The Last Post - 2013

Room 5 on our last day of the 2013 school year

Another year has flown by! A big thank you to everyone for your support this year. These children have all worked really hard and have made great progress across the curriculum as well as socially. It has been wonderful to see the confidence in their ability grow as well. Thank you for allowing me to teach your children this year. A special thank you, too, for all the lovely gifts I received this week - I have been spoilt.

Have a relaxing and safe holiday - keep up the reading and Mathletics.



Today Sienna received a certificate in recognition of her beautiful handwriting. Ka pai, Sienna.

Term 4 Week 9

On Friday we presented the last of our plays for 2013. I am very impressed with what the children have learnt through preparing for and presenting plays. The enthusiasm, creativity and energy that has gone into this part of the curriculum is amazing. The highlight has been the growth in their confidence in being in front of an audience.
Ka pai, Room 5! You are all awesome.

Rebecca, Won Jeong, Eve and Erin

Thea, Poppy, Daniel and Liam

Rheubyn, Xavier, Elspeth, Harry, Jack, Conor and Asher

Jonathan, George, Rata, Sienna, Amelia K, Amelia M, Libby and Ruaridh

We now look forward to the last week of the 2013 school year. It will be a busy week with assembly, Year 3 Graduation, prize giving, school mass and farewells. Please note the following dates and times:

Tuesday 17 December 9:15am for Year 3 parents only - Year 3 graduation in the school hall (please bring a small plate of food to share for morning tea)

Wednesday 18 December 6:30pm for all - final school mass in the church - children wear uniform and sit with their parents

Thursday 19 December 12:30pm School finishes - reports (for some), 2014 class placements and stationery lists are handed out

Term 4 Week 6

Makahni and Liam waiting to get into the pool

Week 6 is now over. It has been a full-on week with swimming in the mornings and production practice in the afternoons. Thank you for your support in getting your child to school in time to catch the bus to the pool and with all their swimming gear. I have enjoyed watching the children's progress at swimming.



Here's some more of our 'All About Arthur' poems:

In Thailand Thea met a terrible tiger teaching turtles how to tiptoe.

Her name was Teddy the terrible Tiptoe Tiger.
She tends to talk too much to Tiffney the Tutu Tiger on the telephone.

In Southern Spain Sienna met a seal.
Her name was Summer. She did six somersaults in the sea.

In America Asher met an ape.
His name was Arthur.

He had amazing eyes.

On Tuesday Harry and Conor were named 'Player of the Day' for their respective Touch Rugby teams. Ka pai, boys, keep playing hard.

Next Wednesday is Production Day. We will be having a dress rehearsal on Monday. If you have not already brought your costume to school, please bring it on Monday. On Wednesday we will be going to the Aurora Centre for our final practise. Tickets are on sale at the school office - $6 each.

Enjoy your weekend - no doubt the children will sleep well.

Term 4 Week 5

At today's school assembly George received a certificate.

Ka pai, George, we are proud of you.

On Sunday Rata and Sienna competed in the Fun Triathalon at South Hagley. They each received a certificate. Ka pai girls.

This morning Simon from the Burnside Tennis Club taught us some fun games using a tennis racquet and a tennis ball. Check out these photos of us playing the games. We will have another tennis session tomorrow. Bring sports shoes to change into and girls might like to bring shorts to wear during tennis.

Playing 'Crabs'

Harriet

Elspeth

Makahni and Xavier

Looking ahead to Week 6 - we will be swimming every morning. A yellow notice was sent home today. This has all the swimming details you need. Please ask if you have any questions. The bottom piece of the notice only needs to be returned if you are able to help with swimming. We do need Dads/Grandads/Uncles to help the boys get dressed after their swims as the (female) teachers cannot go into the male change rooms. Of course Mums/Grandmas/Aunties are welcome as well.

There is no spelling homework this week, but there are Basic Facts to learn for a test on Thursday.

Principal's Award

Today Sienna received a Principal's Award for her handwriting. Ka rawe, Sienna, you have beautiful handwriting.

Term 3 Week 2 'Star of the Week'

This week's 'Star of the Week' is Poppy.

Ka pai, Poppy, it's great to have you in Room 13.

Today Liam turned 7. We sang 'Happy Birthday' and wished him all the best for the coming year.

In our Religious Education lessons we have been learning about creation. We compared the bible story of creation with the Maori story of Rangi and Papa. We have drawn our own pictures of creation. Check out our painting and some of our finished art works.

Rata, Jonathan, Erin and Xavier

Libby, Liam and Conor

Poppy, Won Jeong and Harry

Sienna

Amelia K

Conor

Have a great weekend - all the best to our sporting stars.

Term 3 Week 1 'Star of the Week'

The first 'Star of the Week' for Term 3 is Sienna.

Ka pai, Sienna, it's great to have you in Room 13.

It's been great to see everyone this week and to catch up on the holiday happenings. Here's some of our recounts:

The most worthwhile thing I did in the holidays was going to Gore. In Gore I stayed on the farm. I was jumping off the trailer onto the grass and dirt while the motorbike was still going. It hurt a bit but it was fun. 
Daniel

The thing I would never do again is go on a treasure hunt with my Mum. We had to do ten levels. We started at Level Seven. I would never do it again because it took us two hours.
Makahni

The funniest thing that happened to me in the holidays was when my family went to Wanaka. We went to Puzzle World. There was a room that tilted to the side. My Mum was going to take a picture of my sister, my friends and me on a bar. I was holding onto the bar and Mum said to let go. I let go and fell over. My sister and friends laughed at me. 
Amelia K

This week we have started talking about our topic, Early New Zealand. Today we visited the Room 1 display. We were able to touch lots of olden day things like bellows, irons, heavy pots and other cooking utensils. We have formed our Inquiry Groups and already have lots of ideas about what we want to learn. We are looking forward to finding out lots of interesting things about life in NZ last century.

Term 3 Week 1

Welcome back to school for another busy term. It was great to see everyone today and to catch up on the holidays. Sounds like everyone has been busy.

Today George received a Gold Mathletics certificate at the school assembly.

Congratulations, George, this is a fantastic effort.

Yesterday Poppy competed in a gymnastic competition. She received two ribbons and a gold medal. Ka pai, Poppy, we are proud of you.






Ruaridh played soccer during the holidays. He received several certificates, including a 'Player of the Day'. Ka pai, Ruaridh.





Last term Thea, Rata and Sienna read a book about scarecrows. During the holidays they made their own scarecrow. Come in to our room to check it out.





A few notes for the beginning of a new term:
*School starts at 8:45am. Children are expected to be at school in time to complete their morning routines before this time. We finish at 2:50pm and Junior Syndicate children should be collected from the classroom. No child is to play on the playground unless directly supervised by the adult taking them home. This is for the children's safety. Thank you for your co-operation with this.
*All reading books, including library books, MUST be transported inside a reading folder/library bag to protect the books. Last term we had several books ruined due to books being put directly into rucksacks then drink bottles leaking. Please ensure your child returns their reader in their reading folder each day. Thank you.
*Library day remains on Mondays. Children must return their book before a new one is issued. Children should put their library books on the classroom book shelf before lunchtime on a Monday.
*Our topic for this term is 'Early New Zealand'. This is potentially a big topic so this week we will be thinking about what we want to learn and narrowing down our focus. If you have any interesting items you would be happy to share with the class, please bring them along. (Please name everything so they can be returned to the right person.) If any parent or grandparent wishes to come along and talk to children about what life was like for them when they were children, please let me know so we can arrange a suitable time.
*On Friday the children will be tested on Essential Lists 4, 5, 6 and 7. Please help your child to learn as many words as they can this week.

Room 13 News

Today Sienna brought in the gold medal and certificate she won at a recent ballet competition. Congratulations Sienna.

Today we learnt about what transparent, translucent and opaque mean. Transparent means that light can shine straight through, translucent means that light can shine through, and opaque means that light cannot shine through.
We looked at different materials and predicted whether they were transparent, translucent or opaque. We then tested each one by holding it up to the light to check our prediction. Most of our predictions were correct but there were some items that tricked us.
We now have another question: Do some colours let more light through than other colours?

Chris, George, Makahni

Harry, Conor, Xavier, Amelia M and Eve

Term 2 Week 7 'Star of the Week'

This week's 'Star of the Week' is Amelia M.

Ka pai, Amelia, it's great to have you in Room 13.

This morning two reading groups presented plays:

The Kakapo Group presented 'The Best Chef'

Isobel, Ruaridh, Sienna, Lachlan, Poppy, Amelia M, Amelia K, Liam

And the Fantail Group presented 'Androcles and the Lion'

Rebecca, Libby, Eve, Erin, Chris

Reminder: Junior School Mass this Sunday 23 June at 9am. Meet in the Parish Centre at 8:45am.

Birthday and Other News

Today Amelia M turned 7. We sang 'Happy Birthday' and wished Amelia all the best as a 7 year old.



This morning we presented certificates to Daniel, Jonathan, Sienna and Rata for taking part in the recent Reading Crusade. Congratulations to you all - keep up the good reading.



Mr H has been teaching us to write poetry about colours. Today we wrote a poem together. It is called Green. Then we each choose a colour and wrote our own poems. We are going to publish these in the next few days. In the meantime check out our class one:

Green

By Room 13

Green is the colour of grass

Green is the guardian of grass

Green is the fourth colour of the rainbow

Green is the colour of spirit

Green tastes like crunchy cabbage

Green smells like freshly mown grass

Green sounds like a green grasshopper

Green feels like green leaves tumbling down on your hands

Green looks like the green sea

Green makes me excited

Green is awesome!

For some interesting activities and light experiments check out the 'Light' link under ICT and Other Sites on the right hand side of the blog.

Term 2 Week 4

At today's school assembly Sienna received a certificate.

Ka pai, Sienna, we are proud of you.

Yesterday Elspeth turned 7. Today we sang 'Happy Birthday' to her and wished her all the best for the coming year.

Jack, Isobel and Chris received Mathletics certificates for their efforts last week. Jack was also named Mathlete of the Week. Ka pai.

This afternoon the Pukeko Reading Group presented the play 'Too Many Mangoes' to Room 13 and Room 8. They were amazing - look out Hollywood!

Amelia M, George, Erin, Thea, Sienna and Rata

Today's swimming sessions were fantastic - it certainly helped having all the children come to school in their togs. 

Please note that there will be no spelling this week due to swimming.

Room 13 News

Last week Sienna was invited to meet The Crusaders and she was able to ask Cory Flynn what books he read as child. He said he liked Hairy Maclary stories. Here's a photo of Sienna with Cory Flynn and Zac Guilford.

Remember to wear gumboots and a rain coat and bring slippers for the classroom - the forecast for this week is not good.

Term 2 Week 1 'Star of the Week'

The first 'Star of the Week' for Term 2 is Elspeth.

Ka pai, Elspeth, it's great to have you in Room 13.

Today Sienna turned 7. We sang Happy Birthday to her and wished her all the best as a 7 year old.

Ruaridh and Conor

The Room 13 children have worked very hard this week. As well as settling back into school and doing the routine curriculum activities they have completed a maths test and a spelling test. I am very impressed with how they are 'Stepping Up for Success'. This afternoon we had choosing time. We enjoyed being with each other, playing games, creating, taking photos and using the computers. Check out these photos:

Won Jeong and Elspeth

Won Jeong, Amelia M and Eve

Makahni and Xavier

Libby

We have up graded our school email system which, among other things, enables the newsletter to be emailed to every family. Please let me know if you wish to receive the newsletter via email or would prefer to continue to receive a hard copy each Thursday. 

Looking ahead to next week:

Gumboots and slippers and a raincoat are essential items on wet days. Children may wish to bring an older pair of track pants to wear while playing soccer/rugby at break times. These are not to be worn to school but can be put on at morning tea or lunch times and taken off before coming back into the classroom.

Term 1 Week 11

This is the last week for Term 1 - where has the time gone?!

Today Amelia M received a certificate at the School Assembly.

Ka pai, Amelia, we are proud of you.

The top three Mathletes for Week 10 are: Jack, Sienna and Won Jeong.

Mathlete of the Week Makahni

Winter sport started on Saturday. 15 Room 13 people play winter sport. Check out Xavier, George and Thea in their Marist Rugby uniform: (thanks to Xavier's Dad for the photo)

Thank you to those who attended the Student Led Conferences this afternoon. It is great to be able to share your child's learning and progress with you. You can be proud of your children and the effort they are putting into their learning.

Note: There will be no boys Kapa Haka at 8am tomorrow as Matua is going on school camp.