Dear Parents,

I would like to start by thanking Joy Osundwa, who has put together our Elementary School Picnic for this evening; I'm certainly looking forward to it!  Also, raising the bar of our Elementary sport participation, good luck to all of the ES children taking part in SIPS Track and Field this year!!

One important note; the 3C assembly will be on Wednesday next week, not Friday. 1B remain on Thursday with their assembly.

Elementary Picnic: We hope to see you this afternoon!!:Please bring a picnic and enjoy some entertainment. At the picnic, we request that children stay on the field for the event, and not in the playground or around the school buildings.

Decorated Doors: Here is the winner of the 2013 Reading Week decorated door challenge. Well done 3C!!:

Ms. Shelly's Story: ...and Reading Week was brought to a climactic close with Shelly stein's own story that she told in words, music and dance. She was ably assisted by a band and her own class:

Gr 2-5 MAP Tests - Follow-up: Our MAP test follow-up is an example of how we use data at ISD. Once all classes have completed the tests, and anyone absent has done a catch-up, we look at how individual students have performed. We also look at trends in the data and whether there are some clusters of ability or difficulty in certain classes. For example five children in one class may have found "computation" difficult in math. Often this enables teachers to form groups in classes to focus on specific needs.

Ms Els, Ms. Andrea and individual teachers then meet with me to discuss implications on a class-by-class basis. While the tests are not the only piece of formative data we use, it is a proven and reliable assessment of not only how the children are doing in their grade, but how we are comparing as a school to the overall norms of all schools taking the assessment. 

You can look at more parent information on the NWEA website HERE. 

Grade 3 Field Trip: On Thursday, Gr 3 went to the beach to discover more about the rocks and minerals that they have been studying in Science. Here are some of the pictures. The children tell me the black rock you see in the cliff is basalt, and it is igneous:

Field Day - Thursday, March 28: A reminder that the four teams will be selected for Field Day in the near future. The colors are red, yellow, green and blue, and parents are welcome to come and watch parts of the fun day. During the day's activities, which run from 10:30 through 3:20, the children practice team songs, meet in the gym for an assembly, and head off for lots of fun in a rotational format around the field - more from Mr. Te Huki soon.

Grade 4 Samu Social Visits: Mr. Schultz and Mr. Ishmael are putting together activities and games to take to the children at Samu Social over the next five weeks. Yesterday saw 4S spending part of their morning there and it sounds as though they had a lot of fun. 

Upcoming Construction: Ian Hogg is not resting on completion of the library, as this week, we began the redesign of the old Pre K, K & Gr 5 building. This will become the new administration block and will house offices for reception, accounting, business manager and director. It will also give us an additional meeting space. You may have noticed the widened walkway next to the sand playground - this will lead to the entrance of the reception. 

Upcoming Events: