Week 4 Term 4

Thank you all for your patience as I 'get back on the horse' so to speak. There has just been so much happening with last week being the athletic sports as well as Labour Day, and this week we have been working hard on our items to perform at the Thyme Festival.
Monday saw us having school Kapahaka, and in term 4 year 2 children who are keen to join kapahaka at the beginning of the following year are offered the opportunity to observe/take part in Kapahaka so that they can decide whether it is for them. This week we practised the action song for the Thyme Festival which fortunately for them was one that we have learned as a class and so we will have an extra row of some Year 2's in our main Kapahaka group.  It would have been great to have included all of them, however some are still working on being at performance standard for the Year 3-8 group.  Their turn will come.
Junior Kapahaka, which is our Te Reo learning for this term began on Monday with Hayvin stepping up as the group leader and Alia as the 'singing starter'. The new song is a poi and we will be making our own pois this term to use when we perform at the Sports Awards on 16th December.  I am also excited that Kevin O'Neill has agreed to share his Kapahaka skills with us as he can.
All Soul's Day Liturgy at the cemetery was very special with beautiful weather. Thank you Tracey (Mason's mum) for bringing in such beautiful flowers. The children made heart prayer cards to place on the altar as part of the liturgy. Great to see some parents and grandparents join us for this celebration.
Thyme Festival Performance is at 12:00 on Wednesday on the grass between St Enoch's and Community House. We will be leaving school at 11:40 and would appreciate having some parents to walk with us. Children will need warm jackets as well as sun hats as it is hard to know what this changeable weather will bring. After the performance I have organised with Anna Robinson for our class and Room 4 to have a look at the activities and displays associated with the festival.
Getwise Financial Literacy will be taught on Thursday morning by a visiting instructor. This is a new initiative, so it will be interesting all round to see what the children take from this session.
Father Pat visited our room today to talk about saints, which is our current Religious Education theme, and shared information with us about Mother Suzanne Aubert who came to New Zealand from France and worked initially with the Sisters of Mercy before setting up her own religious order the Sisters of Compassion.  You may want to research further about this special person at home.
Library Books/Library Day is every Friday.  Taking home a new book each week is part of the reading programme so it is important to bring back those books that are at home.  Now is a good time to check under the beds or in book shelves at home for books that have slipped under the radar.
Mass 12:00 this Friday led by Room 6.
Assembly 2:15 led by Room 1

Homework

1. Reading: every night - please complete your log - we are back into the reading programme despite a few interruptions.
2. Spelling: lists are in homework books - very exciting to see so many people score full marks last week.  Remember that these words are to practise the skills of Spelling Alive - not just to learn them off by heart.
3. Maths: check out Study Ladder - great that we have new computers in our room so people can keep practising their maths skills too.
4. Religious Education - learn the words for Thank You, God - the song Years 1-3 are performing at the Thyme Festival