Swimming, Awhina meetings and Athletics Day

Swimming starts on Tuesday the 29th October. Please make sure that the children have their togs (swimsuits) towels and goggles all named and in a bag ready to catch the bus at 9:30. Awhina meetings are on this Wednesday (30th October) the children in year 3 are allowed to wear mufti in their awhina's colour. Whole school athletics day is on Wednesday November 6th (rain day is Friday the 8th) With summer on its way, please ensure that the children are coming to school with their school hat from now on. We highly recommend that it is clearly named so if it is lost, it can be returned to your child.

Key Dates for Term 3.

Friday Week 2, Wacky Hair Day Friday Week 5, Father's Day Breakfast Friday Week 6, Cross Country

Photos of our Castles.

Our Castles on PhotoPeach

Our Self Portraits.

Dressing Up

During the winter months, when it is wet and rainy outside, sometimes the kids have to stay inside during morning tea and lunch. On one such day I came back to the classroom to find a group of room 21s boys having a great time dressing up in the outfits from the dress up box!

Celebrating Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2013 (Maori Language Week)

How many of New Zealand's place names can you pronounce correctly in Maori? Test your knowledge and learn how to pronounce the name correctly at this interactive webpage... http://www.korero.maori.nz/resources/map.html

Maori Place names.

ABC by the Jackson 5

We have a couple of teachers leaving us at the end of the term, Mrs Cameron who has been at Willowbank since it opened has taken up a position closer to her home and Mrs Bowden will be going on maternity leave. ABC by the Jackson 5...

Our Recounts

Check out our recordings of our recounts on the Wiki... http://learning-links.wikispaces.com/home

Drop off Zone closed...

The drop off zone will be closed tomorrow morning (Monday 11th March) and on the afternoon of the afternoon of Friday (15th March) to allow for the year 6 buses to pick up and drop off kids safely.

Upcoming Events...

Paid Union Meetings (PUMs) Unfortunately the Collective Agreement between the Teachers Institute (NZEI) and the Government negotiators has come to a grinding holt and teachers belonging to the NZEI will be meeting to discuss the terms and conditions of the current negotiations on Tuesday 19 March at 2pm. Although the school will remain open in the afternoon we are asking, where possible parents and caregivers collect their children at 12.30pm on the day. Children remaining at school will be supervised by support staff, some teaching staff and myself. SKiDs and ACE programmes will operate as normal on this day - starting at 3pm. A letter and permission slip regarding the PUMs will be sent home soon. We thank you for your continued support in this matter. Community Evenings We have a number of parent and community open days and consultation evenings planned for this year. One of our goals this year is to introduce BYOD (Bring Your Own Devices) to our Year 5 and 6 classes. We are well on the way in preparing the school for this development with the introduction of UFB (ultra fast broadband) and with the near completion of the School Network Upgrade (SNUP). We will hold a meeting for parents and caregivers of Year 5 and 6 students on Wednesday 27 March to discuss policies and procedures, expectations and other issues regarding BYOD. We will send further information home regarding this meeting closer to the date. School Open Day: Tuesday 9th April Come along and spend some time in your child's classroom. The children will present their learning from over the term and introduce you to some of the activities and strategies they use to support their learning.

Room 21s Scientists!

Room 21 had science with Mrs J-B today, here are a couple of photos of the scientists hard at work on their experiments.

Team 3 Newsletter

Team 5 Fundraising

Ice block and Chocolate Milk for Sale Team 5 are raising funds for their school trip. Lemonade ice blocks and chocolate milk is for sale next Friday 1st March, to be delivered to the class at lunchtime. The money needs to be pre-paid by Thursday 28th February. Please put the money into a labeled envelope, specifying what you would like to order and return to Ms Grant or Mrs Blong. Child's Name_________________________ in Rm 21 Year 3 would like to buy: __ chocolate milk(s) $2.00 each __ lemonade ice blocks(s) $2.00 each Total $__________ (Feel free to print this off and order on Monday!) GG.

We love to hear from our family

Hi Mums, Dads, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles and all extended Whanau, we LOVE to hear from you and what you think about the learning that is going on in our class, so please sign up to follow us by email (via the link to the right of this post) so you get our updates sent straight to your in-box. We would hate for you to miss out on any of the fun and interesting things we will be doing this year! From Room 21.

The faces of 21

WELCOME..!

What a great start to the school year we have had so far, it was so nice to meet some new children and hear from familiar faces about the fabulous time you all had over the summer break. Ms Blong and I cant wait to get 2013 under way, we hope you are as excited about starting year 3 as we are about it. We look forward to a fabulous year with you all. Ms. Grant and Mrs. Blong.