Eisteddfod Performers

Congratulations Room 3 on outstanding poetry eisteddfods this week.  I am so excited that some people who find this really scary, found the courage to stand up and do a great job.  Well done everyone.
Those who will represent Room 3 Year 2 at the eisteddfod assembly on Thursday at 1:30 are: Archie Reid, Jelena Morrell, and Mason Broome. Keep working on your introductions, having eye contact with the audience, speaking slowly and clearly and using expression to bring your poem alive.
Year 3 people will present as part of the year 3 & 4 group. Keira McFadyen will represent Room 3.
We heard a huge range of poems and it was exciting that some people presented poems written by parents.
Hope you can join us on Thursday, when we will enjoy poems from throughout the school.

Enviro

Enviro group garden request.

Wheelbarrows: This Wed July 1st we are shifting a whole bunch of soil. If you have a wheelbarrow we could borrow for the day could you please let Mr Yeoman know. Any parent help during Wed lunchtime would be very welcome.

Pots: We need a range of pots for planting seedlings in. A range of sizes and materials would be fine. If you have any spare could they pleased be dropped into Room 6 anytime. We will begin planting seedings in Term 3.

Building materials: We want to build a mini hot-house to raise our seedlings and are looking for materials to do this. The hot house will be aprox 1000mm x 600mm x 600mm. We are particularly looking for timber to frame the hot house and plastic to cover it.

Thanks

Wednesday 1st July - Mufti Day

Mufti Day and Bake Sale Wed 1st July

Mufti day: St Gerards are taking part in the Caritas Mufti Mania appeal. Funds raised will go to support two Catholic schools, Takwa Primary and St John's Dala in the Solomon Islands. 

All funds will go towards school resources including books, bibles, stationery and sport equipment. Please bring a gold coin.

Bake Sale: Room 6 have leftovers from the Central Otago schools mini ball tournament last Wednesday. These will be sold at lunchtime on Wednesday and funds raised go towards Room 6 Cromwell camp in Term 4.

- 50c home baking (includes cookies, brownie, squares)

Week 11 Term 2

Only 13 homework books at school on Friday, which makes it hard to check the tooling for this week's spelling as I am on lunch duty on Monday. Please encourage your child to self manage by bringing their homework book to school on Fridays.
Skating: it has been fantastic to watch how many people are looking so much more confident on the ice after only half the lessons.  This week we skate on Monday and Wednesday.  Helmets, gloves and a warm jacket please.  Thank you so much to the parents who have been coming to help with lacing skates.  The rink has been very generous and has allowed us to use the changing room (where there is a heater). If you are looking for your child he/she may be in there. Taking Room 3 in there has also made it so much easier keeping track of people's clothing.
Class Poetry Eisteddfods: will be heard on Monday. I have heard some very polished people practising their poems together.  Exciting too, that many know their poems off by heart so they will really be able to think about the expression and the presentation aspect of an eisteddfod.  Year 3 will be presenting their poems in Room 4 as part of the year 3 & 4 eisteddfods after play.
Mufti Day = Wednesday. Gold coin donation.  50 cents will also buy you a piece of baking - camp fundraising. Check separate post for more information.

Homework

1. Reading: keep your log up to date. Even though it is the last week of term I expect that everyone is practising this skill each night.  Remember you can use a Sunshine - on - line text as well as or instead of the book you take home.
2. Spelling: long 'i' spelling patterns.  Please check that either Loretta or myself have checked the conducting, tooling and recording before your child starts to practise.  This list is not one to be learned by heart and spelt out orally - we are practising the Spelling Alive skills and looking carefully at the spelling patterns.
3. Maths: this week everyone will take home a game in a clear file sleeve that you can keep at home. "What's My Number?" The WALTs and how to play are on the back of the sheet.  Use a whiteboard marker on the sleeve so that the 100's board can be reused.  
4. OH NO 4 Things for homework!!!!  Just a thumbs up that early next term will be the school cross country. A good idea would be to start a few runs now and include some over the holidays so that when we start cross country running as our PE at the beginning of next term you are already starting to get fit. I'm sure that there will be a few sunny days in the holidays where you could take a run with family and friends along the Rail Trail.

Most importantly have a wonderful holiday everyone.  Take the time to get over the sniffles and bugs that are around at the moment, and enjoy some down time with families.  All you people away to sun yourselves in Australia or the islands - enjoy.  Have safe and happy holidays.  See you all next term ready to keeping learning.

Year 3 Ski Camp Fundraising - Cheese Rolls

Please check those reading bags! Each year 3 student got a cheese roll order form today. Over the years this has been a fantastic fundraiser.  Year 2 families - please know that this is happening and sign up on someone's order form.

Week 10 Term 2

I hope you all enjoyed looking at the ice cream machine plans in the homework books. Listening to the explanations as to what each part is for was the best part for me - some really creative brains at work. Yum - wish we could sample the product planned.  Thank you for the 'stuff' for making.  We also used the 'stuff' that I keep in my cupboard, and those tubes from New World were just perfect thanks to Jacqui's grandma. I am always happy to recycle tubes, pottles, ice cream containers and their lids etc.  As my stock is now almost non-existent, I'd be happy to build the supply up again.
Mr Hogue will be working in Room 3 Monday morning while I complete the term's testing and get onto report writing. I am happy to see people pop in at any time after school to look at books, testing and have a quick chat.
Skating: starts for us on Tuesday  23rd morning. We will be taking a bus with Room 4 to the rink leaving school at 9:30 so that we can have all our skates on and are ready to start our lessons at 10am.  I would really appreciate help with lacing skates.  Please remember to wear warm clothing and helmets, jackets and gloves are compulsory. It is a good idea to have waterproof over trousers or ski pants.  Wear something underneath so that you can take these off once back at school. No school uniform. Our other skating lessons will be on Thursday 25th, Monday 29th and Wednesday 1st July.  Cost for this activity is $24.  It would be really appreciated if Mrs Bennie could have this paid before the end of the term.
Friday Mass at 12 will be led by Room 4. Please join us at this celebration.
Assembly this Friday at 2:10. Come and share this whole school time with us.
Sunshine On Line: great to hear that some people are using this site. Wow, Kimberley, what a huge piece of writing you have done as a follow up to this reading.  You are a star! Information about this site on the blog and in the school newsletter.

Homework

1. Reading - yes there is reading every night.  As I have many reading groups in the room, each week one group works on a play and presents this to the class on Thursday. This group will have the same text to work on each night.  Thank you for reading the other parts for them. It is great to see that these are so well prepared, with the reading sounding like talking, and time has been spent on thinking about staging and props. We give feedback to each group and I have been surprised at how quickly groups are able to talk about characters, props and being aware of where the audience is. Don't forget to record your reading in your log every night - even if it is a Sunshine On Line text or a book from the library that you are reading.
2. Spelling -  we are working on the 'long i' spelling patterns this week and next week.  Please check that your child works on the list of words each night. Talk to them about how the 'long i' is spelled in each word. There has been spelling homework each week and it has been tested on Fridays with the results recorded in homework books so that any errors can be worked on again. Please remember that we are working on the spelling process of listening, tooling then recording the sounds - not rote learning words.
3. Eisteddfods - 5 people had a copy of their eisteddfod poem glued into their homework books on Friday.  Well done, you people. I will be asking everyone for the title of their poem this week.  Please ask me for a poem if your child does not have one. Poems will be presented on Monday 29th June. 

Looking forward to a great week of learning. I'm so excited to see how many people have worked so hard and are now self managing before school, with their learning in class and with keeping their bags tidy on our new hooks.  Keep this up.

Ice Cream Machines

We finished last week with technology based on one group's reading book - "A New Ice Cream Machine".
During the week we designed our machines, labelled our designs and wrote lists of what we needed to make our creations.

WALTs:

• ·      Draw a plan of a new ice-cream machine
• ·      Label what each part is made of
• ·      List what is needed to make it

To finish the day we invited Room 4 and Mr Yeoman to view our creations.  Thank you to those of you who shared your plans with Room 4 and told them about the process. Everyone then explained their machines to the Room 4 students as they walked around our room. Some photos of 'the making' and of us with our completed creations. I hope that you all enjoyed listening to the explanations of how these machines work. Some really creative brains!

Week 9 Term 2

Thank you Mrs Lyon for being the Room 3 teacher again on Monday and Tuesday morning while I was in Dunedin with Alan.  I know the class love to see you again.

It was great to have all but 2 homework books in the homework box on Friday, so that spelling was tooled, checked over the weekend and ready to go for this week's learning.  This is also when each child's weekly score is recorded and any errors identified so that further practice can be done.  Good to be able to give you feedback. All children are independent with the spelling task, so you should expect that they can work through their list by themselves.  Ask them to explain what the long 'o' spelling pattern is in each word.  That is the learning for the week.

This is the last week of swimming on Thursday. Please remember your togs.  A note is needed if you are not swimming for any reason.

Next week we start skating on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 10 - 11 am. Everyone must wear a helmet and gloves at all times on the ice. I'll update information about this as it comes to hand.

I have noticed that not many people are wearing their hi-viz jackets.  Everyone has been issued with one and it is expected that these are being worn to and from school every day.  Come on Room 3 - set the standard with this. If you are not sure of the number of the jacket issued to you, please check the list in the corridor.

Have you tried the Sunshine-on-line reading?  Great titles with activities to go with each.

Homework

1. Reading: - remember to complete your reading log.
2. Spelling: - practise conducting, tooling, listening and recording the sounds in your list. An oral sentence using the word should be shared. For fun, you and your child could tell each other sentences which include the word.
3. Poetry Eisteddfod: - make sure that the poem you have chosen is glued into your homework book by the end of the week. Poems will be presented in the last week of term starting in class on Monday 29th June, with the school poetry eisteddfod assembly on Thursday 2nd July. Next week we will not have a new class poem, but will be working on learning how to really present the ones we have already had this year.  There will also be opportunities for children to work with a buddy on the poem that they will present for the eisteddfod.  The better we know our poems the easier it is to get up and say it in front of the class.
4. Friday Reading Activity: - designing and making ice-cream machines. Bring what you need to make your machine.

Have a great week.  

Please remember if you have any worries to contact us before small concerns become problems.

Chris

On Line Reading Resource

While I was away, the school has resubscribed to the Sunshine on line site.

Website: www.sunshineonline.com.au
Log in: stgerards2014
Password: mercy2014

There is a wide range of texts with activities to follow each text.  Children know the text level that they are working on and can choose to work on those. The texts start at level 1 and go to level 30, well beyond where we are reading with full comprehension in Room 3, so there will be something for everyone.

Enjoy these Sunshine texts which are being updated as new texts are available.

Spelling Sampling

A new skill that we are working on as part of the spelling programme is sampling.   We all did this when we were writing years ago when we had a scrap of paper beside us and wrote out how we thought a word was spelt, then crossed out the ones that didn't look right. In the Spelling Alive programme it is taught in a structured way - remember Spelling Alive is about teaching spelling skills not learning spelling words.

How it works:
If our teaching focus is the long 'e' sound, we first teach the spelling patterns.

The ones we looked at over the last 2 weeks were: 'e'  as in be, 'e split 'e' as in complete, 'ea' as in beach, 'ee' as in meet, 'y' as in Sally, 'ey' as in money, 'i.e.' as in Sophie

We looked at patterns and noticed that the 'y' or 'ey' patterns were always at the end of words, so if we were sampling a word with a long 'e' sound in the middle we wouldn't try one of those patterns.

Orally a word like seat would be given.  We conducted this - 1 conducting line, tooled it - 3 sound lines, then recorded the sounds in order, noting where the long 'e' sound was.

Our sampling would look like this:
seet
seat
set
siet
sete
We then look at our list as good readers.  Most people are fast to point out that it can't be 'set' as they read it quickly and can use clean sounds to tool the word.  A tick is put beside the word that is chosen.

In our writing books at the bottom of the page we have our sampling lines and we are learning to use this to sample words in this way on the run in our writing.

I hope in some way this clarifies "sampling" as a spelling skill.  Feel free to pop in and ask if you would like a quick lesson.

Term 2 Week 8

One alteration to information on last week's blog.  Since Father Pat will be attending the Catholic Convention in Wellington along with some of our staff, there will be no Friday mass this week.

I hope everyone enjoyed sharing the "Granny" writing in the poetry books at the weekend.  When writing these short descriptions our WALTs were to:

• use a WOW word to describe Granny
• use a strong verb to describe what she does

Year 3 Snow farm camp:  There was information in the school newsletter last week about fundraising for the year 3 - 8 camps.  Further to that, there will be a meeting next Tuesday 16th in Room 5 at 6:45pm for any parents interested in fundraising towards camp costs.  This does not mean that you need to be on a committee, but gives you the opportunity to share ideas, hear ideas and what is planned for fundraising this year.

Science: shadows - as part of the science learning with Mr Hogue last week, everyone began a science/maths activity measuring their shadows.  We will measure these again each week, at the same time of day in the same place (as long as the sun is shining), from now until the end of the term. You might want to set up a similar experiment at home and notice any changes as we pass the shortest day. This will be an interesting learning activity, which will be continued and changes discussed again next term. There are a number of interesting kids sites which you could talk about together.

Swimming: Thursday - great to see the increase in confidence and skills of everyone.  Remember your togs on Thursday.  Have you paid the $13 for the bus to the school office?  Please help Mrs Bennie with this before she has to deal with skating money.

Homework

1. Reading: not a lot of people are recording their reading in their reading logs.  Good to see one or two people recording chapter books that they are reading - you are fantastic learners.  Keep this up.  The more you read, the better you get and the better you write!
2. Spelling: working on the long 'o' spelling patterns for the next 2 weeks.  Note the Focus at the top right of each spelling sheet.  That is the learning that the list is practising.
3. Poetry Eisteddfods: everyone has the information about this in their poetry books as well as the information posted on the blog last week. Next Friday 19th everyone needs to have a copy of their poem in their homework book. I am happy to help choose a poem if anyone needs help.  I have already photocopied poems for some people.  Please just ask - don't sit and worry about what might be suitable. Poetry Eisteddfods will be shared on Monday 29th June.
4. Religious Education Sheet: we are beginning the Church Strand and have been talking about knowing the name of our parish, our church and the names of some of the people who work for our parish. We are learning that our parish is our church family. Our church's feast day is 23rd June - the feast day of St John the Baptist.

Have a great week - it hardly felt like winter today, although we are planning writing about winter.  It's hard to get the experience of what it feels like - we might have to venture outside to feel this, first thing in the morning. 

Thank you for your help with having books at school each day so that your child is not playing catch up with glueing poems or spelling sheets.  Great to see so many children are now self managing this before school on Monday (poem) and Friday (spelling).

Poetry Eisteddfod Marking Schedule

Year 2 Poetry Eisteddfod

WALTs:

·      Present a poem to an audience

·      Use a clear voice

·      Listen attentively to the presentations

·      Talk about the presentations and help choose our assembly presenters

Marks	What I could do ….
Introduction  5	Say the name of your poem Say the name of the poet Say why you chose the poem
Presentation 10	Say your poem with expression Use the full stops, commas, speech marks and other punctuation Make eye contact with the audience Keep your head up Try not to rush Look like you are enjoying sharing your favourite poem
Preparation    5	Know your poem off by heart Speak slowly Choose a poem that the Room 3 audience will like
Voice              5	Use a loud voice so that we can all hear Keep your head up so that your voice projects Speak slowly Use expression

Week 7 Term 2

My goodness where has this term gone? It sounds like many of you really enjoyed the long weekend and spending time doing fun things together - even a parent having a blast on the water slide in Queenstown.

It was lovely to see some parents join us last Friday for mass at 12:00 and again at assembly. The next Friday mass that the school will attend is next Friday 12th June and it will be led by Room 5 with assembly being led by Room 6.

Thank you to everyone who handed in their homework books on Friday.  I put time aside at a weekend to check the spelling has been tooled correctly before it goes home - no point in learning mistakes.  It takes at least 27 times of unlearning for each single time something is learned incorrectly according to those who study the brain.  Let's use the Habit of Mind "make it right" so that we don't need to relearn.  Please check at home for missing homework and poetry books.  I have some people with pieces of paper filed everywhere.

Today we completed the writing part of "My Granny", which was last week's poem.
Our writing WALTs:

• use a WOW word to describe grandma
• use a strong verb to tell about what she is doing

I'm sure you will enjoy and share what has been written about the very talented room 3 grandmas when the poetry books come home on Friday.

Year 3 & 4 have a cross country ski camp on the EOTC plan for next term.  Mrs Ward has booked some dates at the Snow Farm 1st & 2nd September.  There will be more information to hand shortly. This is the camp that our 11 year 3 students have been waiting for.

Swimming bus: please help Mrs Bennie by paying the $13 to the office as soon as possible.  If you are not sure if you have paid, please contact the office.  Swimming again on Thursday - remember your togs please or bring a note.  We are lucky to have these lessons as other schools have missed out.

Homework

Reading: Please record what has been read in the reading log at the back of the homework book.  I have more reading logs printed if you have run out of space - exciting to see that some people have!!

Spelling: working on conducting, tooling and recording words with the long 'e' spelling pattern.  There is also a spelling goals sheet to read in homework books.

Poetry eisteddfod: a good time to choose your poem so that there is plenty of time to practise. I expect to see the poem in homework books by Friday 19th June. Please see me if your child needs help to find a suitable poem. When choosing the poem think about Room 3 being the audience, so it needs to be one we would enjoy. This week we are talking about poems that tell a story (narrative).  We all like this sort of poem as we can "make a picture in our minds" of what is happening.

Well done Room 3 on being able to keep your bags tidy on the hooks under the verandah like Room 4. We have been working on keeping our lunch boxes inside our zipped up bags now.  In the meantime we still have our Lost Property bin just inside the corridor, however once this space is the PTA shop all lost property will need to be put over outside Room 6. Please encourage your child to self manage and bring all their clothing home each day. A bit of a mission I know when the day starts so cold and everyone strips off to enjoy warm lunch times.