Week 4

Congratulations  to  The  All  blacks!!!

Monday: 
All Souls/All Saints Liturgy- 10am in Hall.
Reading together programme- 5.30pm in the Library.
Combined Hui for St Mary’s, St Michael’s and JPC whanau groups. JPC Whare- 5.30pm.

Tuesday:
Library day. 

Church Choir Practice- Morning Tea

Kapa haka- 2pm- Ahurei Performance children.

Wednesday:

School Singing- 8.45am. 
Thursday:

Kapa haka- 2pm- Ahurei Performance children.
Friday:

Grandparents/Grandfriends Mass- Details to follow.

Sausage sizzle.

Golden time: to be decided by the class.

Hi Parents

BLACK OUT DAY was well supported by our staff and students on Friday. Everyone looked great in black and lots of goodies were collected for the foodbank. Thank you for your contribution towards this. 

All Saints/Souls Liturgy 

This is a liturgy to remember those close to us who have died. Students will be invited to write down the names of these people if they want to, and place them in a class basket. The basket will be brought forward at the liturgy.

Halloween is a secular holiday that comes the night before All Saints' Day.

All Saints' Day is on November 1, and is dedicated to the saints of the Church, which are all those who have attained heaven. 

All Souls' Day in on November 2, and is dedicated to those who have died and not yet reached heaven.

Grandparents/Grandfriends day

This year's programme will be a little different from previous years. Details will be finalised on Monday, so please check the blog during the week. 

Testing

It's end of year testing time already! 

Reading: Read the story. Retell the story. Answer questions from the story. 

Writing: Recount writing- A fun day with friends.

Maths: Knowledge and Strategy testing.

Because most of the testing is individual, there will be quite a few disruptions to our normal programme this week.

If you are able to help out by reading with individual children or reading groups this week, please let me know. 

Have a great week.

Eliana

Backing The All blacks in the 2015 Rugby World Cup FINAL

Teachers vs Students touch game

For Black out day the teachers played the senior students in a very competitive game of touch.

The teachers won the match 5-4.

Discover China Day

Today we tried steamed dumplings, looked at different Chinese landmarks, kicked Jianzi, learnt how to write ni hao in Chinese and practiced some Kung Fu moves.

 

Week 3- Updated

Monday: No school. Labour Day.

Swimming every day this week. 12- 12.30pm.

Bring togs, towel, goggles and swimming bag.

Tuesday:

Library day. 

Wednesday:

Thursday:

School Rosary 8.45am in the hall. The Junior School is running it this week. 

Friday:

Sausage sizzle.

Black out day- Wear black to school again!

Discover China Day.

Golden time: Wheels day.

Hi everyone.

I hope you have had a lovely long weekend. Well done to The All Blacks who won a very exciting match! 

Mr MacMillan has set another Black out day for this Friday.

School Rosary - Thursday 8:45am.

The Junior School is leading the Rosary this week. A few children have been chosen from our class to read while the rest of us lead the school in prayer.

All friends and family are welcome to come along and pray with us. The Rosary is in the school hall.

Discover China Day - Friday.

On Friday we will be having Discover China Day. Throughout the day the whole school will be participating in different activities that will help us learn about their country, culture and language.

If you are able to help on Friday morning, please let Anne Cato know via email on annec@stmarysrotorua.school.nz or contact her at school.

This year our class has been fortunate to have Ling come in once a week to teach us Mandarin.

Have a great week.
Eliana

Coming up in Week 4

All Saints/Souls Liturgy  

Monday 2nd November, 10am in the church

Grandparents Mass 

Friday 6th November, 9:15am in the church. After Mass Grandparents (and families) are welcome to come and take a look through their grandchildren's classes. 

This will be followed by a morning tea picnic on the school fields and some concert items. 

Testing

Go The All blacks! SEMI FINALS

Black out day this Friday

In support of the All blacks playing in the Rugby World Cup semi final against South Africa this weekend, the whole school is going to have a black out day this Friday.

Children can come to school wearing something black or All blacks supporter gear.

If you support South Africa, you are welcome to wear their colours instead ;)

GO THE ALL BLACKS!

Week 2

Monday: 

Tuesday:

Library day. 
Kapa haka- 2pm. Girls only. 
Wednesday:
School Rosary in the hall- 8.45am. Children can bring in their own rosary beads for this.
Thursday:
Friday:
Holiday Reading log draw. A Chromebook or ipod is up for grabs.
Sausage sizzle.
Golden time: to be decided by the class.

Hi Parents

We had a lovely first week back at school, and were lucky to have fine weather so we could swim each day.  

Holiday reading logs- 100%
Thank you to those children who have returned their holiday reading logs. Some children have read LOTS during the holidays- well done!
We only need 6 more to get 100%.
Can these please be handed to me by Tuesday. 

Reading

This week I will be starting Running Records to ensure your child is reading at the appropriate level, and that I am aware of their particular needs in reading.  

Because this can take some time, particularly on the higher levels, or if I need to try the children on a few levels, we will use most of this week's reading time to complete the testing.  

The books your child brings home this week will have only been shared in buddy reading, so please support them where necessary.

RE

This week we will continue with the rosary. The children are learning the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be and Hail Holy Queen prayers.

Hats

Please ensure your child has a school hat. Hats can be purchased from the Warehouse.  

Starting this week, children who don't have a hat to wear must stay in the shade.

It's starting to get warmer, so it may be time to start putting sunblock on as well.  

If you have not returned the following, can you please return them this week:

·           Religious Education books.

·           Reading logs by Tuesday.

·           Class placement form for 2016. 

Have a lovely week.

Eliana

Important dates for Term 4 

NOVEMBER 2ND. MONDAY.  10AM  ALL SAINTS AND ALL SOULS LITURGY

NOVEMBER 6TH NOVEMBER. 9.15AM GRANDPARENTS’ MASS  AND MORNING TEA.

NOVEMBER 18TH NOVEMBER, AHUREI PERFORMANCE.

NOVEMBER 20TH DECEMBER. SCHOOL ATHLETICS FOR MIDDLE AND SENIOR SCHOOL STUDENTS (JPC).

NOVEMBER 24TH NOVEMBER, 9.00AM INTERSCHOOL ATHLETICS.

NOVEMBER 26TH. THURSDAY. 5.30PM. ‘THANK YOU COACH’ EVENING.

NOVEMBER 27TH. 11.00AM  SCHOOL TRYATHLON (School).

NOVEMBER 30TH AND 1ST DECEMBER. STUDENT LED CONFERENCES

DECEMBER 10TH . 11.00AM SCHOOL PRIZEGIVING.

DECEMBER 10TH. 1.00PM END OF YEAR MASS.

DECEMBER 16TH. WEDNESDAY. MISSIONING OF OUR YEAR 6 STUDENTS

DECEMBER 16TH. WEDNESDAY. MIDDAY. SCHOOL FINISHES FOR 2015.

DECEMBER 17TH &18TH THURS, FRI. TEACHER ONLY DAYS. MARK OSBOURNE.

Shake Out

At 9.15 today the whole school took part in Shake Out- a national earthquake drill.

We had to DROP, COVER and HOLD.

 

 

 

Term 4- Week 1

Swimming every day this week. 12- 12.30pm.             

Bring togs, towel, goggles and swimming bag. 

Monday: 

Tuesday:

Library day. 
Wednesday:
School Rosary- 8.45am.
Thursday:
Kapa haka- 2pm.
Friday:
Sausage sizzle.
Golden time: to be decided by the class.

Hello and welcome to another great term! 

I hope you have all had a restful break and are looking forward to school starting back. We have 10 weeks this term.

Holiday Reading Logs- 100%

I know you have all been keeping up your reading over the holidays. Can all reading logs please be returned to me by this Friday. There is a chrome book up for grabs for the winner of the school reading log draw. We will also have a class reading log draw too.

Swimming

This term our class will be swimming every day on ODD weeks starting tomorrow, Monday. Please ensure your child has their togs, towel, goggles and swimming bag. If for some reason your child cannot swim, please let me know with the reason by email or a written note.

Every child who has their swimming gear tomorrow will get a tally point.

Summer Uniform 

It's time to wear summer uniforms again. SCHOOL HATS ARE COMPULSORY. If children don't have a hat to wear, they have to stay in shaded areas.

Please make sure everything is clearly named.

Learning

Our concept of focus for the term is  Symbolism: Messages within images. 

We will be learning about the signs and symbols we see on the road, in shops, at school and in church.  How do symbols talk to us? What is a symbol? How can symbols be used? Why is it important to have the same understanding of some symbols?

Literacy

Reading and writing will encompass this term's concept. 

We will be reciting poems, putting on puppet shows and presenting plays.

We will be looking at Narratives and telling stories, and will identify the symbols that give us information and help us make sense of stories.

Maths

In Number, we will continue working through the learning goals for Stage 4 (circles) and Stage 5 (Triangles, Squares, Pentagons).

We will also be going over our basic facts, and learning how to use this knowledge to solve number and word problems with numbers 0-100.

Your child should know:

- Number pairs that make 10 (1+9, 2+8 etc).

- "Ten and" number facts (10+2=12, 15-5-10).

- Doubles to 20 and the matching halves (5+5= 10, ½ of 12 is 6).

- Addition and subtraction facts to 10 (5+3, 6+2, 8-2, 9-6) then 20.

It is very important for your child to instantly know these basic facts. 

If they know that 6+4=10, they can use this knowledge to help them figure out 56+4 and 60+40.

We are also learning about Transformation (Geometry). We will be looking at reflection, translation and rotation.

We will find out what these strange words mean and make patterns and pictures to show that we know how they work.

RE

We will be learning about the Rosary over the first few weeks and then moving on to the Holy Spirit. We will talk about the words 'believe' and 'faith', and discuss ways that the Holy Spirit works in our lives and through us.

Trip

This term the Year 2's plan on going on a trip that somehow ties into this term's concept-yay! I will keep you posted.

I look forward to catching up with you all tomorrow. 

Have a wonderful week.

Eliana