Week 9 (26-29 March)

Welcome to Week 9 :)

Easter Break
A reminder that there is no school this Friday 30th March (Good Friday) and school is also closed on both Monday 2 April (Easter Monday) and Tuesday 3 April (School Holiday) next week. We hope you all enjoy a relaxing Easter break with your family.

Classroom Release
This week Room 19 children have Art with Mrs McHaffie on Tuesday morning and Room 18 have PE with Mr Lukes on Thursday morning.

Social Studies
This week we are getting underway with our Rakaia River preparations for the school fair as part of our Social Studies inquiry 'Catch the Vibe'. As part of this we are working in mixed class groups over three sessions this week and next, working alongside our older buddies from Kahukura and Ara Atu to make our goods that we will be selling at the fair or to prepare the fun activities we will be hosting on the day. Today (Monday) we had our first session and it was so delightful to see the odler children taking such great care of our younger learners and to see them enjoying working cooperatively together.

Reading
With a short week, and a larger focus on our Social Studies and fair preparation, along with the Cross Country on Wednesday, there will be no instructional reading books sent home. The children may bring their poetry folders home to share with you (and re-read old favourites) or else please use your usual reading homework time to practice revising the high frequency word lists. Let us know when your child has learned these and is ready for a new list. Don't forget to muddle up the order you get the children to read them as often the children learn them in sequence! Have fun cutting them up and shuffling them up!

Cross Country
Our new date is this Wednesday 28 March. Our junior children will leave a little bit later than the senior children and we will leave school just before 11.30am to walk down to St James Park. Please feel free to pack a picnic lunch and join us down ther after our races for a community lunch.
Remember to pack:
*sunhat
*drink bottle
*lunch
*warm jersey or jacket
Children can come to school in sporty mufti on Wednesday.

Staffing
On Thursday Kate Burridge will be relieving in Kohara for Mrs O'Sullivan.

Float your Boat Competition
On the day of the fair, the children from Whanaketanga (Room 7/8) are hosting an event called Float Your Boat. It is a donation to enter. For this event the children need to make a boat at home to bring along to the fair and race it across the school pool. If you are planning on attending the fair on Saturday 7 April and would like your child to be part of this, please sign up by letting Monique or Tracy know and we can add their names to the list of competitors. You can use anything from home to make your boat!

If you decide on the day of the fair, that your child would like to enter, then there will also be some materials available at school for them to use to create a boat.

Fair Parent Help
Thank you to everyone who has returned your parent help notice with your offers to help on the day. We really appreciate this and will be in touch before the fair to confirm your times.

We are also still looking for donations of unwanted nail polish or face paint (half jars are fine), cotton balls or cotton buds, and old adult t shirts. Please send along to school if you have any of these items you are happy to donate to a good cause.

Library
 No library this week due to the Easter break.

Swimming
Please send togs along on Tuesday - it looks to be even hotter than Monday!!

If you purchased a pool key, watch out for details in the newsletter soon on when to return these to the office.

Kapa Haka on Tuesday.

Have a great week and a happy Easter.