Term 3, Week 5: Book Week

Week 5 has been another very busy week.  The annual book week celebration took place this week with the culmination being the traditional book character costume parade, held in the auditorium.

There were some rather liberal interpretations of 'book character' but nevertheless it was fantastic to see so many of the senior students dressing up for the occasion.

Duncan Garner and other staff from TV3's story programme served as judges and the parade was filmed to feature on television later that night.

From Room 15, Adrena was selected as our representative in the final for best costume.

Term 3, Week 4: Music / BBI Visit

This term, our focus in the arts curriculum is music.  In week four, we were privileged  to witness two wonderful musical performances.

On Monday artist Horomona Horo played a variety of Taongo Puoro (Maori musical instruments). He also taught us about their origins and how they were used in traditional Maori culture.

On Tuesday we were entertained by a performance call Strike - a group of artists who use percussion instruments.

On Wednesday, New Windsor's year six students had an orientation visit to Blockhouse Bay Intermediate School. It was an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the school setting, the facilities and some of the teachers they will work with in 2017.

Term 3, Week 4: Swimming

The middle  stages of term three are going to be a very busy period.

Swimming lessons recommenced for Room 15 this week.  Our students are very privileged to receive free swimming instruction in our indoor heated pool.  Very few schools in the country have such an opportunity.

To that end, it was pleasing to see most of the class participate in the swimming lessons.  The children are placed into three groups to cater for their confidence and ability in the water. Each group of about 5-10 students has their own instructor.

Here are some photos:

Term 3, Week 3: Olympic Parade

As part of this term's focus on the Olympic Games, New Windsor School held an Olympic parade of nations on the top court on Friday 12th August.

Each class chose a country to adopt from a provided list. The list of nations were the countries that the school has flags for, courtesy of Mrs Rodgers who donated a set of flags as a parting gift to the school earlier this year.

Room 15 chose Pakistan because one of our class members is currently visiting that country.

Here are a couple of photos from the day:

Term 3 Week 2: Gymnastics

One of the sports we will be focusing on this term is gymnastics.  Most weeks we will have two sessions of skills. One session with gym coaches from Sport Waitakere. The second session will be a combined session with Room 7 run by the classroom teachers.

These will culminate in a visit to the Tri-Star Gymnasium. A facility purpose-built for gymnastics training and featuring all the gymnastic equipment as seen at the Olympics!

Here are some photos from a recent session.

Term 3 Week 1: Curriculum Overview

Welcome back to school everybody.

Our contexts of study will be:

• Numeracy:  Number knowledge
• Strand maths:  Time
• Reading / Writing:   Narratives / Chapter books
• Social Studies: The Olympic Games
• The Arts: Music  (Recorder Playing)
• Physical Education:   Gymnastics,  Swimming    and athletics  towards the end of the term

One of our class members, Manal, will be spending the term in Pakistan visiting relatives. We hope you have a wonderful time and share your experiences with us.

Term 2 Week 10: Term Update

A belated update on events over the latter half of term two.

Thank you to parents who found time to attended the parent-teacher conferences. It was nice to meet you all and the best opportunity to share your child's successes and communicate any areas they need to work on.

Most of the class attended a production of Dexter's Amazing African Adventure at the Auckland Performing Arts Centre. This was a fun way to conclude term two's focus on drama in the arts component of the curriculum. Thank you to our buddy class's teacher, Mrs Chester, for organising this opportunity.

The three week trial of Surface Pro tablets ended up being extended to five weeks - an opportunity we were most grateful for.

Examples of the way we utilised these in the classroom programme included:

• installing the 'Snip' application and using the touch screen pen to record and articulate mental strategies in maths
• using One Note as an online digital workspace (whole-class collaborations and individual portfolios)
• using the 'Sway' application to produce on-line presentations
• using on-line resources to support reading and maths

We will try to add some links to examples of our work, so revisit this post at a later date.

Mr Hunt