Week 10 Term 3

What's happening?  It's more like what has happened!  Sorry for the delay in posting, but I have been at the theatre each night and despite sitting around for hours, am unable to get on to the internet.  Need a lesson from Julie about how to do this from my phone.
Mercy Day turned out to be a great get together for our 2 schools and the weather held despite and awful forecast.
Athletic Training Tuesday and Wednesday.
All children have presented their speech eisteddfods.  What a wide variety of topics. We had a really interesting morning.  Well done everyone.
Eisteddfod Assembly is at 1:30 on Thursday in the hall. Those presenting their speeches in the Year 1 and 2 section are: Ana Flannery, Tadhg Reilly and Charlie Donaldson - very hard to choose just 3.
Relay Race to the Clock, Friday - Year 3 & 4 team: the children got together to put names down to compete in this race. A permission slip and information has come home today - needs to signed and back to me by Thursday morning.  The information is also in the school newsletter - this has the correct time for meeting 4:30pm. There are several year 2 children really keen - should the team be short of competitors I will ring these people.
Cinderella Rockafella: we have been working very hard putting the staging/acting
 together for the show this week. The singing sounds fantastic - keep up these songs in the holidays, and we now all know where we will sit or stand on the stage. Because we are all characters going to a ball, we have been talking about who we are, so that we can really act our character on the stage.  You would be surprised at who is attending this ball!! Thursday is the day to have our costumes at school. Several people already have theirs here.  If you are bringing a special dress that you may need in the holidays, you may take it home otherwise it would be great to have them all hanging in the corridor ready for the BIG NIGHT on the "Alexandra Stage" - quite a step up from our school hall.
Wishing everyone a fantastic and safe holiday. Thank you to everyone for helping your children with their learning this term.  Hoping that the weather stays settled so that we can enjoy outdoor spring weather.

Years 3 & 4 Netball Photos

The team photos for the  Years 3 & 4 netball team photos will be taken on Tuesday at 2pm.

The Finishing Touches To Our Musical Instruments

Father Pat Visits Room 3

Father Pat visited Room 3 last week to show us chrism oil as part of our Sacrament learning about Baptism.  He brought his special container with 3 different oils that he uses. Each contained an oil that he used for a sacrament. Chrism for Baptism and Confirmation and a different one for the Anointing of the Sick.

Thank you Father.

Lots of people brought beautiful photos of their Baptism to share and Annajhay even brought her special Baptism gown which her mother had worn as well.

Year 3&4 Eisteddfod Speech assessment Sheet

Time:  Year 3 = 1.5 minutes                   Year 4 = 2 minutes

Writing:

Write a speech using this structure:

*Introduction – Who? What? When? Why? How? Try an interesting question or comment to “grab” the audience’s attention.

*Paragraphs/Headings: Each paragraph will be about a different part of the topic. Show a clear sequence of ideas.

*Conclusion: Sum up your topic. Leave the audience with an interesting thought or message.

  

Presenting/Speaking:

·      Speak clearly so the audience can hear all that is said.

·      Use expression in your voice.

·      Pause for effect.

·      Use pictures or props to add interest.

·      Make eye contact with the audience.

Assessment	Developing (1)	Achieved (2)	Achieved to a high level (3)
Content Introduction “grabs” attention Clear structure (Opening/paragraphs/conclusion)
Clear sequence of ideas
Interesting vocabulary
Delivery/Expression Clear voice Good pace/used the full time Eye contact Stance/Props TOTAL =      / 25
	+ 1 mark for Plan

Week 9 Term 3

It is a week for visitors in our room this week. Today we had Mrs Dawn Cousins, the Resource Teacher of Literacy and also Ms Mary-Anne Tamati, the Maori Resource teacher.  Ms Tamati was delighted to listen to our mihimihi and to view our family/whanau kowhaiwhai patterns that we described to her.
Tomorrow sees Father Pat visiting the room and sharing more about the Sacrament of Baptism.  Thank you so much for the baptism photographs that have been shared, and also the beautiful gown that Annajhay brought to show us.  These are special times - baptism being the first sacrament of welcome to the church family. On Wednesday Mrs Donaldson will release me to do testing, while she completes some amazing butterfly art work on which to display or butterfly writing.  Much of this writing is really impressive, as we begin to use a variety of interesting sentence starts as well as WOW words. Go, Room 3.
Friday Mass: the school will be attending the 12 noon mass. We welcome you to join us.

Uniform this week:
Tuesday & Thursday: athletic skills training, so runners, school sports uniform, track pants and school jersey or sweatshirt.
Wednesday: School Sports team photos: if you played in a school sports team you need to have your correct school sports uniform for the photo.  Don't forget that if Mum or Dad coached a team we would like them to also be in the photograph, and there is an afternoon tea in the staffroom to thank them for their work at 3pm. For times of photos please contact Mrs Flannery or Miss Passmore.
Friday - School Photographs - full winter uniform. A reminder that family photos will be taken from 8am before school.  Everyone received a form last Wednesday about photos and this needs to be returned to Mrs Bennie in the office by Wednesday please.

School Athletics = Thursday 23rd October - it would be good to hear from any parents/grandparents who can help on this day.

Mercy Day Celebration with St John's Ranfurly
This will be celebrated on Monday 22nd with St John's travelling to Alexandra this year. There will be a mass in the church at 11am.  It would be wonderful if parents or grandparents joined us for this. A BBQ lunch will follow. Forms to order the lunch items went home in last week's newsletter.  Please be sure to get your family's order to school this week.  The PTA will be catering this lunch. After lunch there will be rotations of games to enjoy with our St John's friends before the head back home.

Musical:
Rehearsals for this are well under way. I did try to update our blog last week unsuccessfully to add our costumes. Room 3 are the "going to the ball” group of performers along with Room 4. Girls will need to wear a dress or skirt and blouse, boys - trousers, shirt - perhaps a tie or bow tie to look smart.  Costumes need to be at school on Thursday in the last week of term.  Check the newsletter for the date of the dress rehearsal. Reading Homework this week is learning the words to all the songs - especially "Your Feet Are Too Big" where we have a leadership role. This week we have lots of rehearsals as we aim to have the musical to presentation standard by the end of next week. The first week next term will then just be polishing it and setting it on the Alexandra Theatre stage.

Eisteddfod Speeches:
Year 3 have a planning sheet in their homework books from Mrs Ward - when checking the homework at the end of last week, only 1 person had recorded on this. I am hoping that you all have your speech under control as you have been working on this in Room 4.
Year 2 have worked on what a speech looks like in class - a hamburger with an exciting opening, some interesting facts and an ending. Most people have told me what they are working on at home. I have helped some people get their speech together and I am happy to help.  Please email me if you are unsure or if you would like some assistance. Our speech needs to be about 1.5 minutes long, be about something we know lots about and perhaps enjoy doing. I will start to hear the speeches on Monday morning.  Remember we talk about our topic - this is not a speech to be read out slowly from a piece of paper.  We need to present our ideas orally.  I will not be using a copy of your speech to check that it is memorised. It is about an interesting presentation to our class.  Remember it is fine to bring things to show as part of your speech.
Eisteddfod Assembly: Thursday 25th September

Homework

Reading: Musical words the most important thing this week.  Texts will also come home, but most will be from browse boxes as we work on our musical item.

Spelling: Long "i" spelling patterns this week and next week. Please work on these each night - conducting, tooling, listening and recording.

Maths: I have some new games designed to practise basic facts - I am happy to send copies home for you to play with your child/ren. (I attended another Basic Facts course last Monday after school).

Another busy week as we count down to the holidays. Please be aware that there is another round of the tummy bug, so encourage your child/ren to wash their hands.

People Who Are A Sign Of God's Love In Our Parish

As part of our "church strand" learning we found out about people who work in our parish. As we give these special people in our parish our cards I will add their photos on this page.  Each child chose to write something different about how the person is a special help.  I'm sure you will agree that these people are just some of many who work hard within our parish family.

 Thank you Sister Eleanor, one of the Mercy Sisters who works in our parish.  The Mercy sisters founded our school.

Thank you Mrs Ferriera, the parish secretary.

Thank you Loretta, our teacher's aide.

Thank you Mr Soper, our school and parish caretaker.

Thank you Mrs Bennie, our school office secretary.

Thank you Mrs Eastwood, we loved when you came to prayer in Room 3 and we like how you listen to us and help us to sort out our problems.

Week 8 Term 3

What a fantastic time the year 3's had at camp last week.  Thank you so much to the parents who accompanied us and did so much to make sure that we were well  looked after and had yummy lunches - thanks for all that beautiful baking.  Year 2 had an amazing week impressing Mrs Eastwood with their learning and having an awesome day with Mrs Donaldson on Thursday - those butterflies are looking stunning.
We all proved to be excellent meat pattie makers this morning - the special hamburgers went down a treat with the fathers at their lunch today - so good that so many dads, granddads and uncles were able to attend. This afternoon we had a presentation with Bruce Potter an illustrator - he has everyone buzzing with "oodles of doodles" inspired by his Doodlebug. If you haven't paid your $2 to the school office for this show could you please do this as soon as possible.  I hope the afternoon doodles were shared with you tonight.
Athletic Skills start tomorrow (Tuesday). Please have your school sports uniform to change in to - if you have one, or bring shorts and a tee-shirt (girls).
Musical Songs: I was surprised on the bus last week that people knew so many of the songs off by heart.  All the words are now in homework books for people to sing along.
Eisteddfod Speeches: Year 2 will work on what is required in class this week and I will post the information on the blog. Year 3 are working on speech writing in Room 4 (along with Loretta), Mrs Ward is basing her teaching on camp experiences, as the children learn how to structure a speech. This means that they will have the same opportunity as Room 4 to learn what will be required for the year 3/4 marking schedule, and the writing becomes part of their camp follow up for their camp books. The speech does not have to be about camp.  I know that some people have already chosen what they will speak about. Year 3 have a sheet in their homework books to help them plan their time and preparation.

Rugby Stars - 8th August

Thanks for these fantastic photos Mrs Nicholson - our boys looked like they had a fantastic time despite the wintry weather.

Father's Day School Mass

Great to see that most of Room 3 have indicated that they will be attending mass on Sunday morning. As happens at a school mass there will be morning tea and a time for "church community" after the service. Could each family please bring something to share for morning tea and an item that will be taken to the food bank for those less fortunate than us in our community. Coming to Eucharist as a family is a very fitting conclusion to our learning in the "church strand" of Religious Education.

Junior School Father's Day

On Monday 8 September the Year 2's are joining with the Year 1's and are holding a hamburger lunch for all the dads.  (If a dad can't make it a grandad would be wonderful.)  We are going to be making hamburgers for the dads during the morning and we will be sharing lunch and playing games.  The cost is $6.00 (this includes lunch for each child and their dad.)  Could you please bring the money for lunch by this Friday.

This will start at 12.15pm until 1.15pm.

Term 3 Week 7

Wow, this term is rocketing past.  Year 3 are very excited about heading off to camp this week and the year 2's are just as excited to have Mrs Eastwood and Mrs Donaldson as their teachers while I accompany our year 3's to Dunedin.
The skipping skills on show this afternoon were amazing - everyone has made great improvement in their skills, and it was terrific to watch the encouragement for each others attempts at new routines. Thank you to those people who brought in sponsorship money today, you have until Wednesday to have this money at the office if you asked people to sponsor you.
All the students made the staff very proud when we had the Catholic Review visitors in the school last week. They enjoyed being in the classrooms as well as chatting to children informally.
Friday: Assembly at 2:10 - room 6 will lead this.
Sunday 7th: School Mass for Father's Day.  Please be there by 8:50am and bring Dads and Grandads to celebrate this special day together. School uniform please.
With skipping just over. we move to Athletic Training in preparation for our athletic sports which will be held on Thursday 23rd October. We will be learning the skills associated with each event over the next 4 weeks - 3 this term and the first week next term.  It would be great if there were some parents able to assist with this. Training will start at 2pm Tuesdays 9th, 16th, 23rd Sept, 14th Oct and Thursdays 11th, 18th, Wednesday 23rd Sept. Please let me know if you are available and what is your specialist event!
School Photos will be taken on Friday 19th September - full winter uniform please.

Mercy Day Celebration: Monday 22 September - St John's Ranfurly will be visiting us this year.  More information to follow.

This week we start on the Sacrament Strand for Religious Education

Homework

• Reading
• Spelling - please revise 25th August list.  With maths advisor planning on Friday and musical rehearsal for most of the morning  today we didn't get last week's list tested and the new list tooled. This means that we will test on Friday and do 1st Sept list next week.
• Eisteddfods - this term is a speech.  We will look at what is required next week, but everyone can think about what they would like to talk about.  Always a great idea to talk about something that really interests you.  I can see a few horse speeches coming up - there is lots to know about looking after them as well as riding techniques. These will be heard on Monday 22nd or Tuesday 23rd September.