Week 5

Hey Team,

Sorry for the extremely late post! 

We have a fantastic day at the swimming sports yesterday and it's fair to say even the teacher were tired after a big day at the pool. Thank you to all of those who were able to help yesterday and also to those of you that were able to come along and support your child/ren. It was awesome to see so many of you there!!


This week:

I am on Classroom Release on Tuesday and Wednesday morning so Mr Hogue will be in Room 5 taking science which is very exciting! 

For the rest of the morning sessions we will be getting our P.A.T tests done. There are 4 to complete; reading vocal, reading comp, math and listening. As these take time to get done our classroom programme will be very messy this week, we will be back into the swing of things next week though. :)

Homework:
Reading every night, maths, and spelling (the long 'e' sound). Please encourage your child to complete all of their homework and to come and see me if they are struggling.

Have a great week!!

Many thanks,

Jo :)

Newsletter

Sorry for the problems with being able to view the newsletter. This should now be fixed!!!
If you have problems please ring the office.
We are hoping to have the link to the newsletter link up on the Facebook page very soon. We will keep you posted.
Many thanks

Julie

Week 4 :)

Hey everyone,

Thank you to all of those who were able to come to school Mass on Sunday, it was great to see so many of you there celebrating the beginning of our school year. Thanks also to those who came to the meet and greet picnic, it was great to see so many of you there too :)

Homework: This week this is reading, spelling and maths homework, all is due in on Friday. Please encourage your child to complete all of their homework and if they are not sure about it, they can talk to me at school. The probability sheet should not be hard as we are doing very similar worksheets in class. Please talk to me if you have any concerns :)

Tuesday: There are house meetings at 1.30 for our house captains to be chosen for 2015. This is very exciting and it will be good to have the houses up and running for the year.

Wednesday: Ash Wednesday - there is a liturgy being held at 12pm at the Church, you are all welcome to join us. Room 5 children will be doing the readings, children will be chosen tomorrow.

Thursday: NZ Playhouse, this will be an awesome performance which starts at 1.30. We are extremely thankful to the PTA who are covering the cost of this show. Im sure they children will love it!!

Friday: Buddy Reading time with our new house captains organising their house for the swimming sports. Assembly will be led by Room 6 and will begin at 2.10, you are all welcome to join us.

Monday 23rd: Swimming sports - all children need to be dropped at the pool by 9am, bus children will get taken to the pool when they arrive at school. As houses have a trophy to compete for this year it would be awesome to see as many of the children get dressed up and into the house spirit. House colours should be worn to the pool. PLEASE NO CRETE paper as it makes a mess of the pool!


Softball/Teeball - games will be played at school this week as all St Gerard's teams are playing each other. Games will start slightly earlier at 3.15 so should be finished just after 4. The tee ball game will be on the bottom field and the two softball boys teams will play on the top field.

Here I was thinking that this week will be 'normal' with no swimming but as per usual there are interruptions - good ones of course! :)

Next week is going to be equally crazy as I have release for two mornings so Mr Hogue will be teaching science. It is also PAT testing week so we will be busy, busy, busy in Room 5.

Have a great week and remember to come and see me of you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks,
Jo  :)

Week 3 Term 1 2015

Hey team,

I hope you had a fantastic long weekend and managed to enjoy some sunshine.

We continue with our swimming in the afternoons this week. We are all well on our way to doing a great job at the swimming sports! If you are able to help out please ensure you get the form to me ASAP as I've only had 3 parents offer to help.

This week:
Tues: Swimming 1.30-2.00
Wed: Swimming 1.30-2.00
Thurs: Swimming 1.30-2.00, Meet & Greet Picnic Dinner Starting from 5.30pm
Sunday: School Mass 9am - All are expected to attend in full school uniform, please let me know if you can't be there.

Next week: Wednesday 18th - Ash Wednesday Mass 12 Noon

Swimming Sports Monday 23rd Feb.

Homework: There is maths and reading homework again this week,  Spelling will begin next week after we have done testing in class and once Trina has gone over home expectations for spelling at the 'Meet and Greet / Meet the Teacher' evening.

If you have any questions or concerns please note them down and you can discuss them on Thursday night :)

Have a fantastic week and I hope to see you all on Thursday.

Jo

Week 1, Term 1 2015 :)

Hi Team,

I hope you've all had a great weekend. 

We have had a great start in Room 5 with our massive class of 19 children (I'm very lucky this year!!). We have started setting up a fun and safe environment for the children to enjoy and learn in during 2015. I've really enjoyed meeting all the Year 5 children and getting to know them. It's also been great to see my Year 6's take a step up and show great leadership skills. I'm really excited for a fun year ahead.

Homework will start off this week but I will gradually build up the amount over the next few weeks as it is still early in the year. There will be a basic facts sheet this week as well as reading that is expected to be completed every night. I will send some reading books home over the year but am more than happy for your child to read their own chapter books at home. As long as they are reading for at least 15-20 minutes each night and recording it in their reading logs I will be a happy teacher. :)

Over the next few weeks we will be working on our class routines and trialling a new timetable alongside Room 6 as we have Mrs Nicholson working as a Teacher Aide with us this year. This is very exciting but may take a few weeks to iron out how to best use her time effectively. 

This week kicks off the start of a busy time.

Monday: Bus safety with Mr Milford
Tuesday: Bike safety with Mr Milford and Swimming in the afternoon. Children will need their bikes, helmets and swimming gear on Tuesday please.
Wednesday: Swimming in the afternoon
Friday: Waitangi Day - School closed

Coming up in the next few weeks;
Tuesday 10th -Swimming, PTA meeting
Wednesday 11th - Swimming 
Thursday 12th - Swimming, Meet the Teacher Picnic Evening from 5.30
Sunday 15th - School Mass
Monday 23rd - Swimming Sports :)

If your child is unable to swim please ensure you email me or send a note along to school. Otherwise it is expected that your child will swim on all of the above days.

Hats are expected for all children from Monday please :)

Please feel free to come and see me before school or email me if you have any questions or concerns. I can be reached on jopassmore@stgerards.school.nz 

Thanks and have a fantastic SHORT week!! 

Jo :)

Week 9

Hey guys,

Sorry better late than never :)

This week had been mad with report writing and preparing for the end of the year. So much to do and the days don't seem long enough!! Eisteddfods were amazing! Thanks

There is a lot coming up so this is the plan at this stage...... Things can change so I'll update on here as we go. :)

Friday: Our last visit to the Library - ALL books need to be returned please!! We have mass at 12 then back to school for lunch.

Monday: There is a softball breakup after school. Please bring a plate to share with everyone after a fun game of softball between the 3 teams.

Tuesday: We have buns left over from camp so Room 5 will be having American Hotdogs for lunch. They will get one american hot dog so will need to bring in other lunch if that wont be enough.

Wednesday: Picnic lunch before the Prize giving at 1pm (I think - this will be confirmed at staff meeting on Monday). The Junior school are doing a fundraiser, children can order burgers for lunch. Orders must be in on Monday morning with money please! Mass and Yr 8 Graduation at 6pm in the church. All expected to attend.

Thursday: LAST DAY! This will be a cleaning day and doing the final pack up of the classroom.

That's it for now. Please ask if you are not sure of anything.

CAMP!!! Was awesome! Can't believe how well it all went and the children and adults all had a super cool time! Thanks to everyone who helped out! You are all stars!

Enjoy the sunshine :)

Jo

CAMP WEEK -- Week 8 Term 4

Hi guys,

Well the week has finally arrived!! Let's hope the wind has worn itself out over the weekend and we have three beautiful calm days for biking the Rail Trail.

The Plan:
Monday -- We will be doing our final preparations in class and going over camp rules and expectations and well as getting equipment ready for camp :) If your child did not bring in their scroggin/breakfast/chips could they please have it at school on Monday. If your child has medication this also needs to be handed to Miss Passmore on Monday.

Tuesday -- It would be great if children could be dropped at the Church Carpark with all of their gear at 8.15am. This should leave us enough time to get the vans packed up and have us on our bikes by 9am. To make things easier could children please keep their day packs with their bikes and put their 'camp' gear in a pile by the trailers. That way we hopefully won't pack any day packs into the trailer.

Thursday -- We are aiming to be back at school for a normal 3pm pick up. Bikes can be left in Room 5 over night. All I ask is that the children take them outside when they arrive on Friday so we can move in the classroom. Keep an eye on the blog as I will update it if we are going to be early/late.

Friday -- We have four parents coming on Friday. Could children please be at school by 9am and we will say prayer together and be ready to go by 9.30. Parents you have time to get a coffee before we start biking, if you think you'll need one :) 

             Lunch: Depending on what is left over from camp children may only need to bring a sandwich if we have lots of chips, muesli bars and baking left over. I will let the children know on Thursday whether they need a full packed lunch or just a sandwich for Friday.

              Pick up: I had originally said pick up will be from the pool by 3pm but I think it'll be easier if we bike back to school and be here for a 3pm pick up. This means we will get out of the pool around 2.30. If you are happy for your child to bike straight home from the pool can you please let me know by text, email or note. Hopefully this hasn't mucked up too many of your plans. If you have made other arrangements let me know and we can sort something out.

Ipods/ipads
I have decided to allow ipods & ipads on camp to be used as cameras only. I would appreciate sim cards to be taken out and left at home. I have spoken to the children about the use of these, and my expectations are that they won't be needed at the camp so can be put away after biking. I will take no responsibility if ipods/ipads are damaged or stolen so please talk this through with your child. It if your decision if you allow your child to bring them on camp.

Fingers and toes crossed we have nice weather and I have everything organised!! :)

Have a great (quiet) week if you're going to be childfree! If you're coming on camp, rest up, we have a busy few days ahead! :)

Thanks heaps for all of your support!

Jo