Pigeon Party!

Lovely to see lots of Mums, Dads and Grandparents at our Pigeon Party today. Thanks for all the delicious food. Here are some photos from the day. Photo credit to Sian.

Last Week of Year 1! 😢

Here it is... the last week of the school year. A time to reflect on the wonderful year we have had as a class and to prepare for Year 2 in 2018.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support and friendship this year. Being new to the school, you made me feel very welcome and part of the community. Thank you! Thank you also for the way you have tirelessly supported your children's learning at home by reading with them, talking about their day and helping them to prepare for the next day. Thank you to all those who volunteered in extra ways also, from parent helpers for trips, to support in writing time, celebration activities and cutting and pasting! I appreciated your time and effort!

I know the children are well prepared to meet the challenges of Year 2 next year. They have worked incredibly hard, learning to read and write, solve maths problems with resilience, be part of a group, build stamina for tasks and develop social and communication skills. I am so proud of them and hope you are too.

Please stay in touch over the holidays and in 2018. I would love to hear about your adventures in the future.

This week:

Monday- Hannah in for Jo. We will celebrate Hannah at the end of the day with a book the children have made her. Next year Hannah is moving to the South Island where she and her partner are building a home. We will miss Hannah so much. She has been an incredible support to our class this year.

Tuesday- It's our End of Year Christmas Pigeon Hot Dog Party! We hope you can make it to share food and our Pigeon books at 12:00pm in M1. Please bring/send a plate of food to share.

Thursday: Final Assembly Y1 & 2 - 9:30-10:30am
                  Cookie Decorating with Wunny
                  Reports home

Friday: Children visit their Y2 Teachers & classroom at 10:15am
             School finishes at 12:30pm 

Have a wonderful summer break.  Thanks again for a wonderful year.
Signing out,
Jo Kember

What a show!

Video best vied by clicking "watch on youtube"

Week 8 😮

It's Production week! We hope you can join us on either Tuesday at 9:30am or Wednesday at 2pm to watch our Y1 Production. We promise to get you in the Christmas Spirit. There is a gold coin donation at the door. We are asking that Isla, Maya and Bianca be at school at 8:30 on Tuesday please and all other children no later than 8:50 so we can be ready in costumes for a 9:30 show start on Tuesday please.

Hopefully this beautiful weather holds for our school Family Picnic tomorrow night from 6:00-7:30pm. There will be a sausage sizzle and music, so pack a picnic and bring the whole family to the field for some fun. (option - Dads feel free to bring an oversized watermelon for the entertainment and amusement of those around you)

Sustainability Challenge:
M1 has taken up Chloe's challenge to be soft plastic free this week. The problem: 

If you walk around at lunchtime and take a good look at the lunches our children bring to school, here's what the typical lunch will look like:

• sandwiches in disposable plastic bags
• fruits and vegetables in plastic bags
• prepackaged chips, cookies, fruit bars, granola bars, cheeses, and fruit leathers
• single-use yogurts
• crackers, pretzels, chips, and other snack foods sealed in plastic bags
• disposable juice boxes, juice pouches, water bottles, and milk cartons
• plastic forks and spoons
• paper napkins
• reusable lunchboxes and disposable paper and plastic bags

A Single-Use Plastic Free Lunch:

• sandwiches and other main dishes, fresh fruits and, fresh vegetables, and treats in a reusable lunch container or containers
• cloth napkins
• stainless-steel forks and spoons
• reusable drink containers
• reusable lunch boxes

When Chloe first started collecting our soft plastic there was a lot! a big bag full in a week, but this last week there were less that 10 pieces each day which is a big improvement!

We hope that the kids will start there own soft plastic bag at home and take it to the supermarket or warehouse to re cycle. It’s amazing how much space it all takes up in a rubbish bin and how much less rubbish you have each week without soft plastic. Here is Chloe using the recycle bin to dispose of our classes soft plastics.:

Samuel wanted to share a song with the class to remind us we all can make a difference

We hope that your family will join in with helping achieve this great goal! Thanks for taking the time in a very busy week to help your child prepare a single-use plastic free lunchbox.

We are starting to gather together our work from the year. I will endeavour to have everything mostly collated by Friday, so feel free to take come in any time from Friday afternoon to collect your child's books and art work. If you have informed me that you are leaving for the holidays early, I will have your child's books etc ready earlier.

This week we farewell Teneale who is breaking early to travel to England with her family. Have a wonderful holiday Holbrook's and we will see you again in 2018!

Any remaining readers or library books returned asap please. Stocktake starts Tuesday.

Keeping Ourselves Safe - Video about being lost

Video we watched as part of Keeping Ourselves Safe today .

Week 7

This week in M1 we are going to be focusing in on our Keeping Ourselves Safe Unit. You will have received an email from the school earlier in the term outlining the programme. The Main areas we will be talking about are:

I am unique: Tino taonga koe
For safety reasons students need to know their name, where they live, and the names of the people they live with. When they can verbalise their feelings confidently, they can report times when they feel safe and unsafe. 
My body is my own: Kei a koe to mana tinana
They understand the names of body parts and that no one should touch their genitals unless it is for health reasons. Students consider touch that they like, touch that hurts and touch that is confusing. 
Dealing with unwanted behaviour and touch: Tāu e ahu ai ki te whanonga me te pā kino
Students need to be able to say “no” confidently, move away, and report what has happened. They learn the difference between good secrets and bad secrets and know how to tell. 
Adults who help: Ngā kaiāwhina pakeke
Students learn who they can trust to help them. Together with the people they live with students develop safety rules and strategies to help them keep safe. 

A Home Connection book is included as part of the programme and will accompany your child home after the first lesson. I will mark the relevant page to discuss with your child that night. Please return your Home Connection book in their book, so I can remark after each lesson so you can keep dialogue open with your child at home should they bring it up. There are a few short tasks to do with your child. As our readers need to be in for stocktake this week, it is the perfect time to be doing this instead. 

We will also be researching more into our personal inquiries around Sustainability now that we are through the bulk of our end of year assessments. 

Thanks to those who have sent their costumes in for the Y1 production in Week 8. If you are struggling to find items, please let me know. We have had several spare Hawaiian shirts sent in for those who may need them. 

We hope you can make the show. There are two opportunities to view it: 

5 Dec at 9:30am in the hall or 6 Dec at 2:00pm 

Reminder this Friday:

Well done to Isla Thompson! She rocked the Sole Movement show this weekend with her Hip Hop number to Thriller.

If your child is participating in something exciting this term or being recognised for their accomplishments outside of school at a prize-giving etc, please let me know so we can all celebrate together!

Have a great week everyone!