Tag: Riley

Airport Visits

For the last couple of weeks Kopa Wha have visited the New Plymouth Airport.

The first week we visited, it was very quiet due to an aeroplane recently leaving.  This was a nice introduction to a new environment for some of our tamariki.

Today when we visited the airport it was bustling with people.  Our tamariki watched a plane take off as well as two planes arriving.

One of our students was fortunate enough to go and sit on an empty Air New Zealand plane.  What a magical morning we had!

A huge thank you to Aaron, the New Plymouth Manager, for making this amazing trip such a success!

Letter Yy

Last week Kopa Wha were learning about the Letter Yy.

Part of our learning was focused on how the letter y makes different sounds depending on its position in a word. For example, y sounds like a consonant at the beginning of words, but can make a long e sound at the end, as in happy, silly, and baby. Our reader Baby Hippo helped reinforce this learning.

To finish the week, we made our own yoghurt and had a chance to taste the delicious yoghurt we created.

We hope you enjoy the photos of us making our yummy yoghurt.

 

Signing in!

On a daily basis all of Kopa Wha sign in to let us know who is at school.
The adults point to the letters of their name and then ask them to find the letters in their name on the abc chart. All of the students attempts are recorded and read back to them.
This is great mahi for all our tamariki.

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Letter Jj

This week Kopa Wha has been learning about the letter Jj as well as -dge and -ge at the end of words, which has the same sound as  /j/.

We made Peach Jelly Cups as well as making jam sandwiches.  We found letter Jj’s as well as read a recipe and created the procedure of making a jam sandwich.

Great mahi, Kopa Wha!

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Old MacDonald

Welcome to Term 4!

The Big Book of the week, ‘Old MacDonald’, has been an absolute hit.  We have enjoyed singing the song, making hand rhymes as well as creating some sheep for our puppet show which you can view on slide number eight below.  We also listened to different animal sounds, named them on our talking devices, and recreated these sounds.  What a lot of fun mahi we completed this week!

 

Ss is for Sea, shells and sharks!

Our Letter of the Week has been Ss as well as Sh.

We completed a range of Ss activities and one particular activity was to complete headbands for our Baby Shark performance next week with Google Vids.

We also visited the seaside where we collected sand, seaweed, shells, and sticks.  Once we returned to school we had sensory play with our findings as well as creating some environmental pictures.

Super signing in

Kopa Wha students sign in daily by practicing writing their names.  They either write their name with a pen or use an ABC chart to assist them. The childs name is firstly modelled  by a Learning Assistant or teacher.  The student is then given the opportunity to point to the letters inside their name.  The letters are recorded on our sign in sheet and a lot of celebration occurs with all the letters they attempt to point to.

Great mahi Kopa Wha!

 

Fabulous Fulton Swim School

Whare Manaaki is so very fortunate to begin attending Fulton Swim School again every Wednesday morning.

Swimming has many benefits for our tamariki from improving motor skills to creating a variety of opportunities for our students to interact socially, reduce anxiety as well as provide sensory regulation.

 

 

 

G-g-g-great work Kopa Wha!

This week Kopa Wha has been focusing on the Letter Gg.  We have been using our new Better Start Literacy resources and investigating a variety of words beginning with the letter Gg.

We have also been discussing what we are grateful for on a daily basis. We found a variety of pictures of things we are grateful for in magazines and stuck them onto our colourful leaves.  This created a beautiful mobile for each tamariki.

Today Whaea Bridget worked alongside our tamariki to create a tree which we can hang our grateful leaves on.  Next week I will update this blog with photos of the completed activity.  We are very excited to share our mahi with you.

 

Specialists at Autism Connex

Every Wednesday we are so very fortunate to have our Occupational Therapist and Physiotherapist join Whare Manaaki to work alongside our tamariki.

Our students all visit Autism Connex where they work on a variety of gross motor movements on the amazing apparatus available.  Each student works on a variety of different goals while in this relaxing and engaging space.

There are a variety of swings available and they are always utilised well.

Which activity do you think you would enjoy the most?