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.