Friday 31 July 2015

Friday 31 July 2015

Naumai e te whanau o te kura Muritai

Tena koutou katoa

We welcome Cormac Rusholme - Cobb (R3) who joined the Muritai family this week.

This week has been Maori Language Week, which has been celebrated in Aotearoa New Zealand every year since 1975. At Muritai we endeavour to promote Te Reo Maori throughout the year within children’s learning so they become confident and comfortable in using Maori words for greetings, commands and basic classroom language. Our focus is to give our children an understanding that Taha Maori is part of our culture and unique to Aotearoa New Zealand. We want our children at Muritai to develop good pronunciation of Te Reo Maori and have confidence in using it when appropriate. Te Reo Maori is integrated throughout the school days in a variety of ways.

Details have gone home this week encouraging the children to engage in our Basic Fact-a-thon. This is the Muritai Home and Schools’ big fundraiser this year with money raised going to outfitting a ‘science’ room in room 17 (the classroom on the field). We will resource the room with storage, science equipment and new furniture. Barbara Ryan has led our science curriculum team superbly over the last few years. There has been a strong development in our science teaching and resourcing and with science education a government priority, there has been a number of groups established in Wellington to better support schools in teaching science. We want to build on this good momentum and create a hub where teachers can deliver classroom science effectively, as well as hosting community experts in science and technology to create ‘wonderment and awe’ and making sense of our amazing world.

WORLD VISION

Neil from World Vision came to our school assembly today to thank our school community for their efforts during the 40 Hour Famine for Bangladesh. We raised $3321 overall which enables 332 families to have a head start for sustainable nutrition. A tremendous effort and thanks to Karen Chao for coordinating this.

PEDAL READY

We have enjoyed having the Pedal Ready team at Muritai this week working with year 3-4. Pedal Ready  is a skills based programme designed to increase the bike-riding competency of children and young people.   The year 5 and 6 children took part in this programme last term and now it is our year 3 and 4 children’s turn.  Core skills include carrying out a bike check, a helmet check, understanding the legal requirements and safety equipment for bicycles, getting on and off without help, starting off and pedalling without help, stopping quickly with control, steering the bike where they want to go, looking behind, signalling, stopping, looking left and right and using the gears.

FOOTBALL IN SCHOOLS

We also welcome the team from Kiwisport Football in Schools who are here each Thursday working with the year 3-4 team. The boys were here last term with year 5-6 and this excellent programme helps our children develop their large ball and striking skills.

NORTHLAND SHORT FILM COMPETITION

We are immensely proud of Samantha, Isabella and Emma in Year 8 who have just received confirmation of their 1st place in the Northland Film Competition. The 3 girls entered the short film they made from their Personal Passion Project in Term 2. These girls worked almost completely independently throughout the entire process, including using their own initiative to find and enter this competition.

The film was shown at the ANZAC Theatre in Dargaville and was judged by a large panel which included Winston Peters!! The judges commended them on their acting and filming techniques.

Congratulations girls - what a top job! $300 is coming your way!!

If you would like to watch their film, CLICK HERE:

MURITAI SCHOOL DENTAL CLINIC

The clinic will be closed from 3 August to 31 August as Mandy and Sarah will be at Wellesley College over this time.  Please leave a message on 562 8915.  Messages will be cleared daily after 3.30pm, Monday to Wednesday.

SEWERS WANTED

We are needing to add some velcro to the waists of our Kapa Haka uniforms to make them a little more versatile in their sizing.  If you are able to assist in the sewing of this please email  Carol Algar on algar@muritai.school.nz

ART EXTRAVAGANZA - MATERIALS NEEDED

As part of the senior school arts extravaganza I am looking for a collection of various random items that we can turn into percussion instruments.

If you have any paint buckets, or various sized clean (or paint dried) plastic buckets that you know longer require we would love to take them off your hands.  Even grain drums of water drums.  We are also looking for odd lengths of plastic down pipes or conduit, or drainage pipe   that you no longer have a use for.

If you can help with any of these items please email  Carol on Algar@muritai.school.nz

Date for Calendars:- SCHOOL DISCO, FRIDAY 14TH AUGUST Year 1-3   5-6pm Year 4-6   6.15-7.45pm Year 7-8   8-9.30pm Cost  $5.00 (includes glow stick and ice-block) Other items available to purchase on the night. Note: All children must be dropped off in foyer and collected by an adult from school hall exit by room 3.

DAIRY DATES

Tue 4 August Central Zone Y5-6 Netball tournament

Tue 11 August ICAS English

Wed 12 August Hawkes Bay schools visiting Muritai

Thur 13 August West Coast Schools visiting Muritai // Board of Trustees meeting

Fri 14 August School assembly and School Disco

Mon 24 August Y5-6 Epro Science Competition

Tue 25 August Y7-8 Epro Science Competition

Fri 28 August School Assembly

Mon 31 August Artsplash rehearsal and concert (7.45pm)

Fri 4 September Artsplash (Kapa haka)

Fri 11 September School Assembly

Tue 15 September School production

Wed 16 September School production

Thur 17 September School production

Fri 25 September End of term 3

COMMUNITY NOTICES

EASTBOURNE CHILDREN’S CHOIR 2015

Founded in March this year by Sinead Diedrich. We meet every Monday night at St. Alban’s Hall between 5:00 – 6:00pm. The choir director is Nicole Chesterman Kircher; vocal coach and manager of NZ’s international act, “The California Dreamers, also lead singer of 4-piece corporate band, “ROCK MACHINE” and lead singer of country-rock act, “Way Out West” – Nicole brings a wealth of experience using a variety of styles including the Jo Estill method, and has studied singing/voice in Massachusetts with Mary McDonald Klimek, the Sydney Conservatorium with Helen Tiller, and in Auckland with U.S vocal coaches David Stroud and Wendy Parr.  Nicole concentrates on group acapella, solo vocals and 3-4 part harmonies. We perform with guest instrumentalists from the Eastbourne community to allow the children the experience of working with musicians. We would like to welcome new members as we have some lovely community gigs to look forward to this year. All enquiries please contact Sinead on sineadkearney@yahoo.co.uk and/or Nicole on kircher@clear.net.nz  

Tutoring Services

My name is Emily McFarlane; I am a third and final year university student completing a Bachelor of Commerce. I can tutor in Maths and English at primary school level. At secondary school level I can tutor in maths, English, science, chemistry, accounting and economics. I have obtained NCEA level 3 in the subjects listed above (except science as this then split into physics, chemistry and biology). Cost: $30 per hour. Phone: 027 2511995.

FRIDAY 24 JULY 2015

Welcome back to term 3!

Naumai e te whanau o te kura Muritai

Tena koutou katoa

Welcome to the second part of the school year. I am sure that you enjoyed the holiday time with your children but no doubt were pleased to see them return to school to continue their learning journey. We welcome our new students and their families to Muritai School - Jayanah Williams (R9), Dexter Cumber (R3), Samuel Glenn (R9), Ian O’Keefe (R1), Gil Hoskin (R3), Maya Voyce (R3), Finn Diamond (R3), Spartis Williams (R5).

Term 3 is still cold so make sure children have warm outerwear and winter shoes to wear. Our observations so far are that children are dressed nice and warm so thank you for making sure of this. We will do our best to ensure they are nice and warm inside as well. Having said that, if it is not wet the children will be outside in break times moving and getting some fresh air as this is important for good learning. Our library as always will be open at lunchtimes for children who enjoy a quiet read.

A reminder about dropping children off early - 8 o'clock is the absolute earliest that children should be arriving at school and we keep classrooms locked until then. We strongly suggest that children should not be at school before 8:15 which is 25 minutes before the first bell rings.

This term is always busy. During the second half of the term the Arts activities for the older children take off with artsplash, dancesplash and year 5-8 production at the end of the term. At the same time there is much to be done and staff have worked hard over the holiday break to establish exciting, engaging and relevant learning plans for their classes. The end of last term and this week staff affirmed individual goal setting for the children and this follows on from last term’s reports, learning celebrations and parent meetings. A reminder that at any stage if you need to check in with your child’s teacher, please contact them to agree on a time to meet and discuss progress.

I do have the share some frustration about children being away this week on extended holidays. Teachers had planned to hit the ground running this term and have been introducing new learning to the classrooms, and pre-testing for prior knowledge to set their teaching and learning programmes to need. With many children being away this week this will have to be done in a catch-up capacity thus disrupting the flow of the learning in each classroom in an ‘ideal’ setting. When children are not at school it does block the flow of the learning and it is difficult to catch up and maintain momentum. 

Scholastic

The latest Scholastic brochure is out and orders are due in by Wednesday 12 August.

There are two options for making your order:

1. Fill in the form on the brochure and return this to school with your payment by credit card or cheque (made out to Scholastic NZ). Sorry no cash orders can be received as we post our orders.  Please ensure your child's name and room number is on the form.

2. Use the new online ordering system. Go to: http://mybookclub.scholastic.co.nz/ and order online or download the app to use to make your order. Click on order and follow the prompts.

If you have any questions about how make your online order please let us know and we will be happy to help you.

After school care has an awesome new programme starting next week.

Check out what we have lined up below.

SPORTS PROGRAMME

Each week we will have 2 days of Sports Programme.  Children will focus on a different sport on each of the days.  We have some fun games and drills planned to help build skills and improve technique.

HANDS ON PROGRAMME

This will run on the same 2 days as the sports programme and will include general activities such as cooking and crafts that can be done in one session.

SPECIAL PROJECTS

These will take place on the 3 days we do not have ‘Sports’ and ‘Hands On’ and include activities that run on the same day over 4 weeks.  We are starting off the term with:

Stop Motion Movie Making – Write a story line, design characters and a set and make a mini short movie.

Tie Dying & Sewing – Make and dye your own cushion cover.

Mad Science – Great fun science based activities each week.

Special Projects coming up later in this term and next are:

Wool craft – Make a hat, dream catcher or funky felted wool wrist bands.

Wood work skills – Upcycling old pallets, make a mini table or bookshelf.

Driftwood craft - Making mirrors and candle holders.

Detective skills – Create a secret identity and personal detective kit. Help solve a mystery.

Activities will rotate every 4 weeks to give all children the opportunity to try different things.

Contact Mel at masc@muritai.school.nz if you would like your child to participate in any of the fun things we have planned or if you have any ideas for activities you would like to see happening at MASC.

Date for Calendars:- SCHOOL DISCO, FRIDAY 14TH AUGUST Year 1-3   5-6pm Year 4-6   6.15-7.45pm Year 7-8   8-9.30pm Cost  $5.00 (includes glow stick and ice-block) Other items available to purchase on the night. Note: All children must be dropped off in foyer and collected by an adult from school hall exit by room 3.

Matches and Match Boxes

I am making my wearable arts dress out of used matches and match boxes.  A box will be in the office for people to put in their matches and match boxes.  Thank you - Seren Lewis

DIARY DATES FOR TERM 3

23 July Pedal Ready Programme begins for the year 3/4 syndicate

28 July ICAS English exam

4 Aug Central Valley Y5/6 Netball Tournament

6 Aug Football in Schools for Years ¾

10 Aug to

14 Aug Jump 4 Jam

11 Aug   ICAS Maths Exam

20 Aug Otago Problem Solving

24 Aug Year 5/6 Epro Science Competition

25 Aug Year 7/8 Epro Science Competition

31 Aug Artsplash Rehearsal

7.45 to 8.45pm Artsplash Concert

4 Sept Artsplash (Kapa Haka) Rehearsal

7.30 to 8.30pm Artsplash Kapa Haka Concert

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Tutoring Services

My name is Emily McFarlane; I am a third and final year university student completing a Bachelor of Commerce. I can tutor in Maths and English at primary school level. At secondary school level I can tutor in maths, English, science, chemistry, accounting and economics. I have obtained NCEA level 3 in the subjects listed above (except science as this then split into physics, chemistry and biology). Cost: $30 per hour. Phone: 027 2511995.

Fun French for kids ​at Muritai School for ages 5-12

• Experience French learning the fun way!
• Lots of interactive activities, role play, crafts, active games and music, and cooking
• Free trial lesson
• To register your interest please contact Stefi  on Stefi@funlanuages.co.nz or phone 562 8211

visit the website www.lcfclubs.co.nz

Food for Thought Cooking Classes

Food for Thought Cooking Classes are on again. This term our focus will be the world of  BAKING!

Thursdays 30th July to 17th September after school 3.30 -5.30pm (2 hours) at St Alban’s church commercial kitchen

Cost: $240 per child for 8 weeks (includes afternoon tea, all ingredients and cooking equipment)

To book, call or text Megan 022 HOT MEAL (0224686325)  or see www.fft.co.nz

FRIDAY 3 JULY 2015

Kia ora koutou

The last day of an eleven week term today. I think it would be fair to say that the time is right for a small break! I am sure you will enjoy the family time over the next couple of weeks and ensure the children recharge their batteries for the next term.

We have achieved a lot this term and I am sure you enjoyed viewing your child’s work at the Celebrations of Learning this week. It is important that the children get to share their good work and for you to see not just the end products, but the process and the progress they make over time. Often the children interpret tasks in their own way, which we encourage as we try and open minds up to be creative and individual, and by their own explanations we can see what they were trying to achieve - not just doing what the teacher wanted and doing the same as everybody else. We had an 88% attendance rate for these celebrations (plus many grandparents which was lovely). Please remember that are welcome to visit your child’s classroom at any time to see their ‘celebration’.  If you feel the need to extend the process with a 1:1 interview with your child’s teacher then please connect them via email to make a time to meet.

Next term is another gritty term and we culminate in our senior school Arts show in week 9. Muritai always puts on a pretty good performance annually and this year, being the odd year, our years 5-8s will be bringing a variety show together for the second to last week of term.

A huge thanks to our teaching and support staff for their efforts over the first half year.

VOLUNTEERS

We have had so many parents though the school this term helping out in a variety of ways. Some people come everyday to help out and this is much appreciated and our children and staff really benefit from this expertise and assistance. It is so great to have these people enjoying what they do - they have time to spare and the generosity of spirit to assist both our children and school achieve its goals is welcomed. So to our sport coaches, maths tutors, reading assistants, tidy-uppers, fundraisers, painters etc, etc - thank you so much for your continued support.

ROAD PATROL VOLUNTEER

We are looking for someone to help students with road patrol on a Thursday morning.  They start at 8.30 and finish at approximately 8.50.  IF you are able to help, could you please tell Jo or Carole in the office.

BASIC FACTATHON

Next term we are doing our big fundraiser for the year which is a Basic Fact-athon (similar to the Spellathon) from 2013. Funds raised will go towards the conversion of room 17 (the classroom on the field) into a Science Room.  These funds will go towards upgrading the heating and to resource the room with storage, equipment, furniture and the like. We own this building so all costs are the responsibility of the school. The Home and School are liaising with the teaching staff at present and looking to hold the Basic Fact-athon in week 5 of next term. Newsletters will be out next term.

ROOM 15

The builder team are back in the holidays to renovate Mr Woodhams’ classroom and so we are looking forward to seeing a sparkling new room - carpet, wall linings (plus some little bits and pieces).  Room 15 have been very patient waiting their turn to have a nice working space.

JUNIOR SYNDICATE - PORCUPINE BALLS

Our junior students have been working on the correct way to hold their pencils and this year we have been using porcupine balls throughout the school to help with this. These colourful, textured balls are held in the palm of your hand to assist correct pencil grip position as well as being a run reward!  If you would like to purchase one for your child to use at home please bring $1 to the school office.

KITE FLYING

It is the season of Matariki, the Seven Sisters (also known as the Pleiades star cluster) have reappeared in the night sky.  All classes looked closely into Matariki and as part of our school celebrations, children have been making Matariki kites.  Yesterday the school got together to fly them together at the Eastbourne Rec.  

 

SPORT

Regional Cross Country

We had thirteen runners take part in the Regional Cross Country event at Trentham Memorial Park recently with some fantastic results.  Congratulations to Greta Woolloff who placed 9th in the year 5 girls race and to Macey Caughley who placed 5th in the year 8 girls race.  Both these girls will now represent Wellington at the Inter-Regionals in September.

Our other runners placed as follows in races with 80 runners year 4/6 races and 90 runners in the year 7/8 races:

Year 4 Girls : Rosa Blair - 15th and Mia Campbell - 29th

Year 5 Girls : Elodie Bain - 31st

Year 6 Girls : Emily Jones - 45th

Year 7 Girls : Lea Pummer - 34th

Year 4 Boys : Theo Thompson - 50th and George Baird 55th

Year 5 Boys : Jack Roche - 34th

Year 6 Boys : Henry Evans - 12th and Jack Evans - 17th

Football

Macey Caughley and Matthew Jones have been selected as rep players for Hutt Valley Soccer and are members of the Capital Football Federation Talent Centre.  They are two of 51 players aged between 12 and 13 preparing to fly to Sydney shortly where they will be competing in the M Sports Cup Football Tournament.

Two boys squads and a girls' squad will fly out on Sunday where they will compete during the week against some of Australia's top state sides.  The teams have been training every Sunday afternoon for the past month and are looking sharp ahead of their games.  

Congratulations to Macey and Matthew and we wish them all the best and hope they have a great time.

DIARY DATES FOR TERM 3

20 July   FIRST DAY OF TERM 3

23 July   Otago Problem Solving

23 July   Pedal Ready Programme begins for the year 3/4 syndicate

28 July   ICAS English exam

4 Aug     Central Valley Y5/6 Netball Tournament

11 Aug  ICAS Maths Exam

20 Aug   Otago Problem Solving

24 Aug   Year 5/6 Epro Science Competition

25 Aug   Year 7/8 Epro Science Competition

31 Aug   Artsplash Rehearsal

               7.45 to 8.45 Artsplash Concert

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Food for Thought Cooking Classes

Thursdays Term 3 - 3.30 to 5.30 pm

8 weeks beginning 30 July to 18 September.

Cost: $240 includes all equipment, ingredients and afternoon tea.

This term the focus in on BAKING!  We will make biscuits, bread, pastries and savouries.

Text/Email Megal info@fft.co.nz / 022 468 6325 (022 hot meal)

Warm Winter Movement

Kula Kids' Yoga is a creative and fun yoga class just for kids!  We weave story, song and games into the ancient art of yoga.  Classes include the physical poses that develop strength, balance and flexibility and simple mindfulness activities while we move from stillness to activity and back.  Email Jeanne at kulakidsyoga@yahoo.com for inquiries and enrollment and check us out on Facebook for fun photos and weekly postings.

Term 3 -  22 July - 24 Sept

Ages 5-9 Weds 3-4 and Thurs 3-4 - school pick up from Muritai available!

Aes 10-13 Thurs 4.15-5.15

51 Oroua Street, Eastbourne, just down the street from Muritai School

$10/class

Jeanne Balding-Weinstock is certified through Yoga Alliance with specialty training in Kids' Yoga.  She has teaching experience in Early Childhood, and teaching Yoga in private schools, clubs, and studios in California, USA.  References available