Exodus Walk

Thank you Mrs Ward and Mr Hogue for organising this learning opportunity.  We all loved the mana (ice blocks) which came down for us to help us on our journey - despite not needing a freezer to keep them cold.

Moses is sharing the 10 commandments with us.

Thank you to the parents who accompanied us on our journey to the promised land.

We were also lucky enough to meet a very successful ex-pupil Matt van den Yssel, who was putting the finishing touches to the set for Grease.  We have a had a sneak peek in the theatre, where Matt talked to us about what he has done since leaving St Gerards.  Matt is the director for the Alexandra Musical Societies show this year.

Week 9 Term 2

Important Dates coming up:

·       Ice-skating dates: Tuesday 27^th June, Thursday 29^th June, Tuesday 4^th July.

·       Sacrament of Penance (Reconciliation): Tuesday 27^th June at 6 pm in the Church - Year 4 Whanau Hui: Wednesday 28th at 5:30. Have you let Mr Yeoman or myself know that you and your whanau are attending? We need to order sausages.

·       Room 3 & 4 Exodus Walk: This Friday from noon (see note below).

·       Poetry Eisteddfods – In class Monday and Tuesday of Week 10.

·       St. John’s in Schools Programme: Monday 3 July 11:45 - 12:45

·       Eisteddfod Assembly: Thursday 6^th July – 1.30 pm in the hall.

·       Friday 7^th July: Cultural Assembly – 1.30 pm in the hall.

·       Friday 7^th July: Mufti Day.

Mr Hogue will be teaching Science in Room 3 on Wednesday afternoon, so no Discovery for us this week.

Poetry Eisteddfods:

A few people had their poems glued into their homework books. Wonderful to see some people writing their own poems to present - well done.  Poetry eisteddfods will be held in class next week on Monday 3^rd July and Tuesday 4^th July, with the Eisteddfod Assembly on Thursday 6^th July at 1.30 pm in the hall. Names of those representing Years 3 & 4 will be on the blog Tuesday next week and also in the newsletter, along with the order of the presentations.

Living In Harmony: Our 'Y' chart that we worked on earlier in the term is in homework books this week. Take time to talk with your child about what this means for us as we 'belong' to our class and to the St Gerard's wider family. Please add any other ideas that you may talk about. We are working very hard to support each other with good decision making in our relationships, and some excellent positive peer pressure is beginning to shine through.  Keep this up Room 3.

Room 3 & 4 Exodus Walk to the Promised Land:

This week we are planning to go on an Exodus Walk. We will follow Moses and Aaron out of Egypt and through the wilderness in search of the Promised Land that God promised to his people.

When: This Friday, 30^th June, leaving school at 12 noon, returning approximately 2.40 pm.

What to bring:

*Clothing to change into - similar to Moses’ times, for example an old  sheet to wrap around, some string or a scarf to tie it, and a tea-towel for their heads.

* A regular lunch-box, which we will carry in school bags, and eat once we have finally made it to the Promised Land.

Are there any Room 3 and 4 parents who could accompany us for this please?

We need parent support to enable us to learn in this outdoor environment. Please email me by Thursday so that we know we have enough support to go ahead with this learning opportunity.

Have a great week.

Matariki Discovery Art

Such a busy afternoon - sitting writing this on a glittery table. Own choice art inside followed by choosing and thank you so much to Rachael and Regina who came and worked with painted rocks outside.  I was heading there all afternoon to get some photos but it was fairly busy indoors. Hence I only got 3 photos.  Hope that you have a special place for these bright pieces of art work dripping with glitter.

Wig Wednesday for Child Cancer

Remember wigs and a gold coin donation.

OOPS! I forgot this on the blog.

Week 8 Term 2

A shame about the ice skating on Tuesday - remember your gear this Tuesday - hopefully we'll get started.

I am at a meeting in Dunedin on Monday, so Ms Bennett will be teaching all morning, then Year 4 will be in Room 4 for the afternoon with the rest of the class divided over rooms 1, 2 & 7.

This week our theme will be Matariki, and we will be looking at the stories behind constellations.

The final assembly of the term will be our school Cultural Assembly on the Friday afternoon.  When we investigated our families in term 1 many of us found that we belonged to different cultures.  If there is anyone who wants to share something about their heritage, please let me know this week so that I can pass this on to the cultural leaders for inclusion in the assembly which will be our celebration of our diversity.

Homework

1. Reading - great to see so many people well over 50 nights reading now.  Keep this up.
2. Spelling - more work on the "long o' spelling patterns.
3. Poetry Eisteddfod - please make sure that you have a copy of the poem you are going to present glued into your homework book.  If you are going to say one of the class poems, see me for a copy so that you have it at home to learn each night.
4. Morning Programme - a reminder that you have a planner for this in your homework book.  A couple of people forgot last week - this is your job to self manage.

We need a bit of snow! Not that much up there when I flew over this afternoon.

Nutella Snack Packs

Just a little reminder that we are nut free. I saw these cute packs at the weekend with snack sticks to dip into Nutella. Nutella is made from nuts, so please keep this treat food for home. Just in case anyone was going to pop one into a lunch box.  Thanks for your attention to this.

Skating Information 2017

Skating Timetable 2017

St Gerards skating starts on Tuesday 13^th June.  Find the timetable attached below.

As in past years Room 6 will meet Mr Yeoman at the rink at 8:55am, other classes will be transported to and from the rink.

The cost for skating this year has been held at the same rates for schools as 2016:

• Entry & Skate hire $6 ($3 entry, $3 equipment hire skates and/or stones/sticks)
• Activity $2

Those with full rink concession tickets are not required to pay the entry portion of the programme as long as the class teacher has sighted this ticket. The teacher then records the names on the daily payment sheet. Thanks for your co-operation with this requirement.

Individual class costs are:

• Rooms 1, 2, 7, 3 & 4 (year 4’s): 5 sessions plus bus to and from the rink $45
• Room 6: 5 sessions $40. There is also a Curling Tournament planned for Friday 7th July.

Tuesday 13 June:

• 9am – 10 Rm 6 Hockey or Curling
• 10am -11 Rm 3 & 4 Skating  (bus leaves school at 9:40am and at returns 11:10)
• 11am -12 Rm 1, 2 & 7 Skating  (bus leaves school at 10:40am and returns at 12:10)

Tuesday 20 June:

• 9am – 10 Rm 6 Hockey or Curling
• 10am -11 Rm 3 & 4 Skating
• 11am -12 Rm 1, 2 & 7 Skating

Tuesday 27^th June:                                                                          

• 9am – 10 Rm 6 Curling or Hockey
• 10 am-11 Rm3 & 4 Skating
• 11 am-12 Rm 1, 2 & 7 Skating

Thursday 29^th June:

• 9am – 10 Rm 6 Curling or Hockey
• 10 am -11 Rm3 & 4 Skating
• 11 am-12 Rm 1, 2 & 7 Skating

Tuesday 4th July:                                                                                            Friday 7^th July:

• 9am – 10 Rm 6 Curling or Hockey                                                    Primary Schools
• 10 am-11 Rm 3 & 4 Skating                                                              Year 7 & 8 Curling
• 11 am-12 Rm 1, 2 & 3 Skating                                                           Tournament

Health and Safety regulations: from Ice-In-Line

1. All children are to wear appropriate warm clothing such as track pants, hats, jackets and gloves – no skirts or shorts.
2. The wearing of cycle helmets (or similar) is compulsory for school groups.
3. If taking part in curling activities, rubber soled shoes are essential on the ice rather than plastic or leather soled.
4. Running is not permitted on the ice surface or the rink surrounds.
5. Bring your own drink bottle filled with water – spillage from people trying to fill drink bottles is a hazard to others as spilt water turns to ice making the walking surface slippery.

Suggestion: that children NOT wear 2 pairs of socks or really thick socks as this can affect the size skate that they require.

Week 7 Term 2

Warmer weekend weather to enjoy some outside time.
Congratulations to all of Room 3 for a wonderful job leading the Wednesday mass.  What an awesome team we were. It was so rewarding to see people step up as readers and  kapahaka leaders. Well done everyone - very proud of you all.
Thank you PTA for a great disco on Friday night.
Skating: begins on Tuesday. be sure to wear warm clothing, have a warm jacket, gloves and your bike helmet. Travel will be by bus leaving at 9:40 with our ice time being from 10 -11am. Parents are welcome to come and assist with tightening skates. To help organise skate sizes for the first day it would be helpful if children could have their shoe size written on their hands.
Pine cone collecting was very successful last Wednesday. Bags of cones are for sale from the office. The school council wishes to put the money earned from this towards a swing for the playground.
Wednesday after lunch Mr Hogue will be teaching Science, so we will not be having Discovery this week. Next week our Discovery theme will be 'Matariki'.
To keep the classroom carpet clean and toes warm, I would encourage slippers to be worn indoors.

Homework

Reading - don't forget your log!

Spelling - we begin learning about the 'long o' spelling patterns. We will look again at the long 'i' spelling patterns in the near future, as last week's testing showed that this was not as secure as it could be.

Poetry Eisteddfod - I will be checking homework books for a copy of the chosen poem.  These need to be in there by Friday 23rd June.

Rug up for the cold and enjoy our winter season with all it has to offer.

Wednesday 7th June

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

Tomorrow Wednesday 7th June children are to wear sports uniform to school.

At 1.30pm they will be walking over the railway bridge to collect pinecones as a school. This is a school council initiative to raise funds for a new swing. Pinecones will be for sale in the school office from Thursday for $5 a sack. If you are able to come and help please let your classroom teacher know a.s.a.p.

The newsletter this week will be on Thursday. We also have cases of chicken pox!! If your child gets these please let the school know ASAP, as we need to advise Frans's family.

Many thanks

Term 2, Week 6

Week 6 Term 2

Over the halfway point of the term already.  Thank you to the children who shared our Autumn art work and their poems at mass on Sunday.
This week we are leading the Wednesday morning mass, we would love for you to join us in the church at 9am.
Swimming has been successful with all of us learning lots about water safety.  Last week we all made thank you cards for our instructors with a letter inside about what we have learned. Sue, the swim school co-ordinator was pleased to read about what the children have learned from their swimming, as this year the lessons have had very different learning objectives.
Skating starts next week Tuesday 13th. A reminder that we all need to wear warm clothing with gloves being a safety requirement for being on the ice, along with helmets which is a compulsory item specified on Ice-in-line's risk management. Recently the ice has looked fantastic and we are lucky that our skating sessions are in the morning from 10-11 am to take advantage of the best ice.  We will be travelling by bus with Room 4 year 4's. The total cost for skating will be $45.  This can be paid to the office please. Full skating information will be in the school newsletter.
Mr Hogue will be teaching Science on Tuesday morning. Unfortunately he was unwell last Wednesday so this is the catch up day.
Camp: Markelle and myself are working hard on the logistics of the ski camp (Thursday 31st August), and unfortunately had another door closed to us late on Friday.  We will call a parent meeting as soon as we have finalised everything.  This has been an ongoing process for us since February. Your patience is appreciated.

Homework: remember to read every night and practise the long 'i' spelling patterns. We are all getting so much more observant in our reading, and are noticing the spelling patterns in the words of the text. This helps us so much when we come to sampling words in our writing, using our tooling and knowledge of spelling patterns, where we generate several options, then as good readers choose the one that looks right.
Poetry Eisteddfod Monday 3 July: start your preparation now so that you do not need a piece of paper to read it from. As Year 3 & 4 we also need to give a short introduction, stating the title, the poet, why you chose this poem and anything you think might be interesting for Room 3 & 4 about the poet.  I am hoping that some of the poets may be YOU!!

Hoping you have had a wonderful weekend.  Still white outside as I write this but lovely and sunny.  Remember that it is full winter uniform now.