Term 1, Week 9

Sunday 30th March, 2014

A big thank you SO MUCH to the Room 4 children who participated so willingly at the Parish Family Mass this morning. The priest was Father Vaughn Hook and he was delighted to see children bringing the day’s gospel to life with a role-play, and doing the reading and Prayers of the Faithful. Well done, and thank you to their families for supporting them, and to Roly Letham for writing and leading the role-play. I told him we look forward to the next one!                       

Important dates:

*Cricket – each Tuesday afternoon 1.30 – 2pm

*School Eisteddfods: Class – 7^th April, Whole school - Thursday 10^th April

*Holy Thursday Easter Liturgy – Thursday 18^th April 2pm

Homework

The homework books are a great way of monitoring the children’s progress as well as testing their organisation skills. For those children who are showing excellent self-management skills….  well done. For those whose books I still don’t have in on a Sunday night – EEEEK!

Eisteddfod Programme

Some of the children may be a little unsure about what they are required to do for the Scripture Eisteddfod. It is natural for them to focus on a particular story, which is fine, but the task is to read a scripture, with an introduction to explain why they chose it.

Try and focus on a simple scripture, for example:

Introduction:

‘I chose this scripture because it shows how much Jesus loves children. He was annoyed at the disciples because they tried to stop people bringing their children to be prayed for by Jesus. Jesus says that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to children such as these.’

Scripture:

Jesus Blesses the Little Children: Matthew 19: 13-15

Then little children were being brought to Him in order that He might lay His hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” And He laid His hands on them and went on His way.

Everyone will bring a simple scripture reading home in their homework books to prompt some ideas. Feel free to use this, edit it, or leave it if you are already organised.

Rocks and Minerals Unit

As part of our Science Unit I am hoping we can go on a little outing on Thursday afternoon to find and identify rocks and stones.  I need three parents for this so we meet the ratio of 1 adult per 6 children. If anyone is available could they please let me know as early as possible this week. We will head to the Rail Trail track along from the Railway bridge, leaving school at 1.45 pm and returning by 2.50 pm.

Have a great week, Markelle J

Term 1, Week 8

Monday 24th March, 2014

I trust you all managed to get out and about over the long weekend for a little bit of fresh air and family time J

Important dates:

*Monday 24^th March – Anniversary Day

*Cricket – each Tuesday afternoon 1.30 – 2pm

*Central Otago Triathlon Wednesday 26^th March

*You, Me and Us Parent Meeting – Thursday 27^th March, 7.30 pm

*School Eisteddfods: Class – 7^th April, Whole school - Thursday 10^th April

Year 4 Goal-setting interviews:

Thank you to all those who were able to make it to goal-setting interviews. For those who couldn’t make it, I will be in touch this week to make another time.

Homework

Rather than sending home full spelling lists, I have decided to go back to basics with the Spelling Alive Programme, just to ensure that everyone is practising the most accurate spelling habits possible. At the moment we are focusing on Digraphs, so there will be a task to reinforce this in the children’s homework book this week.

Eisteddfod Programme

This week, Years 3-8 will begin preparing for this term’s Eisteddfod Challenge, which is Scripture Reading. For your information:

*Your scripture reading can be anything you like, eg. parable, a psalm, or a reading from the Gospels.

*The introduction should be approximately 20 seconds. This might be the main idea or a brief explanation of what the reading means to you, eg. ‘What the story of the Last Supper shows is …….’

*Eisteddfods will be presented in class on Monday 7^th or Tuesday 8^th April. Two students will be selected (one boy and one girl) to go on to the whole school scripture reading in the church.

*On Thursday 10^th April, the format for the whole school scripture reading is that students will start their introduction in the middle of the church in front of the altar using a microphone, then move to the lectern and say the actual scripture or reading. Details will be in the school newsletter closer to the time.

You are welcome to have some input into what your child chooses to read, and to ensure that preparation and practice takes place at home. Please keep it simple. You could note down in the children’s homework books what their reading is likely to be by the end of this week. Otherwise I will have suitable material available for the children to choose from, and we will prepare in class. They are assessed on criteria such as opening, content, conclusion, presentation, voice, and style.

Have a great week.

Markelle J

Email markelleward@stgerards.school.nz.  Cell phone number:  0278168609

Term 1 Week 7

Sunday 16th March, 2014

Important dates:

* Cricket – each Tuesday afternoon 1.30 – 2pm

*Cyber Busters – Wednesday afternoon: Yr 4’s from 12-12.40pm, Yr 3’s from 1.30–2.10pm

*Year 4 Goal setting interviews: This Tuesday 18^th March 3–7.30pm, and Wednesday 19^th March 3–6.15 pm

*Friday 21^st March - Teacher Day in Dunedin – all staff

*Monday 24^th March – Anniversary Day

Year 4 Goal-setting interviews:

Thank you for the interview times that are coming in.  Please discuss with your child what they think their main goals are in terms of their learning, and complete the short Goals form that will be brought home today. Please note I haven’t put the Goals form in their homework books for privacy reasons. You can bring this completed form to the Goal-setting interview with you. If for any reason this Goals form doesn’t make it home today (eg. it gets swallowed by a huge angry bear on the way home), just jot some notes down under the following headings: 

*My learning goals – reading, maths, writing, curriculum

*My self-management goals – bookwork, homework routines, organisation

*My social goals – cooperation and participation, behaviour, leadership

I look forward to meeting with you at this early stage of the year regarding your child’s learning. J

HOMEWORK

Homework will now also include a weekly Spelling sheet. We are working on these in class too, and it is important that the children don’t just ‘copy’ out the spelling lists. They need to cover each word and do the sounding out and tooling, and practise the part of the word they are focussing on the most. The more careful they are with this process, the more likely it is that each word will be learned fully and accurately.

CARITAS UNIT – The Solomon Islands

There should be a brief letter from your child to you in their homework book this week, asking if they could do a few extra chores during Lent in return for a $2 coin. We are saving this money for the Caritas Lenten Appeal. In our study of the Solomon Islands we are also planning to make a class booklet about ‘Our lives in Central Otago, NZ’. I have a contact who will deliver this book and a small gift from us to a school in the Solomon Islands in June this year. Hopefully this will initiate some communication with children their age which could then continue throughout the year.

Thank you for continuing to let me know who will be away from school this Friday 21^st March. It will help the school plan for relievers in the various classrooms. Have a great week, and a nice long weekend at the end of it.

Markelle J

Week 6, Term 1 2014

Sunday 9th March 2014

Welcome to Week 6. The term is flying by. Thank you to all those who helped out at the triathlon before, during and after school, especially with the challenging logistics involved with transporting bikes and gear! Everything seemed to go so smoothly and apart from exhausting themselves the children had a great day.

PAT tests:

This week Year 4 children will be completing PAT tests for Reading, Vocabulary, Listening and Maths. Year 3 children will only be doing the Listening.

Important dates coming up:

*Cricket – Tuesday afternoon 1.30 – 2pm

*Year 4 Goal setting interviews: Tuesday 18^th March 3–7.30pm, and Wednesday 19^th March 3–6.15 pm

*Friday 21^st March - Teacher Day in Dunedin – all staff

*Monday 24^th March – Anniversary Day

Our learning this week:

R.E. - Beginning our Caritas Lenten unit. Continuing the Jesus Strand and Lenten journey.

Science – Rocks and Minerals…. The Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki, as promised.

Writing – Reporting on our various projects. Grammar. Spelling Alive.

Reading – PAT testing for Year 4’s. Stories from the Solomon Islands.

Maths – Beginning unit on Place Value. Basic facts and times tables.

Te Reo – Working on our Mihimihi and Place Mat.

Social Sciences – Caritas and the Solomon Islands – links to RE and Inquiry.

Oral language – Sharing news, Mystery Place.

HOMEWORK

Homework routines are gradually becoming established – it can be quite a challenge for the children to get books home and back (and out of their bag!) but they are showing signs of taking responsibility for their own learning. Well done J. They should now routinely be coming home on Monday with the class newsletter, a maths task, reading books, and one other small task. This week we will be setting up their Spelling Alive weekly task sheets in class, so as of next week Spelling will be part of their homework too.

REPORTING

The first round of Year 3 reporting is underway and I have notified those parents involved. I will be doing various testing for these children, including reading records and maths diagnostics. This may happen at lunch times (1 pm after they have eaten), so let me know if this is a concern for you.

Learning Games

We have had interesting discussions around healthy choices when it comes to learning games, not just on the iPads and computers, but with blocks, dress-ups, and other activities too. It’s great that our classroom criteria for ‘what makes a game a learning game?’ is being owned by the children themselves, and of course they love to police it too!

Some quotes from the kids:  Lego/Meccano blocks are a healthy choice because you have to ‘build’, ‘count sides’, ‘problem-solve’, ‘connect’, ‘share knowledge’, ‘design things from scratch’, and ‘learn patterns’.

‘Dress-ups are a healthy choice because you have to use your imagination’.

Food for thought!

On that note…. If anyone has any puzzles or learning games at home like ‘Scrabble’ that could be shared with us for a period of time that would be great. We promise to look after them. J

Have a great week, Markelle.

Email markelleward@stgerards.school.nz.  Cell phone number:  0278168609