Kia ora whanau,

With Spring in the air, and longer, lighter days, we are looking forward to fewer bugs and ills, which will mean fewer children away sick. The last few weeks have been particularly tough on the wee ones (and some staff members, too) - it's been wonderful to have more children back at school over the last day or so!

Self Managers:
Congratulations to all those children who are developing independence and managing their school bags (carrying, packing, unpacking and keeping tidy throughout the day) and organising their reading folders and library folders! These are skills that it's important to be developing right from the first day at school!

Home Learning Reminders:
Please support your child/children by listening to their reading every night at home.
If children have word packs in their reading folders they can be practising their high frequency words every night and slowly adding a few more in as they master the words they already have. Please ensure that word packs are kept in reading folders, so we can also use them during class time.

Mutukaroa:
Please return resource packs either to Rowe or to your Point of Contact teacher when you are finished with them. This should be around the time your child is 5 and a half. These resources take a lot of time and effort to make and we would love to be able to pass them on to new children arriving at school.

Friendship List:
There will be an email coming out via eTAP soon - this will contain a link to a Google Doc into which you can add your contact details for our Te Whanau Koru Friendship List (if you are willing). This way you will be able to make contact with other Te Whanau Koru families more easily.

Sickness:
There are many nasty and extremely contagious bugs going around at the moment - please keep your children home until they are 100% well. There have been cases of strep throat, chickenpox, colds, flus and stomach bugs. Below is a Ministry of Health link which has a guideline on how long your child will be contagious, if they have had chickenpox, stomach bugs and many other bugs.

https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/conditions-and-treatments/school-exclusion

Gymnastics:
We appreciate all the help we get during this time. If you would like to help please let your child's Point of Contact teacher know or just show up, as we would love to see you.

Zac from the Christchurch City Library visiting:
Zac, who is a librarian with the Christchurch City Library, will be coming in this Friday during the afternoon. Children will have the opportunity of listening to a variety of stories.

Spellathon Cards:
These are due back on Monday 17th. Please keep practising with your child until Thursday, so that your child is well prepared for testing on Friday, August 21st.

Tackling Technology Parent Evening:
This will be an information evening held at school from 7pm - 8.30pm, Monday, 17th August. Although this talk is geared to the parents of older students, it could very well be helpful for the parents of younger children.

SPCA Fundraiser:
Please keep an eye out for a letter  which will be emailed out at the start of next week. A hard copy of this letter will also be sent home in reading folders.

Thanks from the Te Whanau Koru Teachers
Gail, Cath, Andrea, Jo, Rowe and Amanda