Reading night

A huge thank you to the 2 out of 7 Parents who came to the Year 2 reading night last night. 

From the 4 classes involved we had 13 families represented. 

The evening was aimed at providing parents with information, support and tools to help you support your child in their learning at home.  

I will be sending home the handout from the workshop. It includes some prompts to encourage children to figure out 'tricky words' all by themselves.  There is also a list of words that children need to learn by sight.  The more of these words they can recognise instantly the easier reading becomes for them.  

If you have any questions, please come and see me, or email me.

The magic word for reading the blog is 'Jesus'.
There will be a small prize for any child who whispers it to Whaea Eliana by Thursday morning.  

Shhhhhh! Don't tell anyone :)

Week 9- Holy week and the last week of Term 1

Swimming everyday this week: 

Togs, towel and goggles.

Monday: 

Reading Night in Room 10 for Parents of Year 2 Children who are at risk- 5:15pm-6:00pm. 

Tuesday: 

Stations of the Cross Liturgy in the Church- 10.00am. All welcome.

Library day.

Wednesday: 

8.45- School Singing.

World Youth Day Fundraiser- Great Easter egg hunt at St Mary's School grounds- 12.30pm during lunchtime. $2.00 to participate.

Thursday: 

Washing of the Feet Liturgy in the Hall- 10am. All welcome.  

Golden time: We will have our Golden Time on Thursday this week as there is no school on Friday. We will be doing Easter craft and making Easter chocolates!

School finishes at 3.00pm.

Friday: No school. Good Friday

Reading Night - Monday 5:15-6:00. 

Rooms 8, 9, 10 & 12 are having a reading evening to give you ways to help your child at home in reading. This is targeted towards our children who are below or just below in reading. These children received an invitation on Friday to bring home. Please let me know on Monday morning if you are able to attend this.

Reading
In addition to our Liturgies and Holy Week activities, we will be completing Portfolio assessment tasks and reading and maths testing.  Reading this week may be a book of your child's choice from their reading box, or a poem. 

Holiday reading logs will be come home towards the end of the week. Please continue to read with and to your child during the holidays. If you are looking for books for your child to read, the Rotorua Public Library has readers that are similar to the ones we have at school. Remember to fill out our class reading log at the same time. 

Maths
Thank you to those parents who have set up a Maths Whizz account for their child.
I allow the children to use this during maths time, and it will be a great tool for Maths practice and learning at home during the holidays.

Term 2 
Term 2 starts on Monday the 20th of April at 8:45am. Children will need to be in winter uniform. Velcro shoes are great for juniors.

The process of appointing a new teacher has not yet been finalised, so I will remain in Room 9 until the new teacher is able to take over. 
Whoever they appoint is so lucky!  Room 9 children are enthusiastic about their learning, kind, happy and hard-working. I am really going to miss them!

Finally, I would like to say a huge thank you for all of your support with your child's learning and your kind comments to me throughout the term.

Have a safe and enjoyable holiday.
God Bless.
Eliana :)

Church Services

Holy Thursday: 7pm St Mary’s

Good Friday Stations of the Cross 10am - St Mary’s

Good Friday: 3pm St Mary’s 3pm St Michael’s

Easter Vigil Mass: 7pm St Mary’s

Easter Sunday 

8am St Michael’s

10.00am St Mary’s 

5.00pm St Mary’s

Friday fun

We had a very busy Friday!

Philippines Caritas Lent appeal
Thank you very much for your support .
The children came dressed in the colours of the Philippines flag, and a good amount of money was raised for the Philippines.

The two best dressed students chosen from our class by the judges were Mia and Jane. 

Donkey Parade
Next we had our annual donkey parade to celebrate Palm Sunday. 

This was the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The people of Jerusalem had heard Jesus' wonderful stories and seen his amazing miracles, so they were very excited!
Some people spread their coats across the road for Him. Others waved palm branches as if to welcome a king. The huge crowd of people stood along the road shouting "Hosanna to the King! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!". 

The children at St Mary's were lucky enough to see a real donkey too.

 

 

Rice lunch

Then we had rice for lunch with the rest of the school.

 
 

Golden time

After that we had wheels day for Golden time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Religious Education (RE) books

Last, we had a look through our RE books to make sure they were up to date. Please look through your child's RE book with them and write something positive to them about their work.

It is really lovely to have RE as a core subject in our curriculum at St Mary's. I'm sure your child enjoys RE and learning about God. 

Can RE books please be returned to school on Monday.

Reading Workshop for Parents

Reading Workshop for Parents of Room 9, 10, 8 and 12

Monday 30th March 5:15-6:00pm in Room 10

You are invited to join us at our reading workshop for Parents.

We will talk about our testing, show you how we teach reading at 

school and give you some tips and tricks for supporting young readers at home.  

Please see me or email me if you have any questions.

If you can't make it, I am happy to go through the power point with you at a time that suits.

Otherwise, see you there.

Eliana, Karen, Heather, Bernie and Michelle.

Week 8!

Monday: We we will have all of the school playgrounds to ourselves because the Middle and Senior School have Swimming Sports at The Aquatic Centre all day ;) 
Tuesday: Library day.
Lunchtime gymnastics.
Wednesday: 
8.45- School Singing.
9am- Leg It with Adam.
10am Annunciation Liturgy. All welcome.
Thursday: 
Lunchtime gymnastics.
Kapa Haka- 2pm.
Friday: 
Mufti day. Dress in the colours of the Philippines. Please bring a gold coin donation for Caritas. There are prizes for best dressed!

Palm Sunday Parade. 10am.

Rice lunch: All children will receive rice for lunch. This is to remind them that some children around the world have only a bowl of rice for their whole day's food intake. Junior children can still bring morning tea.
For medical reasons some children may need their required diet, so just let me know. 
Having a school-wide rice lunch day fits in really well with Thinking of our global community and Lent.

Spelling test.

Golden time: Wheels day! Bring your scooter/ skateboard/bike/roller skates/slider. 

Hi Parents.
It's week 8 already! Hopefully you have all had a lovely weekend and your children are ready for some great learning as we head towards the end of the Term. 
Here we go...
*Testing - this week I will test the children's reading levels.  This means that they may not have read their book with me prior to bringing it home.  Please support them by discussing the cover, walking through the book and checking comprehension at the end by asking them some questions about the story.   
If you are concerned your child is not where they should be, reading is the best way to become a better reader.  
*RE - this week the childrens RE books will come home.  Please go through the books and discuss the contents with your child. Incomplete worksheets indicate times when your child was absent from the lesson. 
*Portfolios - We have a few assessments for portfolios to get through before the end of the term, so the children will be busy bees this week. These Portfolios will be sent home in Term 2 and are a great record of your child's learning at school.

Maths

Most of the children are doing maths practice at home on the maths websites from our blog. That's so great to hear- thank you for your support in this!

An awesome maths website is Maths-Whizz.
The middle school has funding to use this site, but if you go to:
http://www.whizz.com/
you can trial it for free!  

It is:

• The alternative to a private tutor in maths.
• Caters to your child’s needs.
• Builds confidence, enjoyment and ability.
• Used by thousands of parents and schools worldwide

Reading books
A huge thank you to Cherie Overbeay, Destin's mum, who comes in every Monday afternoon to return all of the reading books our class takes home to read each week. This is a very time consuming job, so I really appreciate your help Cherie :)

Could you please have another hunt around the house for reading books. Many books haven't come back to school this term, and the book shelves in the resource room are looking a bit bare. 

Reminders
No hat, no play.
Later eating times for morning tea and lunch again this week.

Have a blessed week.
Eliana

Life Education Bus

This week we had our last of 2 lessons in the Life Education bus with Bernie. 
They were so much fun!

The focus of our first lesson was on kindness, how actions affect others, and identifying different emotions and why people might be feeling these.

 

 

Our second lesson was based around how to be healthy and happy. 
We looked at what we need to do to keep our bodies healthy, as well as the different body parts and their role.

      
     

      



Each child was also very lucky to receive a pencil, rubber, sticker and booklet from The Life Education Trust. 

Look at your beautiful blessings with Harold!