Christmas in New Zealand

We celebrate Christmas in New Zealand. There are a variety of religions ( not just catholic- Presbyterian, Anglican, Baptists, Mormons Bretherens etc) but most people celebrate Christmas. We have similar traditions but these are some of the things that my family did when I was growing up and still do today. We share presents on Christmas morning. We usually have Christmas dinner at around midday and eat things like turkey, chicken, ham and lamb with roast potatoes, pumpkin kumara and other vegetables like peas, carrots and beans, also salad sometimes. Pudding is usually fruit salad, steam pudding, cream and ice cream. It is a real feast and we usually eat too much. Adults drink wine and children drink sparkling grape juice or fizzy drink. Shops are closed on Christmas day (this is one of the only days everything is closed these days) The day after Christmas day is called "Boxing Day." All the shops have big sales on this day.
Some people go to church at Christmas, but not everyone.
Christmas is a time for giving and to share with your family. Families often come together at this time of year. Because it is summer lots of people got to the beach, lakes and parks etc. There are always games of cricket and touch rugby and barbecues.
I hope you have had a great start to your new Year and we'll be back at the end of January.
Ciao for now.
Mr Hornby

Holiday Message

Here is a small video we made last week. It was 30c here on Saturday.

Holidays

Ciao everyone
The last few weeks have gone very quickly, it was very busy , especially for the teachers, with reports and end of year assemblies and presentations etc. Our school year has finished and we now have holidays until the 31st of January. At the beginning of the year we will have a whole new class of children. I recorded the children sending a holiday message and will share it with you in the next couple of days. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Ciao for now
Mr H

Laura, I will send a message to you at epals regarding what you want to do next year,
Have a fantastic Christmas, Steve

3F

Hi Kauri's class!
We're fine.
The sun is shining but it's very cold. Remember it's winter now.
In a week we're going on Christmas Holiday and we're very very happy for this.
We're staying on holiday for two weeks but we're going to have a lot of homework to do.
In Italy on 8th December we're making decorations, the Christmas Tree and the Crib.
Cities are lighted and decorated and people seem very happy but it's not snowing now and it's good when it's snowing at Christmas.
On Christmas day we have lunch with our family and relatives and we eat a lot of good food like Lasagne (here is a recipe) , Roast Beef , Vegetables and the tipical italian cake for Christmas Pandoro and Panettone.
We must go now. Lessons are finishing. Bye for now.
3F.

Hi everyone!how's it going?Not much is happening here in masterton.Appart from our end of year trip is coming up.We are going to upper hutt for a swim at the pools and a fish and chip lunch.Tomorrow is also big for the tararua team because the year 6's are graduating,and we have a speech and a slideshow.After that we get given our 6 sample books and a dictionary.thats pretty much it for now.See ya,Annaliese

Cristian

Hi Kauris class!
I'm Cristian and I'm 14. In Turin there are a lot of Mc Donalds' , Burger Kings and restaurants .If you want to eat Italian food you can go to Eataly .
Near my school there's a Mc Donalds' but it isn't very good. I never eat there, I prefer eating at restaurants. I like Burger Kings because they're faster and cleaner. Last year I went to eat pizza with my class. Do you eat pizza in your country? Do you like it?
Do you go out to eat with your class.
Bye Cristian.

Hi
Last Friday some year sixes went to the Masterton Intermediate for an orientation day. This gave them a chance to meet their teacher for next year and try some of the different activities offered.
On Thursday year fives headed of to camp at Mount Holdsworth for a night.
We had to walk over a swing bridge and we went through the river. It was a really long walk and a really big drop if we fell off the track.
We stayed in tents and went for a night walk. One of the people had a laser and was shining it.
In the morning we got woken up by a rooster at 4:00am!! We don't know what a rooster was doing there.
We took lots of photos and here are a few of them.

We have had a very warm November and the last 2 days have been 29 and 30 c, today was cooler at 21 c. We saw on the news that it has already been very cold in parts of Europe.
Ciao for now
Larissa