Tuesday 16 December 2014

Shared Lunch & Final Notes

A reminder that there will be a shared lunch to farewell Thomas tomorrow, starting at 12:30.  A picnic under the trees will probably be the venue.

Thank you to those people who collected their children's art work after the Prize Giving today, and Jayne who did the climbing to get those high pictures down.  Some people have already collected their books and art, everyone else's will come home tomorrow.

Library Books:
Please have another check:

  •  Joshua: "Down By the Cool of the Pool
  • Charlie: "The Time Machine"
  • Olivia: "Learning About Beading, Toy Theatre, Gymnastics"
  • Jacqui: "Poppy's Secret Christmas, Cool Circuits and Wicked Wires, Neptune's Nursery"
  • Ana: "Olivia the Orchard Fairy, Danny the Champion of the World, Danielle the Daisy Fairy"
  • Rhianna: "Love to Draw Baby Animals"
  • Dani: " The Pharaohs of .., The Great Bible Discovery"
  • Nicolas: "Beauty and the Beast: the graphic novel"
  • Sully: "The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion,the Witch and the Wardrobe, Thirteen"
  • Thomas P: "Northern Lights, Sands of the Scorpion"
  • Caity: "Adventure Stories"
  • Bobbie: "The 39 Steps, Diplo-dizzydocus"
  • Annajhay: "Scout"
Putting the titles here may prompt some memories as to where they have been seen. Some of these books have been missing for a while, but others have been taken out in the last 2 or 3 weeks.  If they could come back asap, that would be much appreciated. 

Congratulations Room 3

So proud of how you all led the junior kapahaka, sang the Room 3 & 4 songs beautifully and took your best manners to the prize giving this afternoon even though it was hot and quite long.


Congratulations, Ella on your award as the most improved swimmer.  Of the new academic awards this year, the Year 2 diligence award was won by Grace and the Years 1 - 3 Literacy Award was won by Sophia.  These new awards were in response to parents feeling that there is a need to recognise excellence not only in sporting endeavours.  Needless to say these were hard decisions to be made by staff.

Monday 15 December 2014

Week 10 Term 4

Congratulations Room 3 on your leadership of Friday's mass. So very proud of you and so pleased that so many of your parents were able to join us in this celebration.

Dates for this week:

Wednesday: 

  • Picnic Lunch 12:15 - Room 1 & 2 hamburgers - a huge number of orders in.  I hope that you have done this already
  • Prize Giving 1:15 - in the church - it was agreed that it was just too hot last year & as we are a sun smart school we can't be out sitting in the sun.
  • Graduation Mass 6pm - mass followed by Year 8 presentations, new entrant bibles, Sisters of Mercy prizes.  Please come in full summer uniform and sit behind Room 2 on the Killarney St side of the church.  We have a special song to sing to the Year 8's.
Thursday:
  • Shared lunch for Thomas Mitchell - we will eat at 12:30.  We will also thank Loretta for all her help in Room 3 at this time.
  • School finishes at 2:55 pm

Library Books: 
Thank you to everyone who has looked hard and located books that have been on holiday under beds or in home book shelves.  There are still quite a few outstanding.  I will try again to print these out so that those with outstanding books have a title to take home. 

Classes for 2015 are posted in the office area.
I will send all books home with students. All the year 2 students have a writing book that we did not use this year as the school process for writing has changed from what Mrs Williams did last year.  This book can be used again next year.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the support you have given your children with their learning and myself  as their teacher this year.  Everyone should be very proud of the progress they have made both academically and with their self management as a learner.

Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday with family and friends.  We all look forward to hearing about the new family arrivals over this time.

Chris

Saturday 13 December 2014

Hamburgers

Rooms 1 & 2 are selling hamburgers, pink lemonade and ice creams on Wednesday at the picnic lunch.  Order forms went home at the end of last week - one to each family, and need to be in to the office by Tuesday morning at the latest.
This is a fundraiser for sandpit toys, so please support it. A perfect idea when everyone is so busy - makes the picnic lunch an easy option.

Maths Problem Solving

Tangram Christmas Trees with a buddy.
WALTs:
  • ·      Use the 7 tangram shapes to make different Christmas trees.
  • ·      Keep trying until we can make each shape
  • ·      Help each other

Got the top bit, now how can we do the bottom bit and use all the pieces left over?




Two heads are better than one.


Team work


Thank You For The Wonderful Art Work This Year Mrs Donaldson

Our colourful butterflies which have brightened the classroom since the end of last term.







Despite it being the second last week, Frosty the snow man art work is up in the corridor.  This amazing art was made with shaving cream and PVA - it feels wonderfully soft like marshmallow as well as giving the corridor that "freshly shaved smell" - much better than smelly shoes and socks.





Wednesday 10 December 2014

Week 9 Term 4

Flat out like a lizard drinking!!  Can't believe where this term has gone.

In brief:

Eisteddfods: many people had put so much effort in to these - well done.  A few people need to work on getting ready and think about their song from the beginning of the term - a form of "advent" really. In term 4 singing eisteddfods are coming - time to get ready.
Eisteddfod Assembly 1:30 in the hall on Thursday: Representing Year 2 are: Grace, Keira and Caity, who will do a duet with Lars - both had the same song and both chosen.  What is the probability of that?  Representing Year 3 from our room is Harry.
Friday 12th Mass: yes it's our turn at 12:00.  There are so many people wanting to lead - most have a special job and the rest of us are going to lead with our fabulous voices. We would love for you to join us at the last school Friday mass.  I am very proud of how everyone has stepped up and feels comfortable to take part.
Library Books: by Friday please, then I'll get a print off of what we still have lurking in the classroom or at home.
As I didn't manage to collect enough bottles for our junior school rotation Christmas activities, I will try to do this just with the class if there is a chance. This activity uses recycled stuff - as Ben Whitaker's song goes "old stuff, new stuff". Old Christmas cards, wrapping paper - doesn't matter if it is ripped.
Musical Instruments: any still in Room 3 by Friday will be put in the skip.  The selection is slowly dwindling.
Art work: will come off the walls next week. If there is some that you want to make sure gets home safely, please pop in and we can arrange that.  Mrs Donaldson has certainly excelled herself during CRT time this year.  I really appreciate it.  There are treasures to be saved.
Camp $10: could everyone please make sure that this is settled by the end of the week to help Mrs Bennie.  If you did not receive an invoice, you are paid up.
Shared lunch for Thomas: the calendar is so full, and this has crept up on me, so it will have to be Thursday 18th - we'll eat at 12:30, so that we have plenty of time to play.

Friday 5 December 2014

Camp Photos


Half time at the movies - popcorn with our friends





Good night everyone - sleep tight.





Wednesday 3 December 2014

Plates From Wharenui Visit

We brought all the plates back from Dunstan High School and these are on the bench in the staffroom.  There are some beautiful plates which I'm sure people will need over the holidays.  Please check and collect yours.
I hope that they are only the plates from our parents, as the Dunstan High School girls were not sure about some of them, after they had taken theirs.

Maths - using doubles

WALT: use doubles to work out word problems greater than 10.

Which double would you use? Tell your buddy.

1.            There were 8 lollipops in a jar and James put in another 7.  How many lollipops are in the jar now?


2.           If there were 6 horses in a field and 5 more joined them.  How many horses are there in the field now?


3.           If there were 9 soccer balls in the bag and Sully put another 8 in.  How many soccer balls are there altogether? 

1+1=2      2+2=4     3+3=6    4+4=8    5+5=10

6+6=12    7+7=14   8+8=16   9+9=18   10+10=20


Do you know all these doubles?  Learn them so you can use them to solve problems.

Week 8 Term 4

What a great time we had at camp last week and the weather held beautifully for us.  Thank you so much to everyone for your help - "many hands makes light work" was certainly the case over the last 2 days of week 7. There are a couple of photos on the room 1 & 2 blog.
Eisteddfod Song: most people have thought about what they will sing for the eisteddfod next week.  It's perfect to sing something that we have done as a class - I think there will be quite a few Maori songs - everyone seems to have really enjoyed these.  Yesterday they sang them to Father Vaughan Hook who was visiting the school while Father Pat was away fishing.  He brought his guitar along and we all enjoyed a great sing-song with him.  Father Vaughan couldn't believe the confidence and musicality in Room 3.  Eisteddfods will be marked on singing in tune, choosing a song that suits the child's voice, people being able to hear the words clearly and the song being suitable for the age group.  A nursery rhyme is fine. If  anything is known about the person who wrote the song, it would be interesting to introduce the song - this is not a requirement for the year 2 song. I will post what the year 3 & 4 requirement is in regards to this.
Musical Instruments: there are still some amazing inventions in Room 3, please arrange to collect these before the end of next week. Any that are still in the classroom after this time, I will presume are not to be taken home.
Popcorn Maker: I still have one popcorn maker & have asked as many people as possible if it is theirs.  I should have written down who I borrowed them from.  Sorry.
Library Books: it is time again to check under the bed or in your bookshelves for any school library books. We will be going to the library on Friday to change books - this will be the last time for the year, as I then need to get all books back for the stocktake.
Assembly: 2:10 on Friday - Room 4 will be leading this and they have lots of camp stuff to share.  Seems so long ago this camp, but this is the first opportunity they have had to share.  Thank you to the Year 3 parents who provided photos for Mrs Ward's i-movie.
Advent: is the RE theme.  We have been talking about Advent meaning "coming" and that we are waiting for Jesus coming at Christmas. We are colouring advent wreaths with 3 purple, 1 rose and 1 white candle, and have talked about what each of the candles means. We are displaying these in our window for everyone to enjoy as a reminder of what this season is about.
Plastic Lemonade Bottles: I would like to collect as many of these as I can - the green sprite ones are excellent.  We will use these as part of our Christmas crafts to make Christmas baskets and a toy - no waste at all. All you'll need to get is a ball.
Old Christmas paper or cards (recycled) would also be appreciated.  Having checked my "stuff" in my cupboard I see that I was more ruthless than I thought when throwing "could be useful" stuff out before I shifted classrooms.  You can usually find most things in Mrs Beilby's storeroom!!
Year 2 Camp Payments $10: Mrs Bennie would like to tidy up lots of ledgers this week - she would be grateful if all this money could be in to the office. If anyone has a problem please speak with me.
Friday 12th December 12:00: Room 3 will be leading mass, we would love you to join us.
Year 3 & 4 Cricket: practice on Thursday this week and the Saturday game is at St Gerards.
PTA Christmas Hamper: our Room 3 box of packet items is looking good - thank you everyone for supporting this. Could all cards please be back to the office by Friday, even if you have not sold all the numbers. At this time of year PTA members are busy like everyone else and having to ring round to get cards back can be just one more job. Thank you for attending to this.

Homework

  1. Spelling: a mixture of words this week revising spelling patterns.
  2. Reading: please record what you are reading in your reading log.  Many people this week are working on presenting reviews about a book on an i-pad app, so they do not have a new book each night. I do expect that they are reading a book of their choice.
  3. Maths: we are working on knowing our doubles to 10, doubles to 20 and using this knowledge to solve word problems.  Eg: If there were 9 dogs in the kennels and a farmer brought 8 more to be looked after, how many dogs would there be at the kennels altogether?   Which doubles fact would you use to solve this. There are 2 options: 9+9=18 then take away 1, or 8+8=16 then add 1.