FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD

Friday 9th December was our Christmas Dinner. Thanks to the Leaney kitchen cooks for providing such a delicious dinner and desserts for the children and staff of our school.  Thanks to Louise for setting up the hall and also for serving Christmas dinner, along with Janet, to so many of our children.  

While the children were waiting for their dinner, they decorated their tablecloths with some very artistic Christmas drawings.  We were delighted that Mrs Howe called into school with her new baby girl.  Mrs Howe had the hard task of deciding which table had the best decorated table cloth.

BALLYMENA ACADEMY CONCERT

On Tuesday 6th December P6 and P7 went to Ballymena Academy for a special Primary School Christmas Concert.  They enjoyed listening to the Chamber Choir and also joining in some Christmas Songs.  They also got a chance to listen to some of the sections within the school orchestra. Thank you to the teachers and pupils of Ballymena Academy for their kind invitation to attend this event.

NOVEMBER ASSEMBLY AWARDS

Congratulations to all the children who received certificates for November 2016.  Certificates were awarded for - Good Listening Skills', 'Good Ideas in Art', and 'Good Technology Skills'.

PETER PAN FINDING NEVERLAND

This morning P4- P7 went to Green Pastures Church to see the Christmas Pantomime, 'Peter Pan Finding Neverland'.  The children really enjoyed the performance. There were over five hundred children and adults there. Comments from the children when they came back to school - 'It was brilliant', ' I enjoyed everything about it'.  Thanks to Mrs Henry for organising this outing.

New Outdoor Play Toys

Thanks to all parents who collected Sainsbury tokens earlier this year.  Through the Sainsbury's Active Kids Scheme, we have been able to get some new outdoor toys for our children to use at break and lunch time.  Some of the new toys include Ankle Skips, Katcha Kups, Foam Fliers, Scoop Sets and Skipping Ropes.  The children are really enjoying using these toys and it is a great way for everyone to keep active.

TREE PLANTING

Together with Conservation Volunteers and NIE, P 6/7 got the chance to plant apple, pear and plum trees at our school.  We hope that in a couple of years we will be enjoying some delicious fruit.

RADIO CRACKER

P1 - P3 travelled to Montgomery's Coffee Shop on Wednesday 30th November to sing on Radio Cracker.  They sang three pieces from their school play - 'Hey Ewe'  It was great to see so many parents, grandparents and friends coming along to support the children.  The children loved performing their songs and Ryan and Emma enjoyed being interviewed on the radio.  Thank you Miss Richmond and Mrs Millar for all your hard work and enthusiastic conducting.

SHARED EDUCATION

P1 and P2 joined the children from St Patricks Primary for the first session of their "Outdoor Learning Programme".  Brian Poots from N I Forest Schools Association talked to the boys and girls about shelters.  Working in teams, the children built their own forest shelters using canes, pegs and tarpaulin sheets.  The children all enjoyed the session.  Thanks to all our helpers.

LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!

Yes, it's coming up to that time of year again and rehearsals for the Christmas Concert are now under way. The P4 to P7 children have been given the opportunity to perform an Ulster Scots play called 'Kissing the Shuttle'.  This play was written by Dan Gordon and is about the linen mill workers at the turn of the 20th century. 

Ryan Moohan from the drama company, 'Class Act Drama' is directing the play. Ryan comes to school each Tuesday to help the children prepare for their performance on 14th December. They are all really enjoying the singing and acting.

GARDENING

This week we planted some Primroses in the raised flower beds at the front of our school.  We also planted the tulip and daffodil bulbs which will bloom in the spring time.  There were some very muddy P3 - P5 children as the rain came on as they were planting their flowers.

WINNER!

Pupils from schools in the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council Area were given the opportunity to design posters showing ways to improve our local communities.  We were delighted that Robyn's poster came 2nd out of a total of 94 entries.  Robyn received a £15 Waterstones voucher from Councillor George Duddy at the Council Offices in Coleraine. She also met the 1st and 3rd prize winners.  The three winning posters will be included in a new fifteen year Community Planning Booklet which will be published in 2017. 

KEEPING HEALTHY

On Monday 7th November, Louise from Cancer Focus NI came to talk to the P3,4 and 5 classes. The main aim of her presentation was to encourage our children to keep healthy, by exercising regularly, and by being aware of how to choose healthy foods.

The first half hour was called 'Fit Factor'.  The children did some light, moderate and intense exercises in the hall. They noticed that with intense exercise, their heart beat was faster than with light exercise.  Louise encouraged the children to exercise for sixty minutes every day and she challenged them to get all of the family involved in this.

The final half hour was called 'Food Detectives'. The three 'food nasties' that are hidden in the foods we buy, are sugar, salt and fat.  The children looked at various foods and Alfie, our detective, helped to set out the amounts of the 'food nasties' in each product, by reading the food label.  Foods with lots of sugar, salt and fat were given a Red Light and these foods should be avoided. Other foods were given an Amber Light, indicating that they were good foods, provided that they were eaten in moderation. Other foods such as semi skimmed milk were given a Green Light, showing that they were a healthy choice. 

Thanks to Louise for such an interesting and informative presentation. The children are now enthusiastic about taking more exercise and they are keen to choose healthy foods to eat.

HARVEST HOOLIE!

Once again, our annual Harvest Hoolie proved to be a very popular event.  The children had brilliant fun ducking for apples, making a handprint autumn tree, listening to a lovely harvest story, line dancing and playing a 'put the animal in the hoop ' game.  Some parents had provided a chocolate fountain with fruit and marshmallows which was a real treat.  Thank you to everyone who helped to make this Harvest Hoolie such a fun time for the children.

OCTOBER ASSEMBLY AWARDS

Congratulations to all the children who received certificates for October 2016.  Certificates were awarded for - 'Positive Behaviour towards New Challenges', 'Good Self Management Skills', and 'Excellent Behaviour'.

ACCELERATED READING CERTIFICATES

In the last school year, Rasharkin Primary School, thanks to the fund raising events by the Parents' Association, was able to purchase the Accelerated Reading Scheme for our P4 - P7 children.  This scheme encourages children to read books at their level, take quizzes at the end of each book and thus gain points towards their own personal target. 

Since September, we have seen the benefits of this scheme with children reading enthusiastically.  Many have reached and gone beyond their individual target set for the first half term. At our Harvest Assembly, thirty two children were awarded certificates for reaching or almost reaching their target.  The cup for the child who reached his/her target, and who gained the highest percentage accuracy in the quizzes, was presented to Andrew from P5.  New targets will be set for the next half term and the cup will be re-presented at the end of this period. Well done to all the children who reached their target.  Keep this good reading up!

 

P4 and P5 Gift

Children from P4 and P5 brought money to school to buy a football and goalie gloves.  These were given to Justin McMinn from 'Homeless Street Soccer N.I.' at the Harvest Service.  We hope that they will be used by some of the team members.

HARVEST ASSEMBLY

Our annual Harvest Assembly was on Wednesday 26th October.  The children from P1 - P3 sang a song called 'The Farmer', and P4 - P7 sang 'Remember'.  We were delighted to welcome Justin McMinn from 'Homeless Street Soccer N.I. to take our service.  Justin spoke about the work of the charity and showed a video of the Homeless Street Soccer World Cup, which was held in Glasgow in 2016.  Two of the team members, Mark and Gavin demonstrated their football skills and had a penalty shoot out for children, parents and teachers.  Afterwards, Justin, Mark and Gavin joined the children in the playground to show some more of their football skills. We wish to thank parents and friends for coming along to support our children at the Harvest Service, and for their very generous donations for the work of the charity.  Also, thanks to the ladies of the Parents' Association for serving tea and coffee.

'THANK YOU GOD TREE'

In Assembly, Mrs Calderwood reminded everyone of all things that we have in our lives, that we should be grateful to God for. Everyone had lots of ideas - homes, families, school, church, food and our beautiful world.  Each child was given a coloured label to write or draw something that he/she wanted to say thank you to God for.  These labels were put on to our special 'Thank you God tree', which was on display for our Harvest service.

SCRIPTURE UNION

Scripture Union restarted this week and will continue for the next five weeks.  It is held on Thursday's at lunchtime, from 12.40pm until 1pm.  All P4 - P7 children are very welcome to come along.  We wish to thank the volunteers from our local churches who have trained, and are now giving of their time to run the Scripture Union Club.

SMILE!

On Thursday the photographer was in school for his annual visit. Everyone was looking neat and tidy for this very special event.  I'm sure all parents are looking forward to getting the photographs in good time for Christmas.