Wharenui Visit Thank You

Wow! What can I say.
Thank you so much for your generosity with kai (food) for the shared lunch. Richard the Dunstan High School teacher could not believe his eyes, as his worry had been that traditionally the host (his class) provides this as part of the powhiri.  His students laid the tables before we started the formal part of the welcome and it looked wonderful to come in to.
Thank you so much to everyone who came with us to take part in the learning, and especially Mrs Eastwood, Mrs Fonseca and Mrs Donaldson who transported the food and gear.
It was equally wonderful that Mrs Maria O'Neill could be there with us as Hayvin's Grandma, but also as the senior member of our school's Maori Community. I really appreciate this support and involvement as we try to provide authentic learning experiences, and our Maori community are the people with those skills.
We must also thank Ms Tamati who has helped us with our kapahaka and has advised on protocol.  Due to other teaching commitments she was unable to attend with us.  Thank you Ann for stepping in to those shoes and guiding us through the experience.
All in all it was an exciting learning experience for us all.  This learning, is part of the school's Maori plan, and will happen every even year for the junior school.  On Friday I learned that the wharenui was fully equipped with mattresses and a super kitchen and toilet facilities, so perhaps we could think about sleeping there for the overnight camp.  Food for thought. Next year we review our camps - this would be the time for parents to suggest this if you felt it would be worthwhile.

Great job to all the children who stepped up today to leadership roles.  We are all very proud of you, particularly to Bobbie and Thomas Patrick who stepped up this morning to speak, so that we could sing all 3 of our songs.  Something that I didn't know until this morning was that someone speaks then there is a song, so we couldn't do our 3 songs one after another, and we could only have boys speak.

Week 7 Term 4

A little belated posting this week, but all information has gone home in hard copy.

Thank you Dani for reading so superbly at Monday Morning Prayer, to Keira who practised lighting candles over the weekend and Harry who supported her at prayer.

A wee surprise party today from the class - thank you so much, you are such great learners and I love teaching you all.  Today Mrs Donaldson has done some amazing art work with shaving cream and PVA glue.  We have a little to finish, then we can display them.  Thank you for your creativity with art this year Mrs Donaldson.

I have completed all the reading, writing and maths assessment for the year, and I am now catching up with the reports.  It is great to see people at interviews - remember that this is the time for your child to come too and show you all the things that they are proud of.  We still have the end of year spelling assessment, which will be early next week. It is fantastic to see so many people using their spelling skills in their writing as well as getting their words correct each week.

Year 3 girls have taken home a note about a Girls Self Defence Course that will be held here at school on Tuesday 2nd December.  If you need more information about this please contact Mrs Ward.

All of Room 3 will be visiting the wharenui tomorrow.  On Friday the year 3's will join Room 4 for the day,

NO SAUSAGE ORDERS TOMORROW please as we will be at Dunstan High School.

I hear that there are other people intending to walk to the high school with us tomorrow - that will be great.  I'm sure that the wharenui will hold us all.  Let's hope that the weather holds.

Have a BIG SLEEP tonight as I fear that tomorrow night may be a somewhat shorter one.

Camp begins at 5:30 on Thursday evening (tomorrow) with a BYO picnic tea.  Please remember that we are a nut free school.

Getting excited.  Junior school camp is a whole new experience for me too!!

Information About Wharenui Visit - Thursday

Visit to the Dunstan High School Wharenui

Monday 24^th November

Dear Parents,

On Thursday Rooms 1, 2 and 3 (this will include the 6 year 3's) will be visiting the wharenui at Dunstan High school as part of their Maori learning.

We will be leaving school at 12:00, straight after playtime. Thank you to the parents and grandparents who have offered to walk to and from the high school with us; Kate Donaldson, Sue Brydges, Catherine Hill, Helen Ryan, Elisabeth (Jelena’s Grandma), Alana Melvin and Rachael Baxter.

When we arrive at the wharenui we will be called into the building by someone and Ann, a resource person from the Maori community will call back on our behalf.  We will then walk slowly in, with the girls and women going first and sitting down, followed by the boys who will sit at the front.

A Dunstan High School class will welcome us with their teacher Mr Richard Ferguson. Tadhg Reilly will say his mihimihi as our speaker, then we will sing as a group with Sully Love being our leader.

Our koha (gift) will be a plate of food for a shared lunch from each family please. Mrs Eastwood has offered to deliver these plates to the high school, if they are dropped at school before 12, otherwise could you please arrange to drop these at the wharenui, so that we can eat about 12:45.

This is intended as a powhiri learning experience.

Following kai (lunch), we will be making “sticks” and learning a stick game with Ann.  Each child will need to bring 2 old magazines for this activity.  We will provide tape and rubber bands.

Children will need to be sure that they are wearing correct school uniform, have their hi-viz jacket, a sunhat and bring a jacket in case the weather is cooler. Please be sure to bring your own drink bottle.

We will leave the wharenui at 2pm so that everyone will be back at school in time for buses.

Julie, Sue and Chris

Monday Morning Whole School Prayer

It is our turn to be the leaders on Monday. Dani is reading, Harry and Keira are setting the prayer table, lighting the candle and asking us to bless ourselves.  We will be leading the singing.
It would be lovely to have you join us at 8:55 in the church.

Years 1 & 2 Camp Information

Oops - we were so busy showing Mrs Donaldson our Kapahaka that I forgot to give out the information and gear list for the camp next week - so here it is.  I caught some people so you may already have a hard copy of this.

I have 6 forms returned from people who can help, I know that some people have returned theirs to Julie or Sue.  If there is anyone else able to help please return your form by tomorrow (Friday).

Location: St Gerards School

• meeting at 5:30pm at school on Thursday 27th November for a family picnic tea. BYO tea
• Activities/ice cream/movies
• Supper
• Breakfast - preparing breakfast together
• Tidy up hall and pack bags

Location: Molyneux Aquatic Centre / Playground

• Walk to park & pool 10am
• Swimming 11:30 am
• BBQ Lunch 12:00
• Bus back to school 1:45

Location: St Gerards School

• Quiet time 2:00

Dear Parents,

The gear list for camp next Thursday evening 27th November is as follows:

• Room 1 - fresh fruit
• Room 2 - packet of biscuits or home baking
• Room 3 - loaf of bread
• Water bottle
• Bed Roll
• Sleeping Bag
• Pillow
• Pyjamas
• Tooth brush & tooth paste/hairbrush/facecloth
• Underwear
• Change of clothing
• Jacket
• Swimming togs and towel in a bag suitable to take to the pool
• Sun hat / Sun screen
• Utensils - plate & cup
• Shoes - suitable for outdoor activities

Please name your belongings

Thanks

Julie, Sue & Chris

Week 6 Term 4

Have had trouble doing this from home this week, so sorry for the late post.
Camp: notices have gone home with children.  This is next Thursday night - it seemed so far away.  Thank you to those people who have already returned theirs.
Celebrate a Saint Day: is on Friday.  Dress as your favourite saint and be able to tell a little about this person and why you chose them. There will be a parade on the court at 11:10.
Walk and Wheel Fun Day: is also on Friday.  Please wear sports clothes under your dress up outfit and bring your "wheels" to school - scooters etc.  There will be fun activities run by the Walk & Wheel co-ordinators. Helmets are required.
Assembly: Celebrate A Saint - run by Rooms 1 & 2.  This will start slightly later than usual due to the fun activities., 2:20 - 2:30ish.
Popcorn Maker: I still have one here at school and I can't remember who it belongs to, sorry.  Could you please collect it, if it is yours?
PTA Christmas Hamper Raffle: card per family has gone home this week.  Our PTA do so much to support our school financially, making sure that your children get the best of everything. Please support them by selling your card and remembering to bring something to add to the hamper. Room 3 need to bring a packet of something. This can be placed in the carton in the foyer.  Thank you so much to those people who have already done this.
Feel like some entertainment?  The Cassidy School of Dance has a show entitled "Magic Moments" which will be performed at 1:30 and 3pm on Sunday 23rd November at the Memorial Theatre.  Seats are $10 - at the door.
Shoes: please check the school website before buying shoes for the summer.  There are a few items being worn that are not regulation.

Homework

1. Reading: some groups are reading chapter books - this reading needs to be recorded in the reading log at the back of the homework book. Last week there were only 5 books handed in to the homework tray.  I was on release and forgot to remind everyone.
2. Spelling: this week we are looking at the long 'u' sound and its spelling patterns - be sure to tool and say the words clearly so that the sounds can be recorded in order.
3. Mihimihi: keep working on being able to say yours, so that you can present this when we visit the wharenui on Thursday. We are also working on some waiata that we can share.

Friday 14th - Homework Books

What a fantastic job everyone did at the park today - I was amazed at how well you all remembered the words to the musical songs.  Well done.

Please have your homework book at school tomorrow. This means that on Monday we can all start the week with our spelling (for weeks 6 & 7) all glued in.

Mrs Lyon will be teaching in Room 3 tomorrow while I complete testing in preparation for reports and end of year data for Mrs Eastwood.  I know Sophia is really looking forward to having her mum as the teacher, especially as Ollie has already had his turn!

Remember that next Friday is Saint Dress Up Day - have you chosen who you will dress up as?  Don't forget that you need to be able to tell us a little bit about your saint.  We have been learning about olden days saints like St Mary, St John the Baptist, St Luke, St Peter, some a little more recent like St Francis of Assisi 1181 and this week we have been learning about Mother Teresa who died in 1997 aged 87.

Have a great weekend.  Enjoy your sport, you cricket and tennis players.

Lost Property

I have put a pile of stuff that has been in the Room 3 lost property box into the main box along with jackets and jerseys that are not named, and no-one has claimed.
I have a pair of boys shorts on my table (not named) that were the result of the mix up of clothes with Bobbie, Tadhg and Mika after the dress rehearsal at the theatre.  If you are missing shorts, please ask.  Apparently they don't belong to any of these boys.  Will give them to the PTA if no-one claims them.

Week 5 Term 4

Thank you to those of you who were able to join us for assembly on Friday. The children could have used the whole afternoon with all that they wanted included in the assembly.  We talked about what we could share on Monday. Well done everyone - very proud of you all.

This week is Thyme Festival, we are booked to look at the exhibits on Tuesday afternoon, so I would like to take the class down at 12:00 to enjoy the Lunchtime Concert - Free -  Dunstan High School Junior Performing Arts, Year 9/10 music students. Amazing talent. Music, Drama & Dance. We will take our lunches (weather permitting) then look around the activities on offer, children's Art Exhibition (have you seen the art on the front windows of the school? - they are the entries from our school), artists working with students, scarecrows, enviro tent, scavenger hunt in Central Stories Museum and to look at Kopuwai and read the Maori legend attached to this.  We all say "Ko Kopuwai te maunga" in our mihimihi. (our mountain). Are there some parents able to accompany us to this event please?

On Thursday the whole school will be performing at the lunchtime concert.  We will be singing 3 songs from the musical. There's A Party Here Tonight, Not All It's Cracked Up To Be and Happy Ever After.  Please sing over these for homework so that you know all the words.  Happy ever After sounded fantastic at assembly.

I will be attending a maths course on Thursday afternoon - at this stage Mrs Eastwood will be bringing the class back from the park, and I have a day for maths testing on Friday - we welcome Mrs Lyon to Room 3.

Reading: I have a different reading programme working with 2 of my more able reading groups.  I see them twice a week, where we discuss what we are reading, question each other and delve into the deeper meaning of the texts. One of these groups also does "reciprocal reading" where they manage the group reading themselves by using an instruction sheet with questions and the process.  If anyone wants to see how this works please pop in to the classroom and I'm happy to share the process. These people may be bringing home a book from their browse box or they may choose to be reading their library book - I would still like to see what they are reading in their reading logs.

Spelling: "ou" sound. Hard to keep this programme going when I only have 17 out of 24 homework books at school on Friday.  Each spelling sheet has 2 week's spelling on it - we tool the spelling on Fridays, so 7 people have not got this completed as we head into the new week.  Very time consuming trying to catch up on people, as I want to see all lists before they go home.  I am also on duty on Monday lunch times. Some help with this would be really appreciated.

Mihimihi: please work hard on these as we are preparing to visit the wharenui at Dunstan High School on Thursday 27th.

Singing Eisteddfods: Room 3 will be presenting these on Monday 8^th December.

Another busy week. The term is flying.

Year 3 & 4 Cricket - First Home Game

My Ryan's team after a well played match.  Not sure of the score, but the scorer did call out that it was close as we went into the final innings.

Nicolas congratulates team members Mac and Tadhg after a super partnership.

Thanks to all the Mums, Dads and Grandies who were there to watch the game and cheer the team on. Super sportsmanship everyone.  Thank you Mr Tait for stepping up to help out while Mr Ryan was away.

Practices are Wednesday lunch times - 1:00 till 1:30, anyone else who is able to pop up to school to help with this would be very welcome, talk to Mr Ryan.

Week 4 Term 4

What great learning about friends and being a friend we did with Pip and Harold last week. This week we are having "secret acts of kindness" where we pick out a name from the lucky dip name box before prayer and we need to do something special for that person during the day.  At the end of the day we need to guess who our special friend was for the day.  Not many people have guessed but many people are able to tell what others have done for them during the day.  Things range from helping when they were hurt to inviting people into games.
We are working on completing our "Harold" books this week as part of our reading, so these will come home next week for you to share our learning.
Father Pat visited us this morning for RE and shared things about some of the special people that he has known in his life - these people were ordinary people who did ordinary things very well - exactly what saints do.  People were surprised to hear Father talk about his mother and father and the love, family life and religious education that they gave him that he treasures so much.  We need to  remember to treasure the people who are close to us too, and appreciate our families who are our inspiring people.
Thank you for the information you shared with your children about saints from last week's homework.

Footwear: we are starting to look untidy in what we are wearing on our feet.  Please check the information about summer footwear. Rugby socks and sneakers are not a uniform item. We have softened our stance on all children needing to keep shoes on in the playground. Shoes need to be worn on the courts but bare feet are acceptable on the field (watch out for bees). Everyone must wear shoes home. If taking shoes off means that lots of people are not wearing shoes home, I imagine the rule of shoes on at all times may be reinstated.

Thank you to those people who have purchased new poetry, homework and RE books from the office. I think they are about $2 each and will be used again next year.  A few people have their homework books at home since the holidays and their spelling goes into their bags to glue in at home never to be seen again. This is a real disadvantage to their learning.  Please check that you see the homework book each night. Children should be independent with their spelling.

Good Luck Thomas Mitchell as you head off to represent St Gerards at the Central Otago Sports on Thursday.

Friday Mass 12:00 Rooms 1 & 2
Assembly Room 3: we are working on knowing the 10 loopy caterpillar poem so that we can share our paper bag puppets.

Saints Dress Up Day: Friday 21st - early notice so that you can think about who to dress up as, and what they wore.  You will need to know a little bit about your saint to share.

PTA Friday Cuppa: this Friday 9 - 10 am in the staffroom

Mr Ryan's Cricket team has their first game this Saturday at St Gerards.  He will let you know what time at the practice on Wednesday at lunch time.

This week we are working on a writing sample to be used to compare all children's writing across the school.  Year 3 from Room 4 have joined us for writing, so that this unassisted piece of work will have exactly the same "test conditions"  that way more accurate comparisons can be made. All staff have been looking at writing progressions and will meet together to discuss the children's work. Years 1 - 3 are writing from a different stimulus from years 4 - 8.

Homework:

• Reading
• Spelling "ou" sound
• Maths games