week 6 term 3 2022

This week's adventures...

Monday: Dance with Mrs Trask.
             Library 

Tuesday: Fluro Golf 

Wednesday: online chess

Thursday: Taupo Chess

Friday: Room 14s assembly!!!!

            Rotorua Chess

We have finally learned our dance from walking on stage to walking off stage - it's been a lot of work. The next few weeks we will be polishing our performance. A video of our dance has been shared with the kids in our term 3 photos folder so that they can practice at home. However, most of the kids really want to keep it as a surprise for you. If your child locks themselves in their room and won't come out but you can hear Blue Suede Shoes - all is well. Just a month until showtime!

This week we are going to perform our poems for the class. Mrs T, Miss M and Mrs K will be acting as judges. We will be looking for clear, expressive voices, nice rhythm and a touch of personality to hook the audience. It is not a play so we don't need big exaggerated actions. We will continue to work on these at school but if you could give your kids a chance to practice in front of you, that will make things much calmer. Thanks.

We have a number of kids involved in the fluro golf tournament and chess competitions this week.  I'm sure that they will have an absolute blast and do us proud. 

This Friday Room 14 finally gets to lead an assembly.  We have a couple of very important jobs to do during the assembly (can't tell you what they are yet - it's a secret) and we have been craving the spotlight for months. We will be spending quite a bit of time prepping for our starring roles but kids may want to practice these lines at home, too.  You are welcome to join us, if you are able - Friday 2:05pm.

We are still wearing masks in class. I know some of the kids are over it. Trying to teach in a mask is not my idea of fun either BUT if doing something as simple as wearing a mask helps to keep our beautiful St Mary's whanau safe then that's what we're doing. I have spares on my table and the kids are welcome to grab one when they need it. However, I seem to have gone through about 120 masks so far this term. It's much easier to monitor whose mask is whose when they all look different - if your child still has their own masks at home can you please remind them to pack them each day. The budget and the environment thank you.

We are celebrating Grandparents Day on Friday 28th October at 9.00 am. This usually involves a lovely mass and a fun day. Grandparents and Grandfriends are invited to join us for this special day so you might want to give a little notice.

Helpful tech hints to keep your Chromebook running smoothly

- charge your device every night (power cords at school are a nightmare!)

- clear cache and cookies every now and then

- close all windows and shut down your device every week

- don't install extensions and apps (they slow down the device and cause issues)

- keep chrome updated

Spring starts this week!  

Wahoo!

Week 5 Term 3 2022

There's lots happening over the next few weeks.  No blurb from me, too much to do - straight into it...

This week 

Monday:  Dance with Mrs Trask

Tuesday:

Wednesday: Tough Guy/Gal challenge, cake stall at morning tea time.

Thursday: Dance with Mrs Trask (make up session), Chess tournament

Friday: ???

Literacy: 

We are looking at persuasive writing. What words are used in persuasive writing? How can we write to persuade? As part of this we will be trying to convince people the Rotorua is the best place ever - so we're going to do a little research into fabulous destinations etc within the Rotorua area.

We are also beginning to prepare for our poetry recital competition. Kids will need to choose a poem to recite aloud for an audience - it needs to be one that they can remember and the focus will be on how clearly and confidently they speak (we don't need/want lots of crazy actions). If you have a poem in mind - great! Otherwise, we'll help kids find their poems but ask that you give them extra chances to practice for you at home.

Maths:

We are continuing with fractions. We want to know what a fraction is, how to find the fraction of a number and how to make whole numbers (3/2 is the same as 1 1/2). We'll be making links to the times tables they know so dust those charts off again - we're moving back into add/sub mult/div next week.

RE

We are talking about how our words and actions can help to spread the good news. We can be models of God's love in the world.

Need to know

 

Operation Christmas Child.

Room 14 has a shoebox which we will pack with different gifts, prayers, and letters. This will be sent to a child across the world who would not normally receive a gift on Christmas Day. Your child may wish to put a little something special into the box. Look at  “Operation Christmas Child Videos 2022” which has some inspiring videos and ideas. We are going to aim our Christmas box at children who are the same age as the kids in Room 14.

Cake stall

The chess club are holding a cake stall on Wednesday at morning tea time. We have a very good chess team and a whole bunch of kids who are interested in learning.

Production

Most of you are 'old hats' at this but for those new to St Marys I thought a little extra info might be in order. There are a few main cast parts that have been filled by our 'big kids'. The rest of our school has been split into Team A and Team B - each team will have a different day/night to perform on stage. This allows every kid to get a fair shot at being a star. We are Team A (naturally) and we are learning the same dance as Room 2 (who are Team B). At the moment, the only thing you need to worry about is getting the kids to school so they don't miss practices and making sure that they have the simple costume that was shared in a newsletter at the beginning of the term. We may also call for volunteers to do some work on props and costumes. Let me know if you are keen. When we get closer to showtime (Week 10) we'll send out notices about tickets, timing etc. I have to say that the Room 14 kids are incredible! They are doing a very complicated and fast dance and they are picking it up really well - much better than I am, but I'm getting there.

Week 3 Term 3 2022

 

It's Maths Week this week!

Maths is all around us - shopping, cooking, addresses and maps, building, arts and crafts, cooking, knitting, ... We are so used to maths being there that we don't often stop and think about the skills and knowledge we use just getting through a day. Invite your children into a maths discussion doing everyday tasks - it will be an eye opener for both of you. 

This week we also celebrate the feast day of Mary Mackillop. Mary is particularly special to us. She saw the need for a school in Rotorua and set about making that happen. Over 100 years later we are still going strong. Our Year 3-4 classes will be leading the mass on Friday and you are most welcome to join us. We will also be having a fun day with the Y4-6s - there are lots of random and fun activities planned. Mr Macmillan reminded staff that Mary Mackillop is the patron saint of troublemakers - I'm pretty sure she would have loved the troublemakers in Room 14.

This week:

R.E. = God called Mary Mackillop into friendship and He calls us too. We will talk about how Mary answered Gods call and how God walked alongside Mary as she did God's work. 

Literacy = we are continuing to look at surface features. Surface features are the little niggly things that help us to get the message. Punctuation, spelling and grammar all fit under this umbrella. Just talking about these features while sharing stories, reading recipes... is a great way to bring awareness. 

Maths = we are rounding up our geometry unit this week (but we'll be sneaking in review questions to our four corners games so don't let it slip). We will also be adding little maths challenges for maths week. 

Save the Date:

This week (week 3)

Friday = Mary Mackillop Mass/Day (actual Feast day 08/08)

Week 5

Wednesday = Tough Guy/Gal

Thursday = Joachim and Anne Liturgy

Week 6

Friday = 2:05pm Room 14 running assembly

Week 7

Tuesday = Nativity of Mary Liturgy

Week 8

Friday = Mini Marathon

Week 10

SHOW WEEK