Holiday Blog

We have certainly had a trying Term 1, it is hard to believe we are all shut off

from everyone and having to use digital technology to communicate with the

outside world.

We would like to thank you all for supporting us as we develop online learning

activities for your children.  The support and care we have received from our parent community makes things so much easier.  

Lexia and MathsWhizz will still be available to you during the holidays. We want

to remind you that the recommended Lexia and MathsWhizz time is only 10-15

minutes PER DAY! This adds up to a total of only an hour a week. We do not

expect, nor want, the children to be on their device on these programmes too

much. Please also note that MathsWhizz has a usage cap; once a child has

reached 120minutes for the week they will be blocked from using MathsWhizz

until the next week.

The second week of the school holidays is Holy Week, this is the week before

Easter and signifies important days in the Church.

We have created a resource you could use to help explain Holy Week to your

child.

Holy Week Activities

Prayer	Bible Stories	Helping Hand	Art Activities	Treats	Games
Our Father	Palm Sunday	On Palm Sunday, the people waved palm branches and called “Hosanna”.  Today, you could go outside and help weed/sort out the garden.		Ice Cream Easter Eggs	Exploding Easter Eggs
Hail Mary	Washing of the Feet	On Holy Thursday, Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. Today, you could do a bit of extra cleaning at home to help prepare your home for Jesus.	Make a mosaic cross with coloured paper.	Easter Bunny Biscuit	Minute to win it games -
Glory Be	Good Friday	On Good Friday, Jesus was condemned to death. He died for our sins. Today you could do some random acts of kindness for your family.	Make/Buy hot cross buns to share. Chelsea Winter Recipe	Easter Biscuit decorating
The Jelly Bean Prayer	Easter	Easter Sunday is a day of celebration. Jesus rose from the dead. Today, your mission is to tell the people in your family how special they are. Say thank you for all the love they show you.	We made pancakes at the beginning of Lent - maybe you could make Easter Pancakes, too.		Use recycled materials to make an Easter golf game.

As we do every school holidays, the children can complete a Holiday Reading

Log.  Once we are back at school, all children who have returned their reading

log will get to enter the draw for some awesome prizes.  You can print off the

Holiday Reading Log or fill it in digitally.

My Holiday Reading Diary  

• Try to read for at least 20 minutes each day. Try to read every day.
• Write down what you read and get an adult to sign off your reading entry each day.
• Return your reading diary to your class teacher, when we return, to go into the prize draw at assembly. 
• HAPPY READING!!! 

My Name.............................................................................  My Room ...............................

Date	My Reading (write down the title and pages read)	Adult Signature

Date	My Reading (Write down the title and pages read)	Adult Signature

       

Hope you have a great 2 weeks,

remember we are all stuck at

home. Take care of one another.

I will be back on the 15th April.

Mrs Thomson

Online Learning - What you need to know.

As we head into unchartered waters we want to let you know how your child’s learning journey

will continue while they are learning online at home.

All of your child’s learning will be shared with you via Educa.  Please make sure you have access

to this. If not you need to email your class teacher ASAP.

Weekly notices and information will be sent via our class blogs.

School Holidays:

Our Term 1 School Holidays have been brought forward to Monday the 30th of March.  We will

be back online ready for distance learning on Wednesday the 15th of April.

Keeping in Touch:

You will receive a daily Google form via the class blog.  It will be wonderful if you can complete

this with your child at least twice a week.  This form is a way to check-in and let us know what

support you and your child require from their teacher.  If you need to contact the classroom

teacher please send them an email and they will make contact with you, teachers will be

available during normal school hours.  There will be more protocols being sent to parents

around contacting teachers later today.

Reading:

In Kakano we run Guided reading sessions twice a week.   While your child is having to learn at

home we will be providing audio links for books and activities for two books a week.  You will

find the books needed in the pack each child brought home on Monday 23rd March.

Remember reading to your child each day is a great way to relax and connect with your child. 

There are lots of great books online that you can access. Upload a video to share a snippet of

their reading each week - we would love to hear some reading, too.

Writing:

Teachers will provide Writing experiences and ideas twice a week.  When your child has

completed a writing task please share with their teacher via Educa.  It could be a video of your

child reading their work, a photo and/or a parent supported post straight on to educa.  The

teachers will be providing feedback to your child when their work is posted.

RE:

Each week we will share prayers that you can say with your child to start the day.  It is

important we remember the Special Character of our school in this difficult time.  A lovely way

to focus our thinking and ensure we are praying each day is to create a prayer table in our

homes.  Ask your child what special items they would like to add their prayer table.

Maths:

The teachers will provide fun Maths challenges for your child to complete once a week.  Your

child can share their responses with their teacher on Educa.

Lexia:

Every child in Kakano has access to Lexia which is an online Reading and Writing programme.  It

is expected each child will spend 10 - 15mins a day on Lexia. Click here for information about

Lexia. Click here for parent information on Lexia

Maths Whizz:

The Kakano children have just been given access to this online Maths programme.  Your child

will need to complete a placement test before they can start their learning.  It is important

you help your child with the technology but allow them to complete the maths tasks

independently. Click here for parent information on Maths Whizz.  

Play:

The teachers will be creating a Bingo Board with fun activities for your child to complete while

they are at home.  Your child can choose which activity they want to do. Remember to get

outside and enjoy the fresh air.

Educa:

Over the next few days have a go at writing a parent story.  The link below has the

instructions on how to do this. 

https://help.geteduca.com/en/articles/2563464-create-a-parent-story

Over the next few days:

Take time to be with your child, reassure them, play games, read books and have fun together. 

To be the best Mum and Dad you have to take care of yourself too, go for a walk, have a bath

and take deep breaths when needed.  Take this time to make sure your child can access both

Lexia and Maths Whizz. If you need any support or help please email your class teacher, we

are here to help both you and your child.  

Week 8

WOW what a week we had last week.  It has been pleasing to see so many

of our children taking responsibility for washing their hands, covering

their coughs and sneezes and making sure they blow their noses and

dispose of their tissues.

Throughout the day the teachers are disinfecting tables, door handles and

play equipment.  Can you please make sure you speak with your child about

good hygiene as well as how we can safely greet our friends and teachers

when we arrive at school.

It is very important for unwell children to stay at home.  If your child has

a cough, runny nose or is generally feeling unwell PLEASE keep them at

home to stop the spread of germs and bugs in our class.  If your child will

be absent remember to let the school office know. You can do this via the

School App.

Due to the Co-Vid19 outbreak we will no longer be having school singing,

liturgies or Masses.  We will still focus on our Special Character and have

small class Liturgies. This week we will celebrate The Annunciation (where

Mary was told she would be the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ).

Our focus during play this week will be Music and Visual Art.  The children

will be able to create, design and play in this learning area.  If you have

any empty plastic bottles, cardboard boxes or a pile of rubber bands you

no longer want could you please bring them to school.  We are going to

create sweet music with the things we find around our homes!

We have been so impressed with the children as they practise their

reading at home and at school.  You can support your child’s reading at

home by reading with, and to them. You can also help them by encouraging

them to identify letter sounds of different words, a great game to play is

“I spy”.

The teachers have been providing the children with opportunities to solve

Maths problems.  The children have enjoyed working together to add and

subtract to solve different problems.  An easy way to support your child in

maths at home is to get them to help set the dinner table, ask them to

count the knives and then count the forks.  Can they add the knives and

forks together to get a bigger number? Children love Maths when they

can see a real life connection.

Check out this website to find some cool ideas on how you can support your

child in Maths at home.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and we look forward to seeing you all

tomorrow,

Sara, Lorraine and Sany - Joy.

Week 7

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. I enjoyed spending time on the water, shame the fish were not biting.

Don’t forget this week we have swimming. We are very lucky to have a

swimming pool at school and like to see all children in the pool everyday, so

please remember togs everyday.

Friday morning we have St Joseph Mass.  We will be heading to the church

at 8.45am, so please make sure you have plenty of time to get morning

jobs done before we need to head to the church.

Morning Jobs:

Please remember parents it is important for the children to carry their

own school bags, mark their roll and put their Bookbag in the right box on

their own.  It is great to see our tamariki becoming more independent each

day.

Tomorrow we will be sending some paper  hearts home with the children. If they

do something kind at home please help them write it on their heart then bring it

back to school so we can make a kindness Lenten tree.

Thank you to all those who supported the Pita Pit fundraiser. It was very

successful for the school. 

From the Prime Ministers speech at the weekend we will continue to

remind our children of good hygiene practice:

Wash your hands

Dry your hands properly

If you sneeze, do it into your elbow

We will also be cleaning down our surfaces at least once a day such as tables etc.

I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow.

Lorraine

Week 6

Firstly, a huge thanks to everyone who helped, participated in, and attended our School Gala 2020. It was a huge success and we can’t do it every year without the support from our school community.

Tomorrow is Swimming Sports for year 3-6 at the Aquatic centre. Kakano does not attend this event

HOWEVER we are hosting our own mini housesports event at school tomorrow while the other

students are away!!!! This will involve pool activities as well as other activities run by the teachers.

The classes will rotate around each activity and collect house points for their participation and for

winning! Parents and families are welcome to watch and cheer on your children. We also welcome

parent helpers. Please let the classroom teacher know if you are available for setting up and

cleaning up as well as support during the events!

Kakano House Sports Event

Date: Monday 9th March 2020

Time: 11:30 - 12:30

Place: St Mary’s school pool and field

What you need: togs, towel, PE gear OR house coloured sports gear.

On Wednesday we will be having Rice Day:

Caritas Fundraiser Wednesday 11th March. Students will

eat rice for lunch on this day. Please send in a gold coin

donation to your child’s teacher on the day. Ensure your

child has a bowl/spoon to eat the rice.

Our new RE Leaders will be serving up lunch! 

Lunch is at 1:30pm

Thursday we are having a fundraiser as part of our Gala. Pita Pit are supporting us with this:

On Thursday 12th of March 2020 order your children a Healthy and Tasty

Pita for lunch and it will only cost $4.00! And Pita Pit will contribute

$2.00 to the Gala Fund, for every lunch sold that day.

To take part in this great deal and raise money for the school you must

order on the Lunchonline platform before 9.00am on Thursday 12th of March

2020. No Promo code needed.

You can order from now, and the earlier you can order the better, as the

website experiences a lot of traffic just before 9.00am that day, and we

don’t want your child to miss out.

Parents, caregivers and students can order school lunches using

Lunchonline via the internet.  Pita Pit Rotorua will provide your child’s

food choices fresh to the school in time for lunch.

It is simple all you need to do is visit

www.lunchonline.co.nz

Looks like we will be having a busy week filled with great experiences for the children. Thank you for

keeping up with all other routines during these weeks. The students will get tired at these times and

it is important to give them that routine they need especially with healthy lunch boxes and early

bedtimes. When the warriors came to school they talked about the importance of water, healthy

food, and sleep. They recommended 10-12 hours of sleep for children. It is great to hear our

students saying that they know they go to bed at 7 o’clock. They are taking responsibility for their

bedtimes at an early age!

Tomorrow morning I will be down at the aquatic centre and Susan Nelson will be in class.
I will be back at school after morning tea. I hope you have a great rest of the weekend
Lorraine

Strep Throat

Strep throat is doing the rounds at the moment. Please, help 

us to prevent the spread by reminding children to...

1. cover nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing 

(covering with a tissue is best)

2. wash and dry hands frequently

3. stop sharing food and drink

Symptoms can include, headache, earache, chills, fever, sore

 throat or body aches. Strep throat is contagious virus! If your child has any of these symptoms please head to the 

doctor. The stand down period for strep throat is at least 24 

hours from the first dose of antibiotics. 

Thanks heaps for your support,

The Kakano Team