Week 5, Term 4

Crazy times! These are the 16 gorgeous faces of Renwick 3!


We have finished our lessons with Constable John for Keeping Ourselves Safe. Over the next couple of weeks we will be looking at asking an adult we trust for help and safety rules. The KOS programme has been hugely beneficial for the children to reinforce key messages they need to understand in order to keep themselves safe. Thank you for your support at home with the programme.

For our end of year production we will be joining 'forces' with Room 11. Tracy and I have been putting together our ideas for 'Caterpillar Boogie'. A notice will come home next week in regard to costumes, parent working bees etc.

Over this term during writing we have been learning about how to write a narrative story. The children have produced some excellent pieces of imaginary stories. It seems to have inspired many reluctant writers which is fabulous.

Next week...
Our sounds will be 't' and 'i'. Our words are my, go, use and why. Our reading and writing focus is to ensure what we read and write makes sense.
During maths time we are skip counting in 2's, 5's and 10's.
On Friday's one of the senior classes is selling Juicies to fund raise for their school camp. Many of our children missed out last week as they had sold out by the time we had finished our lunch. Next week I will attempt to pre-order them so this does not happen again.
Have a happy and safe week!

Week 4, Term 4

On Friday afternoon we had a short ceremony to 'open' the new playground equipment organised by the Student Council. The members from the Student Council researched playground equipment that they thought would be suitable for the needs of Nelson Central School children. The School Community Group supported and funded the endeavour which we can all now enjoy. Many thanks to all those involved!


At Wednesday lunchtime we all took to the front field with our air guitars to attempt a local record of the number of people playing at a time. This was in order to raise funds for a senior school camp. We had some silky smooth moves which were most impressive to onlookers!!

Our class size is up to 16 now that Sylvie has joined us. We have been talking a lot about how to support our new friends as they start school. Being a kind and caring friend is crucial to the success of newcomers. The bottom line is that we stick to them like glue!

This week...
Our sounds this week are s/a and br.
Our words are see/come/school and word endings ‘ed’, ‘s’, ‘ing’.
During maths our class focus is the number before a given number.
We have our last session with Constable John this Thursday and we are talking about Secrets and Tricks. During our lessons on ‘Saying No’ the children were a little confused over the tone of voice required to say no to an adult. We have been practising our ‘firm’ voice over the last few days to impress Constable John on his return this week.
This Thursday afternoon at 2.30 there is a parent meeting in Trinity Hall for information on class placement for next year. If you have any further queries please feel free to contact me.
Have a happy and safe week.

Week 3 Term 4

We have started our Keeping Ourselves Safe topic this week. Constable John joined us on Thursday to teach us about all kinds of touch. The children are thoroughly enjoying the work we have done to date. If you have any questions please feel free to see me.

We have been having lots of fun during maths this week engaging in a variety of activities!

Our social skill we are talking about for the next couple of weeks is 'No Put Downs'. We have been brainstorming lots of positive things we can say to people to brighten their day!

Our production songs are sounding as sweet as honey! We will shift up a gear towards production when we have completed our KOS topic.

Next week...

Our sounds will be q/l or long i. Our words will be me/here or now/more.
During maths our focus is counting backwards.
Constable John will be returning on Wednesday for a lesson on 'Saying no'.
On Wednesday lunchtime the entire school will be trying to break a record for the number of children participating in an 'air guitar' performance. We have some very silky moves up our sleeves!
Have a happy and safe week.

Week 2, Term 4

To begin the term we have been learning how to be Sunsmart. The children have very sound knowledge on the harmful effects that the sun can have on us. We created some colourful hats by weaving paper.


This week we had our second tennis coaching session. It was tricky stuff! But true to form we didn't give up we just kept on trying.

As you may have heard we had 5 children 'graduate' to Renwick 2 last Friday! It is not the normal practise of the Kowhai syndicate to move children part way through the year and this decision was not made lightly. We are in the tricky situation where the amount of children enrolled to start school this term does not warrant another class. We considered a number of options and felt this was the least disruptive for the majority of children.

Next week...
Our words will be a/the or walk/want. Our sounds will be 'e' or the long u vowel.
During maths we are recapping on patterns to 5 and 10.
This week we will start our Keeping Ourselves Safe. We will start off the program ensuring children know their address and phone number, followed by discussing feelings. On Thursday Constable John will join us to take a session on touch. If you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to see me.
We have our final Grasshopper tennis session on Wednesday with the coach. From there on in it will be me taking the sessions.
At the end of the year we will be having a Kowhai production at the School of Music. We have started learning songs and actions so prepare yourselves for an extravaganza!
Have a happy and safe week.

Week 10, Term 3

To celebrate the end of term we had a 'Lemonade Party'. We made our own bottled lemonade last week...attempting to create 'gas'. We were extremely successful!! When we first made the lemonade the bottles were soft and squelchy but after leaving them in a warm place for a week they had turned rock hard! As we opened the bottle we could hear the sneaky gas escaping with a hissing sound. It tasted delicious with many of us returning for second and third helpings. We finished our tasting session with a scrumptious shared kai.

Our folk dancing display was absolutely stupendous. We had a wonderful time demonstrating all the skills we had been learning through the term. Thank you so much to all the parents, family and friends who were able to come and support us.

Next term...
Term 4 always seems to start with a tinge of sadness for me as this is the last term we will be together. I am so very proud of what the children have achieved this year. They have all come such a long way and I feel honoured to have been a part of that journey with them. Thank you for all your support.
On Monday we are delighted to welcome a new friend to Renwick 3, Ayla Davis. Ayla has recently returned from the U.K. with her family.
A little bird also told me that we now have two six year olds in Renwick 3! Where does the time go??
Over the next few weeks we will be looking at long vowel sounds during reading time. Our tricky words will be any & before.
During maths we will be focusing on number knowledge.
We have a busy term topic wise. We start by looking at being Sun Smart. This is a timely reminder for children to remember sunhats and to stay safe in the sun. We then go onto Keeping Ourselves Safe. More information will follow on this topic. We end the term by studying Night and Day/Shadows.
Our P.E. focus is run, jump and throw. We have timetabled swimming but this depends on the weather and temperature of the water in the pool.
I hope you have all had a wonderful break and I look forward to seeing everyone happy faces on Monday.

Week 9, Term 3

This week in Renwick 3 we have been carrying out some science experiments. We tried to make some lemonade using water, lemon juice and baking soda, which added the gas.

Although we seem to get lots of gas it didn't look very appealing to drink so we decided to come up with a plan!

On Friday Funday we decided to make our own 'drinkable' lemonade. We mixed up some sugar with warm water until the sugar dissolved. We then added the juice of 3 lemons and quarter of a teaspoon of dried yeast. We are hoping that the yeast will help add some 'gas' to our 'liquid'. We have bottled the golden liquid and hope it will be ready to drink this Friday. We need to wait for the yeast to do its 'magic'.

Next week...
Our sounds will be wh and ph. Our words will be when and where.
During maths we will be looking at skip counting as a class focus.
Please remember that all library books are due back this week. We have a number outstanding to date and it would be great to get them all back before the end of term.
This Thursday is our folk dancing display. The children are very excited and have been working very hard. The display will be in Trinity Hall at 2.30pm. We look forward to seeing you there.
Thank you for all your support during the term. I think we all deserve a well earned break. I hope you have a happy and safe holiday!

Week 8, Term 3

This week during maths time we have been looking at continuing a repeating pattern. We used all sorts of materials. Our partners had to work out our pattern and try and repeat it.

For our inquiry topic we have been looking at how heat can change the state of a solid. We started with chocolate buttons as a solid (we knew they were solid because we had to sample one first!!). When we put the bowl of chocolate inside the bowl of hot water the chocolate started to melt. It had turned into a liquid which we could pour into the ice cube tray. We were able to change the shape of the chocolate from a circle to a heart shape. After leaving it for an hour the chocolate turned back into a solid...which of course we had to test again!!

Next week...
Our sounds will be er and ar. Our words will be you and so.
During maths time we will be looking at number sequences.
Please remember to take a look at the children's calendar art which is displayed outside the class. If you wish to order cards, diaries or calendars kindly send back the order form this week.
In the last week of term we are joining together with Room 11 for our folk dancing display. This will be on Thursday 23rd at 2.30pm in Trinity Hall. We are very excited to share our progress with family and friends. A notice will come home next week.
Have a happy and safe week!