Week 9, Term 2

Hello all,

Thank you to those of you who attended our Holy Spirit assembly last week.  It was interesting to see how each classroom shared their learning and showed their connections to the Holy Spirit.

We have been working on some creative writing in Room 5.  This week the children will finish these off and bring them home to have them published.  Mrs Flannery has spent an afternoon with the children teaching them some touch typing skills, so publishing a piece of writing should compliment this learning nicely.  I am hoping to have the writing finished by the end of the week so that the children can share it with you during their conferences next week.

Which brings me to mention....Student-led conferences!  This week the children will collate their learning from 2016 to share with you in the conferences next week.   We have set some learning goals in place for moving forward with next steps and the children will share these goals with you, as well as their achieved work, at conference time.

Matariki Celebration:  Last Thursday Rooms 4, 5 and 6 celebrated Matariki with a shared learning time together.  Each room presented what they had learned about Matariki.  Room 4 retold the legend of Matariki through a performance, Room 5 shared string games, slide shows, flax weaving and Room 6 shared artwork, posters and flax work they had completed.  It was nice to have interaction with the other classrooms and to share what we had all researched.

Parish Family Mass:  Saturday July 2nd, 6pm.  This month's family mass will begin with a soup meal at 5pm.  Please come along and make the most of having a mass in town at a time that suits.  Often, sports get in the way of Sunday Mass so it's nice to support the opportunity we have been given by Fr Pat to have a Saturday night mass.

Parent Interviews will be held next Tuesday and Wednesday.  Details for setting up a time have been in the school newsletter so if you have missed out, please check the website where you can access all the information from the newsletter page.

Eisteddfod Assembly will be held next Thursday afternoon at 1:30pm in the hall.

Have a great week parents - you are doing a great job!  Room 5 is filled with amazing kids.

Carolyn

Week 8

Hi all,

On Friday we had a lovely visit from Holy Family School in Wanaka.  Monica Brown entertained the children with some theatre and singing.  Following the concert our classes combined to welcome the Wanaka visitors and make some new friends.

Matariki Celebration
This Thursday - 23rd June - the senior syndicate will hold a Matariki celebration.  As Matariki is a time to share stories, play games and connect with others, we will be doing just that within our syndicate.  We will join with Rooms 4 and 6 to share what we have learned about Matariki and will hopefully learn something from them too!

Holy Spirit Curriculum Assembly
This will be held in the church on Friday at 2:10pm.  Please feel welcome to join us all as we share a celebration of the Holy Spirit.

Parish Family Mass - next week - just reminding you all!
This will be held on Saturday July 2nd at 6pm.  There will be a soup meal at 5pm and also a few games before the Mass.  

Poetry Eisteddfod
As a warm up to poetry eisteddfods the children of Room 5 presented their Matariki research projects last week.  I have to say a big "WELL DONE" to all of the children and the efforts they made to present these.  What a great handle on technology they have.  Those kids who made a slide show presented as if they had done it for years.

For the next two weeks we will be deciding on, preparing for and practicing poems to present. I encourage all children to fake it until they make it when it comes to finding the confidence to speak in front of a crowd.  This is a technique I have used on occasion and I like to think it works.  Please reassure your child that they are not to get too nervous when thinking about their eidsteddfod - Room 5 is a supportive place to practice getting things right.  We are all learners and improvers.

In unrelated news, are there any of you procrastinating around doing exercise and eating too much chocolate?  What is with cold weather and hibernation - I wonder how much genetic material we share with bears?

I actually found this meme after I wrote about chocolate and hibernation...I am not alone.

Have a great week.

Carolyn

Week 7

Kia Ora folks,

Week 7 involves a little bit of action - lots of learning - and some out of class activities with sporting fun and visitors to our school.

Today we continued to build on our SNAG (Golf skills) with Sharelle from Kelly Sports.  If you're driving (see what I did there) past school between 10:30 - 11:15am you will see us in full golfing action on the tennis courts.  The class have learned about putting, chipping and snagging.  There are goal setting activities and we are building on what we have learned previously with Sharelle to develop a golf swing with correct technique.

Mrs Sanders makes a return to Room 5 this week after a trip to the UK.  She will be in Room 5 on Thursday and Friday of this week.

This Friday, Holy Family School from Wanaka will be visiting us.  They will accompany us to listen to Monica Brown who will be performing a concert at 10am in the church.  They will also stay and join us for a few activities.  Friday will be a nice opportunity for our catholic school children to spend some time together get to know one another.  (Mrs Ward will also be able to see her lovely daughter Jess, who teaches at Holy Family School)

Homework will again be reading, spelling, basic facts knowledge, times tables, study ladder and e-ako tasks.  

That's all folks.  Have a great week.

Mrs Lyon

p.s.  Many of the kids included a little of themselves in their Matariki presentations last week.  I loved seeing what they used to show a little of themselves...some cute animals, some hillarious jokes and some very cool pictures.  Well done to the children of Room 5.
p.p.s. This meme is not related to anything regarding Room 5 this week, but I liked it so it made the cut!

Week 6

Hi All,

A short week this week as we enter winter with full force - nothing like a 6 degree frost to heighten the senses - well the sense of touch at least.

Snag Golf with Kelly Sports
This week and next week we are lucky enough to be having Sharelle Potter from Kelly Sports come along to teach the children some skills based around the game of golf.  Sharelle will be running 4 sessions in total with the children and we may also be lucky enough to visit a golf course for a real swing in the last week of term...watch this space.
THIS WEEK - can your children please wear their P.E. uniform for Wednesday and Thursday.   NEXT WEEK the uniform should be worn on Monday and Tuesday.

Reading - A reminder to you all that your children should be reading every night for 20 mins at least.
Maths - There is set work on Studyladder and the children in Room 5 all have logins for e-ako on nzmaths.co.nz.  This is a site with maths specific to the nz curriculum.
Basic facts and times tables are also a must for your kiddies to be working on.  Please don't pressure them however Years 5 and 6 are the years when knowing these makes all the difference to how your child feels about maths.

Slippers

I have suggested to the class that if they want to bring their slippers to school to keep warm while inside they are able to do so.  They will not be worn outside - even for toilet visits.  

That's all folks, have a good week.

Carolyn

Week 5 - wait, what?

Wowsers people, it's Week 5 already!

Time is flying and the learning is happening.  It was great to see a good turn out from Room 5 members for School Mass this morning.  The choir sang so beautifully and the many participants in mass joined forces to make mass enjoyable for all who attended.

On Friday morning we had a mini baking session to treat Mrs Nicholson to some Rocky Road for her birthday.  We also gave her a nice present and each member of Room 5 signed a card to wish her a Happy Birthday.  We are very lucky to have Mrs Nicholson as our capable teacher aide - she is so much fun and is a really important cog in the learning machine that is Room 5.

Next Monday - Queen's Birthday Weekend - NO SCHOOL!

Thanks to the parents/caregivers out there encouraging the memorisation of times tables.  Slowly but surely we shall get there.

Have a good week families,

Mrs Lyon.

Term 2, Week 4

Hi All,

Important dates coming up

•  Wednesday 25th, Rippa Rugby Tournament. Room 5 has 18 members participating.
• CRT - Mrs Flannery will be in Room 5 on Thursday morning.
• Sunday 29th May 9:00am - Whole School Mass

Poetry Focus

Leading up to Eisteddfod poetry presentations at the end of the term Room 5 will be investigating Poetry during our Reading and Writing times. We will be reading poetry, learning about various poetry styles, sharing poetry readings, writing poetry and publishing poetry.

Commitment to Learning

I regularly encourage Room 5 members to bring their learning attitude into the classroom. This means that when they enter the door they make good choices about how they can learn best and make moves to ensure that a day is filled with focus towards finishing tasks to a standard appropriate to each student and making an effort to engage in learning.  I like to remind Parents to occasionally having this chat with their children too - so go for it Mums and Dads!  Chat away - it does make a difference.

Times Tables

As well as reading and spelling nightly, there is an expectation this year that the children will learn their times tables.  We are working on these in class but it makes a big difference to recall and eventual mastery if children are practicing at home too.  I tell the kids often that it seems like a big job but if you know 6x7, then you also know 7x6.  Every fact learned is one down.  There is a neat app called Maths Rocks which can be found on the app store if you are interested in helping your kiddies out in a fun way.  Below is the image to search for in the app store.

Have a great week families!

Mrs Lyon

Rippa Rugby

This note is for the parents of children who are playing in the Rippa Tournament next Wednesday.

When: Wed May 25th. First games 9:30am. Finals approx 2:30pm.

All teams to wear full school PE gear and tracksuits.

Bring your lunch and drink. There will be a stall with BBQ, lollies etc

Coffee available for parents

Coaches meeting at 9:10 at admin tent

Mr Yeoman or Mrs Lyon will have a copy of the draw and a map of the grounds available on the day.

Each team will need at least one parent to help manage and/or coach during the day.