Firstly we would like to extend a huge thank you to parents for supporting us with our new before and after school routines. While it has been a change for everyone the children have thrived! We have noticed a great improvement in the children’s independence and self managing skills as they do jobs such as unpacking their bags and getting organised for the day themselves.

It has been wonderful to see many of the junior children making the most of the PAL activities offered at lunchtimes. PAL (Physical Activity Leaders) are a group of senior students that organise and run different games and activities to encourage children to be active and learn new skills such as throwing and catching. We continue to be amazed by the wonderful activities that our PAL leaders are offering!

The rainy weather this week has seen an increase in slippery conditions and mud around the school. While we encourage the children to avoid these areas this is not always possible so we ask that each child has a spare change of clothes in their bag. We have also noticed an increase in lost items without names on them. Please ensure all items, including drink bottles are named so they can be easily returned. Any old clothes that you wish to donate to the school for spare clothes would be very much appreciated.

The school library is now closed. Children will still have a range of library books to read in their classrooms. However, they will not be able to bring anymore home. We ask that all library books at home are brought back as soon as possible.

As part of our health programme we will be teaching the Keeping Ourselves Safe programme in conjunction with the NZ Police in week 9 and 10. The Year 0-3 content can be accessed here.

We will be holding a meeting for parents in Room 1A, 3:30pm on Tuesday 8th September to discuss the content in more detail should you wish to attend.

We are excited to welcome back Susan Oldfield who will be opening our second New Entrant class in Room 11. Susan is a familiar face having previously been our Assistant Principal and New Entrant teacher so we know the Room 11 students will have a wonderful start to their school years!

Classroom Updates

Room 7

Good morning parents, This term our PBL is interactive art. We have been on scratch a lot. It is fun. We have drawn a picture that we are going to make move or light up. Our driving question is, How can we as artists, create spaces that enhance well being?

By Pippa Thomas

So far we have been doing Funky Friday. Oh do you know what Funky Friday is? Well, it is when four people are picked to be a leader and they have to think of something to teach the other children. It is fun.

By Harry Wilson

Room 8

In Room 8 for our PBL we have been looking at how we can adopt a healthy lifestyle which will mean we are less likely to need the hospital in the future.' The first aspect we looked at was being physically healthy. We made workout programmes for our buddy class to complete. The second aspect we are looking at is healthy eating. We made fruit kebabs to share with Room 12.

Room 9

In Room 9 we have been very very busy. We have been working on PBL which is Project Based Learning. We have been Logistical Engineers. Logistics means getting something to travel from one place to another. We made a marble run for PBL because we wanted to make a marble travel from Room 9 to Room 10. We have also been doing art for calendar art and we have been doing singing and GoNoodle in the morning.

By Olivia Ma

Room 10

As part of our PBL (Project Based Learning), Room 10have been busy solving the problem of what to do aboutall of our lost property. So we created a “Lost PropertyTrain” made out of cardboard boxes. Now we have all ofthe lost property sorted!We have also been reading stories about children going tohospital and what that was like for them. We read thestory, “I Don’t Want to Go to Hospital” by Tony Ross.Then we created some wonderful watercolour artwork ofthe Princess who didn’t want to go to hospital. Followingon from that, we wrote some stories about the Little

Princess and her experiences in hospital.

Room 12

For our Project Based Learning in Room 12 we have been looking at Wayfinding. Our driving question for this term is How can we make it easy for people to get to where they need to go quickly and efficiently? We have learnt there a numerous signs all around us which help us navigate. We have been on exploratory walks and photographed some of these signs. We have looked at compasses, made our own maps and considered how we can give directions to others. We are beginning to design our own signs that clearly convey important information to help others get to their destinations.

Balmacewen Enrolments