Reading in Waitī

 After morning tea every day, tamariki come into the class and choose their own books to read to themselves. Initially they start with textless readers - creating the stories themselves. Then they move on to what you will see below, reading books using sight words they have learned from the 'Early Words' program. This tamaiti can recognise three of the four words she is reading - she then uses the picture to give her a clue to what the last word in the sentence is. The next step will be to use a small number sounds to decode words by herself. From there she will fly! Mā te huruhuru ka rere te manu. 

Dissolving dangerous dinosaur....eggs!!!!

 A touch of science, fine motor skills, social skills (turn taking) all rolled up into this fun activity to discover the different dinosaurs at the centre of some baking soda eggs. 

Bubbles

 The big book we have been reading as a full class this week is 'Bubbles'.

Click here for the text.

Click here for the audio.

Tamariki really enjoy the humour in this book, as well as the familiarity of reading it everyday over the week. Building their confidence and perception of themselves as readers.

On Friday we blew bubbles...

The Tree Hut Treaty

At the beginning of the year we talk about a class treaty. An agreement of the types of behaviour we want to see in the class, and what to do if someone does not live by the treaty. To help tamariki understand what is meant by having a treaty - we read the book "The Tree Hut Treaty". It talks briefly about the treaty entered into by the Crown and Māori in 1840.

After reading this book we talked together about a treaty for Waitī.

Here are some of the ideas the tamariki came up with;

Be kind.

Kind hands.

Sit properly, hands together.

Don't break the things people have made.

Be nice to each other.

Look after our things.

Listening to each other.

He pai rawa atu! It is so wonderful to be among tamariki with such great ideas! I can tell it's going to be a great year already!

Ko Tiriti - also we have started Kapa Haka again. Ko Tiriti was one of the songs we have learnt already this year. 

Water play!

 It seems a little left of centre to have water play when we are experiencing so much rain - however - one tamaiti in Waitī really loves to use the sanitiser to squirt out. So we set up the water trough to give tamariki an opportunity to explore different ways of squirting - in an appropriate way!! Ka rawe!

This is an activity that everyone can take part in equally, no matter what their abilities are. It provides an opportunity to practise taking turns and negotiating for different pieces of equipment. Valuable life skills.

The very (missing???) hungry caterpillar!

 The first photo taken earlier this week was of a healthy big caterpillar making short work of the swan plants outside the class room. Some of the tamariki have been watching his progress and reporting back each day about his healthy appetite.

Imagine our shock and dismay when we checked in with our garden on Friday to find - there was no caterpillar!!! We talked about the different reasons he might have disappeared. Had ha made a chrysalis? Not that we could see... Had a bird eaten him? Maybe... Had Spiderman taken him back to his house? Anything is possible!

It was hot - so we went for a walk around the school - when we returned Stone's careful looking eyes noticed something VERY small small on a different swan plant...

Creatives in Schools

 During Term 1 2022 Ōtaki School is taking part in a Ministry of Education funded project - Creatives in Schools. We are lucky enough to have Jonas Koukl working with the full school. This week as a Junior school, we got together to meet Jonas. He has a lot of instruments and demonstrated some of them for us. 

Each week each class will have different musical experiences. Next week classes will participate in a workshop - Taonga Puoro - each class will experience 1.5 hours of interactive music with 300+ ethnic musical instruments. Following that each class will experience Waiata in Motion - circle dance session and singing. Waiata mārie - music relaxation - listening and participating in calm sounds. All tamariki will participate in Kōauau making workshops. They will create their own kōauau out of bamboo. 

This is an amazing opportunity for our tamariki! We are all very excited to have Jonas with us this Term.

First Day!

 Just a few photo's of the first day back...

Tamariki enjoyed working around the room together...

We explored the school - visiting our friends and siblings over the fence at Ōtaki Kindergarten!

We found out where Matua Rauru is during the day...

We planted some swan plants - noting the caterpillar munching away...

Nau mai haere mai e te whānau!

Nau mai ki Waitī Ōtaki School!

The summer has flown past! I hope you and your whānau have had a lovely break together! It is still so hot - we will be swimming every day. I will be teaching swimming skills as part of our Physical Education program. Please ensure your child brings their togs to school every day! Ngā mihi!

Tamariki, as they start school, need to be able to dress themselves and look after their belongings. I suggest they become in charge of their own bags. Even if you lay their things out for them - that your tamaiti packs their own bag and zips it up themselves. They will need to do this at school. They also need to be able to put on their own shoes. All of your tamaiti's belongings need to be labelled with their names. This ensures if they are dropped around the school they can find the way back again. 

Thank you to those that have organised stationary already. It really helps to settle students into our class rountines quickly. Stationary can be put on your school account - please talk to Aroha in the office for help with this.

Just a reminder that we promote healthy eating at Ōtaki School - he hauora te taonga - health is wealth. Please no lollies or sugary drinks in lunch boxes. Lunches are provided by Libelle every day (click on the link for a menu). They are healthy and tasty lunches. I sit and eat the meals with all the students. All tamariki will still need morning tea and if possible a piece of fruit or vegetable for when we come in to class after lunch. Thanks to our school supporters I have muesli bars, nut mix and fruit cups that is available for your tamaiti.

I am really looking forward to being back in the classroom. Geeting to know new students and working away with returning students. Please if you have any concerns about your child do not hesitate to contact me.

Nicky