Welcome Back to Term 2

Hi everyone!

Welcome back to term 2 which promises to be another action packed term. Some of the events we are looking forward to this term are;

Book Week

Kids Lit Quiz

Totara Camp to Hanmer Springs

Rugby League Tournament

Cross Country

School Production Rehearsals

Young Philosophers

School Rugby

Choir

Phew! What a list.  

Of course we are also looking forward to our class learning programmes. This term we are going to be looking at Geometry and Measurement in maths as well as our maintenance and basic facts programme.  Our literacy programme will look at poetry, persuasive writing and myths and legends.  Our inquiry is going to focus on industry that the West Coast was built around as well as links to Hanmer.  In PE we are going to look at target games and our Arts programme will be focused on drama.  This is just a snapshot of what we will be doing this term.  

What are you looking forward to the most?

Skateboard Ramp Project Part 1

Many Totara 3 students are keen skateboarders.  We are lucky to have some ramps in our playground at school however because of the increased popularity of skateboarding we no longer have enough to cater for the number of students who wish to use them.  The Skate Crew decided that this was a problem and spoke to Mrs P about what could be done.  Then a plan was formed.  

First a letter was written to our Principal Mrs O asking for permission to fundraise, design and build some more ramps for the playground.  She gave us the go ahead and so Totara 3 decided to make it a class project.  We elected a project manager - thanks Geordie and then dived straight in.  

Stage one: Raise the funds.

Our first fundraising project took place on the last day of term 1.  We held a sausage sizzle at school where students could purchase drinks for 50 c and sausages for $2. We were very fortunate that the school had some leftover sausages from previous fundraisers that we could use and we were also generously donated some.  To prepare for our fundraising event the project manager and his team had to estimate how many sausages we would need, how many loaves of bread, cups, serviettes, tomato sauce, drink etc.  

Once we had done this we created a grocery list and purchased our supplies.  We also advertised our fundraiser in the school newsletter and were thrilled with the response.

On the day we formed cooperative groups and every group had a job to do.  Some children collated orders, some prepared bread and drinks, some counted the money, some cooked the sausages and then we all served.  It was a hectic couple of hours but well worth it.


                                                                  




The fundraiser was a great success and we raised over $500 to start off our project.  Our next step is to meet with a skateboard ramp design expert and formulate a plan.  We can then cost our materials and assess if we need to fundraise more money. 

Watch this space for stage 2. 

Anzac Day

This year to celebrate Anzac Day Totara 3 and 4 joined together for a day of remembrance.  During the day we participated in a range of activities including poppy art to display in our school hall, reading activities, exploring artefacts and a mini research project.  Our favourite activity however was baking Anzac biscuits for Granger House which is one of our local rest homes.  Some of us were lucky enough to deliver the biscuits to the rest home and they were greatly appreciated by the residents and staff. 

How did you celebrate Anzac Day?

Pumpkin Soup

Last year some members of the class planted some pumpkins in our school garden.  This week we harvested the pumpkins along with onions and some herbs.  We also collected some of the garlic which was also grown in our garden but was harvested earlier.  We then decided to make some pumpkin soup.  

Mrs P had a yummy recipe where you roast the pumpkin first so we decided to give it a go.  It was a great success and we made so much pumpkin soup.  We put servings into containers and some of us delivered it to the neighbours of our school to thank them for being such great neighbours.  We also got to eat some for our lunch and it was delicious.  Finally we cleaned and all of the pumpkin seeds to replant later in the year.

This was a fantastic day in the kitchen where we all worked together and we all felt very proud to have been able to give back to our local community. Our neighbours were all very complimentary of our soup and some even sent us thank you notes and cards.   Our act of kindness made us all feel good about ourselves and we hope to do more as the year progresses.