Our garden is looking wonderful!

On Friday we went out to our garden to see how it was growing, as well as to pick some produce to have with our buns and pizzas. We were all very surprised to find that our peas had grown so big! The girls enjoyed counting the pea pods to see how many had grown, as well as gently touching the pea pods to see how they felt. "I can feel the tiny peas inside I think!" shared Emma excitedly. 

Our garden is looking wonderful and we have plenty of lettuces, as well as chives and spring onions so make sure that you help yourselves if you would like some!

"The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies." 

- Gertrude Jekyll

Poi making with Whaea Sarah and her students.

This morning we had some visitors come down from the senior school to work alongside us. Whaea Sarah and five of her students came down and helped us to make some poi for our classroom. It was beautiful to observe the way that the girls interacted with the older students. They seemed to really enjoy learning some Maori phrases and singing together with the older girls. When it was time for the big girls to leave we sang the national anthem in Maori together. 

The girls have learnt the lyrics for the national anthem so well, and Whaea Sarah was very impressed!

Learning some new Maori phrases.

Anika getting the hang of using the poi!

Carefully plaiting the poi string.

Isobella gives it a go!

Working together.

Making the poi sure was hard work.

Sophia enjoying exploring how a poi works.

Giving a little performance.

Numbers are all around us!

We had a lot of fun today as we walked back from Mt St John, searching for and naming as many numbers as we could! The girls would enthusiastically approach the letterboxes and tell us what the numbers were. It's wonderful to see that many of the girls are able to recognize numbers in the higher tens and enjoy trying to figure out what the numbers may be if they are unsure. 

You might like to ask your daughter if she recognizes what any of the numbers are in the photos below:

A swing on Mt St John.

We took a rope up Mt St John today, and made a swing on one of our favourite trees. The girls were delighted with the swing and enjoyed playing on it. They took turns at pushing one another and tried hard to swing as fast and as high as possible! We had a very joy filled morning.

Here are some photos of the girls with their swing:

Fish and Chips on Mt St John.

What a wonderful evening we spent together on Mt St John last night. I'm sure you could see how much the girls enjoy this special place. On our weekly visits we see them growing  in confidence and notice how physically strong they become walking up and down the hill.

Here are a few photos - unfortunately we were having too much fun and forgot to take photos! Apologies to those of you who had already left when we remembered.

We really appreciated the effort you all went to, to join us. 

Thank you!

A special ceremony.

On Thursday we shared in a ceremony where the girls gifted their stones to the tree. It was a very special occasion, where we all gathered quietly around. One at a time the girls approached the tree and placed their stones down at the base of it. We invited the girls to share some words if they wanted to as they had their turn, and we were all very touched when Ria shared, "I do. Oh, actually, I just want to give the tree a great big hug."

The girls seemed to take the process of giving the tree their gift very seriously. "I think the tree is happy now" Sophia offered. "It's beautiful again" added Isobella.

A gift for the tree.

Stone designs.

Here are some close up images of the stones that the girls painted for the tree. You can see the girls worked very hard on them.

Isobella painted a 'flower garden' on one of her stones.

She also painted a rainbow.

Ria loved creating her ladybug and flower stones.

Sophia painted a rainbow...

...as well as a delicious strawberry!

Anika painted a rainbow too.

She also painted a stone with polka dots.

Zoe painted a love heart as well as a tiny bee.

Don't they look beautiful?