Newsletter Week 8 Term 3
Sawyers Bay School 15th September 2022
Principal's Message
Kia ora koutou,
We are very excited about our Polyfest performance which will probably have happened by the time you read this newsletter! We hope to be able to share the video with you after the event if we can. A big well done to all of our tamariki, kaiako and especially Miss Laing for pulling it all together.
I am sure by now that you will be aware that there will be a memorial day for the Queen on Monday 26th September. As an official public holiday, we must close for the day.
Next week the school will be a little quieter perhaps as Miss Tenci and myself accompany our Year 6 students to Camp Columba from Tuesday to Friday. It is always the highlight for our Year 6 akonga and we know that it will be an amazing week where the chidlren will grow in confidence, leadership and independence.
Haere taka mua, taka muri; kaua e whai
Mā te wā,
Gareth Swete
Upcoming Events
- Tuesday 20th - Friday 23rd September - Year Six School Camp
- Monday 26th September - Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Day
- Friday 30th September - Last day of Term 3
- Monday 17th October - First day of Term 4
Farewell Rob
Certificates Week 7 Term 3
Te Akonga o te Wiki
Papatūānuku
Kia Ora everyone!
The tamariki are very excited for today’s performance at the Otago Polyfest!
We hope you get to see it either in person or you can watch it via the live stream, or later at a time that suits you.
The tamariki have worked extremely hard to follow instructions of where to stand, learning the waiata, learning the haka and all of the hand and arm actions that accompany these.
We are so proud of their efforts.
We are enjoying our Wednesday Show and Tell time which is a nice opportunity for the children to bring something important to them, that they can share and talk about to the class.
This is an opportunity to develop our ability to speak to a group, to remember to name something, say where it is from, what it does and why it is special to us. We usually write a description of what one of these special items looks like, for our independent writing activity, which means we are learning to sound out lots of new words and put what we say into written form.
We have continued to learn to read the time, to the o’clock, and some of us are learning to read ‘half past’ times too. So far our learning has all been on an analogue clock so if you have one at home, and you see an opportunity for your child to tell you the time, I hope they enjoy showing you what they have learned in class!
Report by Mrs Campbell
Hine-Rau-Whārangi
Mālō e lelei, kia ora, talofa, hello
What a great week it has been in Hine-Rau-Wharangi. We have been super busy practicing for our Kapa haka performance and have made some great Harakeke (flax) head bands. We are a little nervous but very excited also. We were outside on Wednesday using the metre rulers in Math, practicing ruling a line and writing the length of what we had drawn. The students thought it would also be interesting to draw around each other and measure how tall they were after they had made an estimation.
Below are some of the other highlights from the children's week of learning.
I have enjoyed writing a story about, What I want to be when I am older. (Ella)
I enjoyed running because it gives me more energy. (Herepo)
I like reading so I can learn to read by myself. (Stan)
I liked all the Kapa Haka practices that we have been learning for our performance. (Willow)
In Math I have enjoyed learning about measurement and measuring stuff. (Rex)
I like learning the new Math (Mele)
Report by Mrs Brewer
Tāwhirimātea
This week we have been busy with daily practices for our upcoming Polyfest performance. I am so proud of how much energy and effort each and every one of the children put into this and we are very excited for you all to see our performance. In Math we have been learning to tell the time. We have been watching and listening to a rather catchy song - “What does the clock say?”. We made our own fox clocks and are using these to help us read, write and tell the time in both analogue and digital formats. Things got competitive when we put our time telling skills to the test by playing a game of ‘Tick tock, four in a row’ where we had to spin a spinner for each of the hands on the clock. This gave us a time which we could cover with our counter. If we got 4 in a row on the board we won the game! You can support your children in their learning about time by asking them to tell you the time on clocks at home, or by identifying important times on the clock such as bed time, time for school or dinner time. You could even extend their learning by asking what time time will be in half an hour, 15 minutes etc. We are most excited to have started putting together our electronic quiz boards this week. Most of us have researched and recorded our facts and have turned these into questions and answers. We are now sticking these onto our boxes, creating an eye catching title and adding the bolts which will form part of our circuits. It won't be long now until we invite you in to test out our quiz boards!!
Report by Mrs Swete
Ranginui
Kia Ora Ranginui Whanau
We are so excited to be performing our Kapa Haka at the Edgar Center today. The whole school sounds fantastic and I have often felt that wonderful feeling when the school sings proudly.
This week in Ranginui the children have written a beehive of facts about the Northern Lights after sorting through true or false statements. They have begun to create visual art of the lights and will work on the colouring to make it appear like an aurora.
The children are enjoying a new game Takahia paki which has Te Reo and matching actions.
Ka Kite from the children in Ranginui
Miss Grellet Hale and Miss Ruzsa
Hinemoana
Kia Ora! Miss Mackay here, bringing you the “low down” from Week 8 in Hinemoana.
Every morning this week we have been practicing for our Polyfest Kapa Haka performance. Our hard work is paying off, we are looking and sounding fantastic. Hinemoana have been excellent senior role models for the junior students in the school, performing with heart and conviction. Well done Hinemoana and good luck for your performance!
We are continuing to work really hard in identifying and writing different types of sentences. As we learn more about this area of grammar, we gain control over our writing styles. We hope to put these new skills to the test over the next couple of weeks as we venture into some persuasive writing.
In Maths we continue with our work on transformations. Our tessellations have filled our pages with no gaps and no overlaps, creating interesting patterns to add detail and colour to. We have begun to look at lines of symmetry and reflection. What can you find around home that is symmetrical? Hinemoana LOVE to defend their mathematical reasoning! Ask them why they think something is symmetrical or not to hear their logic come to life.
We had a visitor on Tuesday, a game developer from Dunedin who has lately released a beat making game called Animal Tracks. Hinemoana showed their creative talents by writing their own beats and melodies. You can check out the game at heihei.nz, fun for kids and adults alike.
I’m having a blast learning to teach in Hinemoana, and that’s mostly thanks to your children’s welcoming attitudes. They are a very cool group of kids, with a super dedicated and knowledgeable teacher in Miss Laing. Thank you for having me Hinemoana!
Report by Miss Mackay
Tāne Mahuta
It has been a lot of fun challenging ourselves recently with some poetry learning in Tane Mahuta. For our poetry learning we have expanded our ideas about lots of different types of figurative language as well as explored different types of poetry. We looked at culturally different poems as well as different poetry types, like: imagery poems, epic poems, acrostic poems, rhyming poems and the one that we’re focusing on in particular, is free verse poems. We have started to craft some poems of our own and we are looking forward to publishing these in the upcoming weeks! We have attached a poem from one of our class members for you all to take a look at! It is only one of the examples of our awesome poetry work.
Super Sonic
By: Boon Franzbowden
He burns like a bright light,
Every time he needs to fight,
Even knowing he has the emerald’s power,
He can’t use it more than an hour,
Every time the emeralds spin around,
His smile turns into a frown,
When Super Sonic goes KA BLAM!
Egg Man goes ‘Oh dang!’,
A little, strong hedgehog covered in spikes,
He will always win the fight!
Report by Miss Tenci
Community Notices
Sawyers Bay School Board Elections
Sawyers Bay School
School Board Elections 2022
Parent & Staff Elections Results Declaration
Parent representative votes:
Ashton, Stefanie 65
Chapman, Holly 66
Dawe, Anita 55
Dick, Matthew 55
Giddens, Tim 51
Prasad, Michael 28
Invalid Votes 0
I hereby declare the following duly elected:
Ashton, Stefanie
Chapman, Holly
Dawe, Anita
Dick, Matthew
Giddens, Tim
Staff representative votes:
At the close of nominations, as there was only one valid nomination received, I hereby declare the following duly elected:
Campbell, Hilary
Kyla Martyn
Returning Officer
Celebrate NZ Bookshop Day at Pictura, Port Chalmers' newest children's book shop. Spot prizes, bookmark hunt, sweet treats & more. 8 October 2022, 10am-2pm, 23 George Street, Port Chalmers. Visit www.picturabooks.co.nz and use discount code SAWYERS15 (active from 3 Oct to 9 Oct) for 15% off your order.
Let's go fishing
Otago Fish & Game’s popular Take A Kid Fishing events are back this year.
We are running four free sessions from 10am to noon at Southern Reservoir, Reservoir Road, Dunedin, on September 17, 18, 24 and 25, 2022.
You must register to attend. Go to the Otago Fish and Game Council Facebook page, or follow the link below:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MC68SQF
Due to popular demand, participants may register for one day only. Numbers will be limited to 120 children per event.
Spare fishing rods will be available along with experts to help kids get started. Parents or caregivers must be present to supervise children.
Thanks to our supporters at the Otago Community Trust and Oceana Gold.
Contact Us
Email: office@sawyersbay.school.nz
Website: https://sawyersbay.school.nz/
Location: Sawyers Bay School 99 Stevenson Ave, Sawyers Bay, Dunedin 9023, New Zealand
Phone: 03 472 8981