Hi everyone...

Xanthe and Ava ran 2015's first Class Meeting last Friday and did a top notch job. Ka pai, girls! The following items were discussed:

Class Goal: We talked about how to move in and around the classroom appropriately.

Riddles: The class voted to make up a 'riddle roster'. They love trying to crack the daily riddles I write up on the board.

Art: The class would love to do lots more art.

Sport: As part of the class goal, this will be a reward for achieving the goal.

Raffle Tickets: It was decided that the Class Chairs should be able to award raffle tickets to those tamariki who are using the Russley dispositions

At each Class Meeting we will also discuss what we enjoyed each week and what we need to improve on.

Next week we welcome Miss. Phoebe Sopp to Room 6. She is a third year student at the University of Canterbury. She is very excited to be in Room 6 for the next five weeks and will have full control for the class for three weeks. Miss. Sopp loves running, exploring the outdoors, cooking and baking. She loves teaching fitness and the Arts!

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Ka kite,
Mr. Ish

Where did Week 2 go???

I hope you all had a fab-tastic week? My precious Mac laptop has died...arrrggghhhH!!! So, I'm trying to get my head, and fingers, around operating a PC... Once you have an Apple going back is so very hard!

 

I'd just like to clarify that there is homework every night and I like to see the book every morning. Please test spelling and tick or cross the box. Spelling lists will come home next week. It is a good idea to get your child to look at each word, cover it and then write it down before you ask them to write it down.

 

 

The students are also expected to read every night. Some will read out loud to you. Some will read by themselves. You know best! If you do not have suitable books at home, please ask me. At the moment I'm reading a great book call Kensuke's Kingdom - it's very cool! The best thing that you can do at home is to silently read at the same time as your child. This role modelling is very powerful.

 

 

In regards to the times tables - please just sing out if you're unsure of the expectations.

 

Ava and Xante are our Class Chairs for Term 1! Congratulations, girls. Both girls gave effective speeches to the class. They will be awesome. Our first Class Meeting will be next Thursday.
 

Have a great weekend, everyone.

 

Ka kite!

Kia ora there everybody and welcome to Room 6!

Most of you already know me and know how much I am looking forward to teaching your wonderful children. 

We have started talking about how we want to work, how we want to be treated and how we can contribute to Russley School. This starts with the Russley Dispositions and consequences, creating art works, and writing and topic activities that will make Room 6 look stunning for us and for visitors. We will also find out what our strengths and needs are.

For those of you who do not know me, I have taught at Russley for two years now. Prior to coming here, I taught at Paparoa Street School and St. Albans School.  

I've had a great holiday break up in beautiful Whangamata with my wife, Tamsyn and adorable kids, Flynn and Isla. 

A huge passion of mine is surf life saving. I coach and sweep the North Beach Open Men's Crew. We're off to Waihi Beach this weekend to compete in the North Island Surf Boat Championships, then the New Zealand Surf Life Saving Championships in March.  If you'd like to have a look at some surf boat racing, click on the link below:

Homework books will be going home EVERY NIGHT and it is the best way for us to communicate. For your child to be the best that they can be, we need to be a team. I plan to see this book every morning and if there is anything you want me to know, please write on the back. If you prefer, please call or email. If homework cannot be done, just write a note.


1. NEED TO CONTACT ME? I believe that the best way to find out what you want to know is to talk to me first. 

2. HOMEWORK EVERY NIGHT! Next week there will be spelling, tables and reading. This should only take 20 to 30 minutes each evening and is very important. 
This week there is a 'Personal Box' task reading, goal writing and a class ʻquiltʼ to finish.

3. 50 POINTS! Each week I mark homework out of 10. When a student has 50 points, They get a week with NO HOMEWORK!

4. CLASS CHAIR: Every Friday, Room 6 will have a class meeting where the students can talk about things they want to do, things they are concerned about and how they are feeling. These meetings are run by the students. Those students who want to be voted class chair (one boy and one girl) need to give a 1 minute presentation on Thursday (see below).

DO YOU WANT TO BE A CLASS CHAIR?

1. Think about why you would be a good class chair for Room 6

2. Write down your ideas.

3. Present you ideas in a 1 to 2 minute talk to the class next Thursday. You cannot bribe the class with ice-cream! We really want to know why you would be a good class leader. 

WOOHOO!

Hooray! Some of our Room 11 poets have had their work published on Poetry Box, by Paula Green:

More success for our fab-tastic writers!

Congratulations to Bridget, Olivia A, Anna, Brooklyn and Keziah!

The Russley Writers' Walk

After many, many months of talking, thinking, organising and promoting the Russley Writers' Walk was opened today by Bill Nagelkerke and Jane Buxton at a special assembly. Just to give you all an idea of the journey we went on, here's it in a nutshell:

In term 1, I told Room 11 about the Wellington Writers’ Walk. The Wellington Writers’ Walk is a walk on Wellington’s waterfront where 23 sculptures display quotations from some New Zealand novelists, poets and playwrights. The walk promotes literacy to the people of Wellington and tourists and visitors to the capital.

The tamariki and I decided that we would hold our own writing competition. So, in Term 2 we decided to use the theme of ‘Life at Russley’ and ask people to write a poem, paragraph or story about our community. We created some posters that we displayed around the school using some cool quotes and of course, Gru’s Minions!

In Term 3 during the Pirate Story pandemonium (I love a bit of alliteration!) the competition ran. Initially we didn’t get to many people entering. So we decided to do some things to promote the Writers’ Walk. The tamariki, 

-   Jumped on the intercom twice a week
-  Wrote messages in chalk on the concrete around the school
 -  Popped into classes to talk about the Writers’ Walk

Then before the Term 3 holidays, Mrs. Koster, Mrs. Sellier and Mrs. McCreanor went through all of the entries. There were heaps, and they created a shortlist. Once the shortlisted was created, the pieces of writing were sent to local authors Bill Nagelkerke and Jane Buxton for judging. Then, they selected the winners. The winners were:

Ebony, Room 17

Emily, Room 17

Nathan, Room 17

Hollie, Room 15

Xavier, Room 11

Bridget, Room 11

Lucy, Room 11

Karim, Room 11

And the Team 1 & 2 Star Entry was…Michael Visser from Room 11

Izak, Room 5

Thomas, Room 6

Kara, Room 8

Mirette, Room 6

Monica, Room 3

Matilda, Room 3

Alisha, Room 3

Jayda, Room 3

And the Team 1 & 2 Star Entry was…Hannah Smith from Room 1

While all that was happening, Mr. Wilkin, Sacha’s dad, kindly offered to design the panels for the winning pieces of writing to be displayed on.

And finally, we held a special assembly. Check out the photos that Mrs. Koster took today. 

http://1drv.ms/1tiSVWu

Another plug from Paula Green

Hi all, 

We have another lovely write up on the Poetry Box blog about our wonderful Russley children.

Paula Green's Lastest Blog