Welcome to our new students: Pagan Kirk and Samuel Rossiter
Farewell to William Smith
Tena Koutou Parents, Caregivers and Whanau.
Hello everyone,
Kia ora e hoa mä.
Kia ora everyone and welcome to our final term of the year. It is so good to start the term with some lovely weather. The children look refreshed after their break from school. Hopefully the nasty bugs have moved on!
Yesterday the children and staff made an effort to thank and recognise the work that our school cleaner does. Juliet Odicta does a very important job keeping our school clean and looking smart ready for learning each day. Thank you so much for the work that you do Juliet (and A.J.); we do appreciate it.
Term 1 and Term 4 are the terms that we expect the children to wear sunhats during lunchtime, playtime and any activity outside for any length of time. These must be bucket or legionnaire hats, not caps. Wearing tops that cover shoulders is also a good idea when the sun is out. With no hat, children are directed to play in the shade.
Today was national “Shake Out” day and children practised the earthquake drill at 1.30pm. This went well.
Next week we have a number of children representing the school at Northern Tennis and Northern Golf competitions. We wish them well and thank the parents/caregivers very much for managing and supplying transport for those who need it. Results will be published in next week’s or the following week’s newsletter.
Jerome Kavanagh
Jerome Kavanagh, a Grammy award winning artist and specialist with Māori Instruments, visited the school yesterday and performed for our students.
He worked with children to compose a school Waiata and fine-tuned our school Haka. Now all of our students can do the Haka and will be learning the Waiata. We will be performing these for you at our first assembly, mid-term.
Keeping Ourselves Safe, Dare, Kia Kaha Programmes
We have had Policeman Fenton Herrick here across these first two weeks of the term delivering three sessions on aspects of the above programmes. We are very appreciative of his support for these.
Sports this Term…
There are lots of sporting opportunities this term. Tennis, cricket and Mr Riordan’s Friday night golf are all happening. Children bring home a note if they express an interest in taking part in one of these after school activities. If you want to know more about these, email or phone the school.
SchoolDocs
All Riversdale School Policies and Procedures are now available for parents/caregivers to view on the SchoolDocs website. To access this site please follow the instructions below.
Go to www.schooldocs.co.nz/ Click Search for your school
Start typing the school’s name and then select it from the dropdown list. Enter the community username and password
Username – riversdale
Password – excellence
Coming Up This Term….
Wednesday 23 October - Northern Tennis Competition
Thursday 24 October - Northern Golf Competition
Monday 28 October - Labour Day – School closed.
Tuesday 29 October - Firewise programme for all children.
Friday 1 November - Fun Run 1.30pm, and Halloween Disco 6.30pm.
Monday 11 November - First Aid programme for Rooms 1, 5, and 7.
Monday 11 November - Board of Trustees meeting at 8pm in the staffroom.
Tuesday 12 November - First Aid programme for Rooms 4 and 6.
Friday 29 November - Teacher Only Day – School closed.
Monday 2 December - Swimming lessons with qualified instructor commence. Children swim daily for next 2 weeks.
Monday 9 December - Board of Trustees meeting at 8pm.
Monday 16 December - Year 8 Graduation in the school hall.
Wednesday 18 December - Production evening. Great School Water fight 2.15pm.
Thursday 19 December - Production evening
Friday 20 December - Last school day for 2019.
School Attendance
Each term teachers gather data about student absence. By law, children are required to be at school unless they are unwell, or have appointments relating to their health, or representative sports events. Holidays during school term time are not a justified absence, and neither are shopping trips. Absence from school means that children miss chunks of learning that may not be able to be caught up. Please ensure that when your child is absence you state the reason in your message, or let the teacher know via email. We really care about your child’s progress, and regular attendance ensures this continues across the year.
HIT THE DECK
Purpose: Use appropriate mental strategies to multiply numbers beyond the basic facts.
Materials: Deck of cards. Ace = one. Picture cards = ten.
Organization: A game for two to four players.
Aim: To be the first to multiply three single-digit numbers.
RULES: One player draws three cards from the deck and lays them face up on the table.
The first player to call the product of the three cards is awarded that number of points.
No points are awarded for an incorrect answer.
If three cards of the same suit or three cards of the same value turn up, then the first player to call out ‘Hit the Deck’ and correctly multiply the three numbers receives double points.
Variations: Draw two, four or five cards. Use addition instead of multiplication.
