Rata whanau have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather that comes with term 4 and getting out into our outdoor classroom daily. Tamariki have been exploring a range of learning opportunities. Here are some of the opportunities we have explored in our outdoor classroom this week …

• weight and capacity using the water tray and the sandpit
• practising our fine motor and scissor skills by getting crafty – making word crowns, bracelets and necklaces
• developing our number knowledge and addition strategies through dice games and dominoes
• exploring music and sounds in our environment
• creating chalk art
• creating our own menus for dramatic play
• building our word and letter sounds knowledge using different resources – ping pong balls, magnetic letters, and word building games
• using blocks and legos to create
• comparing the heights of dinosaurs and exploring different units of measurement
• working on our resilience and social skills when working together and problem solving

A major highlight for many of our students was watching, talking and drawing pictures of the construction site through the fence. This week there has been an excavator, a dump truck and even a concrete mixer! The crew have all been working hard to plant some beautiful plants on the other side of our fence. Every day our tamariki ask – is it time to go over to see the old folks? Have the builders finished our path yet? We are hoping that one day soon we will be able to visit and share with the residents.

It is lovely to see the students so excited to be back at school. As part of our Connected curriculum this term we are starting to introduce our Term 4 focus -

Illuminate- Go light your world - I am called to be a light to the world.

We will be looking at how we can grow our faith (head), share our faith (heart) and serve others (hands) by shining a light on them. We have been decorating the symbols of head, heart and hands to help us to understand and remember these concepts.

Students have been talking about what they would like to learn and make and how they would like to share this with others. Lots of opportunities will be provided for the students to design, make and create so it will be awesome to see what they share with each other, their whanau and our community as they go and light their world.

Consideration is the theme that we are focusing on for the next two weeks. Rata Whanau students understand that consideration is all about thoughtfulness towards others, and thinking about how other people feel. In Rata Tahi, we have been talking about what we do to show consideration to others in our school, at home, and in our wider community. Here are a few of the things the tamariki had to say:

“I clean up our classroom to help make everyone happy. We all like it when it is tidy.” – Aurora

“I clean up my mess before I leave the table so it’s ready for the next person to use.” –Ngamelia

“I give presents to people when they’re sad to make them happy.”- Tanush

“When people are hurt I help them and check if they are okay.”- Heaven-Leigh

“If I think someone looks sad, I ask them if they want to play with me.”-Raavi

“I play with everyone in my classroom. When new people come I welcome them.”- Shaanika

“I play with my friends outside and I help them when they’re hurt by taking them to the office.” -Aliyah

“We are gentle when we look after our friends. We ask them if they are feeling okay.”- Adin