Week 8- Updated :)

MONDAY 30TH NOVEMBER

Student-led Conferences- 3.15pm- 7pm

TUESDAY 1ST DECEMBER

The library is now closed.

Christmas activities begin.

WEDNESDAY 2ND DECEMBER

THURSDAY 3RD DECEMBER

FRIDAY 4TH DECEMBER

SATURDAY 5TH DECEMBER

Rotorua Christmas Parade. Children may come dressed as Nativity characters such as angels, shepherds…. for our school's float.

A note will go home this week for children who are interested in being a part of this. 

Hi Parents

   

Thank you again to those who came on our Museum trip on Friday. We learnt a lot and had a great time. 

The photo clip of our trip is below.

Student-Led Conferences

Our Student-Led Conferences are tomorrow- Monday the 30th of November from 3.15- 7pm. 

If you are unable to make it tomorrow I am happy to make it for another day before the end of the term.

The idea is that the children discuss their learning and next steps with you. It is their opportunity to show off some of their great progress. Siblings and grandparents are most welcome to come along too.

Each child has tabbed two pieces of work in each of their books to share with you.

They will have some prompt sheets for them to use, and there will also be parent prompts at each table for you too. 

Make sure to be positive and encouraging of your child.

Student-led Conferences are not parent/teacher interviews, so I will not be able to talk with you about your child’s achievement and progress on this occasion.

Your child’s end of year report will be sent home next Friday inside their portfolio of learning.

Together, these should give you a very clear indication of how your child is progressing and achieving.

A lot of thought and work has gone into both of these!

Our learning

In Reading I will continue with guided reading lessons for our earlier readers, and an independent program for our more able readers. 21 of the 26 children in our class are reading Gold or higher, and the remaining 5 have made outstanding progress! 

Please keep up the reading at home. Also start thinking about how you will maintain your child’s reading during the Christmas break. It is so important to keep up the momentum while on such a long break from school! 

The Library has some great readers available for all ages.

In writing we will be completing our narrative assessment task. The children have great imaginations and have really enjoyed the freedom this genre allows them. We have some amazing writers in our class who are well and truly ready for the middle school.

In Maths we will continue to solve word problems by using different maths strategies. During Student-Led Conferences your child will be able to show you just how they do this. 

Christmas

Our focus on Christmas will start on Tuesday (the 1^st of December!). We will be learning about Christmas symbols and their meaning, The Nativity Story, Christmas stories around the world and doing Christmas craft activities. 

Junior Picnic

We will be having our annual junior picnic next Wednesday. A note will come home about this during the week.

  

Have a great week.

Eliana.

Museum trip

Our Museum trip on PhotoPeach

Museum trip tomorrow

A big thank you to all of our amazing parents and grandparents who are coming to help out on our museum trip tomorrow. We couldn't have gone on the trip without your help!
  
So far we have:

Chris: Davey, Kyle, Fauvaka.  
Lynda: Dylan, CJ, Leon.
Eileen: Max, Navinu, Ryan.  
Jesse's Aunty: Jesse, Sterling, Paul.
Rachel and Mary: Tinky, Mya, Destin, Jayda. 
Eleanor: Emma, Rebecca, Caitlyn.
Vicky: Billy, Jason, Ariel.  
Phil: Madeline, Mia, Savannah. 

Can we please meet in our class at 10am.  
The Museum bus will leave at 10.15.  
The bus is a 60 seater and there will be 50 children going. Some parents have indicated they will meet us there. 
If you decide to come on the bus you may have to stand for the trip. 
We will leave the museum at 12.30.

We are going to do the Amazing race/ Historical trail where they have to find clues around the Government Gardens.

If it is raining we will still be going.
We are really looking forward to our trip!

Reminders:
Sunscreen.
Hat. 
Bottle of water.
A light rain coat if it's wet.

Poetry Recital - Leon

Poetry Recital - CJ

Poetry Recital - Sterling

Poetry Recital - Mia

Poetry Recital - Tinky

Week 7

Swimming every day this week. 12- 12.30pm.

Bring togs, towel, goggles and swimming bag.

MONDAY 23RD NOVEMBER

School flag referendum starts today. Should we change our flag? Why? Why not?

10.30am Church Choir in Room 15.

5.30pm Reading Together.

TUESDAY 24TH NOVEMBER

Library day.

WEDNESDAY 25TH NOVEMBER

THURSDAY 26TH NOVEMBER

Sausage sizzle orders are being taken today for tomorrow.

5.30pm- Thank you to all 2015 sports coaches in the library.

FRIDAY 27TH NOVEMBER

Year 2 visit to the Museum. 10.15am-12.45pm- Parent helpers needed! 

Middle and Senior School Athletics at JPC.

SATURDAY 28TH NOVEMBER

SCHOOL WORKING BEE: 8.00AM -12 NOON. ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED. 

Hi Parents

The children did a wonderful reciting their poems on Thursday. 

I have uploaded these below.

Our school's ICT technician, Jackson, was able to retrieve our reports! He ran an auto recover programme on my computer and they reappeared in my reports folder. Thank you for your prayers.

Your child's report, class placement card for 2016 and next year's stationery list will be sent home on Friday 11 December.

Student Led Conferences/ Student Learning Celebrations

You should have received your child's invitation to their Student Led Conference. 

These will take place on Monday 30 November from 3.15pm to 7.00pm. 

The conferences will be in our classroom and bookings will be set at 5 minute intervals. This does not mean that each conference is only limited to 5 minutes- you may take as much time as you need. Other parents and students will also be present in the classroom at the same time.

Bookings for your time slot may now be accessed:

www.schoolinterviews.co.nz

Code: 6ARLU

This week your child will be practicing:

1. Showing their family where to sign the visitors book.

2. Introducing their family to their teacher. 

3. Sitting their family down and sharing their progress and achievement in their portfolio and books.

4. Showing their family their work around the room.

5. Talking about their holiday learning goals.

Student Led Conferences are exciting and the children really enjoy spending time with their parents, celebrating their learning over the year. 

I hope you can come.

Museum trip- This Friday

This Friday we are going on our Museum trip by bus, so we need at least 5 parent helpers. Please let me know if you are able to help. We have only had 1 parent offer to help so far.
Our class and room 8 will be picked up from school at 10.15am and delivered to the Rotorua Museum for a 10.30am start.

Each parent will have a small group of children to work with while we are there.

While one class does the Amazing Race in groups with parent helpers, the other class will be doing the session on Symbols in Maori Art.
Then we will swap over.
We will be picked up from the Museum at 12.30pm and delivered to school at 12.45pm.

Portfolios

This week we will be completing a few end of year portfolio assessments so that your child can show you their progress in some curriculum areas. 

Portfolios may not have all of this term's assessments at the time of Student Led Conferences as we will still have 2 more weeks to complete these.

Next week we will be starting Advent, so things are going to start getting very exciting within the classroom!

Have a lovely week.

Eliana

Poetry Recital - Kyle

Poetry Recital - Jesse

Poetry Recital - Ryan

Poetry Recital - Billy

Poetry Recital - Jayda

Poetry Recital - Jason

Poetry Recital - Mya

Poetry Recital - Max

Poetry Recital - Ariel

Poetry Recital - Madeline

Poetry Recital - Dylan

Poetry Recital - Rebecca

Poetry Recital - Jane

Poetry Recital -Fauvaka

Poetry Recital- Destin

Poetry Recital- Paul

Poetry Recital- Navinu

Poetry Recital- Caitlyn

Poetry Recital- Savannah

Poetry Recital- Davey

Poetry Recital- Emma

St Mary's Ahurei perfomance photos

St Mary's performed beautifully at The Ahurei last night.

Week 6

MONDAY 16TH NOVEMBER.
1.30pm Kapa Haka practice in the hall.
5.30pm Reading Together Programme- Staffroom. 
6.00pm Meeting for all Year 2 parents.

TUESDAY 17TH NOVEMBER.

Library day.
1.30pm Kapa haka Practice

WEDNESDAY 18TH NOVEMBER.

8.45am School Singing

8.30-10.00am Kapa Haka Ahurei practice at the Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre.    

2.30pm- Parents Information meeting on Student Led Conferences- Staff room.

7.00pm St Mary's Ahurei performance at the Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre.

THURSDAY 19TH NOVEMBER.

8.45am Class poem recitals.

FRIDAY 20TH NOVEMBER.

No sausage sizzle.
Middle and senior school Athletics sports day at JPC. 
No School assembly.

SATURDAY 21 NOVEMBER

SCHOOL WORKING BEE: 8.00AM -12 NOON. ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

Hi Parents

Having completed the running records (reading tests), recount writing sample and maths testing on all of the children, I am really pleased with the results. Thank you for supporting your child's learning at home.

Almost all of the children in our class are working at or above (and well above) The National Standards in Reading, Writing and Maths. 

It is important that we celebrate the progress your child has made, not only their achievements.

I have a busy weekend planned writing reports about your beautiful children and telling them how wonderful they are, so here are this week's notices...

Notice for all Parents of 2015 Year 2 students

On Monday night the school is holding an information evening for parents who have children who will be in Year 3 classes at St Mary’s in 2016.

When: Monday 16 November

Where: Room 14

Time: 6pm - 6.45pm

Purpose: To provide parents with a better understanding of why and how  students use Chromebooks and Google Apps accounts in our Year 3-4 classrooms.

Some common questions parents have are:

Why have we done this?

What is a Chromebook? What can you do on them? Why this particular device? Can my child bring a different device?

What is a Google Apps for Education account? Why and how are students using this to help them with their learning? Aren't Year 3 students too young for this?

Is it worth buying a device for my child? How much do they use it in class? What are the benefits of bringing a personally owned device to school? 

Where can I buy one? How much do they cost? Which model should I get?

We hope you are able to attend.

Class poetry recitals
This Thursday at 8.45am the children will be presenting their poetry recital to the rest of the class.  
I will be recording these on the iPad and uploading them to the blog, however you are welcome to come along and watch.
The girls were given "Caterpillar garden" and the boys were given "Creepy crawly".

WORKING BEE

On Saturday the school is having a working bee to complete a few jobs around the school. A list of jobs that need to be done was sent home last week. If you are able to help, please indicate this on the form and have your child return it to school.

Museum trip- Friday 27 November
Next Friday we are going on our Museum trip by bus, so we need at least 5 parent helpers. Each parent will have a small group of children to work with while we are there.
Please let me know if you are able to help.

Our class and room 8 will be picked up from school at 10.15am and delivered to the Rotorua Museum for a 10.30am start.

While one class does the Amazing Race in groups with parent helpers, the other class will be doing the session on Symbols in Maori Art. 
Then we will swap over.

We will be picked up from the Museum at 12.30pm and delivered back to school at 12.45pm.

Student Led Conferences
These are going to be held on Monday the 30th of November between 3.15 and 7.00pm.
Student Led Conferences are exciting and the children really enjoy spending time with their parents, celebrating their learning over the year. 

The booking system for Student Led Conferences is still being set up by the school, so I will let you know when this is done. 

You should have received the Parents’ Guide - What is a Student Led Conference? Please read the brochure carefully and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to see me. 

A Parents’ information meeting on Student led conferences will take place in the staff room at 2.30pm this Wednesday 18th November. Go along and enjoy a slice of cake and a cuppa with Mr Macmillan- he may be able to answer any questions you might have about student led conferences. 

Head lice

There has been a few reports of head lice within our classroom. Please check your child's hair and treat it if necessary.

Coding for kids
In the first week of December our school will be participating in "an hour of code".  Coding is what makes it possible for people to create computer software, apps and websites. Your browser, the apps on your phone, Facebook, and this website – they’re all made with code.

A website I thought our class might explore is Tynker. It's fun and free to register. You might like to register your child so they can have a tinker on it ;)

Have a lovely week.
Eliana