Don't Give Up

Bus stop activity

 

Today for Inquiry we were looking at Leaders. We worked in groups to write down all of our ideas. The questions asked were:

What is a leader?

What does a leader do?

What qualities does a leader have?

Who is a leader?

 

We have come up with so many answers and ideas and Mrs Reid is going to try to put all of our ideas together so keep a look out. :-)

Our BEST Always

 

For homework we had to create a poster showing what we think OUR BEST ALWAYS means. We have come up with a great range of amazing posters all showing different ways to be our BEST. We hope you enjoy our show....

...SNAP...

Our happy traveller

One of Room 22 has gone on holiday to Australia for a couple of weeks. She is very excited about it and wants to share her adventure with us. The following are emails she has sent to us so we can keep in touch... almost a modern day postcard :-)
Mrs Reid will post her emails here so we can keep up with what she is doing....

Hello class

Today was great, wish you were here.  We had a Kookaburra on our balcony 
sitting next to us when we had our Ice Cream for afternoon tea, and I saw
lots of parrots flying around.  Lauren and I had a long swim in the pool, 
there are 2 really neat kids pool areas at the resort and one of them has a 
water slide.  It was so much fun.  Look forward to shearing more with you 
tomorrow. 

B. T


Hi All,
Hope you are having a good time at school.  Today I went to Currumbin 
Widlife Sanctuary.  I held a Koala, a Snake, a Baby Crocodile and fed the 
Kangaroos, Lorikeets and saw lots of animal shows, including a bird flight
show, where the large Black Kite almost touched my head with its talons.  
Can't wait to show you all the photos.
From B.T


Hello,
Today I went on a boat cruise, where I saw Pelicans, Cormarands, Osprey, 
and an Eagle.  Tonight at dinner we saw a loads of Bats flying around, they 
were really big, it was very exciting.
Miss you all.
B.T


Hi there,

I had the most exciting day.  I got to get in the water with Dolphins.  It 
was amazing, I got to feed the Dolphin some Squid and throw a ball for him 
and learn the hand signals for different tricks they do.  Then I went on a 
ride called the Storm Coaster.  It was so much fun and we got soaking wet!

Bye for now!
B.T

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all good.

Yesterday I went to a famous beach called Surfers Paradise. I built an 
enormous sandcastle. I went to the top of Q1 which is like the Sky Tower. I 
had high tea at the top! Then I went back to Turtle Beach and had a swim. 
My Grandma, Auntie Fiona and Auntie Liz have also come over on holiday and 
it was great to see them.

Can't wait to see you all again soon.

BT

Hello everyone,

Here is some more news from my holiday.

I went to a water park called White Water World. It has heaps of water 
slides and I went backwards on some of them and my Mum and Dad went 
backwards on the others. There was the Green Room, Hydro Coaster, The Rip, 
the Little Ripper and lots more.

I also went to Dreamworld and went on the river rapids, the log flume, 
motocoaster, pandamonium, escape from madagascar, gingy's glider and drove 
a vintage car. It was so much fun!

Yesterday I had lunch with my family at a surf club and then we drove to 
Brisbane. I had to do some boring shopping with my mum and dad!

Today I played at a water park with my mum's friend's little girl Isabella.
Then we went on the Brisbane Wheel and I could see for miles. We sailed 
down the Brisbane river which was really cool!

See ya later mates (as they say in Australia)!

BT

 

 

Oh what a day

What a beautiful day to have a swimming carnival on. The sun came out and we had a great afternoon by the pool. A huge thank you to Wayne for running the event and we just wish the water had been a little bit warmer...

With a SNAP of my fingers I can become anyone or anything.... stay tuned for some very exciting stories from our amazing writers.

Room 22's anthem :-)

Maths rocks!

 

Today we were looking at Statistics. We wanted to find out which colour was the most popular eye colour in our Maths group. Here we are collecting our data... and having some fun with it too.

My favourite thing (incorporating a simple squiggle)

We were given a piece of paper with a squiggle on it. Mrs Reid asked us to turn it into a picture of our favourite thing. We thought long and hard about how to use the squiggle but have come up with some amazing pictures. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Our Maths group

 

In our Maths group we have been looking at Statistics. We are collecting data so we can find out some information in these pictures. We wanted to find out if you could hoola hoop, if you liked being tickled or if you could skateboard. We are going to use this information to help complete a graph. Maths is a lot of fun :-)

 

Swimming is cool

Our hopes and dreams balloons

A free slideshow by Smilebox

Monday 17th February

“OUR BEST ALWAYS”

 

Dear parents

 

Special Terrific Persons Awards

Congratulations to all the following children, who will receive their special certificates at this Friday morning’s assembly, starting at 9.10am, and run by Room 20, assisted by Hillary House leaders: Brooke Fleming, Ethan Moore, Mikayla Wilson, Levi Brickell, Harlym Tauariki-Ropiha, Emma Chang, Kate Jacobs, Luke Sidwell, Joy Chen, Aditeya Anand, Shloka Parikh, Kevashan Moodley, Adrian Sua, Caitlyn Marston, Christian Arderne, Rachel Prow, Enrique Macwan, Ashleigh McCormack and Amritleen Garcha

 

Travelwise

Park Safely and Keep Our Children Safe

 

This term our school is participating in Auckland Transport’s “Safety at the School Gate” programme.

Drivers who stop in the wrong place to drop off passengers put the safety of children at risk. 

Parking officers will be on patrol outside the school this term and will be issuing tickets to drivers who park illegally.

The approach will be one of “zero tolerance”.  There will be no warnings issued.

Please do not double park, park on yellow lines, or block someone’s driveway.

Please park legally to keep our children safe and to avoid being ticketed.

FAMILY FUN NIGHT

 

This Friday 21 February

5pm-7pm

Pack up a family dinner for our Family Fun Night on the field.

Iceblocks and snacks will be on sale by the senior classrooms so bring your gold coins.

If wet this event will be cancelled.

Ice Blocks and Mufti Day

This Wednesday (19^th) at morning tea.  $2 for an iceblock, $1 for mufti.  See the separate notice.

Life Education

The Life Education Trust Mobile Classroom is at school for the next two weeks.  There is no charge to parents, as the $5 cost comes out of the activity fee.

Parents, please ensure the activity fee of $40 is paid in full by the end of this month.  This is not a donation, but a fee to cover actual expenses to the school.

Updated contacts

If you have recently changed your address or contact phone numbers please could you let the office know or send them an email: info@botanydowns.school.nz.

School Bankin

School banking is offered through the school with the ASB bank and is collected every Thursday.  If you would like more information please contact Mrs Bishop in the office.

World Vision Leadership Workshops

On Wednesday 12 February, the World Vision Schools Relationship Co-ordinator facilitated leadership workshops for each of our Year 5 /6 classes.  The children discussed what leadership is, played games to experience the importance of knowing when to follow and when to lead, and watched video clips about leadership.  The children had a really good time and learnt a lot.  This ties in really well with our focus on ‘being our BEST always’ and the unit on Leadership.

Sunshine Online
Sunshine Online was widely used last year by teachers and parents, providing access to reading age appropriate books and activities to reinforce Literacy learning in a fun and effective way.  This year we have had to pay a subscription in order to gain access but the good news is, students can use it at home too, without having to pay a further subscription.

www.sunshineonline.com.au             User Name:           botany2014            Password:           sunshine

Values

The following children have been selected for exhibiting courtesy and good manners (our current “value”), and will be acknowledged at Friday’s assembly: Lorenzo Smith, Sarah-hayley Palei, Shion Kitamura, Elise Perkins, Blake Nankivell, Caitlin Hunkin, Abigail Clements, Alex Arthur, Hunter Brown, Maia Cracknell, Ruby Willetts, Sophie Hurley, Natalie Beach, Tomoki Hutton, Hakam Malla, Ryan Fletcher, Annaliese Thorburn, Jacob Newson and Caden Harris

Have a fantastic week everyone

Mr T

Junior Rugby Registrations 2014

 

Registration and weigh in dates for Pakuranga United Rugby Club are:

Saturday 22 Feb- 1-4pm; Sunday 23 Feb- 9am-12pm; Wednesday 26 Feb- 5-8pm; Saturday 1 Mar- 9am-12pm;

Wednesday 5 Mar-5-8pm; Thursday 6 Mar-5-8pm; Sunday 9 Mar- 9am-12pm

Weigh-ins are at the clubrooms at Bell Park while you can register on line at www.purc.co.nz

School is important because...

As Dr Seuss says....

 

Today you are you,

that is truer than true,

there is no one alive

who is more youer than you!

Dr Seuss

It's back...

Fru Ju Friday is back this week....

 

What an awesome way to start the weekend, bring your money along and grab an ice cold Fru Ju to enjoy on your way home! Race to the wonderful ladies from the P.T.A who will be waiting for you outside the staffroom at 3pm and line up.

Remember to use our value of courtesy and manners :-)

Our weekly newsletter, Monday 10th February

“OUR BEST ALWAYS”

 

Dear parents

Bought Lunches    

These will resume this week on Thursday 13^th February.  The menu choices are posted in the hall by the kitchen.   

Special Terrific Persons Awards

Congratulations to all the following children, who will receive their special certificates at this Friday morning’s assembly, starting at 9.10am, and run by our new House leaders: Linaya Rungan, Aria Takle-Lee, Gurprit Kaur, Helena Wright, Daniella Sansom, Ffion Morete, Roxie Lindgreen, Grace Dale, James Slough, Janice Lau, Samuel Duong, Iris Wu, Lisa Zhang, Brenton Liu, Allison Kenny, Bethany Stephens, Sean Jekel, Shay Dawson and Kylie Kelton

House Leaders

Sheppard:             Lucas Boniface, Beth Osborne         Deputies: James Slessor, Chelsea Prince

 

Blake:                    Bryan Mosheim, Isabella White       Deputies: Kylie Kelton, Peita Houkamau

 

Hillary:                 Jaden Carr, Brooke McGregor          Deputies: Nick Barker, Emily Speed

 

Batten:                  Charlotte Larmour, Clive Clark        Deputies: Iris Wu, Meilin He

 

School Uniform Shop

The uniform shop is open on Thursday mornings at 8.15am.  It is essential that all children wear our official summer school uniform please, including black, flat sandals.  Sneakers are not permitted.  Please name all clothing. 

 

Needed:  The Uniform Shop needs summer dresses in good to excellent condition.  Other uniform items also please.

 

A reminder that children are required to wear their sandals to and from school.

 

Safety in the Sun

During this term, all children must wear a school sunhat whenever they are outside.  Our official hats are sold by the uniform shop. 

School Donations

The BOT has held the school donations at $235 per child for the year.  There will be a discount of $15 if donations are paid by the end of term 1.  Eftpos and credit card facilities are available at the school office.  Different payment options by instalment are available-just contact Trish in the office. 

Resource Contribution

In addition to the school donation above, we request a resource contribution of $25 per pupil to cover the cost of printing and photocopying paper.  It would be appreciated if this could be paid as soon as possible. 

Activity Fee

The activity fee is a compulsory fee, and covers the cost of most school trips and performers (not camps).  The Board of Trustees has set this at $40 per child. 

Please note that we are no longer offering the option of trips and performers being paid for on a “pay as they arise” basis.  The reason for this is that it is very time consuming and difficult for teachers and office staff to keep track of the small amounts of money paid in ($2 here, $5 there) to cover costs of trips. Accordingly, the activity fee must be paid in full by the end of February please.  Thank you.

 

Meet the Teachers Evening

 Next Monday 17 February at 6pm, we are holding a Meet the Teachers Evening.  All parents are invited to attend.

The format will be:

6.00pm                                  Informal mix and mingle

6.15pm                                  Talk by Mr T

6.40pm (approx)                 Meet with teachers in classrooms

 This is an opportunity for you to find out more about the school, and to chat to your children’s teachers informally about class routines, expectations and so on.  Please note that it is not the purpose of this evening to discuss or report upon individual children.  Formal parent conferences will be held for this purpose later in the term, on Wednesday 19 March and Thursday 20 March. 

Values

The following children have been selected for exhibiting courtesy and good manners (our current “value”), and will be acknowledged at Friday’s assembly:

Brooke Fleming, Andrew Chen, Abdalla Garana, Kate McKeen, Alex Johnson, Isabelle Tuara, Anna Sidwell, Vanessa Clark, Asha Glynan, Chelsea Prince, Anget Garcha, Caitlyn Marston, Brooke Parlane, Henry Duckworth, Benjamin Ah Kiau, Joshua Borland and Haylee Morby

Have a great week everyone

 

Mr T

“A Say from Your PTA”

Fruju Friday is back!

Kids grab your $2 coins and join us for Fruju Friday on the courtyard starting this week 3pm.

Easter Eggs are coming!

Consider your Easter Egg shopping done.  Our next PTA fundraiser is Easter Eggs, so watch this space.

 

Want to see where our fundraising money goes?

1.  Pavement to native garden

If you hadn't noticed, the extension pavement to the native garden around by the long jump is complete.  Thanks to all who have contributed to fundraising to enable this to be finished.

2.  School Furniture

Some of the classroom furniture is looking a bit tatty so the PTA, together with the BOT and Min of Education, is arranging 'out with the old and in with some new'!

What should kids be doing to make sure the class runs smoothly?

This is quite a hard question to answer really well but room 22 did just that. Many of them said they needed to do their BEST and that they should listen to the teacher. That is a great answer in my books. There were lots of very good answers. What do YOU think kids should be doing to make a class run smoothly? See if your idea is here...

What kind of teacher do you want?

 

I asked the children what type of teacher they wanted and they each gave their own answer. The words that kept coming up were "kind" and "fair" so that is something for me to try to make sure of every day. The children came up with very sensible ideas and the chart is up for me to read often :-)