End of Term 3 Already

Hard to believe we are almost at the end of Term 3!!  Apologies for our lack of posts but time has flown by.  The past two terms have seen our classes moving while our current classes have been refurbished, Rooms 11 and 12 still have some work to happen over the next set of holidays. 

Some of the highlights of the past two terms have been:

• Student improvements in learning and achieving their personal goals
• A number of students qualifying for their Koru Badges
• Coming second in our Team Spelling Challenge after a nail biting tie break.
• Students taking part in our school Cross Country
• Our School Song Fest

And even though we only have a couple of weeks till the end of term we are looking forward to our team/school speech finals and our $100 challenge project.  A big thank you to those families that have offered their help.

Our fantastic Spelling Challenge Team!

ANZAC Ceremony- Lest we Forget

Balloons over Waikato Visits the school

Today we had Taitung Kids Hooray Balloon from Taiwan visited our school field. Students from each class were invited to walk inside the balloon and one student from each class experienced a small balloon ride. We were surprised how quickly it filled with air! Here are some images to show what it looked like!

Room 14 EOTC

We had heaps of fun on our EOTC trips to Stubb's Farm and to Te Rapa pools. We learnt lots and also wrote a memoir based on our experiences. 

Term 1 has been busy

Wow!  Hard to believe week 6 has passed already.

We've had a busy term so far with lots of activity and things to learn.  Rooms 11 and 12 have just moved to temporary classrooms as the existing rooms are refurbished.  We hope to post photos of our lovely new classrooms when we move back in during the last week of term.

EOTC has taken a large part of our time and is almost complete for all of Totara Team.  Below you will find a few photos which give a brief glimpse of the activities, challenges and most of all fun, that EOTC brings to everyone.  A big thanks to all the parents who helped with these activities, without your support this would not be possible.

Swim to Survive and Stubbs Farm

Wow!  Hard to believe we are already two weeks into the term.  This week is the start of Totara's EOTC experience with all four classes taking part in our Swim to Survive programme at school, topped off with a day at Te Rapa pools on Friday.

Many thanks to all the parents and caregivers willing to support with this swimming trip and with the Stubbs Farm experience for each class.  Also thank you to all those families who have promptly paid the $90 or have set up automatic payments with our school office.  A reminder that payment must be started prior to these experiences.

We are looking forward to a great week and hope to share many photos so you can see the skills we are learning.  Room 11 is on countdown to their Stubbs Farm experience next Tuesday 24th of February.

Welcome to 2015

A warm welcome to all returning Totara Team students and those students joining us from other teams.  A special welcome to our new students beginning at Maeroa this year.

As teachers, we are looking forward to working with our students, setting goals and improving overall learning.  There will be an opportunity for parents/caregivers to meet in week 5 at our school Meet the Teacher evening.  More information about this will follow nearer the time, however if you have any concerns or questions, please feel free to contact us or pop into our rooms before or after school.

We have an exciting term ahead of us with our schoolwide EOTC week. It is important that the notices regarding this given out in the first week are read carefully and returned to school as soon as possible.

Our school pool is up and running.  It is part of our school programme and an expectation that all students will have their swimming gear on a regular basis.

Also term one should see major changes to rooms 11 and 12 with some welcome refurbishments.  There has been some delay with this but we are optimistic this will be back on track in the near future.

Finally, please make sure students are prepared for their learning with correct stationery. (Please see the Stationery tab for the full list and how to order online)

Farewell

The singing of our team song at yesterdays farewell assembly was amazing. Totara students stood tall and sang our Totara part with a huge sense of pride. It made us very proud to be part of Totara Team!
We would like to wish all the 2014 Year 8 students a fond farewell and best wishes for their next learning journey at secondary school. We like to follow your achievements so please keep in touch.
Next year will be an exciting time for Totara Team with new Year 7 students and Year 8 students taking on leadership roles. The end of a year always brings change and this year is no exception with many teachers moving to different classes and teams. Ms Parker will remain in Totara Team but will be moving to Room 12. Mrs Yeoman is moving to Room 19/20 which will be part of Tanekaha team and Mrs Scoble is moving to Room 4 which is part of Kahikatea team. 2015 will be a little different for us all but Totara Team will always have a special place in our hearts!
Mrs Yeoman and Mrs Scoble.

Recognition Assemblies

It was wonderful to see a large number of Totara Students receiving awards at our final Recognition Assemblies. Lots of family members attended the assemblies and we were all treated to some fantastic singing and excellent dance and drama performances. We had students being acknowledged for their service roles in duties such as Road Patrol, PE Monitors, Koru Monitors, Staff-room Monitors and School Librarians. We also had many students who were recognised for their sporting and cultural endeavors. Excellence, leadership and citizenship were other areas that Totara students were recognised for. We are very proud of the students who were recognised and are sure their achievements will be inspirations for next years Totara students.

Technology Challenge Winners!

A big congratulations to our Technology Challenge Team!  They won the competition with their fantastic cupcake decorating skills, managing to capture key elements of our team in their designs.  

For their efforts they won a $20 gift voucher from the Sugar Bowl (our local cafe and judges of the competition) which Mrs Johnstone presented at our team assembly.  Lucky Mrs Yeoman gets to accompany them and have a treat too!

Technology Challenge Team

• Room 19 - Angel Taipari 
• Room 20 - Jessica-Ann Linton-Brown 
• Room 21 - Toby Hafliger 

Our Technology Challenge winners - with Mrs Johnstone

Reminder - School Magazine

Just a reminder that this years' school magazine is available for pre-order. To secure your copy, place $10 (cheque or cash) in a named envelope and drop it in the student mailbox.

All orders must be in by this Friday, December 5th. These are very popular so don't miss out!

Kelly Tarltons and Auckland Zoo

Room 21 had fun writing descriptive sentences about some of the animals we saw at Kelly Tarltons and Auckland Zoo.

Important Dates - Term 4

It's hard to believe we are already half way through the term!  Time is flying and things just seem to be getting more hectic.  Just a quick post to keep you informed of some important dates on our calendar.

Assemblies:

• Thursday December 4th
  The first of our formal assemblies. This recognises students that have been involved in Service roles around the school
  
  
• Monday December 8th
  Sports recognition assembly
  
  
• Wednesday December 10th
  Cultural recognition assembly
  
  
• Friday December 12th
  Final Merit recognition assembly
  

Parents/caregivers are very welcome to attend these and students will know a couple of days in advance if they are being recognised at these assemblies.  All assemblies begin in our school auditorium at 10:30am.

Other important dates:

• Monday December 15th
  Year 8 Graduation Social. This event is by invitation only and tickets must be pre-purchased at school. 
  
  
• Tuesday December 16th
  Final school reports sent home
  
  
• Thursday December 18th
  Last school day for 2014, students will finish at 1:00pm.
  
  

EOTC - Rooms 19's Artwork

As a follow-up from our EOTC trip, room 19 has been doing some artwork to show our experiences and how we have also been learning about camouflage and survival.

Here is just a small selection of our many pictures:

QR Code Competition Winners - Again!

Congratulations to Room 19 - QR Code Competition Winners.  You did it in Term 1 and now term 3 too! 

A fantastic effort Jakeb and Sam, we are extremely proud of your double achievement.

EOTC - 2014

What a fantastic time we had on our EOTC trips to Auckland this year!

First we visited Kelly Tarlton's and learned about sealife and how our lives can impact these creatures.  We had the opportunity to walk around the centre, interact with some exhibits and see the feeding of stingrays, ocean fish and even sharks!

Our next stop was Auckland zoo where we had free time to explore the zoo before a BBQ dinner and a night safari where we could feed cabbages to the hippos.  We stayed in the Old Elephant House overnight and had an excellent morning of ice skating at Paradice Skating Centre before returning to school.

A huge thanks to Kelly Tarltons, Auckland Zoo, Paradice Ice Skating and Turley buses; you all helped make this a wonderful, enjoyable and educational event.

Here is a sample of the hundreds of photos that were taken during EOTC:

Maeroa Cultural Quilt

Recently our Principal Mrs Bain retired. Students from each class created a square representing something special about the culture of Maeroa Intermediate. The squares were then sewn together to create a Maeroa Cultural Quilt and this was given to Mrs Bain as a farewell gift.

This was the square designed by Room 21. It represents all the teams and their team colours.

This is Room 20's square and represents the international languages we learn and the languages some of our students speak.

This was the square created by Room 19. It shows the different uniform styles Maeroa has had over a long period of time. 

The last photo shows the finished product..........the Maeroa Cultural Quilt!

Room 21's Service Learning Project

As our Service Learning Project this year Room 21 decided to support the Maeroa Stage Challenge team by creating some of the costumes and props they needed. We had fun making wacky hats and brooms for the scarecrows as well as tutu's and headbands for the fairies. We felt very proud of ourselves when we watched the dress rehearsal at school and saw how great our costumes and props looked. Several of us went to watch the evening performance and the Maeroa team was absolutely fantastic!

Totara EOTC - Weeks 7 & 8

Hard to believe that it's that time already - EOTC is nearly upon us!  

A reminder that Mrs Yeoman's group departs for Auckland at 8:45am on Wednesday the 3rd of September.  Please ensure students and adult helpers are at school no later than 8:30am.
They will return at approximately 2:30pm on Thursday the 4th of September.

The gear list that was issued to students on Friday can be found on our EOTC Page. Please ensure all students and adult helpers have the equipment required.

Ms Parker's group departs at 8:45am on Thursday the 11th of September, returning at approximately 2:30pm on Friday the 12th.  Students and adult volunteers in this group must again have all the gear required.

We are looking forward to a fantastic trip in which students will consolidate their learning about animals, camouflage and survival.  A big thank-you to the many adults who have given up their time to accompany us, without your help this trip would not be able to go ahead.

Watch this blog over the coming weeks for photos and evaluations of our trip.

Jump Jam 2014

School Jump Jam Competition Winners 2014!

A special thank you to our make-up and hair helpers Vicky, Catherine and Jessica - you were fantastic and really appreciated!

Have a look at the photos of us getting ready and warming up!