Week 7 Update

Hi everyone,
I hope your week is going well.  We are having a great time in Kakano 7.  The children are all working hard and on Tuesday afternoon we had our first visit to the library.  Our library day will be every Tuesday afternoon so children can keep their library books at home and bring them back on a Tuesday.  If they bring them back to school early I will have a place for them to keep their library bag.  Friday is sausage sizzle day if your child would like to order sausages $1.50 and juicies $1.50.  We have been learning about the important people in our lives whose photos can be seen in our prayer corner.  They are Bishop Steve, Pope Francis, Mary Mackillop (she founded our school), Mary mother of Jesus and Jesus.  We went for a walk to find pictures/statues of the two Mary's in our school.  See if your child can point them out next time you are in school.  It is quite tricky for them to distinguish between the two Mary's.
Enjoy the rest of your week and the long weekend, (no school on Monday).

Term 2 Week 7

What a fabulous first week in Kakano 7. Everyone worked so hard and tried their best with every activity. I was so proud of all the children. They were also wonderful helpers when our preschool visitors were with us on Friday morning.

This week is Samoan Language week, we plan to celebrate this by learning a new song and learning about Samoan culture and art.

All children need to be wearing correct winter uniforms from tomorrow.  Grey socks and shorts for the boys, navy blue socks, and the pinafore for the girls.  Royal blue skivvy and black leather shoes for everyone.  Remember to name all of your child's uniform. The uniform shop is open tomorrow morning from 8:30 - 9:00 if you are still needing anything.

We continue to clean and use the hand sanitiser regularly. 

Mr MacMillan would like you to be reminded that if it is wet we won’t have the luxury of spreading children out in the church car park so parents will need to meet children at their classrooms in the afternoon.

Have a great week and I look forward to seeing Kakano 7 in the morning.

Sausage Sizzle/Pita Pit

Sausage Sizzle
On Fridays children can order sausages, juicies or both.
Sausages $1.50
Juices $1.50
Children order in their classroom when they get to school in the morning.

Pita Pit
On Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday children can order Pita Pit.  This is done through www.lunchonline.co.nz You need to register online and then submit and pay for your order online.  The lunches are delivered to school in time for lunch.

A Fabulous First Day

We had such a great first day today.  I am so lucky to have such a great bunch of children.  We were very busy and managed to fit lots into the day.  There were a few yawns this afternoon so I am thinking that by the end of the week we could have some tired children.

Term 2 Week 6 - Welcome to School

Welcome to week 6 and welcome to school in the classroom!!  I am really looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow morning.  It definitely has been strange to think I have had a class for two weeks and we have not been together at all. 
Please bring a named water bottle every day for your child as the drinking fountains cannot be used.
Children can wear mufti or their school uniform all this week.
Please check the blog regularly this week as I will try to add a little bit of information most days so that I don't overload you with too much information all at once.
I have checked with Mr. MacMillan and although other parents are not allowed into their child's classroom, all parents of our class (Kakano 7) are allowed in the classroom in the morning.  Brigitte will meet you tomorrow morning at the office at 9:30am and will bring you down to the classroom (Room 11).

We are ready for the start on Monday and have set up sanitiser stations in the classroom along with soap dispensers and paper towels. Staff will be ensuring that door handles, hard surfaces, and class equipment will be sanitised periodically throughout the day. All the classrooms have been cleaned over the lockdown period. 

We do ask that if your child is unwell that you do not send them to school. It is important that your child has totally recovered before they are sent back to school. It is expected that a child would be away for at least 48 hours if they have been unwell. Also if your child becomes unwell at school the office will notify you and you will need to collect ASAP.

What will school look like under Alert Level 2?

Drop off 8:45-9:00 

We encourage parents to drop their children at the gate and not enter the school grounds. Parents are advised they must not enter any classrooms, please. If you need to contact your child’s teacher please email, text or a written message can come with your child.

Any students who come to school after 9am will need to come in via the Carnot Street entrance and be accompanied by an adult when they report to the School Office.

Pickup 2:30-2:45

You can collect your child from the classroom at the end of the day, you will need to scan a QR code to enter the school or have your photo taken. There are posters at the gates with instructions. This is so the school has a record of who has been on-site for contact tracing. IF you would like to collect your child from a gate please let me know in the morning and when the other children in the class have been collected, I will bring them to the gate to meet you.

Contact Tracing at St Mary’s

We have registered our school location for contact tracing via tracing.co.nz. Our location code is 080045.

If you need to get to work earlier than the stated times of drop off you could take your children to Before School Care at Glenholme School. The contact details are Maryanne Roling 0211215599. Maryanne will bring the children over to St Mary’s at 8.45am.

See you all in the morning. 😀

Term 2 Week 5

Welcome to week 5.  I hope all Mums are having a lovely Mother's Day with their children.

This week we will find out when and if we will be moving to Alert Level 2.  Once we have this information we will be able to let you know when school can and will return for all children.

Our Bingo Board challenges have a Technology theme.  Technology for 5-year-olds looks at how children can design and build different creations.  It is all about children having a go and making changes to improve their designs.

We continue to provide activities and ideas for reading, writing, and mathematics.  Please let me know if you require support with any of the activities that have been set. 

Stationery

I have included the stationery list for anyone wanting to know what is needed.

St Mary's has asked parents to shop at Warehouse Stationery as their Literacy Books are a little different from Office Max.  Everything else is pretty much the same wherever you shop.

The orange book below is from Warehouse Stationery and you will see it has dotted lines whereas the yellow book is from Office Max and does not have the dotted lines.  If you have already purchased your stationery from Office Max that is fine.

 

 

Contact with School - The following are the 3 main ways contact is made with you from St Mary's.  It is a good idea to make sure you have access to these.  Please let me know if you are unsure about any of these forms of communication.
* the school app on your phone
* the school website
* Educa

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a great week.

Our First Week Together (Week 4)

Welcome

Hi everybody

Welcome to our first week of learning.  As we have not yet been together as a class I do not want your child feeling under pressure to complete all tasks.  Please complete what your child feels comfortable with. If you would like to take any photos of your child completing activities please email them to me at susieb@stmarysrotorua.school.nz.  

This is how our week will go for "Home Learning"

Bingo Board: This will be shared with families at the start of the week and has a variety of different 'play' provocations you can do with your child.  The Bingo Board represents the play and learning we do in Kakano each week. If any of the activities require ingredients you do not have at home, please do not think you have to do the activity.

Maths: Each day a new Maths game or challenge will be shared on Educa.  These activities are aimed to support your child's understanding of how numbers work. 

Reading and Writing: (Monday to Thursday) An activity will be shared daily on Educa. It may have a reading focus, a writing focus, or both.

Poem: (Friday) The poem each week aims to support children practice their reading skills and I will always try to add a fun activity to go alongside the poem.

Enjoy your first week of Home Learning.