22 Sep 2025

Kia ora e te whānau,

I am excited to let you know that I will be attending the Technology Education New Zealand (TENZ) Conference in Wellington next week. This is a fantastic opportunity to connect with educators from across Aotearoa and share some of the innovative learning happening here at our kura.

At the conference, I will be highlighting how tamariki can use augmented reality (AR) as a tool to create, explore, and communicate their understanding in a range of learning areas. To do this, I’ll be showcasing examples of student work created here at school. Please be assured that no faces or identifying details will be shared – the focus is on the creativity, learning process, and outcomes.

Some of the projects I’ll be sharing include:

An augmented reality art trail from our Matariki festival.
Te Wiki o te Reo Māori talking books.
Interactive talking food chains.
Augmented reality “Invent an Insect” models.
Camouflage animal designs.
 

These projects use apps such as Makers Empire 3D, Eye Jack, Canva and Quiver Vision, which allow tamariki to combine creativity with digital tools in exciting new ways.

I am proud to be able to share the innovation and learning of our tamariki with teachers from across the motu and look forward to bringing back new ideas to continue growing our STEAM learning here at school.

Any questions, feel free to reach out jo@bayswaterschool.nz 

 

Ngā mihi nui,
Jo Rea
Bayswater School
STEAM specialist and Year 4/5 Teacher

19 Sep 2025

Kia ora e te whānau,

Whānau Puna (Rooms 9, 10, 7 & 8) have had a busy week!

Children are enjoying their learning in literacy. Room 9 have been reading their shared text - Looking Closely Across The Desert by Frank Serafini. Our focus has been on preparing our amazing posters of adaptations of desert animals. Room 10 has been reading Coral Reefs by Jill Esbaum. We have focused publishing our writing and learning about coral reef animals. In Room 7 and 8 we prepared our published writing for the communication of learning, and we wrote a recount about our trip to the Civic Theatre.

In maths this week we have been working on:

Room 7/8 - revision of our learning in Term 3.

Room 9 - Recognising and describing 3 dimensional shapes, Measuring the volume of 3 dimensional shapes.

Room 10 - Addition and subtraction word problems, Place value.

We had an amazing trip to - We the Young festival in Auckland City. A big thank you to our whānau helpers who came with us for the day. We saw some amazing performances and enjoyed participating in the experiences throughout the day.

Year 3 children enjoyed a cricket session on Thursday with North Shore Cricket. 

Whānau Puna team

Tracy, Sasha, Gerry, Wendy, Bev and ClaireS

 

19 Sep 2025

Kia ora koutou,

That brings us to the end of Term 3 - we can't believe there is only one term left of this school year!

In tuhituhi this week all of Whānau Kokoru have been working hard to finish their information reports. Students have chosen an animal from the habitat their class is experts in. They have researched the animal, learning about features such as their appearance, their diet, and the adaptations they have to help them survive in their habitat. They have then turned this into an information report in order to share their learning with others. We encourage you to come in and read your child's information report when you have a chance.

In pāngarau-
Year 4s have been exploring equivalent fractions. We started by looking at a half, and working out what fractions are equal to it. Some students have noticed the patterns emerging as they find more equivalent fractions independently. 
Year 5s have been working on fractions. They have learnt more about finding equivalent fractions, and have been practicing simplifying fractions. This week they also learnt how to tell the time.
Year 6s are very excited to have made it onto book 2! We have started learning about decimal numbers, including how to read and write these, how they relate to fractions, and how to compare different decimal numbers.

On Thursday we were lucky enough to have some people from North Shore Cricket come in to run a taster session. Students got to play different mini games to practice the skills used in cricket. These included bowling, trying to knock over wickets, and batting. The students had a great time. Information went home with them about getting involved with North Shore Cricket over the summer if this is something they would like to do - there was definitely a lot of talent amongst the students!

All classes have also been finishing their calendar art, which is looking amazing! Keep an eye out for details about how to order copies of this.

Finally, we have been discussing and practicing our Te Reo skills as part of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. Kei te koa mātou nā te mea i rongo mātou i te tokomaha o ngā tauira kei te kōrero i te Reo Māori i tēnei wiki - we were happy to hear many students speaking Te Reo Māori this week. We encourage everyone to keep practicing this at home.

It has been a very fun term, but also very busy, and we know all our students are excited to have a well deserved break. We hope everyone has an amazing holidays and we look forward to seeing them all back on October 6th for the start of term 4.

Ngā mihi,
Whānau Kokoru - Maddy, Grace, and Brad