Week 11 - Last week of Term 2

Phew! We've made it to the end of a very long term. If you haven't already noticed, your children are tired and ready for the holidays. This week we are going to have a Matariki & Maori Legends week in class. Our normal programmes will not be running. We have a variety of activities that will hopefully keep the tears & tales from creeping in. Fingers crossed!

CONGRATULATIONS CHLOE. She received our principal shield award this week for "A fantastic effort and attitude to all learning". This is a big award as each class gets two opportunities each year to nominate someone for the award. Well done Chloe!

 

CONGRATULATIONS - 100 Nights Reading. These children have also completed their blue reading logs which means they have read for 100 nights this year. They are Daya, Dominic, Connor & Luke. Well done boys - keep up the fantastic work. I wonder who will be next?

Special Guest - Monday. With the help of Mr. Beckham, we have organised a special guest to visit us on Monday after morning tea. Mum's the word in the meantime.

Special Guests - Wednesday. In among our Matariki and Maori legends we will also be learning about being firewise. On Wednesday some firemen (with their truck) will be visiting the junior children at school. In preparation for this, please make sure your child knows - their first & last name, their home phone number (or mum/dads mobile) and their address. These are very important pieces of information to know in an emergency.

Special Guest - Friday. Bishop Stephen is visiting our school on Friday. He will be coming into each classroom to say hi. We will be able to show him some of the fantastic art work we have done during our God strand this term and some of the amazing work that has gone into your children's RE books. We will be welcoming Bishop Stephen with a powhiri at 10am on Friday in the school hall. You are most welcome to attend.

FAREWELL - to Aleena and her family. Aleena's last day with us will be on Friday. She is moving to Perth (Australia) with her family. On Friday (instead of sausage sizzle) we will be having a shared lunch for Aleena. Please bring a plate of healthy food for this. Please name all food containers you wish to have returned to you. 

RE Books & Name Pages - A huge THANK YOU to those children who have brought back their books to class and to the parents for completing the name pages. I have shared your reasons/meanings behind their names with the children & class - they were absolutely beautiful. We are waiting on one or two books to come back. 

Library - Wednesday. Please bring your book back from last week so you can get a new one.

Singing Practice - Wednesday. Please be at school early on Wednesday. Singing practice starts promptly at 8:45am and the bell will be ringing at least 5 minutes earlier for us to head to the hall.

Kapa Haka - Thursday. This week every child will be attending Kapa Haka for a whole school session. We will be learning some songs to sing during the powhiri to welcome Bishop Stephen on Friday.

Reading this week - will consist of some poems and your children retelling the different legend/s we have been reading about that day. Please continue to read books from home to your child and record this in their reading logs. Children of all ages love being read to by mum/dad/brothers/sisters.

Holiday Reading Logs - These will be coming home this week for you to complete during the holidays. You can also fill in the class reading logs with the same books. The public library has a huge range of books available for loan. Also on Reading Eggs their is a library with thousands of books/ levels/ genre. To access this click into Reading Eggspress (the blue side after you log in), when the floating island comes up click the part to the right until the library appears, click library and enter, choose reading age and type of book you want. I would start with 5-7 and see how you go. The children can read the books themselves or have the computer read it too them. Last term 80% (16/20 children) completed their reading logs and handed them in. This term we are aiming for 100%.

DATES TO REMEMBER FOR TERM 3
Monday 20th July = Teacher Only Day
Tuesday 21st July = Term 3 starts
Wednesday 22nd July = Reports and Portfolios go home

Golden Time - last Friday. The children voted for playing with the PE Gear. It was awesome to see what they chose to play with and who they chose to play with. After an initial mad rush and trying at least everything, they settled on one or two things. It was really neat just to watch them interact and try new things. Here are some photos - I think I've managed to get everyone (some are very good at evading the camera).

 

  

  

  

  

Week 10 - Updates

Cross Country - is no longer on this week. It will be re-scheduled for early in term 3.

RE Books - the blue star (above the prayer box) if for your child's favourite page. Please write a quick comment as to why it is their favourite page. Remember to fill in the name page too. I showed both to the children this afternoon.

6 year old testing interviews - notes were handed out to the children today that have recently turned 6 or children who have recently had their anniversary (1year) at school. If your child has had either of these, please check their book bags for the note.  

Week 10 - Term 2

The end of the term is almost here. 2 weeks to go! 

Library - Wednesday. Bring your book back from last week so you can get a new one.

Singing Practice - Wednesday 8:45am. Please be at school on time. We head to the hall at 8:40am.

Junior Cross Country - Thursday 11am. All children from year 0-2 will be participating in the cross country. Please bring your PE gear, a warm jumper/polar fleece and a big drink. Parents/family/friends are welcome to come along and support us.

Whanau dinner - Thursday 5:30pm. See last week's post for further details.

RE Books - Will come home on Monday. Silly me thought there would be time after assembly to give them out. As we didn't arrive back to class until the bell that didn't happen. We will tweak the incentive time frame to have them back at school so we can continue to put our work into them.

Book Bags & Readers. Please make sure all readers are in your child's book bags on Monday and their book bag comes to school. I will be doing a round up of the readers so they can be returned to the book room.

Week 9 - Term 2

Library - Wednesday. Bring your book back from last week so you can get a new one.

Singing Practice - Wednesday 8:45am. Please be at school on time.

Thursday - Matariki begins. This signals the Māori New Year as the Matariki star cluster is visible in our skies. We celebrate this occasion with a family night at the Museum on Saturday 20 June 2015, from 5pm until 9pm. 

http://www.rotoruamuseum.co.nz/exhibitions/details/matariki-whanau-night/

Matariki Whānau Night @ Rotorua Museum

Saturday 20 June 2015, 5pm-9pm

Come and celebrate the Māori New Year at Rotorua Museum with Cosmodome Planetarium, Travelling Tuataras, crafts, face painting, music  for a fun family night out.

There will only be 6 sessions of the Cosmodome during the night so book tickets in advance at Rotorua Museum reception. Tickets: Adults: $5, Children (5-15 years): $3, Under 5 years: Free.

Mid Year Testing - Phew! We are pretty much done. The wheels stayed on!

RE Books - Will be coming home this Friday. We are just about finished our God strand - there is some lovely work up in the classroom and in your child's book. Please complete the whanau/family sharing page and return to school in a timely fashion - there will be an incentive to return books promptly. Please also complete the worksheet (very small) about how your child got their name - this is preparation for a lesson in week 10.

Recycling - Thank you to those families who brought in their recycling last week. If you forgot, please bring some in on Monday (read the post from Week 8 to see what to bring). We will be using the items during our writing & maths this week. 

Whanau Dinner - The Whanau Group would like to extend an invitation to all staff and their families to a pot luck dinner on Thursday the 25th of June at 5.30pm. The dinner is to celebrate the cultural diversity we have in our school. EVERY FAMILY IS INVITED. Come along for some fun conversation and get to know our community. Last year was great fun. 

Week 10
Cross Country - Thursday June 25th (Week 10). This is a heads up that it is happening. The event takes place at school on the field and parents/family are welcome to come and support their children if they are able to. This will most likely begin at 11:00am - I will confirm this time in next week's notices. You will need to make sure your child has their jumper/polar fleece at school - it can get rather cold when they are waiting.

Move It - Our Last Session

What an awesome time we had today. Boy were we energised when we came back to class!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 8 - Term 2

Move It - Tuesday. Remember to bring your PE gear on Tuesday. This is our last session of Move It this term. The focus for this session is FUN!

Library - Wednesday. Remember to bring your book back from last week so you can get a new one.

Singing Practice - Wednesday 8:45. Please be at school on time.

Sacred Heart Mass - Friday 9am. All parents, family and friends are welcome to attend.

Recycling - If you are able to, can you please start collecting milk bottle tops and bring them into school. It doesn't matter what colour they are. Please wash and dry them before bringing them in. Myself and another teacher are in the process of trialling making some new games for the playground and we are going to use milk bottle lids as game counters. These can continue to come at any time during the rest of the term. 

Recycling - Please also bring into class (in a named plastic bag) 5 different things that can be recycled. Anytime this week is fine to do this - it is for activities next week in class. Things that could be included are bottles (milk, fizzy drink, water, shampoo, cleaning products etc), cans (tin & aluminium), yoghurt pots, glass jars, ice-cream containers, boxes (cereal, tissue, pasta, museli bars etc), magazines, newspapers etc. Just what ever is around the house. Again please make sure it has been rinsed/washed (if needed) & dried before bringing them in.

Mid Year Testing - This went well last week. The wheels didn't fall off - Phew! Testing will continue again this week - mainly in reading and maths.

WALHT - new photos are up

Whacky Hair - Congratulations to Jade and Aleena. Aleena came 3rd and Jade came 2nd in the competition. Both girls were surprised on Wednesday at singing practice with their prizes (we didn't think they would get them until assembly maybe).

Week 7 - Term 2

Move It - Tuesday. Please bring your PE gear.

Singing Practice - Wednesday. Please be at school on time as singing starts promptly at 8:45am.

Library - Wednesday. Remember to bring your book back from last week so you can get a new one.

Reading Logs - Congratulations to Aleena. She has finished the blue reading log which means she has done 100 nights reading so far this year. Well done! I wonder who will be next?

Toys - The children may bring one toy to share for news on a Monday (or in this case Tuesday this week). Once news has been shared the toy needs to go back into their back for the rest of the day - it does not come out for morning tea or lunch play. Monday is going to be the only day that a toy is allowed to come to school. I am hoping that this will reduce the number of altercations that are brewing over toys among the children. The school has a great programme running - The Playground Angels - that provide activities at lunchtime for children to participate in. I will be encouraging the children to do this if they are stuck for a game to play or looking for a new activity to experience. I will be explaining this to the children on Tuesday. 

Mid-Year Testing - June means testing time for reading, writing and maths. As much as possible testing will be completed during the time we usually have these subjects. Reading and Maths testing are individual tests and do take time to complete. I am hoping there will be minimal disruption but please bear with me - the best laid plans can sometimes come undone.

Upcoming Events
Week 8 = Sacred Heart Mass - Friday 9am in the church