The best things in life are free...

We have had a glorious time enjoying the leaves around the school. Scurrying and scuffling through the leaves. Yippee! We found a PILE of leaves! They fell in them! They threw them! They ran and jumped and disappeared in them! At kura we often do things in order to extend language - and it was this thought that initiated investigating the leaves. But actually... sometimes it's just lovely to bask in the sheer joy of being five!!

Apples!

Our focus phoneme or sound for this week was 'a'. Seemed like a good opportunity to go apple picking at Penray! We jumped in the van together.

Sometimes the best part of going somewhere is the trip in the van!

We arrived at Penray...

We each got a bucket...

Then we put them in a trolley...

Literacy in action - we read the signs as we went to find apples...

Off in search of apples...

Then we picked apples...

When we finished we counted how many we had picked... Then we went for a wander to see what else grows at Penray. We found strawberry plants. As well as some tomato plants. We even saw some cows through the fence!

There was some singing... We paid for our apples and headed back to school.

In the afternoon we made juice from our apples! Te reka hoki!

On Friday we made crumble from the remaining apples.

Oma pae tawhiti - Cross Country at Haruātai Park

On Wednesday we walked as a full kura to Haruātai Park to compete in the cross country together.

We sat together as Kono on a whariki...

Whaea Chaka was the kaiwhakahaere for the afternoon. She gave us instructions about the race.

Then it was time to race! We ran to the start line!

First the boys lined up...

Then the girls...

They ran their hearts out! Ka mau te wehi!!

'Seaweed tea' update!

We checked on our 'seaweed tea' fertiliser that we are making for our maara kai. The water had turned a good brown colour. We all took turns smelling it. Ktk, the tamariki were not impressed by the smell! A small ammount of the 'seawed tea' went into each watering can and the tamariki then filled them up and watered our seedlings, the maara putiputi, and our huawhenua. Things are growing well! Tamariki will be able to bring home their seedlings soon for planting out in your gardens, your maara kai at home!

Duffy Theatre

Today we were lucky enough to be visited by Duffy Theatre!

Information about todays show taken from https://booksinhomes.org.nz/duffy-theatre/ Every year, two groups of travelling actors journey from North Cape to Bluff bringing the message It’s Cool to Read and Cool to Achieve to tens of thousands of Duffy kids. With over 500 schools to reach each year this exciting live 45-minute show has become a Duffy institution and a highlight of many school calendars. In previous years Duffy kids have been enthralled by shows such as Duffy Meets a Coggen, Duffy – Stuck in the Game! and Duffy in Bubble Trouble. This year Duffy kids have the chance to experience a brand new show – written just for them. Duffy has been reading a lot of mystery novels lately and we are lucky he has because a case has come up! His cousin, Crystal Kea, is a Black Fern but she is facing a crisis! Her stat card has been misprinted at the factory and it is really affecting her skill and confidence. Never fear, Duffy and Scruffy are on the case! Together, using their mystery books as a helpful guide, they must figure out who or what is behind the misprints so Crystal can get back to full form before her next game!

Toast!

Our focus sound for last week was 't'. As luck would have it 'toast' both begins and ends with 't', so it seemed entirely appropriate that we make it. Tamariki really enjoyed making their own piece of toast and spreading margarine on it. They enjoyed it so much in fact that everyone came back for seconds!!