Kia ora whānau. This lovely photo shows some of our Year 2 learners developing their literacy skills through the Heggerty phonological awareness programme. This programme is key to developing good readers as research shows that phonemic awareness is the most powerful determinant of the likelihood of success in reading.

We would like to invite all new parents of Year 0 and 1 students to Milford School, for an information evening on Tuesday 7June. This will be held in the junior block at 6pm.

Whether you have teenagers already, or will have teenagers at some point in the future, this parent workshop is for you! Melanie Medland, from Beautiful Conversations, will be speaking on how we as parents communicate with our children and how this works (or doesn't work) for you when they become teenagers. With the rates of anxiety and depression increasing in teenagers, deepening our relationships and communication skills with our older children is essential to their wellbeing.

ICAS is designed to target students’ higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science, Writing, Spelling and Digital Technologies. Every student will receive a printed certificate and an online results report.

Check out this week’s episode of Milford School TV by clicking the link below.

Once again our Kaiārahi is facilitating the Milford School drive to support ‘Give a Kid a Blanket’. For those new to our community ‘Give a Kid a Blanket’ is a community action of kindness where donations of warm bedding and pyjamas are given to families and kids in need from across the wider Auckland area and beyond. Collection Week will be from Tuesday, 7 June to - Tuesday, 17 June 2022. Items can be brought directly to room 18.

Facts about the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP)

The Year 5 xylophone group and the rock band performed in assembly last week. Both groups were amazing and filled with talented, dedicated children. The xylophone group performed two pieces from memory, with speed and precision. How amazing to remember notes, rhythm and form all in your head without the need for written music!!

What a rainy lunch we had on Thursday. Even though we couldn't be at the gardens this week, the keen gardeners gathered in the Hive to prepare a few things for later. Some gardeners made stick signs for the herbs we are planning to plant next week. Others decorated labels to stick onto empty milk bottles, which will be used later to keep Worm Wee.

We have been learning that onomatopoeia are words that sound like the sounds they represent. Since it was stormy weather outside, we brainstormed in groups all the different words we could use to represent the sounds around us. We then came back together to share some of those words and write a poem together, as a class. Later in the week we visualised the storm to decorate our copy. We did such amazing work, our teacher found it challenging to choose which ones to share in this newsletter. We hope you enjoy reading our poem, and using our drawings to help you visualise the storm.

Estimation is an important math skill. This skill was put to the test in Room 5 this week. With each student bringing along a jar full of one object. We had a wide range of commodities - from pasta, lego, macadamia nuts to hair ties and buttons. These jars were also on display at the assembly with a few rounds of ' Test the Teacher' some Year 5 parents were also put to the estimation test.

The Enviro Group is restarting work on the Māra koru garden. We are holding a raffle to raise money to complete our garden project and we need your help! We have come up with the idea to hold multiple raffles of environmentally friendly products such as eco-beauty products, books about the environment, gardening supplies & tools, seeds, fair trade items, eco bags etc.

Takapuna Normal Intermediate School (TNIS) warmly invites families and whānau of Year 6 learners to the following enrolment events: