Moorena tamariki ma,
as you can see I'm all ready to go for Christmas Day - I've written to Santa to ask for my present (food food and more food please Santa!) and I've been a very good boy!
Keep safe, be happy, have a lovely summer and I'll see you next year.
- Alan 🐾
Kia ora tamariki ma. Guess what I worked out using my awesome maths skills! It's only 17 days until Christmas! And only 3 days more school! I'm going to miss all my friends from Glen Taylor School over the holidays so be sure and say hello if you see me out walking with any of the Cox family. We would all love to see you!
I've really enjoyed being at school this year with you all and you've worked so hard you deserve to have fun over the break. I was interested to hear all about the Summer Learning Journey that runs over the summer - for years 4-8. Heaps of fun activities to do and it means you will be all ready to go at the start of the next school year. Even this years year eights can do it and be extra ready for college. There are lots of cool prizes to be won so I hope you all take part.
- Alan 🐾
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| Me in my favourite place at school - snuggled with my friends |
Kia ora tamariki ma, I was very sad I couldn't come to the combined prizegiving and cultural festival yesterday but Mrs Cox said there would be lots of food around and she didn't think it was fair for me to have to be there and not have any. She also said it was probably going to be too hot for me. As it turned out she was wrong about the weather....she came home and told me all about the day though which I really enjoyed and she showed me pictures. The costumes were amazing and of course I was lucky enough to be at practice sessions for most of the groups so it was quite easy for me to picture you all. I think it was marvellous that everyone carried on when the rain arrived. Congratulations on such a successful day - oh and I'm not forgetting the art exhibition which I walked around on Monday - you're so creative.
Congratulations to all the prize winners as well. I bet you are feeling proud as you should be.
See you on Monday!!
- Alan 🐾
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Morena tamariki ma. Assembly last Friday was extremely interesting and exciting! It was organised by Room 9 who did a fantastic job. They showed us some of the art they have been working on. Beautiful canvases and also some Matisse inspired pictures of goldfish in bowls. Kai pai Room 9!
I was thrilled to see so many PB4L bands given out too. There were so many I couldn't count up that high....well done everyone! I've got my white band and I'm working on my black band ....it takes a while but it's so worth the effort.
There were some special awards - my friends Pita and Dontae from room 10 received awards for being helpful with the junior students. I felt so proud of them.
I'm so glad I was at assembly to see all the special things that happened.
- Alan 🐾
Kia ora everyone. Well, some things have been a little bit different at school this week! If you are in years 5,6,7 or 8 you will have experienced a taste of what it's like to go to high school.Some things are the same as primary school and some things are different. For example you have different teachers for each subject you study and you go to different classrooms for each class. That means you have to keep your schoolbag with you all day and carry your books and equipment with you. So you learn to be extremely organised! It can all seem a bit scary and strange at first but high school is fun!
I only got to go to high school classes for one of the days but I loved it because every so often the class changed and I got to see a whole lot more of my Glen Taylor friends and you know that's my favourite thing - well, food is pretty terrific also....
- Alan 🐾
Malo e lelei everyone. Yesterday, as you know, was one of the days we have practice for the up and coming Cultural Festival. Usually I seem to be with the Samoan group who are coming along very nicely, but this time I was with the Tongan group who are doing wonderfully as well. First I was with the junior girls who were working hard on their piece of the performance which looked quite tricky to me! I don't think I could do it but the girls had it sussed. I think it's a combination of hard work on the girl's part and the wonderful help they are getting from Susana the lovely mum who comes to assist. Aren't we lucky to have such wonderful parents at our school?
Towards the end of the practice all the members of the Tongan group got together and we watched everyone demonstrate their skills. It was wonderful and I loved watching everyone.
The Cultural Festival is going to be amazing - I can't wait!!
- Alan 🐾
Kia ora tamariki ma. The day before yesterdayI had an exciting morning. The year seven and eight students go to Tamaki College on a Wednesday morning to study technology. They do extremely interesting subjects such as cooking and robotics! I am always hopeful I'll be able to have some of the food they cook on the walk back to Glen Taylor but they never seem to want to share it with me. ( Alan, you know you are not allowed to eat food that is meant for people to eat! - Mrs Cox)
While they were working yesterday I met some new friends in the staffroom and got lots of pats but no treats unfortunately. Still, I had a lovely snooze which is always welcome. Finally we walked back to Glen Taylor - lots of interesting things to sniff and I love walking with all the students. When we got back to Glen Taylor I had to have a very big sleep because I was exhausted by my adventurous morning!
- Alan 🐾
Morena tamariki ma - guess what I've been doing? Well last week you may have noticed I wasn't at school very often. That was because Mrs Cox decided to go to Wellington for a holiday to see her daughter Jacqueline graduate from university. She says she had a wonderful time but I'm thinking I probably had a better time because I got to stay with Maia and Ryan! It was so much fun. I got to walk to school with them and then their mum Mrs McKenzie took me on some wonderful walks to places I hadn't been before so it was very exciting!! I took my toys with me so I enticed the family to play with me as much as I could. They have a very cosy bean bag that I decided was just my size so I appropriated it for myself.
On Thursday Mr Herlihy phoned and needed me to work so even though Mrs Cox was away I packed my blanket and bone and took Mrs McKenzie instead. I'm always on call when I'm needed!
- Alan 🐾
Morena tamariki ma - look what I've been doing! I've made a brand new friend, Isn't she gorgeous? Patch is 15 weeks old and is hoping to be a guide dog when she grows up. She is a labrador retriever just like me but as you can see she is a golden labrador. Can you tell why she was named Patch? Before she can become a guide dog she will have to spend approximately 18 months with her family learning to have impeccable manners (like me!) and learning some basic commands such as 'sit', 'stay' and 'lie down'. She has to learn to walk confidently in all sorts of places such as shopping malls even when she can smell tempting aromas ...it's not easy but I'm sure Patch will be successful. After she has mastered the basics she will have a trainer from Guide Dogs who will teach her the specific skills she needs before she can be matched to someone who needs her.
It was extremely exhausting playing with Patch - she is a bundle of energy and every time I picked up a toy to play with she wanted it and tried to take it away from me. Of course, being so much bigger I had no trouble keeping hold of the toys but sometimes I let her have one so that she wouldn't become discouraged.
After a while we were so tired we both lay down for a bit of a snooze,,,zzzzz
- Alan 🐾
Ata marie tamariki ma - guess what happened to me! Well, I imagine that you won't be able to so I'll tell you. Last night we had a power cut at our house! I'd never experienced one before...it was exciting but strange at the same time. All the lights in the house went out and I couldn't even see my paw when I held it in front of my face. The night was a black as my fur! The television had been on and the picture and the sound both suddenly vanished. All the digital clocks stopped and the washing machine which happened to be on at the time.
Imagine a power cut at your house - what would it be like do you think?
Luckily Mr Cox found a camping lamp and so we had a limited amount of light but not even enough to read by. It did become a bit boring but Mrs Cox took me for a walk so that was fun. We saw the workers from the power company working to fix the fault which was fun. I wagged my tail as I walked past so they knew I appreciated their help. Our walk was in the pitch black as even the street lights were not working.
Finally after about three hours the lights came on - however it was bedtime so we turned all the lights off and went to bed!
- Alan 🐾
Morena tamariki mai goodness it's Friday again already and I haven't even finished describing something exciting that happened last Friday at assembly! You probably remember that last Friday was an action packed day as it was mufti day. Well, at assembly we had a very special visitor named Trent. He is an athlete who plays beach volleyball and he also promotes the Weetbix Tryathalon. I've never been to one and although I would love to be in one I don't think dogs are allowed!
I'm sure lots of you want to enter the tryathalon - so great that we have a bike track at school to do the training for the biking part - thank you Mr Herlihy!! If you would like to read more about the tryathalon and find out how to enter here is a link : https://tryathlon.co.
- Alan 🐾
Ata marie tamariki mai gosh wasn't mufi day fun last Friday? I was tremendously excited to see so many incredible costumes - the school was a sea of halloween colours everywhere I looked.
I was on my morning stroll with Mrs Cox before school and we bumped into Lara in her mummy costume. Great effort Lara! Mrs Cox and I were teaching (I actually do most of the work....) in Room 9 and it was a trifle scary with all the ghouls and ghosts! There were even Harry Potter characters (go Maia and Brooke). Mrs Cox and I were slightly nervous in case we were turned into frogs!
Some people commented that I was not in costume this year but to be honest it was a hot day and I just couldn't face dragging on the dinosaur costume I wore last year....it's extremely tricky to get into too!!
Assembly was fabulous - thank you Room 6 and in the afternoon I was fortunate enough to be able to watch the samoan group practising for the cultural festival...it was a packed day and I loved every minute!
- Alan 🐾
Kia ora everyone, I told you in my last blog that I had a wonderful time in the school holidays and I mentioned that I saw Mrs Botha at the local park. However I forgot to show you the photo Mrs Cox took of me and Mrs Botha together! Silly me!
So,here we are both looking gorgeous and happy to see each other. The other fabulous event was that Mrs Cox had some wool to give Mrs Botha so Mrs Botha drove round to our house to pick it up and brought Layla with her so that we could play together. Layla was a bit nervous at first - she's little and I'm big - but she recovered and we had a lovely time playing with my toys and running around the backyard. Unfortunately there aren't any photos of us together - next time perhaps!
- Alan 🐾
Hi everyone, I'm sorry I haven't blogged for a while - it was the holidays and I was quite busy! I had a great time - Mrs. Cox and I went to Omaha for a few days and I got to run around with my friends Jessie and Lola plus we went and played on the beach! So exciting!
The other amazing thing that happened right at the beginning of the holidays was that we went to the park and guess who we saw? Mrs. Botha! That was great.
Even though I did enjoy the holidays it it always fun to come back to school and see all my friends!
cheers
Alan 🐾
Malo e lelei! You won't believe what happened yesterday! We had a wonderful feast at school. It looked so delicious I could hardly wait to get my share. As it turned out I didn't get any which I wasn't thrilled about! I could smell the pork and I wanted some so much! It looked as though everyone was having a great time and enjoying trying new foods. I tried to just sit quietly and not mind that I was missing out. Everyone did say that I was very good.Id the tongan music and the dancing by the seniors was awesome. Well done everyone!
- Alan 🐾
Malo e lelei! It's tongan language week this week so I'm learning a lot of new words and phrases. It's another reason to be glad to be back at school. I didn't come back last week because Jacqueline ( Mrs Cox's daughter) was back from university for a short break so I needed to stay home to look after her. It was fun and I went for a lot of long walks and got a few extra treats (not as many as I would have liked though!) but I did miss my friends at school.
I hear that on Thursday there is going to be some sort of feast .... yummy! I can't wait! (Alan, you will not be allowed to have anything - remember you aren't allowed human food, you have your own dog biscuits).
- Alan 🐾
Morena tamariki ma, hope you are having a lovely day at school today - isn't it a beautiful sunny day?
Yesterday was lovely too so Jacqueline took me to Waiatarua for a walk. She had her mask on of course but lucky for me dogs don't have to wear them! I had a beautiful swim in the big pond and walked through all the mud puddles I could find. Splash splash splash! My paws were filthy and the rest of my body wasn't much better! I had to have a shower in the bathroom of our house because as you know people in Auckland aren't allowed to use outdoor hoses at the moment. I can't say I was too keen on the idea but the good thing was that the water in the shower is warm whereas the water in the hose is extremely cold! Also I did get fed a few biscuits while I had my shower.....
- Alan 🐾
Morena tamariki ma - I hope everyone had an enjoyable first day back at school for a while, yesterday. I had a lovely day because Jacqueline came back from university to stay for a few days. She goes to university in Wellington ( the New Zealand Drama School, Toi Whakaari ) so we haven't seen her for a while. It was such a surprise for me when she walked through the door!
Anyway, in the weekend I was running around the park and who should turn up but my friends Kirsty and Edie! Kirsty is a greyhound and is sleek and gorgeous and Edie - well actually I'm not quite sure what sort of dog she is except a beautiful energetic and friendly one. Kirsty wasn't as keen on playing running around games as Edie was ...we ran around for ages chasing each other and rolling about. It was so much fun. We stayed at the park for ages and ages until our owners said it was getting cold so we had to go home.
I can't wait to see Kirsty and Edie again!
- Alan 🐾
Morena tamariki mai. Today I thought I'd introduce you to another one of my friends. Most of my friends are either people friends or dog friends but I do have some cat friends as well. You remember I was born at the Guide Dog Breeding Centre - well they have cats so that we learn not to be scared of cats right from when we are born. I'm glad about that because I like having lots of different types of friends.
Cassius is a handsome cat as you can see. I've known him since I was about three months old and I visited his house for the first time. I was a bit naughty that time and tried to eat his dinner but I've learnt not to now. I'd still like to though! Cassius is a bit older than me but I'm not quite sure how much. He lives on the North Shore so we don't get to see each other a lot but it's always fun when we do. We have a chat and a play in the garden and then both have a sleep which is an activity we both enjoy!
- Alan 🐾
Morena tamariki mai, well it's a bit of a slow start to the day today - Mrs Cox decided she needed to have a little bit of a sleep in this morning ( I think she stayed up too late knitting....) and she didn't get out of bed till 7.30am!! Well I have my breakfast at 7am sharp (Mr Cox feeds me in the morning) and when I finish it at 7.01am I'm ready to play! So I ran in to the bedroom with my favourite dinosaur but she just didn't respond! So I had to hang around looking as cute as possible - not difficult for me - for half an hour until she got up! Then we ran around the house and she tried to get my dinosaur off me but I'm far too fast for her!
Actually I can hear her calling.....something about a walk! I'm off - talk to you tomorrow!!
- Alan 🐾
Which is your favourite out of the things I collected?
- Alan 🐾
