Term Three: 8th September 2014 Week
Eight
Phone: 871 2844
Fax: 871 2806
Mobile: 027 714 8819
(for student absence texts only)
Email address:
[email protected]
http://www.pokuru.school.nz
POKURU SCHOOL IS SMOKE
FREE
Important Dates for Term 3
and 4:
10th September—Friends of Pokuru
School (previously Events
Committee) meeting 7.00pm
12th September—Assembly Room 5
17th September—Maths Matters
Competition in Taupo
19th September—Assembly Te Reo
22nd September—Have a Go
Cricket sessions
23rd September—Follow up
Agricultural Day talks
26th September—Term 3 ends
13th October - Term 4 begins
13th October—Agricultural Day
22nd October—Group Day
27th October—Labour Day
28-31 October—Senior Camp
31st October—Waikato A & P Show
Day
17th December—Term 4 ends
Agricultural Day Notices
Entries:
Remember to get your entries in to
the school office as soon as possible but no later than Friday 19th
September.
Ring Stewards Required:
We still need adults whose children
are not having
Agricultural Day
animals to act as
ring stewards for
the day. If you
are able to help
please let Vicki
Purves know.
I hope that everyone had a lovely weekend the weather was fantastic for all those weekend jobs. You may have even managed to fit in something special for Father’s day. Isn’t
technology a wonderful thing? I had lunch with the in-laws and family yesterday and
during lunch Nephew one text from Kathmandu. “Dad are you home so we can Skype?”
Niece two rang her father from Auckland and then this evening my boys were able to
Facetime their sick Grandad and Son to read him a story. Grandad, although he had a
rough day, had a lovely catch up with Son 2 in Brisbane this morning. It’s a changing
world!
We were talking about this new technology at lunch time yesterday and comparing it to
when we, the parents, were the same age as our kids. Not only did the communication
cost a fortune but you only communicated on special occasions.
With this in mind we need to recognise how it is affecting our classroom environments.
Our children are comfortable surfing the online environment. Google and You tube are
amazing tools and our kids are very familiar with them. We need to embrace the benefits
of using this technology to support learning. Last week Room 6 and Room 2 joined together for Buddy reading. Mr 6 is reading a story about dogs. After discussing types of
dogs the younger student is unsure what a particular type looks like so Mr 10 takes him to
the computer and they look it up on Google. This is incidental learning at its best and as
a teacher this example is exciting.
Pokuru School has its Agricultural day on the first day of Term 4, Monday 13 th October.
This date is the same every year and set because the judges that we use also judge other
Ag days in our area. As you will appreciate this is quite a specialised skill and there are a
limited number of judges available. We have had a great number of entrants already. The
last day of entry is the 20th September.
We like to encourage all children to be involved in rearing and bringing an animal along
to Ag day. Our school is a rural country school and we cherish the tradition of what Agricultural Day means for country schools. Agricultural Day is often referred to as unique to
New Zealand country schools. While Pokuru School has fantastic support for this day we
need to be vigilant about promoting it and encouraging children and families/whanau to
be involved, so that this very important event on our calendar is not lost.
Children learn lifelong values from caring for their animal such as responsibility, perseverance, commitment and compassion. Many adults in our community today have fond
memories of their school’s Calf Club Days.
If animals do well at Ag day they can go to Group Day which is a Combined Ag day for
our area. Our Group Day is held at Kihikihi Domain on the Wednesday of the second
week of Term 4. Anyone who has participated in their school Ag Day can participate in
Group Day. This year Pokuru School is the host of Group Day.
If your children are not involved in Ag Day it will be a normal school day for them. They
will be involved in a modified classroom programme but if they are not entered in the
competition they will be required in the classroom. If they are a senior student there is a
strong possibility we will need to use them to help us run the day. If you are a parent of a
student not involved and have this day available, we need a number of helpers and would
love to hear from you, both for Ag Day and Group Day. We need helpers that are not
involved in animals because managing an animal and a child through an Ag Day competition is a full time job.
This week’s assembly will be hosted by Room 5. Lunch this Friday is pumpkin or vegetable soup and a bun plus all the usual items.
Regards Vicki and the Pokuru Team
Last Week’s Rocket Spellers were:
Room 2: Cooper, Summer, Calayis, Yasmine
Room 3: Mitchell, Marie
Room 4: Jacob, Jorja, Laura, Marcus
Room 5: Jacob, Erica, Natasha, Josh
Room 6: Mackenzie, Emily, Nadean,
Leah, Bobby
Congratulations. Keep up the great work.
For words ending in y preceded by a vowel,
retain the y when adding s or a suffix.
monkey—monkeys, donkey—donkeys
For words ending in y, retain the y when adding ‘ing’.
certify—certifying
For words ending in a y, preceded by a consonant, change
the y to i before any other suffix.
try—tried,
justify—justifies,
Blake—for knowing most of his letter and alphabet sounds.
Great Blake.
Emma—for trying so hard to get her spelling correct.
Excellent attitude Emma.
Jake—for excellent letter formation and good spelling results this week. Wonderful to see Jake.
Jos—for always being my right hand man.
‘y’ to ‘i’ or not
justify—justifying,
Room 1:
Room 2:
Spelling Rule 23
try—trying,
Pride of Pokuru Certificates for Week Ended 5th
September 2014
certify—certifiable
Week Eight Friday Lunches
This week’s lunch choices are:

Homemade vegetable or pumpkin soup and a bun

Chicken Nuggets

Sausage roll

Muffin

Chocolate or Strawberry Milk

Juice

Popcorn
Micheal-Jay—for amazing writing. Great work Micheal-Jay!
Lucy—for her amazing reading. Great work Lucy!!
Cameron—for always giving 100% to his work. You are a
star!!
Room 3:
Charlotte—for awesome work with her 333 activity.
Braedyn—for contributing fabulous ideas about water in
class.
Room 5:
Will—for always giving 100% in his writing. Well done.
Angelica—for showing a positive attitude towards
challenges.
Room 6:
Kacy—for writing an excellent explanation demonstrating a
thorough understanding of the water cycle.
Ben—for amazing energy and enthusiasm when leading Jump
Jam. A fantastic House Leader!
Congratulations and well done to you all. Keep up the great
work!
Order forms and payment need to be to Mrs Purves no
later than 9.00am Thursday 11th September.
SPORTS NOTICES
Finals Basketball Draw for Today
Pokuru Potais versus St Pat’s Falcons at 5.30pm on Court 2
Prizegiving will be held immediately following the last game
of the night. All players are asked to provide a plate
please.
Pokuru Playcentre
Pokuru Playcentre is situated at 764 Pokuru
Road, just a short distance from Pokuru
School.
General sessions are held each Monday for ages 0-6 years
between 9.30am and 12.00pm. If you are interested in
coming along to join us or for more information, please
contact Jennifer on 0211595814 .
Royal New Zealand Foundation For The Blind
Please remember Friday is our 10c Friday. All donations are
forwarded once a term to our Sponsored Guide Dog Puppies.
Thank you.