Junior Jottings No 9

Kia ora! It is hard to believe that already we are half way through the term and winter is upon us. We know the children were disappointed with last week's weather making the proposed Cross Country too dangerous and uncomfortable for them to do. We hope to do an event for our Junior School later in the term when hopefully the weather improves.

This week -

Today all children in the Junior School began gymnastics in the hall. They will be having these sessions each Monday and Tuesday for the next four weeks. Please could parents ensure that the children wear clothing suitable for the activities on these days.


The Parent Information workshops will be this Thursday in the library at 1.40 p.m. and in room 3 at 7 p.m. The topic this week is reading. All welcome.

On Friday May 28th we are doing 'HeartJam' at 10 a.m. Heart Jam will be New Zealand's largest aerobics class and is about children helping children in their community. The HeartJam routine is choreographed by Brett Fairweather, creator of Jump Jam, to a soundtrack exclusively created by Kiwi band, Minuit. The money our school raises is dedicated to supporting Child and Youth programmes and services for children with heart conditions. This includes National Camps where they can be in a safe and fun environment.  Could children please bring a gold coin donation to support this cause.

Next week-


'To School at Five' Information Evening
This evening will be held on Wednesday 2 June at 7pm in the school staff room.  All parents of preschoolers are cordially invited to attend.


Information Workshop
The last workshop will be on 'Writing' and will be held on Thursday 3 June at 1.40pm and 7pm


Parenting Course
If you are interested in finding out more about the 'Incredible Years' parenting course, please do not hesitate to contact me.  Registrations for the next course close next week.


Have a great week.
Maureen Buckley
Deputy Principal

Junior Jottings Number 8

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Greetings to you all once again. Your child has had another week of wonderful learning experiences. We know that they are often so busy or tired when they get home after school that they do not share much of their school day with you. Please take the opportunity to have a look at the classroom blogs. It is great to see what your child's class has been doing and you can then click onto another blog of a different age group to see what they also have been doing. Please send a comment about what you see on the blogs. The children love to read the responses.


Cross Country
This annual event will be next week on Tuesday May 18th at Williams Park. The postponement date is Thursday May 20th. You will have received a notice outlining the details of the day but if you have any queries please do not hesitate to ask your child's teacher.

On the day, we need adults to transport our year 1 children to and from Williams Park. We are also desperate for adults to be Marshalls around the course for our older children. This involves first watching your year 1 to 4 child take part in their event and then standing in a particular place around the course to ensure our older children stick to the right track during their event. If you can help with marshalling or transport please contact Mrs Cody in room 2 as soon as possible. We would also like all of the children to dress up in their House colours as they will be seated in their 'House' groups and earning points for their 'House' on the day. As mentioned last week all our year 2 children from rooms 2, 5 and 6 will be going for a walk around the track during this week.

Information Workshops

Thank you to those parents who have informed me of their attendance at the forthcoming information sessions. This week on Thursday May 13th at 1. 40 p.m. in the library I will be discussing mathematics and how you can help your child. The same information session will be repeated at 7 pm in room 3 on the same date. It is not too late to come along so please email me if you would like to attend and have not done so already.

School Production

In Term 3 we have our fantastic school production and every child in our school will play a part. We have started planning for this and at this stage I am compiling a list of adults who would be available to help sew or make some of the costumes and also who would like to do some face painting. If you are interested in helping with this could you please email me?

Can you help?

We need some small cardboard boxes, egg cartons and magazines for the children to use in construction work. If you have any to spare could you please drop them into room 3?

Gymnastics

The children will be taking part in gymnastics later in the term as part of our physical education programme. More details will follow at a later date.

Have another great week! I look forward to seeing you all supporting your child and their friends at our Annual Cross Country next week.

Kind regards

Maureen Buckley

Deputy Principal

Junior Jottings Number 7

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Kia ora and welcome to this week's newsletter. It is hard to believe that it is already May. The year seems to be speeding by.

Our Inquiry entitled ' Changes in my World' is going well in each of the classrooms. The students in rooms 5 and 6 were excited about their trip to Zealandia last week. Thank you to those adults who accompanied them. Room 3 were lucky to observe the bathing of Joshua's new baby. Thank you Erica for bringing him in along with all the necessary equipment.

Thank you very much also to those adults who began the 'Hooked on Books' programme last week. You are doing a fabulous job and your efforts are greatly appreciated. The hotdogs went down well too. Thank you to those adults who are giving up their time to do this also.

Cross Country

The children are doing well with their Cross Country practice runs on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. The Year 2 children will be walking around the track during the next few weeks. Could the parents of Year 0 and 1 children in rooms 1, 2, 3 and 4 take their child to Williams Park for a practice after school or during weekends before the actual event so that they are familiar with the area. Further details regarding the organisation of the Cross Country will be coming out shortly. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Mikaela Cody in Room 2 or your child's teacher.

Information Workshops

Over the next few weeks I will be running some information sessions for parents and caregivers. They will be on Thursday afternoons from 1.40 p.m. to 2.40 p.m. in the school library and repeated again the same evening from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in room 3. If you have ever wondered how your child learns to read and write and or do mathematics then this is your opportunity to ask questions and find out. I will also discuss some ways in which you can support your child's learning at home.

The dates are as follows Workshop 1 - Thursday May 13th - Mathematics

Workshop 2 - Thursday May 27th - Reading

Workshop 3 - Thursday June 3rd - Writing

Please email me to let me know which sessions you will be attending.

'Starting School at Five' Information Evening

This evening for parents and caregivers of pre-schoolers will be held in the staffroom on Wednesday June 2nd at 7 p.m. All welcome.

Full School Assembly

On Friday May 7th we will be having our usual full School Assembly in the hall at 1.30 p.m. Please feel free to come along and join us. Seating is reserved along the back of the hall for you.

Have another great week!

Kind regards

Maureen Buckley

Deputy Principal