Happy New Year!

Kia ora everyone,

This year I will be moving into Room 10 to the Junior class and Miss Koopu will move to Room 11. She will be continuing the blog from now on.

Hope everyone has a wonderful year. Don't forget to give me lovely smile and say Hello when you see me.

Arohanui, Koka Manny

Thank you and Merry Christmas!

To my class - Room 11, 2008,

Thank you all for the wonderful year you have given me. I am happy that each of you were in my class - you all brought something different that made our class special. Good luck and keep up the good work for next year, be kind to each other and always do the right thing.
I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas with your whanau and a safe and Happy New Year.

See you bright and cheery in 2009,

Lots of love, Koka Manny xo

Home time

On Friday we left to come home. All of us were different - we had changed. We had been fortunate enough to share these experiences together and everyone seemed to be closer. It was great - the conversations in the Red Van on the way back had changed too. Everyone was talking about things we had done on the trip and about how they couldn't wait to give their gifts to their whanau. As tiring as it was for us as staff, Koka Ritihia and I both agreed that it was awesome to see the joy on the kids faces and the feeling of togetherness. I wouldn't hesitate to put my hand up to go on another school trip, wherever it may be. It may not be next year but whenever it is, I'm keen!

Swimming

We went to the pools after catching the train from Wellington to Porirua. There was a wave pool there. After a siren went off and lights from the lighthouse, a wave started at one end of the pool. Lifesavers watched carefully to make sure the kids were safe and if anyone looked as though they were getting into trouble, they had a long, soft rod that they put into the water for the person to hold onto and they would pull them over to the side or to the ladder. There were spa pools there too and a hydroslide.

Check out the photos

Te Papa

We went to Te Papa twice on Thursday - once in the morning and back again after dinner. In the morning we went on the interactive rides. Everyone like the High Ride - we sat in seats that moved around and watched a film. You felt like you were in the film and you changed from one thing to another , you might be a netball, or a rugby player, or bungy jumper (Scary!) or skateboarder or riding a motorbike (which was the favourite!) In the evening we split into our groups and went around and saw the different exhibitions. The Discovery learning centres had activities and puzzles for kids. We saw lots amd learned a lot too. A great place that I will be sure to take my own family to .

Dinner and a movie

All the climbing and shopping gave our kids a really big appetite so dinner and a movie was the perfect way to finish the night. We went to Reading's food court and cinema. There were so many different types of food there - from curries to chinese to burgers. There was also Wendy's who make a fabulous frozen yoghurt! After dinner we went up the stairs to watch High School Musical 3. Some girls had dressed up as cheerleaders to go and watch the movies so we made sure to have a photo taken with them. Everyone loved the movies and the vans were buzzing as we headed back to the marae.

Rock Climbing

Rock climbing was really neat and I was surprised at how quickly some of you could scoot up those walls! I was impressed by all of your determination and so pleased that you all had a go. Well done!!!