Winter sports finished last week, and we would like to say an enormous thank you to the parents who have helped us out by coaching teams. Thank you to Brett, Anna, Belinda and Kerryn for giving up your time to help us with our tamariki. Without your help we wouldn't have been able to enter the maximum number of teams in the Hagley Park competition. If your child played in a winter sports team, could you please send the washed uniform back to school, to be returned to the green bin in the Kauri hub.
Named clothing and lunch boxes
We constantly have a stream of left behind sweat shirts, polar fleeces and lunch containers. The teachers are getting very good at matching lost items with bewildered children! To help the children identify their belongings it would be very helpful if they were clearly labelled with their names.
Readathon
This week has been book week and we have had a number of special events going on. The book fair has been running in the Green Room before and after school every day this week, and we have seen a number of children excitedly bringing in new books to share. The teachers have gone to a different class after morning tea and read a picture book. The children and teachers have enjoyed a change of scenery! Hopefully the children have been hitting their target of reading for 30 minutes a night. Research tells us that regular reading improves comprehension, increases vocabulary and is good for the imagination! It's also fun! Thank you for your support of your children with their reading at home. Readathon cards and money are due back to school on Friday 7 September. Book week culminated in a dress up day! How exciting. Some children were unrecognizable in their book character costumes. There must have been some early risers on Friday! What a fabulous effort was made by so many children!
Cultural Festival
Te Whānau Mahi Tahi is off on Monday afternoon to Horncastle Arena for a rehearsal. Their performance at the Christchurch Primary Schools Cultural Festival is on Monday night and we know that they will wow the audience with their passion and beautiful singing. Kia kaha!
Writing
The teachers are in the process of printing off the fabulous poetry anthologies which the majority of the students finished last week. The students are very proud of what they have achieved and are surprised at how many different poetry types there are. We are making each student their own book by printing off their slideshow in colour, inserting a protective cover and binding it with a spine. This will mean the children will be able to take their anthology home to keep. To help us cover this cost we are asking for a donation of $3, which will be listed on your school account. If you are particularly impressed with your child's anthology (and we're sure you will be!), you may want to consider using an online publisher like Snapfish to publish the anthology in a professional way. What a great Christmas present for relatives!
We are beginning speech writing on Monday. The students have three choices of speech to write. They can entertain (tell a story), inform (teach us about something) or persuade (get us to agree with their point of view). It would be great if there was some discussion about topics at the dinner table to ignite your child.
Pitch Perfect Choir
The Pohutukawa Pitch Perfect choir will be attending the Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival massed rehearsal on the morning of Monday 10 September. We will be back at school by lunchtime. The choir has worked very hard to learn a repertoire of songs, and we are very much looking forward to performing at The Horncastle Arena on the evening of Friday 26 October. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketek.