Sunday 29 March 2015

Mufti day

Dear Parent/Caregivers

Tomorrow there will be a Vanuatu fundraiser day. We will be holding a series of fun activities for a small cost. All the money we raise will go to the 'coins for bricks' trust and will help rebuild local schools in Port Vila. The activities we have are:

Mufti day-$gold coin 

Easter rock paintings $1.00

Face painting $1.00

Guess how many jelly beans in a jar$0.50

Baking for sale: $1.00 a piece

The activities are not compulsory, but we would like to have every student, wearing mufti if possible.

Thank you 
Molly and Emma 

 Special Character leaders  

Eisteddfod

Eisteddfod

This is a competition about public speaking and singing:-) every child in the school takes part in this and there are cups for year 3 up. At year 1 and 2 it is about getting ready and being part of it.
Term 1 prayer
Term 2 poem
Term 3 speech
Term 4 song
At the end of the term selected children from each class present infront of the whole school and parents.
This term it is a prayer
Year 3's need a short bible reading this can be out of the children bible. (with a short intro)
Children will present these in class on Tuesday or Wednesday. Children to present will be in newsletter on Wednesday. This is on Thursday afternoon in the church.

Any questions please ask
Thank you

Thursday 19 March 2015

Scholastic Book Club

This has come home in a new format.  Instead of several leaflets all the books on offer are in one. The exciting thing to see for me is that there are $2 books - gold coin books they are called, and the titles such as the Little Yellow Digger and Wombat Stew are great books.  Take a peek in the book bag.

Year 1 & 2 Camp

A few photos of the fish and chip tea, getting ready to make boats, the orchard and enjoying picking our own fruit and boat racing in the water race.










Wednesday 18 March 2015

Father Pat's Invitation

When Father Pat came to share a lesson with our class, the theme was about invitations and how Jesus invites us to follow him by coming to church, and remembering What Would Jesus Do? (WWJD) in our every day lives.  Father Pat brought an envelope and inside was an invitation to visit him at his new presbytery on Brandon St.


Sophie opens Father's special envelope and reads the invitation to Room 3.


Father welcomes us at his front door.


Yes, we all fit on the floor of his living room and enjoy looking at his special family photographs. Thank you Father Pat, and yes we will remember to smile and say hello when we go past.

Sunday 15 March 2015

Triathlon Update

Please note children need to be picked up from the pool at the end of the triathlon.  There is no bus back to school as I wrote on the blog.  This error has been fixed up.  Sorry for any inconvenience.
Chris

Saturday 14 March 2015

Week 8 Term 1

Thank you to everyone who helped in any way with the Year 1 and 2 camp on Friday, and thank you to Mrs Flannery the techy whizz who uploaded photos onto our blog.  Great for those of you not at camp to see the action as it is taking place.  I am yet to learn to do this from my phone - I'm sure that it is easy but is on my learning agenda at this stage. Year 3 what wonderful art you did with Miss Passmore in Room 5 based around the text "Giraffes Can't Dance".  Some people with older students will remember the NZ Playhouse presenting a dramatised version of this wonderful text.

Another busy week with Mr Hogue taking the class for Science on Monday and Tuesday from 9:15 - 11:15 while I continue with testing for the reports that are due this term. Mrs Eastwood enjoys the opportunity to share prayer with us at the start of the day.

Remember that Friday is Teachers Only Day - our focus is on upskilling our maths teaching.

Monday = School Triathlon.
I hope that everyone read the information sheet that came home in hard copy on Tuesday as well as the post on the blog. We will be catching a bus to the Aquatic Centre at 12:10.  Parents please drop bikes at the venue and arrange for them to be uplifted at the end of the event.  The approximate time of the years 1 & 2 races is 1pm with the Years 3 & 4 at 1:30pm.  Note these are approximate times only, so plan to be there a little prior in case we are ahead of schedule. The competitive races for years 5 - 8 will be the first races run.  These will be exciting - something for us to aim for as we move on through the school.
I was really impressed with how everyone managed the training for the run and bike section of this event as part of the PE programme last week.  We are well prepared and confident about how to transition without parent assistance.
Sports Uniform: to be worn with school sunhat.  Remember to bring plenty to drink and something extra to eat for after your event. At the end of the races children may go home with parents. I need to tick you off a class list before you leave please.

Homework

Reading: choose from your browse box on Monday or reread Thursday's book. There will be reading each day after that.
Maths: some Study Ladder activities are set - good to see a few people made a start on these last week. Congratulations Jacqui, what excellent results you have this week. Jacqui was the only year 3 person to use this for homework last week.  Congratulations also to Lars, Jelena, David, Casey, Archie and Maggie who completed some of the set tasks.  You champions!!
Spelling: will come home later this week.  The list will be for both weeks 8 and 9 and will be tested on Friday 27th. (This week is Teacher's Only Day)
Bible Reading Eisteddfod: Year 3 please have your reading glued into your homework book. This week you need to be thinking about how you are going to introduce your reading.  Your introduction needs to be in your homework book by Friday 27th. Year 2 you need to choose the prayer that you are going to say by heart, and have a copy of this in your book. Like Year 3 you need to think about why you chose this prayer.  What does it mean to you?  Why is it special?

Enjoy this beautiful autumn weather and have some family time together in our wonderful environment. If you have the opportunity see if you can find any yabbies in creeks or dams.  I think some of your Science learning this week may be based around this.

Gingerbread Men

As a follow up to reading our big book Library Day written by Joy Cowley, who used her friend Margaret Mahy as one of the characters, Loretta made gingerbread men with the children. The story is full of unexpected happenings as only Joy and Margaret could create, and at the end the gingerbread man came out of his book and told the class "run, run as fast as you can….".  We have written some interesting endings or perhaps you could say the next chapter of events.
Ask your child what happened with the gingerbread man in their version of events.










Yummo!!

Thank you Loretta for helping with this activity.






Tuesday 10 March 2015

Study Ladder

I have had a play with this tonight.  Unfortunately I am still to see how to set just one or two activities, so it may appear that there is a huge amount set.  Please choose just a few to do.  It is certainly not my expectation that all the activities are completed this week.

We are working on developing a secure knowledge of the concept of numbers that come before, after or between another number. One group is working to 20, another to 100 and another 3 or 4 people to 1,000.  The activities set are about place value and number knowledge.

It is pleasing to see that many people have been working steadily on Study Ladder, even doing spelling and having a look at the science section.  Make the most of this free site.

Monday 9 March 2015

School Triathlon

School Triathlon

The school triathlon has come round very quickly. Due to us being double booked at the swimming pool we have had to change our Triathlon date from what was stated in the term planner at the beginning of the year to Monday 16th March (pm). We will be starting the first race at approx. 12.40pm. Please check your child/ren’s bikes and that their helmets fit properly over the next few days.

Every child will be competing in the triathlon in the following age groups and in this order;
Yr 5-8 Competitive (Yr 5&6, Yr 7&8)
Yr 1&2
Yr 3&4
Yr 5-8 Non-Competitive

If you are able to help with course marshalling please return the form below, before Friday 13th.  It is important that we have plenty of parents around the course to ensure all children are safe at all times and of course to support the children. The more helpers we have the better.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Please be sure to come to school in your school sports uniform and track suit - Years 5 - 8, sports uniforms, green trackpants/warm clothes - Rooms 1 – 4.
School sunhats are compulsory, so be sure to have yours at school.
We will all be leaving school at 12.10pm.  Years 5 – 8 will bike their bikes to the pool with Mr Yeoman and Mrs Eastwood. Rooms 1 – 4 will travel by bus, their bikes will need to be dropped directly to the pool. Lunch will be at 11:30.
There will be an event briefing at approximately 12:30 with the first race starting at approx. 12.40pm.

There will be marshals at each of the Transitions, Mrs Beilby at the run/bike and Mrs Flannery inside the pool.  We ask that parents please stay out of the transition areas, there will be help available to your children if they need it, but Room 3 have demonstrated that they can complete these transitions with no assistance, so we’re sure that older competitors can as well.  It would be helpful though to have parents remove bikes as soon as possible from the area. Children only may access the pool through the rear doors.  This is the understanding that we have within our pool hire agreement. All parents must use the usual pool entrance. Thanks for helping us out with this – especially when it is so exciting!!

Children are to be picked up from the pool after the event at approx. 2.30-2.45 please. Bus children will be brought back to school by staff.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


I ______________________________________________ am able to help with course marshalling at the Triathlon on Monday 16th March.


Signed: ________________________________ Date: _____________________

Week 7 Term 1

Another busy week ahead of us!!

I am still catching up with everyone regarding what goes home when.  Poetry books go home on a Friday and need to be returned on a Monday morning when the new poem for the week is glued in.  Our class poem is part of the reading programme all week, so it is important that poetry books are at school.  Please sign the poem after you and your child have read it.  I hope that last week your child was able to tell you about "onomatopoeia".  We used the idea of the sound words from this poem to write some sentences about sounds at school. Come and check out our wall where some of these have been illustrated.  I was really impressed with the way so many groups used language so effectively. WALT: use onomatopoeia to hear the picture in the text i.e.: put a sound track to the visual picture we have in our minds.

Homework books: come home every night for you to record reading in the back.  These books go into the blue homework box on a Friday only.  I check each book before the Monday.  It is especially important from next week that these books are there as we glue in our spelling sheet then conduct and tool our spelling words on a Friday in preparation for the following week's learning. Last week and this week we are practising conducting and tooling on a homework sheet at school.  Each child should be able to tool and practise their spelling independently at home.

Friday = Library Day - please be sure to have your books ready to return as having a library book is part of reading for the weekend.  These go home in reading bags along with the poetry book. Books can be returned at any time to the library tray at the front of the classroom.

Scripture Reading Eisteddfods: will be heard on the Monday or Tuesday of Holy Week. I have posted the information for Year 3 separately.  Year 2 need to choose a prayer to say. They also need to say why they chose the prayer and be able to say it off by heart.  Note: Year 3's do not need to know their readings - they read from a bible and can choose to tell about the reading and read only 2 or 3 verses that they think are the most important. Please see me if you need any help with choosing.

Triathlon Training: This week Room 3 will be training for Monday's school triathlon. Please wear runners and your school sports uniform each day if you have one. Sports uniform is the school teeshirt, black shorts or green track pants.  If it is cold, the school jersey or sweatshirt is worn over the teeshirt - these are still uniform items - no pink sweatshirts!  I will check where the green track pants can be purchased from - anyone on the PTA will know. Wednesday and Thursday please bring your bike to school as we need to practise what happens in the transition between the run and the bike.  Last year everyone in Room 3 was very independent at this. Make sure that someone has checked that the handle bars are secure and the brakes work - don't forget your well fitted helmet. Bikes need to be stored in the bike racks near the sandpit, but helmets are hung on hooks in the corridor.

PTA AGM = Tuesday 10th March 7pm in the staffroom. The PTA welcome everyone to this meeting. It is a great time to hear what your PTA has done over the year to support your child's learning - and it is heaps!!  Information about a new structure for this group was in a recent newsletter.

Newsletter Information Forms: Last week everyone received a hard copy of the school newsletter as there were several important forms attached.  Hard copy was easier so that no-one needed to find a printer.  Please ensure that you received this and have returned the necessary forms to the school office. Thanks.

Year 2 School camp is on Thursday night. Mrs Flannery has rung the parents who indicated that they are available to attend. Please pay your $30 per child and $15 per adult to the school office as soon as possible. I will not be sleeping over on the Thursday night as I need to be at home with Alan, but will be there in time for breakfast. Year 3 will be buddied up with Room 5 to have an exciting Fantastic Friday. Library will be on the plan, so have those books back for Miss Passmore to return.

Year 2 Boat Making: As part of camp there is a technology challenge - building a boat that will float and race in the water race at the Forrest's orchard.  Now is the time to be collecting some bits and pieces and thinking about what you might use that would float. Boats are not to be built at home for this activity. 

Homework 

  • Reading: Yes there has been reading every day, even when I was away. At times children may be bringing a well loved book from their browse box that you have seen before.
  • RE: check the front of the homework book, as there was a home RE activity last week for you to talk about.
  • Choosing a prayer or reading for the Scripture Eisteddfod
  • Triathlon training - take a run, bike ride or a swim - get yourself ready for Monday.
Have a great week.  Hard to believe how fast this term has gone.

Eisteddfod Bible Readings - Year 3 and Above

Scripture Reading Challenge 2015


  • Your scripture reading can be anything you like, eg. a parable, a psalm, a reading from the Gospels.

  • Introductory speech – Years 3/4: 15-20 seconds, Y5/6: 30–45 seconds, Y7/8: 1 minute (times are approximate). This is a time to use the main ideas or theme of their scripture reading to make up a small speech explaining what the reading means to them, without retelling the reading – ie. ‘What the story of the Last Supper tells/demonstrates/means to me is ...... ‘

  • Format for scripture reading on the day – students will start in the middle of the church in front of the altar using a microphone with their introductory speech, then they move to the lectern and say “This is a reading from eg. Matthew Chapter3, Verses 1 -14 ...” then start the reading. At the end, if it is a gospel reading only say, “The Gospel of the Lord”
  • Timetable – Monday 30th or Tuesday 31st March, Rooms 3 & 4 class Eisteddfods will be heard. Year 3 will say their eisteddfods in Room 4 and Mrs Ward will assess them.  All of Room 3 will go into Room 4 to support their classmates.
-       Whole school eisteddfod assembly will be on Thursday 2nd April at 2pm, in the church – one girl & one boy from Years 3 & 4, names will be in the school newsletter.

  • For students to remember
-       When reading from the lectern you do not have to look up at your audience all the time – don’t always look at one particular group.
-       Use good expression when you read.
-       Do not read too fast.
-       Pause correctly.
-       You do not have to learn you reading off by heart but you must learn your introduction.

-       Make sure your words and voice are very clear, so that your audience understands.