Another Fun Friday in Pikopiko

Dexter the Cat

After Horatio visited us in Pikopiko last week, we were very lucky to have a second live exhibit for our oral language talks today! Another friend in our team has a Ragdoll cat and brought him along to see us. His name is Dexter and he is nearly 1 year old. He was a little bit scared by all of us but it was lovely to see him

This afternoon we were invited to an amazing learning celebration by the middle and senior syndicates around their different visual arts themes. Kahikatea modelled some fabulous wearable arts that were truly stunning. Maybe some of these students will be inspired to go on and take part in the Wellington Wearable Art Awards competition one day. The Kauri team made masks that were all so different and unique. It was interesting to go around the tables and talk to the students about their designs and what had inspired them. They also did a great job of modelling these as they walked across the hall and down the runway. The Pohutukawa team have been learning about graffiti and yarn bombing. Recently, the entrance way to their learning space looked spectacular with all the creative woollen installations. We especially enjoyed their video with a wonderful photos of their learning. The music was very cool and kept us all bobbing on the spot as we watched!

Today we also checked out the new song by a collaboration of New Zealand musicians that has been released to raise money for Battens Disease and also to support the All Blacks as they head off to England to play in the Rugby World Cup. Lots of us really enjoyed watching it so we put it on the blog so families can enjoy it over the weekend if they are interested.

Mammoths and Arrows!

This morning one of our team came prepared to talk to us about Woolly Mammoths...he had been thinking of our letter of the week 'Ww' and we were fascinated to learn more about the mammoths that once roamed on earth. We discussed the differences between elephants and mammoths and discovered that mammoths were larger, had more hair and their tusks curled more than elephants. We also found out that they most likely became extinct because of the earth getting warmer and also hunters killing them. We saw some hair that came from a mammoth carcass after it had died and also looked at a large leg bone. What an exciting start to our day!

After lunch we got busy with a job to help prepare for the school gala. Our team is in charge of painting arrows to point people to the various stalls and events at the gala. We used rollers to spread brightly coloured paint all over the cardboard. We plan to add some spots to make them even more fabulous.

Junior Inquiry Celebration

What a fabulous afternoon we had today! Thank you so much to all the parents, grandparents, families and friends who came along to share our learning with us. We started in the hall and sang together with Kowhai, and performed our special poem The Sound Collector. Then we came back to Pikopiko to show our families our wonderful movies. Once we had watched those, everyone headed out into the sunshine to play some old fashioned games like marbles, hula hoops and hopscotch. We all had a lot of fun! Thank you for your support it was great to see everybody there.

A snippet of our beautiful singing:

Few Reminders

We had a big practice in the hall this afternoon to prepare for tomorrow's inquiry celebration. We hope lots of you can come and join us as we share our learning about Living in the Past. Families and grandparents are all invited and remember the coffee cart will be operating! See you tomorrow 2pm in the hall.

Also make sure you check reading folders today for an important notice about our trip to the Christchurch School of Gym next Wednesday September 16th. Please return the permission form as soon as possible and come and see us if you missed out on a notice.

After our hall disruption last week we are back to normal and will be running PMP this Wednesday at 2.15 so would love any helpers who are available. Thanks!

Junior Inquiry Celebration - Next Tuesday 2.00pm in the Hall

We are really looking forward to sharing our learning around our "Living in the Past" topic with parents, grandparents and friends next Tuesday at 2pm. We will meet in the hall for some songs and poems and then head back to Kowhai and Pikopiko to show you our special projects. There will also be a selection of games for you to try alongside the children. The coffee cart will be all go so you can purchase a hot drink if you wish.

Outstanding Lexia Learning!

It was very exciting at assembly today to see how many Pikopiko children had reached the end of a level and earned themselves a Lexia certificate. You guys have been doing some fantastic work at home and we are very proud of you all. The time you spend on Lexia will help make you all awesome readers.

Ethan's Version of 'The Sound Collector'

We have all done some hard work learning all the verses of Roger McGough's poem and it was interesting to see how Ethan applied the structure of the poem to a new theme of taste. Check it out below. The teachers challenge some other Pikopiko children to do the same.

The Taste Collector

The sweetness of the lollipop,

The sourness of the lemon.

The burning of the chilli bean,

When it's in our eyes.

The taste of the chocolate,

The yummy broccoli,

The really yucky taste,

Of Mum's coffee!

Horatio Comes to Pikopiko

One of our prepared talks today involved a live exhibit - Horatio the cat. We learned that Horatio's breed is Ragdoll and that he is 4 months old. He is incredibly fluffy and soft and likes to play fetch! Imagine that, a cat that plays fetch. It was great to learn some more about caring for cats.

Special Visitor!

We also had a very special visitor in Pikopiko today - Amalia was back from Auckland for a holiday! She spent the afternoon with us and it was so lovely to see her and hear how everything is going. Thanks so much for visiting Amalia :) How did you go finishing off the pom pom you started making at Discovery?

PJs in Pikopiko!

Today it was very exciting to arrive at school and see everyone in their pyjamas! All the children had a turn doing a twirl in the middle of our big sharing circle so we could check out the different pyjamas. Lots of teddy bears and special friends came along too so it was one big party! We worked through our usual morning programme and then after lunch we watched a movie and even had bowls of popcorn to share. It was great fun to have such a different sort of day.

Volcanoes in the Volcano!

Today one of our volcano friends brought along a very special model that he set up in a shoe box for us to enjoy. There was a pre-historic background and a paper mache cave and volcano that had been carefully made and painted. There were two little dinosaurs that liked hanging out in the cave and there was even a grassy floor for the whole scene. We set it up for everyone to enjoy and it was a favourite choice for everyone. Thanks for bringing your model along!

Talking of volcanoes...Nathaniel came along with another model. This one was different because it was made out of plaster of paris. We filled the centre of the mountain with baking soda and orange dye and then Nathaniel drizzled in some vinegar which made for one spectacular eruption. We wrote about what happened on our whiteboards. Check out the movie. Nathaniel plans to share this with the Forest and Ocean tomorrow.

Today we erupted Nathaniel's volcano.

Call Out for Classroom Helpers

The Pikopiko team would love to have some extra help from parents and grandparents in our morning programme on Mondays to Thursdays.

We are able to offer the children a wider range of activities if we have extra adults to help out and we always have little jobs that we appreciate support with such as sticking poems into books, sharpening pencils and giving the tables a clean. It is really valuable to have an extra adult to read stories to the children too. We can find a way of helping that suits the particular strengths and interests of volunteers, for example craft/physical activities and we will support you every step of the way.

If you are not able to commit to a regular weekly slot, it may be that you can e-mail us with some dates that do work for you. That way we can plan particular activities knowing that we will have an extra pair of hands on board. We are really grateful to those parents who already help out either with PMP or in the classroom - thank you very much for time and energy.

Remember, you don't need any previous experience as we will provide lots of support.

Today the Volcano kids created volcano art works for our letter of the week focus. We couldn't have done it without Maresse (Solara's Mum) helping us. Thanks so much Maresse.