Week 1 - Welcome back!

Dear Families,

Welcome back, it is great to see the children’s smiles and excitement to be back at school and in our classroom.  We have loved hearing all the stories and adventures they have been experiencing over the summer holidays.  

Ruma Kakariki is fortunate to be working in part of D Block.  We have a total of 50 students, 4 teacher aides (coming in at different times) and 2 teachers.  We are Samantha Harrison and Julie Boyd, known to the students as Mrs H and Julie.

A little bit about Sam ... I am married to Liz and we have two daughters, Maddy and Esther, both in Year 12 at Aotea College. We live in Ascot with Hugo the puppy,  two turtles – Boris and Stephanie and a fish!.   I love spending time with my family, camping, mountain biking, playing softball and badminton and the occasional movie.  This is my tenth year at Tawa Primary.  I look forward to getting to know you and your families and working together over the coming year.

and Julie .... Kia ora whanau, ko Julie ahau. I have been teaching at Tawa school for five years.  I started teaching in the junior school and I moved to the middle school in 2016. Before coming to Tawa School I taught in two Porirua Schools, both in the middle school.  After that I was working part-time in release teacher postions in a variety of year levels in between having my two children Jake and Emma.  Jake is now 11 and in year 8 at Tawa Intermediate and Emma is in year 6 at Redwood School.  We live in Tawa and I enjoy keeping fit, reading, gardening and watching our children play sport, swim and dance.

Below is information that you will need to know, however we are encouraging the studetns to take responsibility for themselves and what tools they will need for learning.

Stationery:  Thank you to all families who have paid for their children’s stationery so far, it makes learning much easier with everybody having books and materials right from the start of term. We have gathered in the stationery to be shared over the year and this ensures the items will last tfor the whole year.

Shoes Off In Class: As children don’t wear                                           

shoes in class they are welcome to bring in                                        

 slippers to wear, especially in the winter months.

Full Brim Sunhats: Sunhats are compulsory in Terms 1 and 4.  Tawa School sunhats are now available to buy from the office.

Water Bottles: Please remember to bring water bottles to class.  

With such hot days this summer, we need to keep hydrated 

to stay awake and be able to learn.

Monday Swimming: This year we will be continuing with 

swimming on Mondays at our school pool.  We will 

be swimming most Mondays, anytime between 11:00 - 12:30pm.  Please make sure you child has a swimming cap as this is a requirement from Easy Swim  Actual swimming lessons will be held in Term 2.

Tissues:  It would be much appreciated if each student brings in a box of tissues.

Communication Board:  In our class we have a COMMUNICATION BOARD where we write our WALTS and our WALHT for the week or term.  Students will continually refer to this in thier learnng. (We Are Learning To (WALT) and We Are Learniing How To (WALHT))

Book Bags: If they haven’t already, would you please ensure that your child’s book bag comes to school every day as soon as possible in order for notices (like this one! ) and reading books to be taken home. The library is now requiring a book bag to be used to transport books to and from home.  They can use their reading book bags for this. 

Our Library day is Thursday

Homework: Many parents ask about what is expected from their child at home in regards to homework. Our Sunshine team does not offer specific homework tasks, however students will be expected to complete these tasks daily: 

• Reading: 15 – 20 mins every night.  Either a book from us, one they have at home or something from the library. 

• Spelling:  Each student will bring home 5 - 10 spelling words.  Spelling is every night and testing is on Thursday so books must come back Thursday morning.  New words will come home on Friday.

• Basic Facts:  Regular practise is important as knowledge and strategy work together.  Games or computer time relating to Maths is important.  Each student is enrolled in Study Ladder and will receive their passwords soon.  This is a home based programme where we can set the activities ranging in subjects and skills.  

Home Challenges:  Home Challenges are going home this week.  A reminder that this is a volunteer programme. 

Lunches:  It is important that students have a healthy and nutritious lunch.  At the end of this letter there are some ideas and information regarding what's best to put in lunches.

Communication:  Sam will update you on coming events via texts. If you are not receiving any texts from her please let Sam know ASAP.

Room 10 Blog:   We will regularly update the class blog with information and photos to keep you up to date with our learning and activities.  You can find the Blog on the Tawa School Website then click on Social Media and Room 10.

Sunshine Facebook Page: The Sunshine team have a Facebook page for Sunshine parents and caregivers.  We will regularly check for any information or questions you may want to post.  The Sunshine Teachers must authorise all contributions before they are posted.  Please remeber to check the Tawa School Newsletters first for information about school events.

Further information will be coming home soon over the next few weeks in regards to google docs, before school routine and our programme.

If you have any concerns or questions please don’t hesitate to ask or email us. 

Kind regards

Samantha Harrison 

and Julie Boyd

sharrison@tawa.school.nz

jboyd@tawa.school.nz