Morena whanau,

Here's the rippa draw for Thursday 19th February.

Year 1 & 2's 4pm against SR Tigers field 3B

Year 3 & 4's 4.30pm against St Mary's Cowboys field 3B

Year 5 & 6 5.30pm against St Mary's Vikings field 5

Good luck teams 

Morena whanau,

Just to let you all know the gate has now been fixed.  If it's closed you can once again honk and someone will open it for you.

Nga mihi

JR

Kia ora and welcome to the new year.  It has been a great start in Ruma Kereru and I must say haven't they all grown!  First off, today your child has brought home in their bookbags a book "Publishing/celebrations."   This book is designed to keep you upto date with your child's leanrning.  Todays celebration was their learning about the "at" family.  They have shown me and you, their progress at spelling "at" words on their own.  You will see on the opposite page to their assessment, a place where you have the opportunity to write a comment to your child about their learning and attempts at completing the task on their own.  This book needs to be returned to school so we can send other pieces of publishing or celebrations  home on a regular basis.  You will see art, maths, writing and a range of other pieces of work your child has done throughout the year.

If you need to catch up with me, send  a message either via the office, Skool Loop or email (bronwyn@kaimai.school.nz), and we can set up a meeting.  I should be in class every morning from 8.20am if you want a quick word when you drop your child off at school. 

We are currently swimming everyday except Fridays.  Please ensure your child has togs, towel and a bag to put them into. As I'm at the pool with no extra help, I am not able to assist with dressing your child, but will do my best to accommodate any problems by using othe students to help them.

Current areas of learning:

Topic: Sunflowers have been our main topic over the last week.   The vege garden at our school has the biggest Sunflower plant that we have ever seen and are very excited at seeing the flower when it blooms.

Maths: Statistics- we are learnng how to use tally marks when counting obects.  We counted cars, trucks, vans and utes that passed school today in 2 minutes.  I have asked the children to count how many go past their house in 2 minutes to compare.   We are also learning how to count in 5's. 

Grammar: We are learning to start sentences with capital letters and end with fullstops.

Vocaburlary:  We are learning about the meaning of the words; hollar, droop, thud,glare (stare) and mumble.   At home, try to use these words to help your child recognise them and use them when talking or writing.

Reading (Shared Book). "The Good Seed".  focus is on behaviour.  The children have made classroom guidlines on how to be a "good seed" after discussing the behaviour of the Bad Seed.  We have talked what a character is in a story.  Either a human, animal or something that takes on the characteristics of a person.  

Guided Reading:  Guided reading shoud begin next week.  It is important to get the children working independently and know the classroom expectations  first so I can take groups for reading without disruption. 

Phonics:   "at" word family.

About me: All of the children have had their height measured and completed an about me activity.  We have written the heights on a paper leaf and pinned it to the wall in the classroom.  We will repeat this activity at the end of the year.  It will be great to see how much they have grown.

Last but not least, I am away week four, 23-27 February.  Every year I attend an all Americn car event in New Plymouth called Americana.  This is one of New Zealand's biggest car events with over 2000 American cars entered.  All the funds raised from the event go to charity. Over the week we visit several towns including, Waitara, Inglewood, Stratford, Hawera, Oponaki to name a few. On the Friday, I will be taking part in street racing in my Camaro. I came third last year so lets see how I go this time.   Lynne Sperring (ex teacher and DP at Kaimai School) will be teaching in Ruma Kereru during my absence.

Remember to keep in touch, as your child's developement and growth is very important and the more we can communicate with each other the betther for your child.

Nga mihi nui

Bronwyn Harris

Classroom Teacher