Junior Jottings Number 7

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

The children are really looking forward to 'Grandparents and Grandfriends' Day on Monday. We have been very impressed with the efforts grandparents have made to join us for this occasion, especially those who have had to travel long distances. Over this week, the children have been busy writing about their grandparents including character descriptions, what they enjoy doing and about activities they do together. They have also drawn pictures to share with their visitors and have enjoyed discussing how their lives today compare with the childhoods of both their parents and grandparents. One thing that they are amazed at and they cannot believe is that there were not any computers. Thank you to all those parents who have completed and returned the information and family tree sheets to help with the discussions. Before Monday, can you please inform your child's grandparents and grandfriends that they need to come to the school hall and be seated at 1.30 p.m. We are then going to move to your child's classroom to share items of interest together before culminating in a shared afternoon tea. We hope to be finished by 3 p.m. but chatting over afternoon tea may take a little longer.

Could your child please also place a plate of food for the shared afternoon tea on the trestle table in the hall before school on Monday? If your child does not have a grandparent or grandfriend please let us know so that they can join with another child.

If there is a grandparent who is prepared to stand up in front of everyone in the hall and share their item of interest can you please email me before Sunday with their name and the details of the item. I also need a couple of extra adults to help serve the tea and coffee during the afternoon tea. If you are able to lend a hand please also email me by this Sunday.

Hutt Valley Mobile Community Ear Clinic
Ear problems affect many children. The Mobile Community Ear Clinic provides free checks for children from 0 to 18 years old. This service is provided by a Registered Nurse who has special training in Ear Health. The clinics are run by appointment only between 9.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. If you would like to use this service, please phone 570 9002 to make your appointment.

Parenting Courses

If there is anyone who would like to attend parenting courses please let me know and I can give you the details.

Wasps

At the moment we have a lot of wasps around. The children are eating their food inside the classrooms and then going outside to play.

Gates

If you are coming in or going out of the gates can you please make sure that you close them as we have two busy roads on either side of our school.

Classroom Blogs

Please have a look at these from time to time to get a snapshot of what your child does in their busy school day. We know that they may not tell you what they have been doing so have a look at the blogs. The children always love reading the comments that people have left on the blogs.

Coming up

We will be having a drummer come to school to give a performance before the end of this term. Further details will be given next week.

School finishes on Friday April 15th at the usual time of 2.55 p.m. and starts again in term 2 on Monday May 2nd at 8.40 a.m. with Jumpjam in the hall. 

Term 2

We have planned another term of interesting learning experiences for the children. We will be having a Science focus with the children involved in a wide range of science experiments. We will also be doing lots of painting, folk dancing, and running practices for the Annual Cross Country run, to name but a few. Portfolios, reports and parent conferences will be at the end of the term.

Room 3 will be full and our next New Entrants class - Room 16 - will start in May with Mrs Mills-Smith as the teacher.

'Hooked on Books' Programme

This is a programme carried out at school where parents come in for approximately half an hour, usually in the morning when they drop their child at school or just before home time and listen to individual children read. If you are interested in helping with this programme during term 2 and are able to give up some time could you please email me by the end of next week with the days that suit you so that I can organise a roster.

Kind regards

Maureen Buckley

Deputy Principal

Junior Jottings number 6!

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We have had another lovely week at school and are looking forward to sharing our learning with our grandparents or grandfriends on Monday April 4th. Parents should have received a newsletter this week outlining the details of this occasion. Please send along an item to school this week. The item (keepsake) needs to be connected with a grandparent that your child can bring along to share i.e. an object that has a personal or emotional connection to a grandparent, something that evokes feelings and memories. It can be small and inexpensive e.g. a shell collected at the beach on a visit together, a book that they enjoy, something that has been handed down to them etc. Talk about the story of their keepsake with them so that they can share this at school. We will return all of the items.

Thank you for sharing your childhood experiences with your child. They have really enjoyed hearing about what you and your parents did when you were young. Thanks too for completing the family tree sheets and returning them to school. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask your child's teacher.

School photos
The taking of photos will continue next week as follows -
Monday - March 28th - Room 6 at 9 a.m.
Tuesday - March 29th - Room 1 at 9 a.m. and Room 4 at 11.00 a.m.
Wednesday - March 30th - Room 2 at 9 a.m.
Friday - April 1st the children will be having sibling photos. Please send along a hairbrush.

Earth Hour
Tomorrow is Earth hour. This is a global event organized by World Wildlife Fund and is held on the last Saturday of March annually. Households and businesses are asked to turn off their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. It starts at 8.30 p.m.

Assembly
There will be a full school assembly next Friday April 1st at 1.30 p.m. in the hall if you would like to join us.

Enjoy the lovely weather in the last week before we put the clocks backwards next weekend as Daylight saving ends.

Kind regards
Maureen Buckley
Deputy Principal

Junior Jottings number 5!

Dear Parents and Caregivers,


The Junior school have had another exciting and varied week. They have been into Wellington on a double decker bus to watch three shows, had an earthquake drill practices both inside and outside and today a trip to the park and beach. They have also done their usual classroom learning.


Our Trip to Wellington
Please enjoy a recount of what happened as published here. It was written by Grace in Room 6 on Thursday.

On Wednesday we went to Capital E. The first thing that we did was we went on the double decker bus. The bus ride was long but it was fun. When we got there we watched a show at the theatre. The first show was called 'Grimace.' The first show was the best. It had a witch and it had a princess and it had a prince and it had a giant. The princess was very flexible. She could do lots of things like bending her legs and jumping and hanging off bars, then we had morning tea. After that we watched another show. The other show was about instruments. The instruments were made out of tubes and gloves and he also made an instrument out of a carrot and he drilled the carrot until it made a sound. The next show was called 'Boats.' It was about two sailors. One of them had been out to sea. He was up in the crow's nest when he was born. There was a raging storm and he poked his head out and yelled, "I'm ready to come out now." Suddenly, she shouted to her husband "My baby is ready to come out now." The father rushed up the ladder then he was born. He looked up and now he was safe.

Please ask your child which show they enjoyed and why.  Thank you for your patience on our late return.

Fitness
Every day at 8.40 a.m. the children take part in a fitness programme so that their bodies are warmed up ready for the days learning. On Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays they do Jumpjam in the hall, which is an exercise to music programme, while on Wednesdays and Thursdays they do fitness outside or in their classroom. The fitness outside could be skills with movements like running, hopping, jumping etc or with equipment like large or small balls, ropes etc. while the fitness inside could be particular songs, bean bags, happy sticks etc. Parents are very welcome to come into the hall and do the Jumpjam routines alongside their child but if you do not wish to then please go outside for your private conversations as it is too hard for the children to hear the music.

School Photos
Orders have now closed and we have created a timetable for your child's class photo. It is as follows -

Monday 21 March - 9 a.m. - Room 5
Wednesday 23 March - 9 a.m - Room 3
Monday 28 March - 9 a.m. - Room 6
Tuesday 29 March - 9 a.m. - Room 1 and at 11.00 - Room 4
Wednesday 30 March - 9 a.m. - Room 2

Family and sibling photos will be taken on Friday 1 April. Please send along a hairbrush for use before the photo. If you have any queries please do not hesitate to ask.

Earthquake drill
We practise the 'Turtle' position so that each child knows what to do in the event of an earthquake occurring. Ask your child to demonstrate to you what they have been practising.

Starting School at Five evening and Six week Parent Conferences
We have enjoyed meeting parents and caregivers this week and sharing what your children are working on at school. We operate an 'open door' policy at school which means that you can email us to make an appointment to discuss your child's learning at any stage throughout the year. It does not mean staying in the morning or coming in and out of your child's class throughout the day. We will be having parent conferences for the entire school next term.

Grandparent's Afternoon
On Monday, you will be getting a separate notice with the details about this occasion.  Please mark the date in your diaries - Monday 4 April at 1.30pm.

Have a great week.

Maureen Buckley
Deputy Principal

Junior Jottings number 4

Dear Parents and Caregivers


Another week has flown by and already we are over half way through the first term. The children had a fantastic trip to Pataka Museum and Aotea Lagoon playground this week. The programme at Pataka involved Linda and Margaret, the Education officers, explaining how life was for children and their families a long time ago and how it compares to our lives today. The children discussed black and white photos of daily life one hundred years ago and then rotated around six different activities. The children were absolutely fascinated with how the children had to do their school work on slates and write with pen and ink. They loved dressing up in the olden day clothing and found washing by hand very tricky. They enjoyed playing marbles and found it very interesting to compare old and new objects e.g. telephones and cell phones, plastic milk bottles with glass ones. The playground at Aotea Lagoon has just been refurbished and was a great place to visit. The children loved using the different equipment there and did not want to leave. Thank you so much to the adults who joined us for the day. Your help was greatly appreciated.


NEXT WEEK


Capital E trip
On Wednesday all children from rooms 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 will be going by bus to Wellington for the Capital E National Arts Festival. We will be leaving straight away at 9 so please make sure your child is at school by 8.40 a.m. at the latest. The children need to bring morning tea, cut lunch, drink bottle of water, sunhat and wear sensible walking shoes. They will be attending three shows over the day at Downstage Theatre, Capital E and Paramount Theatre. The cost of the three shows is $19.50 per child and is taken from the activity fee that you have paid. We do not need adult help on this trip as this is provided by Capital E. Capital E are also very generous and have provided free buses for us to attend the shows. This is wonderful as another $10 per child would have been added to the cost and we would not have been able to go. The buses leave Wellington at 2.30 p.m. so the children will be returning to school a little after 3 p.m. If your child usually catches the bus home could you please make arrangements to collect them on this day?


Starting School at Five Information Evening
We will be meeting parents and caregivers of preschoolers in the staffroom at 7 p.m. On Wednesday 16 March to discuss the transition to school. If you have a friend or neighbour that has a preschooler, who may be interested in coming along, particularly if they attend preschool outside of the Eastbourne area, can you please give them the details. Any queries please contact me.


Visiting the Beach - Exploring our local Environment
Next Friday March 18th all of rooms 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be leaving school at 12.15 p.m. and heading to Bishop's Park. We will be having lunch there and using the playground before going to the beach. Families and friends are very welcome to join us. Please let your child's teacher know if you are attending.


Grandparent's Afternoon
The details for this are - Monday April 4th at 1.30 p.m. in the school hall until hometime.
Please invite your child's grandparents to this. The programme includes sharing in the hall, visiting the classrooms followed by afternoon tea. We would like the grandparent to bring along a special item to share with their grandchild. More details shortly. If your child has a grandparent that can not attend could you please let your child's teacher know so that we can match them with a 'surrogate' grandparent for the afternoon.


Have a lovely week.


Kind regards


Maureen Buckley
Deputy Principal

Junior Jottings number 3.

Dear Parents and Caregivers

We have had another interesting week of learning. On Monday, we all went to the local beach to explore our local marine environment. The children created amazing art forms in the sand and enjoyed the opportunity to share their skills with their friends from the other junior classrooms and they can't wait to do it again. Thank you to those parents who joined us. The next day they wrote wonderful recounts on the experience. On Tuesday, we joined the whole country in a 2 minute silence. The entire school met outside on the field under the flagpole, where the flag was flying half mast, to give us the chance to reflect on the tragedy that had occurred in Christchurch. Our thoughts are with those who have been affected and we offer our sincere condolences to those whose family members and friends have died. On Friday, everyone was dressed in red and black to show their support for Canterbury and together raised an amazing $2,600 towards the relief fund. Well done everyone. Your donation will be greatly appreciated.

Children's day - March 6th 2011

On Sunday it was Children's day so I hope everyone got the chance to spend some quality time with their families and do some fun activities together.

This Week

It is the last week of swimming and some classes may have different times so please check with your child's teacher for any changes.

Trip to Pataka

Today rooms 1,2 and 3 will be going by bus to Pataka Museum while on Wednesday rooms 4,5 and 6 will go. We need more parent help for tomorrow. There is no space on the bus but we have parents who are taking their vehicles and would welcome some adult company. Please let me know if you can come. You need to bring morning tea and lunch with you although there is a cafe at Pataka if you would prefer to purchase items for yourself, not the children. 

The children will be in small groups and Linda, the museum education officer, will lead each session including writing on slates and playing old fashioned games.

Starting School at Five Information Evening

Parents and caregivers of preschoolers are invited to our 'starting school at five' information evening on Wednesday March 16th at 7 p.m. in the school staffroom.

School Photos

Details of school photos were given out on Friday.

Integrated Learning Therapy

Carol Laubscher, of Integrated Learning Therapy will be visiting our school once a week, as from Term 2 this year, to offer Child Centered Play Therapy. Play Therapy is beneficial for children experiencing trauma, having learning difficulties or behavior problems, as well as others. Spaces will be limited. Please contact her on www.integratedlearningtherapy.co.nz

Have a great week.

Maureen Buckley

Deputy Principal