Sunday 24 September 2017

Term 3, Week 10

Hi folks,

Last week of term!!!

Here's what's happening this week.

Finishing of art work for WOW evening.
Eisteddfod speeches

PE UNIFORM:
Athletics - Monday and Thursday
Dance - Wednesday

Skink monitoring is still happening, it is not necessary that your child wear their sports uniforms on these days.

School Mass - Wednesday morning - Room 5 will be running the mass, please come and join in with us as we celebrate the Eucharist with the school.

Wednesday Evening, 5-7pm - WOW night for school families.  This will begin with a family picnic and will be an opportunity for parents to see what great learning has been happening in our school this term/year.

Friday - Eisteddfod assembly - 1:30pm in the hall.


Enjoy your holidays everyone!

Mrs Lyon.

Wednesday 20 September 2017

CLOCK RACE DETAILS

Hi Racers and Parents,

Please be at the Rivers St race start for the Race to the Clock at 4:45pm on Friday.   Please have your PE uniforms.  

Exciting stuff - this is a great race!

See you there,

Mrs Lyon

Tuesday 19 September 2017

ROUND CLOCK RACE


"Here are our teams for the Round the Clock Race this Friday night. In order to enter every team needs three adults to supervise and support them (one adult at the start/finish and two adults on the hill). Can you please look at which team your child is in and confirm with Mr Yeoman immediately if you can be present to supervise. Entries are due immediately! Kia ora"

Rockets team(10)  = Paddy, Olly, Seb, Thomas, Hayvin, Sully, Adam, Mason, Kayla, Immy

Mountain goats team (9) = Cody, Lachie, Charlie D, Grainne, Harry, Millie, Ana, Zaria,  Mika

Chamois team (9) = Ethan, Rafferty, Jack S, Dilan, Jack O,Pippa, Hannah, Mayce, Tadhg

Sunday 17 September 2017

Term 3, Week 9

HI All,

Here's what's going on in Room 5 this week.

Skink Monitoring - we are continuing to monitor skink (and other) activity at the rail trail.  This week we will reset some ink tracking sheets and also set some pit fall traps to see if we can get some skinks to pop their wee bodies in for a snack.  We will check the traps daily and release any skinks found. We are hoping to get an idea of skink numbers in the area.   In class this week we will be working on our skink research projects to gain a deeper understanding of the species while we investigate their habitat.

HOMEWORK - This week we have spelling words, reading each night and ALSO something different.  Please allow your child to research information for their skink project at home.  I have emailed them some websites which will be helpful for this.  Please help them and encourage them to collect their information and write down what they need to know IN THEIR OWN WORDS.
I understand not everyone has access to the internet - that's ok.  Maybe questioning and researching in other ways (Library, Museum) might be options for you - no pressure busy parents.

Athletics:  This week we have athletics practice on Monday and Thursday afternoons from 2pm.  The children are allowed to wear their PE uniforms for this.

Eisteddfod speeches are due this week - preferably by Thursday.  I am happy for the odd speech to happen next Monday however we have to sort Mass for next week and also a few other finishing off projects so their may not be as much time available to us next week to sort these --- aim for Thursday please.

Friday - The Gathering.
TEACHERS ARE AWAY from school on this day.  If your child is in the Kapahaka group they are going to be welcoming those attending the Gathering.  They will need to be at The Cellar Door by 8:45am on this day.
There will be 3 relievers at school available to teach the children who are coming to school on this day.  If you have an alternative option for your children then it's fine if they do this instead of coming to school.  Please let us know what you intend your child/children to do on this day.

ONE MORE THING - If your child is keen to enter the Race to the Clock as part of Blossom Festival Celebrations, please let me know ASAP... entries are becoming rather formal for this race.  There is also an egg throwing competition which needs an online registration too!

Have a great week,

Mrs Lyon

Sunday 10 September 2017

Term 3, Week 8

HI all,

I hope you had a nice weekend.  I was in Timaru with Olly  - watching him play hockey.

Here are the goings on for the week in Room 5

Otago Skink and Gecko monitoring project
Our science focus for the next 6 or so weeks (before and after the holidays) will be to learn about and investigate the living habitat of the Otago Skink (and Geckos).  In class we will research these creatures and work towards making a scientific poster to show our learning.  Out of class we will be setting up some monitoring equipment on a small area beside the rail trail just near school.
PE uniform may be worn on Monday and Friday this week as we will be working onsite with Anna Robinson from Enviro schools to begin the project.  We'll be heading to the rail trail after lunch - around 1:45pm on Monday and before lunch on Friday if you'd like to join us.   The trips will be no longer than an hour.

Gymnastics
Sports uniform may also be worn this Thursday as the children will have Gymnastics with Sharelle from Kelly Sports.

Social Justice Week
Please keep an eye out for some activity cards which will be coming home with your children this week.
Social Justice week is an important time for us to remember those who are not as fortunate as we are.  I have made a new display in our classroom showing the work my brother Ben does in Argentina with his Food for Thought programme.  Please feel free to come in an have a look and a read and check out what he's been up to lately - including the building of a chilean bread oven!  We often talk about the work Ben and other people do which make Jesus' request that we love one another a reality. These examples of people doing good work right now show our kids that helping people is important and it makes a difference.

Maori Language Week
This week in class we'll be playing some new, fun Maori language games to increase our use of te reo in the classroom.  These will actually become a regular feature of our daily 5 learning programme moving forward.  Don't forget to ask your kiddies to share their learning with you.  Mrs Tamati will also be visiting our room soon and hopefully she'll introduce some more games.

Special Character Review Team Visit
We welcome the Special Character review team into our school from Monday to Wednesday of this week.

Wednesday Mass this week will be led by Room 3.

Wow Night
On September the 27th there will be a wow night at school.  This evening will be to showcase all the great things that are happening in our school.  We'll have a shared meal and a fun evening of showing you exactly what we've been learning about in class this term/year.

Eisteddfod Speeches
A reminder to children and parents that the eisteddfod assembly will be held in Week 10 on Friday the 29th at 1:30pm.  Now would be a very good time to spend some time writing and learning a speech of your choice to present to our class.  Speeches must be around 2 minutes duration.


Have a good week,

Mrs Lyon

Saturday 2 September 2017

Term 3, Week 7

HI folks,

Goings on this week in Room 5.

Monday:  On Monday afternoon we'll be stepping outside of the classroom to help spread some wood chips Mr Yeoman is getting delivered for the new native garden in front of Rooms 5 and 6.  If anyone has a wheelbarrow they can drop off (and pick up) for us to use that would be awesome.  If the kids want to wear their running shoes/outside shoes for this it would mean their school shoes will stay nice and clean.


SPORTS UNIFORM:  For dance on Wednesday and Gymnastics on Thursday.

Missing Guitar:  Sophia Lyon's guitar has gone missing.  There are 2 places is has been - home and school.  It is definitely not at school and yes, a guitar is a strange thing to lose!  If you know of its whereabouts I'd be glad to know.  It's a dark reddish-brown in a black canvas case.  It is 3/4 sized.  I am offering a reward if anyone finds it.    If only it was just the pick that was lost!




Spelling homework:  I'd like to see Room 5 making a bit more of an effort with their spelling homework.  It seems a large number of the class are not prioritising their spelling as an after school activity and this really is important to meet the standard for Level 3 of the Literacy Curriculum.   It'd be great to see more students having success in their tests on Friday mornings and even better if their spelling was showing improvements in their writing.

CONGRATULATIONS: Hannah O'Connor needs to take a bow.  She has been the only student to log onto maths buddy outside of school time over the last week!  Nice one Hannah!  Parents - there are great tutorials on this site to help kids with their maths - the more they log in, the easier they'll find their in class work.  Encourage them to complete the fractions and measurement activities set - these are our focuses this term - as well as, of course, regular times tables practice!

I think that's all for now,  have a great week.

Mrs Lyon.