Tarawera's+Sleep+Over+and+Rotorua+Trip+2009

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In week 7, Term 1 of 2009, the Tarawera Junior Pod had a sleep over in our school hall with the Year 1 and 2 children while our Year 3 students, along with parents and caregivers, slept out on our school field. We had a great response for parental support with many mums and dads coming along with their children on Thursday night. Parents and Year 3 children busied themselves by erecting tents, whiles Year 1 and 2 children had help sorting out beddings with their parents. If the noise of excited children didn't give us a headache...our disco would!!! Just joking! We had an hour-ish long disco, milo and biscuits before getting into pjs and then a DVD to settle our children. Year 3 children were taken out an hour into the DVD to retire to their tents with their parents and as soon as the DVD and main lights were out, funnily enough our wee ones were soon snoring! And hey, all before 11pm! Boy were they tired! If you are thinking about security..don't worry! We had plenty of dads and mums doned in bright Hi-Biz vests to patrol the school grounds, buildings and gates. Gates were closed early and many continued keeping watch around the tenting area. In the hall we had Koro Hoete sitting on a hard seat by the main hall entrance doors keeping watch for quite a while in the dark to ensure no one came in through the doors (they were locked) who shouldn't have been there! He made sure us noisy teachers (who insisted on having late showers) were OK and that no extra help was needed before he went home for the night. He came back very early the next morning (I am sure it was at least 5.30am!) to help get the jug boiling.

The next day was our trip to Rotorua but that wasn't until 9.30am-ish. The next morning began with....
 * get up, get dressed, get something to eat
 * pack up bedding and clothes in bags
 * brush teeth
 * play while adults clean up and get rid of mattresses etc
 * roll call at 9.30am-ish, last minute info-giving
 * in cars, children belted into seats, children are checked by roving parents, licenses and regos checked
 * we are off!

Everything going A.O.K until we hit the first part of the Rotoma hills with...yes you guessed it, road works. Ok we're off again and then more road works into the windy (wyndy) bits and then we're off again...OK another set of road works but that's it for a while. First stop, Hannah's Bay soon after we enter Rotorua living area and WOW! This is such a neat lakeside park. Morning tea and a play. Parents have time to eat and drink their playlunch.

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We're off again all the way to...Chipmunks! Playtime for the next 2 hours and boy are we **lucky**!!! The noise, the sounds, the crashes and crunches...no, it really wasn't that bad!

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We're off again and this time to the Volcanic Park at the lakeside (where all those pushy ducks and swans are near the helicopters) and no way are we allowed near the water or the road. Too many tourists! And yes, it is indeed a park but this time the children are quite sub-dued when they hop out of cars and casually walk to the swings and other play things. What a stark comparison to this mornings first stop where the 'children jumped out of cars and resembled caged animals finally released!' said one teacher! Lunch is here. We see a few interesting sights and had a lot of fun here. Anyway, we are finally off for home after about an hour. Of course most children are snoring in the back of cars and so a quiet trip on the way home. Road works after road works, we finally make it home and of course we are a bit late but that's OK since most caregivers are with us! The odd child or two are dropped off and teachers retire to the staff room for another coffee and one of the many chocolate biscuits still left in the containers.

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We had a great deal of fun and can't wait to do the next sleep over!