Te Aroha Primary School
Term 3 Week 2 2022
PRINCIPAL / TUMUAKI MESSAGE
Kia ora parents and whānau,
Welcome to Week 2. Last week went by in a whirl! It was great to see our learners back and eager ready to go for the new term. The weather was against us a bit, with the children spending a lot of time indoors. I must say however, that in general the children are very good at entertaining themselves on wet days. Shout out to the senior students too who go into the junior and middle hubs to help with supervision.
On Friday the Waihou hub had their 100 day celebration, it looked like a lot of fun and the photos on facebook show many happy children enjoying their fun day of celebration. Check them out here https://www.facebook.com/Te-Aroha-Primary-School
Also on Friday I got to join our Year 7 & 8’s at Tech down at the college. That was a very cool experience, the interactions that the children get to have with the various technologies are impressive. I got to see the children doing Food tech, Woodwork and Robotics…it is certainly a lot different to when I was there in the 90’s! You can check out photos from the visit on our Facebook page - use the link above.
LEARNING CONVERSATIONS - IMPORTANT UPDATE
Just a reminder that we have our learning conversations on this Wednesday 3 August.
School is closed for instruction, however we have learning assistants onsite if you have no other option other than to send your children to school.
It is our expectation that ALL PARENTS AND WHĀNAU make an appointment to see your child’s teacher. If you can’t be at school in person then a zoom meeting or a phone call will be fine. These conversations are important and we do not want to miss anyone if possible. If Wednesday really doesn’t work for you please contact your child’s teacher to reschedule a time.
MASK WEARING AT THE LEARNING CONVERSATIONS - We all have our own individual thoughts and feelings about mask wearing. At Te Aroha Primary we are asking that you PLEASE WEAR A MASK when you meet with your child’s teacher. The reason we are asking this of you is simple. We need to ensure that we are taking all practical precautions to protect the health of our staff. If they get sick then it is really hard to find relievers and it is disruptive to the learning of the class. Unless you have a valid mask exemption we need you to please respect this request, it’s only for 15 minutes - spare a thought for the teachers who have 9 hours of it.
Have an awesome week everyone.
Ka kite,
Justin Bertrand
KEY TERM DATES
TERM THREE DATES 2022
- 3/8/2022 Learning Conversations - Wednesday 3 August 9:00am-6:00pm
- 31/7/2022 - 6/8/2022 Cook Islands Language Week
- 16/8/2022 School Cross Country Wednesday 16 August
- 17/8/2022 Ready, Set, Go! Wednesday 17 August 1:40 - 2:40pm
- 25/8/2022 District Cross Country Thursday 25 August
- 30/8/2022 - 2/9/2022 Totara Sports Camp (team of Year 7&8 students)
- 31/8/2022 Ready, Set, Go! Wednesday 31 August 1:40 - 2:40pm
- 14/9/2022 Ready, Set, Go! Wednesday 14 September 1:40 - 2:40pm
- 24/9/2022 PTA Duck Race Saturday 24 September
- 28/9/2022 Ready, Set, Go! Wednesday 28 September 1:40 - 2:40pm
- 30/9/2022 Last day of Term 3 Friday 30 September
Other term dates to be advised.
EXTRA NEWS and STUDENT VIEWS
LEARNING CONFERENCES
Te Aroha Primary School Board Elections 2022
Returning Officer,
Diane Hazelton
COOK ISLANDS LANGUAGE WEEK
This year’s theme for ‘Epetoma o te reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani – Cook Islands Language Week is ‘Ātuitui’ia au ki te Oneone o tōku ‘Ui Tupuna which means, connect me to the soil of my ancestors.
‘Ātuitui’ia au ki te Oneone o tōku ‘Ui Tupuna reflects on the journey of Cook Islands peoples in New Zealand, as well as the longing of young Cook Islanders to connect with their language, culture, and identity. The theme reflects the overarching 2022 Pacific Language Week theme of Sustainability, by linking the importance of language sharing and cultural heritage being handed down over generations.
Access to Period Products
We are very pleased to be part of the Ministry of Education‘s programme to provide free access to period products for students. Using these products is not compulsory and students can continue to bring products from home if they prefer.
Mrs B co-ordinates this, with products being discreetly given to students. If you would like your child to start receiving these products, please get in touch with Mrs B - by ringing the school office (07) 8848803 or via email dp@tearohaprimary.school.nz
SPORTS NEWS - Mrs Paul
Totara Springs: Gear Lists went home this week as well as instructions for payment of the Totara Fees. The children are working really hard at getting ready and we couldn’t do this without the help of Mrs Paetai, Mrs Diprose and Mrs Young. We will be sending home a contract for parents to sign for use of our new uniforms. A reminder that Cross Country is a pre requisite for Totara Springs so parents please don’t let your child talk you into writing a note to get them out of it!!
Netball: This is done and dusted for the year. Can we please have all Year 7 and 8 uniforms back before the end of the week.
Cross Country: Please, if you are able to help us out by marshalling for our cross country, ring Lucy in the office….we can’t run these days without help. In return you will get lots of laughs and a close up view!
Rugby: Well done to all out children who received awards at the rugby Prizegiving:
PTA NEWS
Duck Day
The Great Duck Race is back for 2022!
Forms were sent home. Each family is asked to please sell 10 tickets. Prize for the family that sells the most.
Spare forms are available from the office.
Thank you for supporting the PTA
PTA meeting on Thursday 4th August 6pm in the staff room. Everyone welcome.
CLASSROOM ROUND UPS
WAIHOU / HUB 1 / JUNIOR BLOCK / YEAR 1-2
Waihou Hub News - 100 Day Celebration
Celebrating the Waihou Hub students completing 100 days at school.
Room 1 - Mrs Johnson
What a great start to the term we had with our 100 day celebration on Friday. A great time was had by all!
Literacy - Our phonics sounds for the week are p,i and n. Our phonological focus is rhyming words, syllables and older students are working on blending 3 letter words and saying the word. Our heart word of the week is is. Learning about narratives has been very engaging for the children and a great way to kickstart ideas for story writing. This week we focus on The Three Little Pigs. Our goal for the week is to verbalize our sentence before we begin to write and then reread it at the end to check that it makes sense.
Maths - Together with counting and daily work on number knowledge we are investigating equal sharing this week.
A reminder to please send shorts and a t-shirt to school for cross country running each day, it is very muddy on the field. The weather certainly didn’t play ball last week, here’s hoping to get out running this week.
Learning Discussions take place on Wednesday and it is a teacher only day. I have resent the link to anyone who hasn’t made an appointment yet. I look forward to meeting with you to discuss your child’s learning.
Mrs Maisey will be taking Room 1 on FrIday as I have a meeting.
Room 2 – Miss Webb
Welcome to Week 2! We had a fantastic start to Term 3 and really enjoyed our 100 days at school party!
Literacy: This week we will continue with Fairy Tales as our theme for our writing. Our Fairy Tale this week will be The Three Little Pigs.
Maths: We are continuing with probability this week. We have become very good at using words like certain, possible and impossible to discuss chance.
Physical Education: We are hoping to get out for some cross country training this week so that we can all be ready for our cross country event on August 16th. A change of clothes and a water bottle need to come to school each day.
Reminders:
Please remember your drink bottle and book bag everyday.
Please do not hesitate to contact me via Seesaw or email zwebb@tearohaprimary.school.nz. Have a great week!
Room 3 – Miss Swan
Kia Orana,
Welcome to a busy Week 2! Room 3 has had a great start to Term 3 and really enjoyed celebrating 100 days at school on Friday.
Literacy: In writing we are looking at recrafting our work and publishing a good copy. It is tricky to look for mistakes in our writing and make changes but a vital skill to master.
Our reading groups continue this week and I am impressed with how well Room 3 children are segmenting and blending their words! Keep it up! Our phonic focus for the week is ‘or’ as in sport and born.
Maths: In Maths we will be looking at equal sharing strategies to find a half or quarter of a number and focus on recording our counting collections correctly.
Reminders for the week:
A change of clothes and a drink bottle for cross country training.
Learning discussions are on Wednesday. I am looking forward to seeing you all.
Please remember your homework books and book bags everyday!
Please don’t hesitate to contact me via Seesaw or email mswan@tearohaprimary.school.nz
Have a wonderful week😊
GOLDFIELDS / SATELLITE UNIT / JUNIOR BLOCK
Room 4 - Mrs Suzette Willis, Mrs Donna Taylor-Erutoe and Team
We are continuing to work towards reaching our IEP goals with our lovely tamariki!
Bucket time was our favourite activity last week, whilst we had our rainy weather.
Have a great week!
TIKAPA MOANA / HUB 2 / MIDDLE BLOCK / YEAR 3-5
Room 5 - Miss Entwisle
Kia Orana! Welcome to Week 2! 😊
Reading: Last week’s big book The Legend of Knockmany was fun to read. We found out that Irish words don’t always sound the way they look.
Writing: Explanation writing is well underway. We have been exploring how pogo sticks work and have enjoyed finding this out firsthand.
Mathematics: We are developing our Addition and Subtraction strategies using 10’s and 1’s.
Physical Education: Weather permitting we will be trying to get out each day to train for the upcoming Cross Country. Despite the rain last week we did manage to get a few good runs in.
Reminders / Online Learning - Homework
Our Spelling words and weekly poem and other home learning based tasks are available on Seesaw. This work is optional.
Students have free access to learning sites such as: Prodigy, Sumdog, Sunshine Classics, Epic! And Mathletics.
If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact Miss Entwisle via the school office: 078848803; email: mentwisle@tearohaprimary.school.nz or through the Seesaw message function.
Room 6 – Mrs Bankier
I am looking forward to meeting with all parents this week at the Learning Conferences.
Mathematics: This week we will be learning to solve word problems using our knowledge of fractions. Being able to draw and explain our thinking is important.
Writing: We will be starting to write persuasive writing this week, this is always a fun topic trying to get your point of view across and releasing that others may think differently.
Reading: We will be reading about different sports as part of our Commonwealth Games work.
Physical Education: Weather permitting we will be getting our fitness up for cross country running everyday.
Topic: We have been learning about augmented reality and designing a Commonwealth Games uniform for New Zealand on our Lamb Mascot - we would like to share these with our parents at our Learning Conferences.
Room 7 – Mrs Paul
In between the rain, we will try to get extra fit for Cross Country. While we can’t all be awesome runners, we can be awesome participants and that is what we aim for !!
In Maths we are beginning our unit on Fractions. Having done a pretest last week, I am able to group the children based on what they can remember.We always start with what we know before we build on that and move into learning new skills. Fractions are often feared, but once you get them- they are easy.
In Writing: We will continue to write persuasive texts focusing on paragraphs, explaining our reasons with clarity and using effective persuasive language.
In Reading: we will be paying particular attention to extracting facts using our Commonwealth games information. An important part of this is making sure we understand key words and asking questions about things we are unsure of.
Inquiry will see us learning a little about the world using the Commonwealth games as the vehicle. Different countries, capitals , flags and industry will be learnt as we look at some of the athletes competing. Even if you aren’t into sport, the Commonwealth games can teach us so much. Ask your child about Tolerance and the difference between racism and prejudice - we have spent time looking at this. The great thing about the games is that it teaches the children that we are all equal and that there is no room for attitudes which go against this.
TE MOANANUI-A-KIWA / HUB 3 / SENIOR BLOCK / YEAR 6-8
Room 8 – Mrs McKenzie
Kia Orana - welcome to Cook islands Language week. We will be celebrating this through some language and cultural learning activities, including some dancing!
Maths - We welcome back Anna Mac for some more whole class problem solving. As well as this, we are learning all about time and all students have given fantastic input and effort into their learning about time already.
Literacy - Procedural writing has been enjoyed by everyone and we will continue with some more hands-on learning with this. We have had procedures written about making a hot chocolate, tying shoelaces, baking and so much more! It’s been entertaining. Reading is based around Cook Islands week and also a new novel. Students will use chapter chat to explore and grow comprehension skills. Students have also had a look into speeches last week. Information will be sent home on Wednesday about this.
Topic - This term's focus is the Physical World and forces. We had some experience with this last term with our rocket launching. I will introduce another use of forces this week which will require students to complete a home challenge towards the weekend. Make sure you ask about it!
Cross Country Training has seen all students push themselves well beyond in week one, I cannot wait to see how well their fitness is improving in week 2. Keep up the mahi!
Parent/Teacher Conferences - Thank you to everyone that has booked in or made other arrangements for another day. I have enough slots left for those that haven’t managed to confirm a time yet. It is a great opportunity for us all to talk about your child's learning and goals. Please book in today!
Seesaw or email cmckenzie@tearohaprimary.school.nz if I can assist in any way.
Looking forward to another superb week in Room 8!
Mrs McKenzie / Mrs Young
Room 9 – Whaea Armstrong and Mrs Gamble
Kia Orana!
This week we celebrate our whānau across the ditch, the Cook Islands! Our learning will be based around the beautiful language and culture, including art and even dance!
Literacy - Along with our cook island learning, this week we will continue to look at procedural writing. Last week we had a go at writing a set of instructions for making a paper plane, and boy was that harder than we thought! Nonetheless, we will continue to persevere and develop our procedural writing skills with hands-on activities.
Maths - Time and temperature is our focus this week. Last week we looked at analog and digital clocks, this week we look deeper into 12 and 24hour time, along with looking at the basics of temperature in degrees Celsius. We welcome Mrs Mac the ‘maths expert’ in to our class this week where we will be developing our problem solving skills in fractions, decimals and percentages.
Reminders:
- Cross country - We congratulate you on your awesome effort last week and are already seeing improvements. Remember to continue to bring a change of clothes for each training session. The grounds are super muddy so have a spare outfit to change is handy! Parents, if your child cannot run please flick us a message on seesaw or email, or a signed note from you.
- Totara Springs - training is well underway. Reminder these are held every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon.
- Parent/Teacher Conferences- thank you to those who have already booked. We still have many slots still available so please make a booking where possible.
- Mrs Gamble will be back after a relaxing week away.
We look forward to another fantastic week.
Whaea Armstrong
Room 10 – Mrs B
Kia orana - this week we have great excitement in celebrating 'Epetoma ō te reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani - Cook Islands Language Week. We will complete a taskboard with activities that support language learning and expression of culture through the arts - Mrs B is also cooking us a kai (chop suey and mainese - let her know if you would like the recipes!)
Te maata i taau ka oronga ko te maata rai ia i taau ka rauka.
The more you give the more you receive. If you give a lot you will receive a lot.
(Kuki Airani)
Literacy - we had such a fun time last week experimenting with instructional writing and testing these out with a buddy. Who knew that making a sandwich could be such a challenge? This week, we move from instructions to developing greater depth by writing a set of procedures to follow. We also delve back into our Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Curriculum for reading as we investigate the Dawn Raids.
Maths - we welcome back Mrs Mac for some collaborative problem solving and begin new learning around Fractions, Decimals and Percentages. This will start after we complete our learning on temperature and integers.
Cross Country - I have been really impressed with the effort students have been putting into their daily cross country training. This continues again this week and a change of clothes is a great idea. Please let me know if your child is unable to participate.
Parent Teacher Conferences - thank you to the parents that have booked in a time for Wednesday - I still have slots available and would love to see everyone!
*Mrs Gamble will be in Rm 10 on Friday
Here is to an epic week in Rm 10 - check out our learning on Seesaw!
Kia manuia - Mrs B dp@tearohaprimary.school.nz
Year 7/8 Technology at Te Aroha College
Please make sure your child has shoes that cover their feet (NO SLIDES PLEASE) and long hair needs to be tied up. Roll call for the bus at 8.30am outside Rm 10. If your child is running late and misses the bus, please take them straight to the College.
Students 12+ years are to wear a mask on the bus as per Orange setting.
LUNCHES IN SCHOOLS PROGRAMME
SPONSORS
We need these firms to keep our school cashflow and community relations going strong. They are generous to us which enables us to benefit your children so I would ask you look at the team of sponsors and where possible, use them as we all gain.
School Policies and Procedures
School Policies and Procedures
SchoolDocs is the tool we use for our school policies. These are kept updated with the SchoolDocs team ensuring legal and compliance matters are always up-to-date.
To access SchoolDocs simply :
1. Go to schooldocs.co.nz
2. Click Search for your school.
3. Start typing the school’s name and select it from the dropdown list.
4. Enter the community username tearohaprimary and password school
From there it is simply a matter of navigating to areas you wish to look at - enjoy the read.
School App, Facebook, Seesaw and our School Website
Please use these tools we provide - we use them to alert, inform and effectively communicate with parents.
Check it out - there is plenty for you to find out.
If in doubt please ask your child’s teacher as we will be using these platforms on a regular basis to keep our parent community informed and up to date.
Contact Us
Email: admin@tearohaprimary.school.nz
Website: https://tearohaprimary.school.nz/
Location: Jubilee Avenue, Te Aroha, New Zealand
Phone: 07-884 8803
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Te-Aroha-Primary-School-193399510687026/