Week 4 Term 4

What great learning about friends and being a friend we did with Pip and Harold last week. This week we are having "secret acts of kindness" where we pick out a name from the lucky dip name box before prayer and we need to do something special for that person during the day.  At the end of the day we need to guess who our special friend was for the day.  Not many people have guessed but many people are able to tell what others have done for them during the day.  Things range from helping when they were hurt to inviting people into games.
We are working on completing our "Harold" books this week as part of our reading, so these will come home next week for you to share our learning.
Father Pat visited us this morning for RE and shared things about some of the special people that he has known in his life - these people were ordinary people who did ordinary things very well - exactly what saints do.  People were surprised to hear Father talk about his mother and father and the love, family life and religious education that they gave him that he treasures so much.  We need to  remember to treasure the people who are close to us too, and appreciate our families who are our inspiring people.
Thank you for the information you shared with your children about saints from last week's homework.

Footwear: we are starting to look untidy in what we are wearing on our feet.  Please check the information about summer footwear. Rugby socks and sneakers are not a uniform item. We have softened our stance on all children needing to keep shoes on in the playground. Shoes need to be worn on the courts but bare feet are acceptable on the field (watch out for bees). Everyone must wear shoes home. If taking shoes off means that lots of people are not wearing shoes home, I imagine the rule of shoes on at all times may be reinstated.

Thank you to those people who have purchased new poetry, homework and RE books from the office. I think they are about $2 each and will be used again next year.  A few people have their homework books at home since the holidays and their spelling goes into their bags to glue in at home never to be seen again. This is a real disadvantage to their learning.  Please check that you see the homework book each night. Children should be independent with their spelling.

Good Luck Thomas Mitchell as you head off to represent St Gerards at the Central Otago Sports on Thursday.

Friday Mass 12:00 Rooms 1 & 2
Assembly Room 3: we are working on knowing the 10 loopy caterpillar poem so that we can share our paper bag puppets.

Saints Dress Up Day: Friday 21st - early notice so that you can think about who to dress up as, and what they wore.  You will need to know a little bit about your saint to share.

PTA Friday Cuppa: this Friday 9 - 10 am in the staffroom

Mr Ryan's Cricket team has their first game this Saturday at St Gerards.  He will let you know what time at the practice on Wednesday at lunch time.

This week we are working on a writing sample to be used to compare all children's writing across the school.  Year 3 from Room 4 have joined us for writing, so that this unassisted piece of work will have exactly the same "test conditions"  that way more accurate comparisons can be made. All staff have been looking at writing progressions and will meet together to discuss the children's work. Years 1 - 3 are writing from a different stimulus from years 4 - 8.

Homework:

• Reading
• Spelling "ou" sound
• Maths games