Last week of term.

The last week of the school year is upon us. I would like to take this opportunity to say how much I have enjoyed teaching your children. They all have such lovely personalities and a wonderful enthusiasm for learning. I look forward to seeing their successes as they move into middle school. 
Thank you for your support with classroom activities, trips and home learning. Our end of the year outing to the Redwoods was a super day and one the children will remember for a long time. 

Please check that you have returned all school books and sports gear. The children will need a bag to bring their school books home in on Monday. 

School magazines are available for $5. 

This week looks like this...

Monday 11th December

9.30am Principal's morning tea. The children who will be attending from Room 13 are Zak, Sebastian and Chloe.

11.15am Carols on the field. All welcome. We will be singing a song with Room 5 and 6. The children can wear a Santa hat or tinsel if they wish.

Tuesday 12th December

9am Prizegiving. A note would have been sent home if your child is receiving a prize. 

Wednesday 13th December

9.30 -10am Children will visit their new classes for 2018

11am Junior Athletics day. All welcome
Remember: P.E gear, a hat and sunblock.
Please bring togs and towel. If it is hot afterwards, we will have a play in the sprinklers.

Thursday 14th December

Whole school Tryathlon. Swim, bike and run.
Remember: P.E gear, swim gear, bike or scooter. (Please leave your wheels up against the church fence on the school field).

Friday 15th December

11am Missioning of the Year 6 students.

School closes at 12pm.


Wishing you a safe and enjoyable holiday together.

With best wishes,
Mary Kusabs
                    
__________________________



School starts for Term 1 2018 on Wednesday 7th February.

Our Nativity Play

I'm so very proud of you Room 13!  You all performed beautifully today.

Week 8

We have a busy 2 weeks ahead with lots of exciting things happening...

Monday
Dress rehearsal for our Class Nativity play. 
Swimming 

Tuesday
Year 2 - Teddy Bear's picnic at the Redwoods. 
We have plenty of parent help for the morning - thank you. Please meet in class when the bell goes, we will do the roll and then head out with our teddies to the Redwoods.  You can wear mufti. Please bring something small for a shared lunch back at school.

We will have lunch at school followed by an afternoon of fun activities. Remember to bring your togs and towel.

Wednesday
Singing 
11am  Our class Nativity play.  Invitations have been sent home.


Thursday
Swimming

Friday
1pm End of school Mass

No sausage sizzle today


In the last week of term, we have a number of things happening...

Monday 11th December  11.15am.  Carols on the field (All welcome)

Tuesday 12th December. Prize giving

Wednesday 13th December. 11am  Junior Athletics Day

Thursday 14th December. Whole school Tryathlon. 
We would appreciate some parent help on the day. Children will need to bring wheels.

Friday 15th December.  Missioning of Yr 6 students
                                      School finishes for the year at 12pm.

There will be no more sausage sizzles for the year. 




A look back on last week..

Thank you for attending our student-led conferences. It was lovely for the children to celebrate their year of learning.

We posted letters to Santa this week. 

On Friday, Mrs MacDonald came in with some homemade cookies. We had a super time decorating them. I'm sure you will agree they look (and taste) amazing!! 

This week, the Ukulele group performed for us. We enjoyed seeing Bronson and Alice play the Ukulele.

Week 7

I hope that you are all enjoying the weekend. Remember that there is no school for the children on Monday. It is a Teachers only day. We have a busy few weeks coming up and lots of dates to remember.

Our Year 2 Teddy Bear's picnic is on Tuesday 5th December  at the Redwoods. We will be back at school by 12pm for an afternoon of fun at school.  We only require help in the morning with transport and supervision. Thank you for returning the forms.

On Wednesday 6th December, we would like to perform our Nativity play for you in class. It will start at 11am.  The children know the characters that they are playing. I have asked for them to bring in something simple to wear for this. We will have a little dress rehearsal this Friday.

Week 7
Monday
No School
Teachers only day.

Tuesday
10am Advent liturgy.

Wednesday
Singing

Thursday
Junior school
Student led conference - celebration of learning.

Friday
Assembly
Golden time.



Some photos from last week...

Investigating weight

Golden Time

Rainbow marble cake with ice cream.

                                          Careful measuring and weighing of ingredients.

The result!

A look at some of our learning this week...

Isn't it great how books create discussion and further learning?

Last week, one of our reading groups read a book about sharks. We were interested to read how huge they can be. We wondered how we compared in size to them. So,we got out the rulers and the largest piece of card that we could find. We measured out 2 metres in length and I drew a shark for the children. Wow, what a big shark! However, we found out that the largest ones can be 12 metres long! We used our maths skills to work out how many of these 2 metre sharks would equal one of them.

We thought it would be interesting to research other sea creatures and draw them to size.  

Shubh, Bronson and Jun found out that a sea snake can be 1.2 metres long.

Jess found out that a Jellyfish, with it's long tentacles can be as tall as a man.

Espie discovered that some sharks have teeth 5cm long.

Sophie has seen a Sea Cucumber in Australia. She knows that they can be 2cm long or grow to as much as 30cm.

Noah researched the Blue Ringed Octopus. A very tiny creature at 8cm but very deadly.

On Wednesday, our challenge in the swimming pool was to build a raft that would carry a team mate across to the other side! It was a lot of fun. We then wrote about this experience on Thursday.

In R.E, we have been learning about the Holy Spirit. Chloe has produced a lovely picture showing the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

On Friday we dressed up for Mufti day...

Week 6

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Singing 

Swimming at 2.30pm

Thursday

Friday

Sausage sizzle

Assembly 

Golden Time

Wiri is performing in the Ahurei on Friday. 

We hope that you really enjoy the experience Wiri.

With Christmas fast approaching, if there are any parents who would like to come into the class to make a craft or do baking with us, we would be very happy to have you.

Week 5.

Thank you to everyone who attended our Grandparents Mass and concert. It was a fantastic day. For our Grandparents who were unable to attend, we sent loving thoughts out to you.  

This week..

The Young Vinnies are fundraising - Gold coin donation

This Friday is Mufti day - come dressed as your favourite book character. 

I have completed the children's Reading and Maths testing last week. Next week we will be doing a Writing Assessment. 
The only changes we have to this weeks program is that we will have swimming on Wednesday afternoon. The Senior school are using the pool for the next two weeks. We have a time allocated to us, for this Wednesday and the following one.
We have begun practicing for a small Nativity play in class. Hopefully we will be ready to perform it to our parents/family near to the end of the term. 

An information evening for Year 2 Parents:

When: Thursday 16 November

Time:   5.15 - 6pm. 

Where: Rooms 14/15

This meeting is targeted at Year 2 parents who will have students in Year 3 next year. The purpose of the meeting is to provide information about the use of google apps accounts and chrome books in Years 3 - 6 classes. Flyers outlining the latest Chromebook deals offered to our parents through Harvey Norman, Office Max, Noel Leeming, PB Technology and Cyclone Computers will be available. 

Week 4

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.

On Friday 10th November, we have a very special day prepared, as we celebrate our Grandparents/friends. It will start at 9.00am with a Mass at St Mary's church.  Grandparents are then welcome to come back to class for a shared morning tea.  At 10.30am, our grandparents will enjoy a cup of tea in the hall or outside. A mini concert will begin at 11.00am. Please invite your Grandparents.

I went to a very special birthday party at the weekend. Mr Kusabs' Grandad was 102 years old!  What an amazing man. He is in a wheelchair because he has one leg, however, that doesn't stop him, he still drives his mobility scooter to Countdown every week to do his own shopping! I was speaking to him and he remembers riding his bike to school when he was 7 years old. That is 95 years ago!

102 candles wouldn't fit on this birthday cake so he had 2 big ones instead.

Grandparents are so special.

This week....

Monday

12pm Swimming    Remember your togs!

Tuesday

12pm Swimming

Wednesday

Singing

2pm Swimming

Thursday

12pm Swimming

Friday 

9.00am Grandparents Mass

10am Shared morning tea in the classroom. Please bring a small plate to share.

11am Mini concert for Grandparents/friends

Welcome to Leon who joined our class last week. We will enjoy having you with us Leon.

We have begun our 'Symbols' topic and know that they are messages within images. We found out that there are hundreds of symbols! On Friday we worked through some of them and categorized them in groups. There are signs that warn us of dangers, tell us to do something, tell us NOT to do something, remind us of special times, and also advertise things.

We took a little walk around the school and found many symbols...

Week 3

Happy Birthday to Bronson who is turning 7 on Sunday. 
I hope you have a fun day!🎂

Congratulations to our lucky winners of the Reading Log draw...

We were lucky with the weather last week and managed to swim everyday. The water was lovely and warm. No swimming this week.

I will be testing the children's reading this week. On Monday, instead of our normal reading groups, the children will have free choice reading and a poem.

The Junior school is leading the Rosary on Wednesday morning. We have four readers from Room 13. I'm sure Jun, Bianca, Chloe and Shubh will do a wonderful job. Parents are very welcome to attend.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

8.45 Rosary - led by the Junior school

Thursday

10am All Souls/Saints liturgy

Friday

Golden time - Nerf/soft ball tag

Assembly

Note for your diary : Grandparent's Mass. Friday 10th November. Please come and celebrate this special day with us.

Term 4 Week 2

Week 2
Firstly a big "Well done" for running the Assembly on Friday.  It's not easy to stand up and talk/sing to the whole school. Everyone did their part perfectly.  I was so proud of you all!

On Tuesday we welcomed Faith into our class. She has settled in nicely and is making some lovely new friends.

Next week we start swimming. Please make sure all of your clothes are named including sunhats.

Reading logs are due back by Wednesday. We only have 9 returned in the class so far! There are some great prizes to be won.

On Saturday there is a working bee at school beginning at 8.00am. There are a range of handy-man jobs to be done and help would be appreciated (even for an hour or so). Morning tea and a BBQ lunch will be provided. 

It is a busy term ahead with lots going on. I will keep you up to date with important events. 

Monday 23rd October
Labour Day  - no school

Tuesday 24th October
Swimming

Wednesday 25th October
8.45am Rosary - led by the Middle school.
Reading logs due back
Swimming

Thursday 26th October
Swimming

Friday 27th October
Swimming
Assembly  - Room 16 and 17

Saturday 28th October
8.00am Working bee at school

Term 4 Week 1

I hope everyone has had a lovely holiday. I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow in summer uniform. Remember to bring a sun hat too!

This term is only 9 weeks long and it will be a very busy one. Here is a quick overview of what we will be learning in class...

Maths - Our focus will be on consolidating our addition and subtraction knowledge and strategies. We will continue to develop confidence in problem solving abilities and also look at measurement.

Writing -  We will write in a variety of genres, our main focus being Recount and Narrative writing.

Reading - Our reading program will continue as last term, making sure we have all our reading strategies in place and extending our knowledge through independent literacy follow up activities. 

R.E -  October - Rosary
         Holy Spirit and then Advent.

Concept - Our concept this term is Symbols, messages within images.

We will be swimming this term on even weeks starting in week 2. Our swimming time is 12-12.30pm except on Wednesdays, when we will swim after lunch. The pool is very warm.

This week it is our turn to run the school assembly. Parents are most welcome to attend at 2.05pm.

Please can you return R.E books and portfolios to class this week.


Monday 16th October
Welcome back to school.

Tuesday 17th October

Wednesday 18th October
8.45pm Rosary in the hall, led by the Seniors.

Thursday 19th October 

Friday 20th October
Room 13's Assembly!

Week 10 - Sharing some of our work from this week.

Congratulations to Jess, Makenna and Sophie for their wonderful effort at Migs gym competition last week. They were so proud to tell us all about it.

We have been looking at the language of Instructional writing. On Wednesday, we followed instructions to make a mustard seed head.

The instructions said that if we are careful not to over water the seeds, they would be grown in about 3 days. We couldn't believe it would be that quick!  Anyhow, we left them close to the window over the weekend and this was the result of Monday...

Today we discussed the Spring season. We watched a lovely video about what happens in the change from Winter to Spring. With our information, we wrote Acrostic poems and displayed them with some cute baby bird artwork. They look stunning on the classroom wall. Please come in and take a look.

Lost Property -Jessica has lost her school jersey. Please can you have a check that your child has the right one. There are still lots of girl's school socks in class, if you are missing any!