Lunch On Swimming Days

I have encouraged everyone to eat plenty at playtime on swimming days, but this has meant that some people are starving again after their lesson and have eaten their sandwiches for morning tea.  Please pack a little extra on these days - only 2 left now.

Week 5 Term 2

Almost half way through the term already. Thank you to all those who attended the school mass. Mason represented our class as a reader and we all shared our voices in the various songs.

It was great to see those of you who were able to join us at our assembly last week. We had the whole school singing our "Fruits of the Spirit" song with enthusiasm, and we read our poem with great expression.

Poetry Eisteddfod: will be heard Monday 4th July with the eisteddfod assembly on Thursday 7th at 1:30.  Choose something that you can learn off by heart and really present with gusto.  We have been working on this each week with our weekly poem. It's fine to use a class poem as most people will be well on the way to knowing them. A short introduction about why you chose the poem and perhaps some information about the poet starts this eisteddfod.
Swimming: Tuesday and Thursday this week, then Tuesday only next week.  Remember your togs after the holiday weekend.
Year 3 & 4 Camp dates have been confirmed.  Wednesday September 7th till Friday September 9th in Dunedin and Otakau (the marae on the peninsula). We are getting the 'ducks in order' before  sending further information home.

We are starting to get those winter ills and chills.  Please remind your children that they must wear their shoes outside (and in the classroom), and have something warm to put on at playtime and lunchtime, fresh air - a great way to stop the spread of these germs.  This year we have our hanging onions from the school garden to try to keep the classroom environment as healthy as possible.  Thank you Sue and Regina.

Homework books: Sorry these did not come home today (Monday).  I did not manage to check the spelling tooling as I was on duty at lunchtime.  I can usually do this over the weekend, as we tool on a Friday, however we were preparing our assembly last Friday.

Homework

1. Reading
2. Spelling: the focus for the next 2 weeks is the long 'e' vowel sound.  The spelling patterns are identified in the 'to learn' column of the spelling sheet.  I am really excited at how well we are managing to conduct and tool the lists - right up to the 2 people working on Level 5.  Just amazing what we can do when we focus carefully on the task.  At Year 3 we need to be working on Level 3 at the end of the year.
3. Religious Education: Family activity to share a Fruit of the Spirit at home.  It was fantastic today to hear about all the Fruits that had been shared throughout the day in Room 3 - keep this up.
4. Poetry Eisteddfod
5. Swimming: WALT self manage and have our togs, towel and goggles in our bags.  Please no lunch ordered or pie warmers - quite tricky finding these before we get on the bus.  Thanks for your help with this - only 3 more days.
6. Maths: check what Mrs Waldron has on Study Ladder

Have a great week.

Enjoy putting our Religious Education teaching into action.

Morning Programme - 27th May 2016

Well Done Group 3, minus one!  Another awesome MP today with lots of learning for us all.

Lucky Number 1 today was, Archie:

Archie talked about 3 current events, one from the sports news, the weather and the entertainment news. He told us about our very own Steven Adams who is a famous NZ basketballer currently playing in the American NBA. He told us how our weather so far this year, has been the warmest since records began way back in 1909.  He finished up by telling us about and showing us a photo of a band member who broke their leg at a rock bar in Auckland by jumping up and landing the wrong way.  It looked like he had 2 knees!  Ouchie!!! 

Number 2 today was, Lily:

Lily talked to us about our place.  She chose Lake Taupo or Taupo-nui-a-Tia.  Lily gave us lots of interesting facts about New Zealand's largest lake, like it is so deep (186m) that our hill with the clock on it, would fit inside! She told us how Lake Taupo was formed by a volcano erupting.  There  are 3 live volcanos near by. Because this is a volcanic area lots of pumice can be found.  Lily told us that pumice is rock that got caught up in a volcano and got so hot it became full of holes.  The air can get in the holes which is why pumice can float.

Number 3 today was, Lars:

Lars gave us a very informative talk about himself and his family.  Who knew it... but Lars has a great collection of stuffed toys, one which came from Tokyo in Japan and another from Canada.  He also likes to collect different sorts of polished pebbles and is keen on Karate, books and LEGO.

Lucky last today was David:

David talked to us about a very famous person from India, Mahatma Gandhi.  Gandi who was known as the "Father of the Nation" and is famous for his role in helping India 'fight' in a non-violent way for independence from the British rule.  India got independence in 1947, not long before Gandhi was assassinated (shot)at age 78, in January 1948.

Hockey - Mini sticks - green team

Alyssa's and Bernie's team are playing at 4pm Friday at Omakau.  Could you please be there by 3:40pm.  That would be awesome.

Bernie

2016 Firefighter Sky Tower Stair Challenge

The 2016 Firefighter Sky Tower Stair Challenge which is taking place on Saturday 28 May is a fundraiser for Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand (LBC). Each year firefighters from around New Zealand, Australia and the USA gain sponsorship and compete in this amazing event at Auckland's Sky Tower.

Some of the firefighters who are going from the Alexandra Brigade came to talk to us today about the event, the gear and apparatus they wear while climbing 1103 stairs and the importance of raising money for Leukaemia and Blood Cancer NZ.  

All the very best for Saturday to them all.

Week 4 Term 2

We are beginning to use our weekly poem to practise presenting a poem in preparation for our poetry eisteddfod which will be heard on Monday 4th July.  It seems a long way off but the way this term is flying it will be on us in no time at all. Jill Eggleton is a favourite writer of children's texts for me and I have a range of her poems that we will use this term as our poetry component of the reading programme. Please, there are some poetry books at home after the weekend. With weeks of lots of interruptions it is really hard to play catch up when poems are not in books on a Monday morning. Great though that they had been out of reading folders at the weekend!!
I have had the same problem with reading books, so will need to keep journals at school until we have finished, as it is difficult when we get down to 1 between 3 as the other texts are at home. Please have a good look for those missing books.  It is really important now as we have more children coming through and more people in reading groups. Lots of new texts were purchased last year, let's make sure that they get well used, but also get returned to school.

Swimming: Tuesday & Thursday - togs or a note please. A good idea to bring a warm jacket to put on after the lessons as we are suddenly into winter.

It is our turn to lead Assembly this week - 2:10 on Friday in the hall. I'm hoping that we will have a play to present - if we can find enough journals that went home & also Mrs Flannery will show the work that was done on book creator.

Sunday 29th May = School Mass.  Please be seated by 8:50. This is a special time to join with our parish family as we celebrate the Eucharist.

Homework:

1. Reading - great to see some people reading really exciting books
2. Spelling - long 'a' patterns
3. Morning Programme preparation
4. Poetry Eisteddfod - start looking for that special poem.  At this level it is expected that it will be memorised and performed, rather than read.  Any troubles finding one please see me over the next couple of weeks.  Poems from our weekly reading are fine and shouldn't take too long to polish.
5. P.E. - swimming, pack your togs, goggles and towels Tuesday & Thursday. Super to see how quickly everyone is developing new skills and the confidence to swim in the main pool - 6 in the group there whose strokes are really improving.

Have a great week - we are practising using the 'fruits of the spirit' as we work and play together.

Cinquain Poems

Well this week was just too difficult to choose just one "Writer of the Week" so we have 22 (one to come)!  The children have been learning the format and experimenting with writing Cinquain poems.  The format is:

Noun

Adjective, adjective

-ing word, -ing word, -ing word

A phrase

Synonym for the noun

The children selected their personal favourite to publish on here.  Enjoy!

Bike

GT, Giant

Skidding, jumping, racing

Racing is amazing

Fast.

By Otis

Playground

Fun, play

Sliding, flying, laughing

Children scattering

Amazing.

By Sophie

Autumn

Crunchy, colourful

Whirling, twirling, swirling

Flying all around in the

Fall.

By Lily M

Park

Nosey people

Playing, trying, sliding

People are playing great

Playground.

By Adam

BMX

Fast, cool

Jumping, pedalling, racing

Fast BMX

Bike.

By Jack S

Animals

Fun, playful

Barking, howling, roaring

Animals are cute

Pets.

By Archie

Ships

Splish, splash

Honking, tooting, splashing

Ships let out steam

Boats.

By David

Grandparents

Adventurous, confident

Helping, caring, knowing

Nana’s and Pop’s are helpful

Parents.

By Casey

Alia

Fun, silly, flexible

Swimming, baking, farming

Alia is awesome

Forever

By Alia

Art

Hard, joyful

Scratching, creating, thinking

Challenging yourself

Draw.

By Jelena

Dogs

Fluffy, big and small

Wagging, barking, jumping

I like dogs

Puppies.

By Dusty

Shearing

Sheep, Llama

Jumping, barging, shaving

It is hard work

Shearing.

By Hayvin

  

Monster

Red, green, dotted, speckled

Smashing, crashing, falling

Don’t make these guys angry

Alien.

By Mason

Horses

Gallop, canter

Bucking, rearing, trotting

Black ones, white ones, all colours

Herds.

By Amelia K

Hairy Maclary

Donaldson’s Dairy

Yipping, scattering, winning

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Diary

Dog.

By Lars

Kittens

Fluffy, adorable

Cuddly, combing, caring

Kittens love…

Scratching

By Lily A

Puppy

Cute puppy

Eating, jumping, twirling

Fluffy puppy

Adorable

By Charlotte K

Cats

Small, big

Running, climbing, eating

Cats are cool

Fluffy.

By Charlotte O

  

Dogs

Furry, little and big

Barking, wagging, jumping

Dog.

By Payton

Winter

Cold, frozen

Freezing, icing, ice-skating

Winter is cold

Freeze.

By Jack O

Dog

Fun, silly

Playing, hugging, loving, caring

Dogs are cool.

Dog

By Greer

Planes

Screech, zoom

Flying, buying, downing

Higher, higher, you can hardly see it

Private plane.

By Quinn

Library Visit

Sorry no photo - I forgot my camera/phone, amongst other things today!!!

But all that aside what a fantastic first session at the Public Library.  The children all really enjoyed it and loved having such a variety to choose from.  And thank goodness, the weather was on our side for our walk down and back as well!

I have taken photocopies of all the new cards and the children will have brought the actual cards home today, so they can remain at home for personal use and we will use the photocopy versions each time we head down.  There are still 4 children whose cards are currently being processed as the library had to make contact with parents first, these should be all set for our next visit in a fortnight.

Lastly, a huge "thank you" to the fabulous trio of parents (Helen, Ellen and Fraser) who walked with us and helped us on our maiden mission today, you guys were brilliant.

Swimming

Great lessons again today.  It was disappointing though that 3 people did not have their togs.  The coach told me that when children don't swim they lose part of their funding - so please a note if your child is not well enough to swim, and everyone else remember those togs - it is part of the self management for homework.

Netball Tournament 14th May

Sorry I couldn't be there earlier in the day to catch the whole team.  Thank you so much to our two coaches Jayne and Sara who looked after the girls so well.  Thanks for the wee shelter too, Mr Frew.

A couple of photos of the last few players - rather blurry as it was hard to keep the raindrops off the lens. I watched great team work and skills - congratulations to all of you.

Morning Programme Part 2 - 17th May

Firsty, thanks to Greer and Payton's Mum and Dad for pointing out I had cut and pasted the wrong info for Morning Programme on the 24th of June.  Here is the correct version:

Date	24th June
Topic	Group 1
Our Place	Greer
Current Events	Casey
Famous Person	Otis
About Me	Adam
Book Review	Lily A
How to…	Charlotte K

Okey dokey and now onto Part 2:

Here's the second 1/2 of Group 2

Lucky number 1 today was Payton.

Payton told us about a place called Kakanui where she loves to go and stay at her grandparents holiday home.  It is on the East Coast which means it is by the sea.  Payton showed us a special round rock  from All Day Bay which is smooth and has lots of little rocks and bits in it - it is a conglomerate.

All Day Bay

Second up today was Quinn.

Quinn spoke about a famous person in our area who is very special to him and his family - his grandad,  Brian (Snow) Quinn.  He was a champion shearer who won the World Cup in Shearing 36 years ago.  He got to travel to many countries and show them how to shear a sheep.  He was so good he even got a special medal from the Queen called a M.B.E.

And our third speaker today was Jack.

Jack gave us a book review of a non-fiction text called "Creepy Crawlies."  Jack likes learning about creepy crawlies especially spiders and scorpions.  He told us that the biggest Red Kneed Tarantulas can be 30cm across or as big as a dinner plate!  Eeek!!!

Great work Group 2 people, you all did an awesome job and in less time than usual too.