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

Week 2 Term 3 2022

Kia orana! It's Cook Islands Language Week. 

The theme this year is ‘Ātuitui’ia au ki te Oneone o tōku ‘Ui Tupuna.

(Connect me to the soil of my ancestors). This fits really well with our learning about local histories.

Straight into it...

Monday: Our museum trip. 

Tuesday: Goal Setting Conferences

Wednesday: Goal Setting Conferences

Thursday: 

Friday:

Museum Trip

Thank you to our 5 Superheroes. Please, make sure that your child has a raincoat and a water bottle. We are having an early lunch so a packed lunch, rather than an ordered lunch, is probably a good idea.

Goal Setting Conferences

Thank you to everyone who has already booked. Please, remember that school will be closing at 2pm on Tuesday to allow enough time to fit everyone in. Please, return/bring the Values sheet as these will form part of the discussion. Let me know if you have any trouble booking within these times and I'll see if we can figure out an alternative.

Production

We've already had our first dance session - WOW it's a fast dance. Thankfully, we have some fabulous dancers in R14. It's going to be an awesome show.

Mary MacKillop Day

Mary Mackillop is one of our Patron Saints and a lady very dear to us. Her feast day is being celebrated by St Mary's School on Friday 12 August. The Year 3-4 classes will be leading the mass and there will be a day of fun for the whole school. More info soon. 

Trip

 Good Morning,

I have just sent out an app message but thought I should back it up with a little more information.

Our trip is to the Runanga Tea Rooms in the Government Gardens and is part of our learning around Local Curriculum this term. We will be learning about Nga Korero o te Kura - Our School Stories. During the 2 hour visit, the students will uncover the unique history of the area our school is situated in. They will explore with the museum education team using taonga, landmarks, maps, objects or photographs what happened in the past and who were the people or events that contributed to change.

We will be leaving school at about 12:15 and will be back before the bus bell. We need a minimum of 5 adults to accompany our class. If you are able to help us out, can you please email me to let me know?

Thanks in advance,

Karen

karent@stmarysrotorua.school.nz

(WOW! The power of technology - we already have one volunteer and I haven't even finished the backup blog post).

Week 1 Term 3 2022

Welcome back Room 14 CREW

The holidays went pretty quickly, didn't they? Time really does zoom by so quickly - my baby turns 17 today! Im not sure how that happened. It doesn't seem that long ago that she was going to Pre School classes and now she's all grown up and I'm feeling every one of my 122 years of age.

OK, Team - are you ready for Term 3?  It's going to be so much fun! This term we are putting together our fabulous school production - Little Red Rocking Hood. Room 14 will steal the show I'm sure - so much talent and enthusiasm. 

Welcome back James and Mrs D. It looks like you had a wonderful time with your Canadian family but your St Marys family are happy to have you home again.

Room 14 have some new people this term. Lily is officially joining our class this term. Lily's mum is starting work with St Marys so Lily has had a little bit of time to get to know us already. Welcome to the CREW, Lily.

We also have Ellie McLanachan joining us for the term. Ellie is studying education at Waikato University and is spending the term working in Room 14. Miss McLanachan is pretty awesome - so she'll fit right in with the most awesome team in the school.  

You will have received Mr Macmillans letter about covid protocols. We will continue to wear masks, sanitise regularly, use our airpurifier and natural ventilation to keep ourselves healthy. We do have masks available for kids who forget or break/lose their own masks. 

We have a trip in week 2!!! This will be either Tuesday 2nd August or Thursday 4th August between 12:15 and 2:30. Mrs D and I need to flip a coin to see which class goes when and I'll flick out a message asap. We need at least 5-6 parents to help us out or we have to cancel. 

Conferences are also in week 2 (Mrs D and Mrs T are going to need another holiday by week 3). Here are the booking instructions - most of you have plenty of experience with this and know the drill but don't hesitate to let us know if you are having trouble. Part of our conference discussion will revolve around the school values and how well the childen display these. Parents, students and teachers will all have a say. Are you familiar with the school values? 

Save the Date (subject to change but here's the big events, so far, so you can plan ahead)

Week 1
Friday = Year 4 attending a Parish Mass at 9am. You are welcome to join us.

Week 2
Tues = Conferences
        = Trip (TBA)
Wedn = Conferences
Thurs = Trip (TBA)

Week 3
Frid = Mary MacKillop Day (school celebration)

Week 4

Monday = Kahui Ako Sports and Cultural Day
            = Assumption Mass

Week 5
Wedn = Tough Guy and Gal
Thurs = Joachim and Anne Liturgy

Week 6

Week 7
Tues = Nativity of Mary Liturgy

Week 8
Friday = Mini marathon

Week 9

Week 10
Show Week!

Week 10 Term 2 2022

Half way through the year! How did that happen? Mrs Dinniss and James have landed in Canada and are already enjoying time with family. I'm sure that they will have a wonderful time. The rest of us have to knuckle down for one more week. This week we are going to spend a bit of time wrapping up some loose ends and learning some games to play over the holidays to keep our brains ticking over.

Thanks to all of the Mums, Dads, Grandparents and other whanau members who visited us on Friday.  The kids were so excited to share their learning with you and we had a wonderful morning. We might have to book in another open morning for the end of next term - I believe some of you will need to work on your cup stacking skills before then.

Last week, Room 14 had a little discussion about whether there is such things as "a big brain" or "a smart brain". It led to some very interesting theories and we're going to do a little learning about the brain this week to combat some strange ideas that popped up in our chat.  So, here's how the brain works, in simple terms, so you can chat to your kid about their amazing brain, too. We tend to split our learning into strategy (knowing how to figure something out) and knowledge. Knowledge is stored memory that we can call on whenever we need it. Many scientists believe that there are 2 levels of memory. The first stage is short term memory or working memory. It's where we store the info for just long enough to use it - following instructions, reading and dialling a phone number... It lasts about 15-30 seconds. The second stage is long term memory. Information can last in long term memory from a few days to years or even a life time. Repeating and practicing a task connects new learning with old memories and helps the brain to strengthen the connections it has made. Playing games and having fun with things like basic facts helps the brain to see the same information lots of times, in lots of different ways to strengthen the connections. There is no such things as over learning. Going back over things we've learned this year, last year and even in Year 2 all help to keep the connections in your brain active and strong.

Monday: PLEASE BRING YOUR LIBRARY BOOKS. We want to be able to check out some new books for holiday reading

Wednesday: Principal's lunch - for a lucky few.

 

week 9 term 2 2022

 

On Thursday we are celebrating our Matariki Cultural Dinner as a school. You are all welcome to join in this busy and fun filled evening. Bring a plate of food to share - many families choose to share a dish from their own culture but this is optional.

On Friday morning (since you will all be running a little late after an exciting dinner at school) Room 12 and Room 14 are putting out the toasters and turning on the jug for breakfast. You are welcome to come and have toast and a cuppa with us and have a look at some of the learning that we have done this term - and/or just have a friendly chat. (The kids are writing invitations this week so this is your heads up). The classroom doors will be open 8:30 - 10:45am. We will also be having a shared morning tea to celebrate - we are half way through the year and have really grown. If you are able, can you please, bring a small plate of mornig tea food to share with our Year 4 Crew. 

This week:

Mon: Library

Tues:

Wed:

Thurs: Matariki Dinner

          Kapa Haka

Frid: Celebration morning (Room 12-14)

Learning this week:

Literacy: Finish writing our Matariki reports. There will be loads of articles etc in the news over the next few days. You could do a little extra reading to gather some missing information for your report.

Maths: We're going to focus on basic facts. We need to be able to use this knowledge in different ways in stage 5 and 6 so playing games with numbers is the best way to practice these facts. We'll learn some new games that we can play at home over the holiday break.

RE: We'll finish a little left over work on the 'I am' statements then move into Matariki - we'll look at the messages in the Matariki celebration and stories and think about how we can live good lives based on these messages. There are some beautiful prayers and readings that have similar messages.

        

Other messages

Reading Logs will be coming home for the school holidays. I suggest leaving them on a bedside table or in the chromebook case so they don't get lost. Any paper will do but sometimes the kids panic when they can't find the one we gave them. Remember that reading is broad - recipes, instructions, books, newspaper articles, stories read to the kids and subtitles on a movie all count as reading. We'll get a few good books in our library visit next week to kick start the reading. 

A few of our School Enviro Leaders are trying to revive the schools worm farm = less mess in the lunchboxes and more compost for the schools gardens. On a side note: It's great to see so many lunchboxes that are already rubbish free and filled with good healthy brain food. Thank you.

Week 8 Term 2 2022

The middle of the year is often when teachers start to reflect on how things are going and where to for the next 6 months - quite fitting that this coincides with Matariki. One of the things that has been really standing out for me is how much Room 14 kids have grown in confidence and how strong they are as a team. I am really proud of the way these kids are so willing to try new things and offer their help to others. They are a brilliant little group of people and, 6 months in, I still feel so lucky to be part of this great team.

Learning this week:

Mathematics: we are continuing with multiplication and doing some review work to make sure that we prevent old skills and knowledge from getting rusty.

Literacy: we will be looking at how reports are written and will start to write reports about some of our Matariki learning.

RE: We are continuing with the "I am..." statements. This week we also celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus. There is a mass on Thursday. 

Monday: 

Lake View Golf tournament

Library

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Sacred Heart mass

Friday: Matariki Day

There are loads of community events to get involved in - have a great day.