Term 1, Week 4

Sunday 15th February

Thank you for your participation at the School Mass this morning, and to those who managed to get to the Family Meet-and-Greet evening on Thursday. If you couldn’t make it on Thursday and have questions, don’t hesitate to pop in. It was very exciting to meet Baby Molly with her Mum last week, thank you so much for sharing her with us Charlie. J J J

Swimming/Hats:

I trust everyone managed to get their own belongings back home after the three swimming days… the childrens’ self-management skills were really put to the test. In class we are working hard at looking after our hats, please remember these are compulsory and should be worn every play and lunchtime. There will be random Nice Ones awarded to those who are SunSmart.

Important dates coming up:

*Ash Wednesday Liturgy – 18^th February, 12 noon. This liturgy will take place down in the church and marks the beginning of Lent. The new ‘Wednesday Word’ booklets will be blessed, and then presented following this liturgy. They are not homework, but a fun activity-based page for kids to bring the Gospel into homes every week.

*Family Mass – Sunday 22^nd February, 9 am. A number of Room 4 children will be participating in a short role-play (about Lent) at this Mass. I have asked the children not to commit to this until they have your permission, and they need to confirm this with me by Tuesday. Please note that a Family Mass is a Parish Mass and does not require school uniform.

Homework:

It was good to clarify a few things about homework at the meeting on Thursday.

*A book or books will come home every Monday and the title(s) will be recorded in your child’s Home Reading Log in their clearfile. They are to record what they read each night. For some it will be a text, for some the chapter of a book, and for some maybe just a page or two. It would be great to have your signature on this each week. Thanks for the early feedback on how this is working for you.

*Each child’s holiday story is coming home this week. Please support them to publish a piece of their story (minimum 6-8 lines). This means having them type up the text themselves, and then getting you to email it to me. Publishing is a great way to encourage their editing and keyboarding, and it also means they are sharing their writing with a wider audience. I will display published work in Room 4 as it comes in. (markelleward@stgerards.school.nz)

*A maths and spelling sheet will also come home, as it will every week.

Science

We welcome Mr Hogue into Room 4 this week, between 9.15–11.15 am, Monday to Wednesday for teacher release (CRT) time. His focus this term will be on Science, so no doubt you will be hearing some interesting news about that. I have also begun a Term 1 focus on Sea Creatures, particularly mammals like whales, dolphins and sea lions, so there will be lots of exciting science resources to share with the class this term.

Have a great week. Regards, Markelle Ward