Welcome Back

         
Welcome to Room 6 and 2018.  This year there are 30 students as well as myself and Treena working in Room 6, so we're a big crew but we've got the big room so we'll have plenty of space.

Our first few days at school will be focused on learning to work together as a group - these Year 7 and 8 students have not worked together previously - and learning the routines and expectations associated with our class.

We will be watching a short video called 'Make Your Bed' and working our way through a book of the same name. The video is very inspiring and links nicely to the Toko School Learning Stars.

        


We will also be completing a range of activities to enhance our co-operation, problem solving and thinking skills.  These activities will be based around maths, reading and writing but the true focus will be on the skills listed above.

Next week we will begin learning about Waitangi Day and what it means. We will also begin reading a book called Refugee. This book is very powerful and has many messages that will hopefully ignite some great conversation. I will post more information about the book next week so that you are able to have meaningful discussions at home with your children.

We will be swimming daily so please remind your children to bring their togs and towel everyday. Also a drink bottle is a necessity in this weather. Please ensure your child brings a bottle that they can have in the classroom.

Books will be handed out on Thursday and can be taken home for covering on Friday. Those that have the ezy style covers can simply bring the covers to school rather than lugging the books home.

If your child has a BYOD device it is important that they bring it to school everyday. We do have some devices in the class but not enough for everyone, so it makes much more sense for children who have their own device to bring it to school.

If you would like to contact me, I am more than happy to be emailed at sasha.hancock@toko.school.nz. I will reply to emails as soon as soon as I am able. Otherwise pop into school and see me before 9am or after 3pm.

Cheers
Sasha 😊

What's Up Week 6

Welcome to Week 6.  Only a few more weeks left until the school year is finished. The big focus for us this week is of course camp. I'm in the process of crossing t's and dotting i's and making sure everything is ready to go. I'm putting a copy of the gear list on here, as many students seem to have misplaced theirs. If you still have raffle tickets at home, please get them back to school by Thursday as I have to draw it on Friday afternoon.  Remember that students need to be at school by 8am on Monday. 

In class we are busy with Jubilee writing and art as requested by the Jubilee Committee. Students have to hand write a piece of writing all about themselves and draw a picture of themselves doing something they enjoy.

We are also finishing term reflections, which are then being shared with parents at interviews.

Year 8's will be shared a template for their end of year speeches this week, so they can start thinking about these. After camp we will put more focus on this. Parents need to have let the school know by Friday if they are attending the Year 8 leavers dinner.

Rotorua 2017 Gear List

PLEASE DO NOT BRING MOBILE PHONES OR LOLLIES

Day bag (such as their school bag)

Swimming togs

Towel x2 (swimming and showering)

Raincoat

Warm sweatshirts

Covered shoes for camp activities (such as sneakers - may like to bring a spare pair as well)

Underwear and socks for 5 days

Shorts and t-shirts

Long pants (make sure some warm clothes are packed even though it is summer)

PJ's

Sun hat

Warm hat

Pillow

Sleeping bag

Fitted single sheet for over the mattress (optional)

Toiletries (soap, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush, hairbrush, insect repellant, sunscreen, etc)

Waterbottle

Lunch box

Food

Packed lunch and morning tea for bus on Monday

Room 3 - home baking

Room 4 - fruit ( bag of apples or bunch or bananas etc)

Optional extra food - muesli bars, snack packs (no lollies or chocolate, etc)

Optional

Camera

Books

Spending money up to $20

Sunglasses

Torch

What's Up - Week 2

Well week 1 has flown by and with week 2 only 4 days long I’m sure it will fly by as well.

Tuesday those kids interested in the road relay will have trials. Once the teams have been named they will continue to train for the event next Monday.

The Lions Speech Competition is on Thursday night so we will be checking in with those who have written speeches to make sure they are prepared for the night.

We wrap up our persuasive writing this week by presenting our letters to the Board and Enviro Teachers. Our letters hope to persuade them that our enviro ideas are appropriate and get permission to go ahead and actually create them.

Notices came home last Friday regarding Positive Puberty so please read through these. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions. We hope to have our first lesson this Friday.

In Maths we continue to develop our algebraic thinking skills by developing rules for patterns and looking at how patterns can be explained.

Reading will consist of trying out our new CSI kit. CSI reading is a programme of work which works on developing comprehension strategies and exposing children to a range of different texts. We will also be busy with reading assessments in preparation for reports.

Reminder that all children should have a hat at school by now. No hat - no play. Bucket hats only.

Yet another busy week and it is only week 2!

Have a good one!

Capital Letters

So it appears that someone actually reads my blog posts (even if it is only my mother)! 😁She has complained about the lack of capital letters in my last post.😱😲 If you read the post directly from the blog it looks fine BUT apparently when viewed through email all the capital letters are missing.😕 This is because the email didn't recognise the font that I used. In future I will not use that font as I don't want parents (including my own) thinking that I can't use capital letters.😎 😉😉😉 Have a great day!

What's Up? - T4 - Wk 1

Welcome back to what will be another busy term - is there any other sort?? 😊  This term we have calf and lamb day on wednesday, we have lions speeches, Tech week and of course camp in week 7.

Students should be all prepared for calf and lamb day as far as pets go. we will be completing our string art design on tuesday. the only thing students need, if possible, are small picture hook type hammers. we are trying to source as many of these as possible, so if you have any at home that could be used on the day we would love to borrow them.

lions speeches take place in week 2. students who are interested will complete these at home. more information will come home with interested students.

tech will be in week 5 this term. students have filled in their request forms, these will be finalised this week and then students will be informed. the tech options this time are - cooking, art and design, shade house construction, and movie making.

camp is in week 7 and more information will come home as the date for this gets closer. if you have any questions about camp, please feel free to get in touch.

homework this week will just consist of getting animals ready for wednesday. those students interested in lions speeches will have to begin preparing their speech as well.

reminder that touch starts this week on tuesday evenings. toko school sports uniform is required in order to play.  also this coming weekend - labour weekend - is our annual school pig hunt. we would love to see you there supporting the school. Lastly remember Term 4 means no hat, no play.

have a great week.

Calendar Art

Our fabulous Calendar Art is nearly finished and should be popping up on your child's blog any day now. Our art is inspired by Warren Pohuta and the kids have done an amazing job.  They are bright and colourful and will look impressive on anyone's wall.
Calendar Art is a great fundraiser for the school and an easy way to provide gifts for your family. Price list and a couple of examples are below.

Japanese Day

Our very first Japanese Day has been fantastic! The kids have really enjoyed spending a day learning about different aspects of Japan. 
The children were split into three groups and worked through the following activities throughout the day:

- Japanese Cooking with Mrs Hancock where they were busy making okonomiyaki which is a savoury pancake is made up of flour, dashi, cabbage, water and bacon. 

- Japanese art with Miss Jury where we have been busy creating Sakura Lanterns to celebrate the Hanami Festival (ask your children to explain).

- And we have been so fortunate to have Saho take our third group and learn origami, Japanese games and how to write their name in kanji. Saho is visiting from Japan so we are so lucky to have to skills and knowledge here helping us out. 

Its been a brilliant day where the children have worked hard to use their new language skills and learn a bit more about the Japanese culture. 

Painting our Sakura Lanterns. 

Our beautiful Sakura Lanterns.

Some of the kids with their names written in kanji.

Whipping up okonomiyaki  with Mrs Hancock.

Calendar Art

We are well under way with our plans for some stunning calendar art.  We have used a New Zealand artist - Warren Pohuta - and have looked closely at some of his amazing animal art.

We discussed how he uses bold colours and blending as well as some very detailed patterning.  The students are now practicing their pattern drawing skills on a template of one of his animal designs. 

Once we have mastered how to draw some of these intricate patterns, students will draw their own design and use Warren Pohuta patterning to complete it. Look out toward the end of Week 8 for our finished pieces. 

What's Up - Week 6

This week sees another busy week as we kick off in speech board preparations along with Taranaki Trophy and our very first Japanese Day.

This afternoon we were hoping to run our school cross country but weather isn’t on our side unfortunately. We had pencilled in Friday as a postponement day but the weather is looking rough for then as well. We will just have to play this one by ear and see if we can get a clear spell for it. If not we will continue to train when it is clear enough to get out there. Rural Schools cross country is scheduled to go ahead at Rawhit on Monday next week.

Taranaki Trophy this week is on Wednesday at Auroa. The rugby and A netball teams will be travelling to Auroa to play their games. We will be leaving Toko School 10.15am which will allow time for the teams to warm up before kick off at 11.30am. I recommend bringing a towel and change of clothes as the weather isn’t looking too flash for this week. Transportation has been sorted and reminder notes will be sent home to those parents involved today.

In writing and reading we are getting stuck into our speech board prep. We will be looking at depth into each category the children are required to present and discussing what they need to do to be successful. Each child needs to have a topic for their informative talk and a book to discuss. Make sure to check in with your child and check they have their topics and book sorted.

In maths we continue looking into algebra and using open ended tasks to challenge and extend our knowledge.

On Friday we are going to hold a Japanese Day where the kids will spend the each block doing activities based around Japanese festivals, food and the written language. There is a Japanese exchange student based at St Mary’s who is going to come out and work with the kids so we will have an expert to help out for the day. Her name is Saho and she worked with the children during their Japanese lesson last week. The kids homework this week is based around preparing for this day and getting some background knowledge around the areas we will be looking at. Check in to make sure they are on track as this is due on Thursday.

We are still collecting bottle caps to finish off our project from tech week but are only after brown and silver/grey lids now. If you have any please send them in.

Looking ahead to next week there is of course Rural School Cross Country and then next Friday 8th September will be our final Taranaki Trophy fixture which is away against St Josephs. This involves the rugby and both netball teams.

Have a great week, stay dry!

Japanese with Mrs Karasawa and Saaho

Not only were we lucky enough to have Mrs Karasawa come and take another Japanese lesson but we also got to meet Saaho - a Japanese exchange student.

Mrs Karasawa and Saaho

Mrs Karasawa and Saaho taught us how to say our age correctly and the vocabulary that goes with this.  One of the ways they helped us learn this was through Speed Dating! Well not really, but it was like speed dating. We lined up in two lines. One line asked the question '"How old are you?" and the other line answered, then the line moved on. Watch this video to see how it went. 

After that we went outside and had a game of Chinese Whispers - well in this case it was actually Japanese Whispers! Teams had to come to Mrs Karasawa and listen to a sentence. Then they had to take it to their team and whisper it to the next person in the line. When the last person had the whisper they ran to Saaho and repeated it to her. It was interesting to note how often we got the whispers wrong!

All lined up in teams.

Checking with Saaho.

Passing that whisper along.

It was a really fun lesson. Now we are looking forward to next week and seeing what cool things Mrs Karasawa and Saaho will come up with.