4 September

Dear Parents
What an interesting week – thunder, lightning and hail have greeted spring in. Then a fine night for the Stags game and today. Well done to Shaun Wilks and his Waikiwi team who were part of the half time entertainment at the game. Also good luck to Joshua Keenan who will be part of the U38 Southland team playing this weekend.
As I mentioned last week we have enough children to have a full-time teacher in Room 6. This will mean room changes for some children in Rooms 3 & 5. For term 4 we will also be looking to promote some children in Rooms 1 & 2 to facilitate new entrants coming in for the remainder of the year. Next week your children will receive an indication of their new class and there will be a meeting to outline these changes on Monday 14th September at 7.00 p.m. prior to the PTA meeting at 7.30 pm.
An appointment has been made to replace Mrs. Williams when she is on maternity leave. I will have further details once it is confirmed.
Thank you to the parents who have volunteered to be Maths tutors. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.
Also thank you for your prompt payment for the various sporting teams over the past few weeks. We require full payment before we can register teams. If not, the teams can be withdrawn by the organizers.
Thanks to the PTA for organizing the Father’s Day presents. The children had a wonderful time choosing the right gift for their Dad.
A big thank you to Miss O’Neill, Fr Vince & Bishop Colin for the Confirmation Mass last Sunday.
Also congratulations to Jennifer, Natasha & Luke Thomson who will receive the Sacrament of Baptism tomorrow.
Good luck to Caitlin Russell, Reuben Brown, Michael Walker, Erica Forde, Nicole Chalmers, Sam Russell and Chanae Flowers who will be attending a Writer’s workshop tomorrow.

COMPULSORY SCHOOL MASS ~ SUNDAY 20th SEPTEMBER 10.30 am.

PARENT MEETING ~ On Tuesday the 22nd of September there will be a meeting for parents to discuss and demonstrate the changes to the Reading Programme in the Senior Syndicate. This will be at 6pm in Room 9.
All parents are welcome to attend this.

SOUTHLAND MARATHON 100TH ANNIVERSARY ~ As part of this anniversary all children will receive an invitation to take part in the 2009 Marafun. Information is on the leaflet and www.southlandmarathon.co.nz

WAIHOPAI DENTAL CLINIC ~ Appointments are on their way for all children.

MATHS AT HOME ~ A useful website to support your child/ren with maths is www.nzmaths.co.nz. Click on the jigsaw that says Families. This explains what the Numeracy Project is. There is a section on activities to do at home that is useful as it provides some ideas of what you can be doing to strengthen your child’s knowledge. If you are unsure of the domain or stage your child is at, please do not hesitate to ask their class teacher.

CLASS HAPPENINGS ~ Room 9 have been writing reports about topics they have been reading about.
Here are a couple of examples:

GECKOS ~ Was that his tail?
There are a lot of types of Geckos. In fact, there are two thousand types of Geckos worldwide. They live in rainforests and wet places, they also like trees, leaves and grass. They are very timid creatures. They eat things like flies, mini spiders and birds. They like hunting for their own food; they hide in long grass when hunting. Geckos have very good characteristics. One great characteristic is how they use their tails to protect themselves.
Predators don’t come often but when they do come Geckos can make their tails come off. They do this so the predators think their tail is the Gecko. The predator chases after the tail thinking that it is the Gecko, while the Gecko runs free. The tail wriggles so it looks like the Gecko. Geckos grow their tail back after they lose their old ones. Sometimes when they grow their tail back they grow more than one, sometimes they grow 2 or 3 tails at the maximum. Geckos also store food in their tails so they don’t have to hunt all the time. Geckos live a very long time. They live up to forty two years in the wild. Geckos like being damp and wet, that’s why they live so long in rain forests.
The Duvaucels Geckos are the largest Geckos in New Zealand. Most of the Duvaulcels Geckos are grey and brown. The largest living Gecko in the world is a 160 centimeters and 120grams. So next time you find a Gecko you will know what it eats, where it lives and all the other things you have learnt about Geckos. By Braedon

ANZAC DAY ~ Thousands dead… many more injured… Winston Churchill…
Winston Churchill was the First Lord of the Admiralty. (He was in charge of the Navy). Winston thought he had the right ideas to stop the World Wars.
So the British Navy and Winston came up with what they thought was a great plan but instead the plan killed thousands of people. His plan was called Gallipoli. Many people have heard of Gallipoli - it is in Turkey. His plan was to be in Gallipoli because that was where he thought he could conquer the enemy. Winston thought that what they were planning would make people surrender. He was wrong. It just killed thousands of people many who were just young men.
In the trenches that the soldiers lived in life was really bad. All day the men were surrounded by agonizing and scary screams of dying men. Their living conditions were terrible. There wasn’t much food either.
On November 25th Winston suggested his plan about Gallipoli, the new war front to the British Council. After the council had discussed the plan they called Winston back and surprisingly said yes.
On February 1915 Carden opened an attack on Turkish in the Dardanelles. Carden’s initial attacks went well, but when the death toll was confirmed people were very upset.
Unfortunately, this did not end the war. Thousands were killed in that terrible war, but a lesson has been learnt. People no longer wanted a World War. By Chanae. Flowers

BAMBOO ~ Bamboo it’s hard, tall and thin! Is bamboo grass or a tree?
In Kyoto, Japan there’s a huge forest of bamboo. Bamboo can be used for copious things.
Bamboo is not a tree it’s a type of grass. In fact, it’s a tall, hard grass. It’s got brown or green stripes and it’s not like normal grass. There are all types of bamboo like dinochloa, gigantochochloa and dendrucalamus.
The stripes on the bamboo are joints [nodes]. Bamboo can be used for countless things like carpet and rafts and a lot more. Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on earth. Bamboo can grow up to 75 feet which is [250 metres]. China and Japan thin strips of bamboo were woven together into hats and shoes. I hope you know what bamboo is. It is GRASS! By Keegan

WORM WISE ~ Food scraps, moist mud, what else?
Worms come in all shapes and sizes, long, short, fat and skinny! Worms love to live in moist or wet soil. Soil keeps the worms healthy and alive. If the worm’s soil is not wet or damp enough, the worms will die because they dry out. Worms love to eat thing that have been alive like food scraps and paper, this will also keep the worms healthy. Food like banana skins makes them sick. Worms can also make fertilizer by leaving their castings, while they eat. Worm castings are worm poo. These worm castings can make your garden healthy too. To collect worm castings put the worms at one end of the worm box, and some food scraps at the other end. Then the worms will make their way to the food. The worm farmer has a big machine that makes the worms castings into fertilizer. People love to buy fertilizer from worm farmers because it helps the plants in their garden grow well. Worms also store food in their tails! Worms are interesting things to study and to own because they are easy to look after and they are useful. By Sophie
Kiwi 8’s Cricket Terms 4, 2009 & Term 1, 2010

Yr 1 – 4 (Thursdays) starting 2 Oct approx 4pm - 5.30pm

Yr 5 - 6 Fridays starting 23 Oct? 3.45pm – 6.30pm (some teams may be required to play on a Sat morn)
If your child/children are interested in participating in a team, please fill in the form below and return to the office Thursday Sept 10. If teams are to be entered, parents are required to coach/manage teams please. Support in training, drills, games etc will be given if required, to those interested.

Cricket
__________________ in Yr___ would like to be part of a Cricket team.

I am willing/unable to coach/manage a team. Signed _______________ Contact number____________