this is a great way check out the things children have been doing in class.

http://kiwi-team.blogspot.co.nz/

http://wmsharakeke.blogspot.co.nz/

Events and Reminders

• KIT Books - children need to have their KIT books at school every day and particularly on Fridays for putting in this notice!

• Basic Facts tests- were undertaken today and results will be sent home on Monday along with new lists (if appropriate). The next test will be in week 7 term 2.
• Spelling Test - the next test is 29.5.15
• Library Books - we have our library sessions between 9-11:00am on Friday mornings, so children should return their library books to the yellow library return box by Thursday afternoon please.

Poetry Books - thank you to all children who are returning these on Monday mornings.

Developmental

On Friday afternoons the learners in the Harakeke room are able to choose to engage in a wide variety of learning activities that develop their creativity, thinking, social, and problem solving skills. They can construct, write, compute, design, dramatise, strategise, read depending on their interests. This time is always a highlight of the children's week and we love the engagement levels as they follow their passions.