Saturday 27 May 2017

Term 2, Week 5

Room 4 Newsletter:  Term 2, Week 5

Sunday 28th May, 2017

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Whole School Mass this morning, and to those who participated in readings, prayers, altar-serving and Offertory. It was a great team effort.

Important dates coming up:
·Monday 29th May: Monday Whole School Prayer, 9 am in the Church. Please join us.
·Swimming: Tuesday 30th May & Thursday 1st June. Final week of swimming.
·Tuesday: CRT time with Mr Hogue – Focus: Science.
·Wednesday 31st May: Mrs Cooney in Room 4 while Mrs Ward does DRS work.
·Friday 2nd June: Choir to sing the National Anthem for the Community Citizenship Ceremony – leaving school at 9 am and returning approximately 10.30 am. Choir members dress tidily and warmly please.
·Monday 5th June: Long weekend for Queen’s Birthday.

Year 3-6 Ski Camps, 2017:
*Mrs Lyon held a meeting last Thursday evening at 7 pm for Year 5 & 6 parents wishing to be involved with the Ski Camp. If you missed the note that went home with Room 4 (Year 5) students last Wednesday, please let us know your availability or questions. All information will be given in due course.

Homework:
This week for homework we will take a break from the weekly maths and reading tasks so we can focus on publishing a piece of the childrens’ writing. In their clear-files, most students have a photocopy of their draft Information Report about the Pacific nation they have been studying over the past 3 weeks. Please support your child to type this up and email it back into me as soon as possible. Publishing their writing using a computer is very important for lots of reasons:
*Publishing encourages us to proofread, edit and improve our writing.
*Publishing on a computer teaches and practises valuable keyboard skills.
*Publishing provides a high standard of presentation for display purposes.
*Publishing reinforces reading, spelling and vocabulary skills.
*Publishing on a computer provides practise for creating, naming and saving files.
*Publishing provides a valuable audience for your child’s work…… you!

A word of caution: While practising their keyboarding skills is necessary for this homework task, please ensure that your child only does what is comfortable for them. Some reports are longer than others. You are welcome to take over the job if they run out of gas!


Swimming: Final week of swimming. Enjoy!


Have a great week.  Regards, Markelle Ward J

Saturday 20 May 2017

Term 2, Week 4

Room 4 Newsletter:  Term 2, Week 4

Sunday 21st May, 2017

Thank you to Alia, Jelena and Sophie for their excellent acting and willingness to present a role-play at Sunday Mass this morning. The theme was ‘Being considerate of others’ which fitted very nicely with their Reconciliation theme of ‘Making good choices’. Well done also to Adam, Jack O, and David for their supporting roles. Thank you to Mrs Donaldson and the junior school children who presented their artwork to the Parish. I am getting wonderful feed-back from parishioners who really do enjoy seeing and hearing from the St. Gerard’s children at Sunday Mass.
 Important dates coming up:
· Monday 22nd May: Monday Whole School Prayer, 9 am in the Church. Please join us.
· Swimming: Tuesday 23rd May & Thursday 25th May.
· Wednesday 24th May: Parish/School Mass 9 am in the Church led by Room 1 & 2.
· Friday Assembly led by Room 5 at 2.10 pm in the Hall.
· Sunday 28th May: Whole School Mass, 9 am in the Church.

Year 3-6 Ski Camps, 2017:
*The Year 5 & 6 Camp is from Monday 21st – Friday 25th August. The Year 5’s from both Rooms 4 & Room 5 will leave on Monday and return on Wednesday. The Year 6’s from Room 5 will leave Wednesday and return Friday. The teachers leading this camp are Mrs Lyon and Mrs Ward.

*The Year 3 & 4 Camp is on Thursday 31st August, overnight and returning on Friday 1st September. The two ski days have been locked in at the Snow Farm. Accommodation has proven a lot harder to arrange as the Snow Farm Lodge has been booked up for a long time, but we are making good progress with accommodation in Wanaka. The Year 3 & 4 Camp includes all children from Room 3, and all the Year 4’s from Room 4. The teachers leading this camp are Mrs Beilby and Mrs Ward.

We will advise you of all developments as they arise, and there will be Parent Meetings for both camps in due course to discuss costs, parental involvement, travel etc.


Maths: We have been working our way through Strand tasks for Geometry, particularly for Location & Direction. The highlight was using North, South, East & West to follow directions and locate treasure on a map, and then create instructions of our own to share with buddies.
I have ordered and received a new Wall Number Line for our classroom which is up now and ready to be used. This will be a great encouragement for the children to work on their number line strategies for bigger numbers in both subtraction and addition. It will also help them to identify ‘tenths’, and see their decimal numbers more visually. Great work on the 2, 5 and 10x tables everyone, and the many different ways these look – this is a great foundation for a lot of the problem-solving the children are moving in to, especially number stories.
Room 4 Maths Rocks!
Keep warm. 

Regards, Markelle Ward J

Saturday 13 May 2017

Term 2, Week 3

Room 4 Newsletter:  Term 2, Week 3

Sunday 14th May, 2017

Happy Mother's Day. 


Sacramental Programme:
Thank you to the nine children and their families who began the Sacrament of Penance (Rite of Reconciliation) this week. They were presented to Father Pat this morning at Mass. They also did a lovely job of giving out a sweet treat to all the Mothers and Grandmothers for Mother’s Day. Thank you.

Important dates coming up:
· Monday 15th May: Monday Whole School Prayer, 9 am in the Church. Please join us.
· Swimming: Tuesday 16th May & Thursday 18th May. Come prepared with all your gear. On Tuesday we will leave for the pool at 12.15 pm, and on Thursday we will leave for the pool at 1.15 pm. Keep up the good work!
· Wednesday 17th May: CRT Time with Mr Hogue in the morning – this term’s focus is Science.

Room 4 Enviro:


We are currently trying to turn the wooden structure shown in the photo, into a raised garden plot in Room 4’s section of the School Garden. This involves hammering wooden pieces around the outside to give it a solid frame, and digging the soil deep enough for the structure to fit into it. This is easier said than done, but we are having lots of fun getting it sorted. When its in, we will plant different bulbs in each compartment. Thank you Mrs Shea for getting us started with some garlic bulbs… they will be the first to go in!

Health and Well-being:
We did quite a few activities last week to encourage our problem-solving and team-work. The Desert Island Survival activity was lots of fun. First the children had to come up with one thing each that they would take from the ship if they had to jump into a lifeboat. From that list, they then had to work together to prioritise which things were the most important, and explain their reasons why. For the record, the two most important items that made the final vote were:
1. A flair.
2.A bottle of water.
Our next discussion might be how we would make one bottle of water go around 24 people?!! But as one person suggested, at least then you would have a container for collecting rain water. Great thinking!!!!

Have a great week everybody.  Regards, Markelle Ward J

Saturday 6 May 2017

Term 2, Week 2

Room 4 Newsletter:  Term 2, Week 2

Sunday 7th May, 2017

This week we begin the Sacramental Programme for 2017 in our Parish. If you would like your child to undertake this programme, please register their name and details with Father Pat McGettigan.
Term 2:  Sacrament of Reconciliation
Term 3:  Sacrament of Confirmation
Term 4: Sacrament of First Holy Communion

These sacramental celebrations are an important part of our children’s faith journey, and can be undertaken from Year 4 onwards. This Thursday, 11th May, there will be a Parent Meeting at Father Pat’s place at 7pm. Your child is required to attend this meeting with you. This will be followed by four liturgy sessions which take place within the 9 am Mass each Sunday. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is scheduled for Tuesday 27th June at 6 pm. Please do not hesitate to ask Father Pat or myself any questions if you need more information.


Important dates coming up:
· Monday 8th May: Monday Whole School Prayer, 9 am in the Church. Please join us.
· Swimming: Tuesday 9th May & Thursday 11th May. Come prepared with all your gear. On Tuesday we will leave for the pool at 12.15 pm, and on Thursday we will leave for the pool at 1.15 pm. Well done for such good organisation last week!
· Wednesday 10th May: Parish/School Mass in the Church at 9 am, led by Room 4.
· Thursday evening at 7pm: Parent meeting for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, at Father Pats.

Room 4 Writing:
We have begun various projects in Room 4 this term to develop our Writing and Keyboarding skills.
1.           The first is Narrative writing. The children made an excellent start on their stories last week after some initial brainstorming and sharing of ideas. When these have been completed and edited, some writing will come home for publishing by email, like we did with the holiday stories at the beginning of the year. I would appreciate if you could support your child to key-in as much of their own stories as possible. Keyboarding is an excellent skill to build confidence in the presentation and publishing of their work.
2.          Information Reports: We have also begun reading and researching a Pacific nation (in groups) using books, COEC resources, maps, and the internet. There are two parts to this Report  project – one is the ICT component with lots of opportunities to research and google their topic and pictures, with the information being presented as a poster. The other is the written version of the report, which will encourage sorting of ideas into paragraphs, using their own technical and topic-related vocabulary, and editing their writing in their books.
Both of these writing projects have cross-curriculum links to Reading, R.E., Science, ICT, and Social Science because of their focus on the effects of Climate Change, developing an awareness of other places and cultures, and presenting information in both print and digital media.


Have a great week everybody.  Regards, Markelle Ward J

Week 10, Term 2

Wow, we are at the end of the Term! I have loved teaching the children in Room 4 for the last two terms and I look forward to my last week...