Week 5 Term 1

WOW nearly half way through the term already.
This last week we welcomed Jasmine Panganiban to Room 3. Jasmine does not speak any english yet, so we have all had to be a bit creative to help her feel at home in our room and our school. Thank you Varna for your special help. Jasmine comes from 'Mexico Pampanga' in the Philippines. We looked at what her classroom was like, and can see that school is so very different for her here in New Zealand. Jasmine nodded or shook her head when we showed different pictures of schools in the Philippines. Her classroom was about half the size of Room 3 and had about 40 students who sat at double desks with a chair attached,  like the ones in the classroom at the Arrowtown Museum. So school itself is very different - not just a different language. You might like to look together on the internet for photos of Mexico Pampangi.
Thank you so much to all of you who came and supported the school swimming sports. Without the wonderful help we have from parents events like this could not be run. Mr Yeoman is now asking for helpers for the school triathlon. Please email him ollieyeoman@stgerards.school.nz if you are available to assist. We especially need marshals  through the bike track in the pines.
As we will be training for the Triathlon this week, please wear school sports uniform until the triathlon next Tuesday.
Thursday: We welcome back Tessa from Football South, who will take a session on soccer skills. Tessa visited at the end of last year and we all had such fun while learning new ball skills.
Poetry books need to be back at school on Monday mornings - we glue our poem for the week into our books before school, so that we can work on these during the week.

Homework

• Reading: a book should come home each night along with the diary. Please remember to remind your child to record what they have read. These diaries are to assist with self management, and this is the year for your children to start taking over some of the responsibility for recording this. Thank you to those people who have sent a Reading Folder for taking these books to and from school.
• Fridge Words: compassion, tempo, visualisation. Remember that this is an oral language activity. On Friday we talk with our buddies and put these words into sentences. There were some excellent sentences last week. Keep working to extend your child's oral vocabulary.
• Triathlon Training: We will be taking a run each day at school for fitness, and our Big Book and Poem are based around bikes. Please take the time this week to check that tyres are inflated, brakes are working, chains are oiled and handle bars safe with no metal ends poking out. We will be learning about bike safety. Please bring your bike to school on Friday, so that we can practise the transition from the run to the bike at 1:30.

Discovery starts on Wednesday afternoon. If there was someone willing to help Rachael Baxter with small groups in the school garden that would be much appreciated.