Week 8

We are chomping through the weeks.

I hope you have all registered and are coming along to the Student Lead Conferences tomorrow, it is a great opportunity for the children to share their learning with you.  If you can't make it for any reason, just let me know and I will organise a time for you.

I will have picture prompts available for the children, and some questions available for you too.  The questions are....

• Can you tell me about this?
• What did you enjoy about learning this?
• How did you come up with this idea?
• What did you find out during this learning?
• What do you think you have done really well?
• What would you like to know next?
• How can we help you at home?

It is very important that your questions and feedback to your child's learning is positive and encouraging.  Please conclude your SLC with a big fat hug and a thank you.

A reminder that we have SWIMMING tomorrow, children will need their togs and towel, fingers crossed with have some better weather:)

Please have a hunt around at home to see if you have any library books.  The school library is now closed and Mrs o'Leary would like all the books returned so that she can do a stock take. 

These last couple of weeks are going to go very quickly and there is a lot happening in the school at this time.  Be sure to keep up to date with the notices and check the website if you are not sure.  We have the Junior picnic coming up and a day of dance with some Amjazz students.  I will get you more information as it comes to hand.

See you all tomorrow.

Sausage Sizzle Reminder

What a lovely day!
I am away today getting my dodgy knee looked at by a couple of professionals, so the fabulous Mrs.Power is on deck!

Just a reminder about the Sausage Sizzle, children will need to bring their money and place their order in the morning (Thursday) due to the seniors Athletics Day.  I am sure it will all be fine for them on the day, fingers crossed.

Hopefully you have all made a time to come for the Student Conferences.  It is a chance for your children to share examples of their work and learning, I will have some question prompt cards available for you, if you would like to use them.

All of the children are approaching their 6 months at school anniversary.  I have prepared their reports, which will go home in week 9, however if you would like to make a time to come and see me, you are most welcome.  We can talk about your child in relation to the national standards and how they are tracking. Five minutes is plenty of time.  

Here are some pictures of your children voting in the recent referendum, they are all very clear on their favorite falg, so I look forward to seeing if that result is reflected schoolwide.

On Friday I will be attending a course at Boys High, there will be a reliever in the class.

Week 7

Hi Everyone,
I hope that wind goes away soon. 
We are going to be looking at how to make bonds to 10, like 1+9 and 2+8 and so on, and at number names-one, two, three, so any practice you can do at home would be helpful.

In writing we are working on simple punctuation, beginning with a capital letter, finger spaces in between words and finishing with a full stop.  When you finishing reading your day's story, it is a great idea to write one simple sentence about the book to re-enforce these ideas.

In reading we will be meeting again with our book buddies to go over our spelling words, the spelling lists will come home on Monday, please have a look at the List that your child is working on and choose maybe one or two words that you can help with, these are all high frequency words used a lot in writing.

Student Led Conferences

Monday 30 November 2015

Student Led Conferences will take place on Monday 30 November from 3.15pm to 7.00pm. The conference takes place in your child's classroom and bookings will be set at 5 minute intervals. However this does not mean that conferences are only limited to 5 minutes in the classroom. You may take as much time as you wish and other parents and students will also be present in the classroom at these times.
Bookings for your time slot may now be accessed:

www.schoolinterviews.co.nzCode: 6ARLU

No swimming this week.  We had a lot of children away last week, with a variety of sore throats, tummy bugs and colds.  Hopefully we are all back tomorrow:)

Sausage Sizzle

The sausages will now be available but only if you order them on Thursday (tomorrow). If your child would like a sausage or a juicy please order it on Thursday for Friday. The muck up has to do with the Athletics Sports being held at JPC on Friday, the PTA have kindly offered to take our orders and deliver them to us at school. Good on you PTA!

Week 6

We have swimming this week, so please remember to bring your togs and a towel.  For some reason the weather always seem to be less than wonderful on our swimming weeks.  It's a good thing we love the water. We will be working on our kicking and our freestyle technique.

A reminder that there is a school working bee on Saturday the 21st, it would be lovely to see some of you at school on this day to help with the tidy up and beautification projects that will be happening on the day.

There will be no sausage sizzle this week as the PTA will be at JPC, the middle school and seniors will be having their Athletics Day over there and have hijacked the barbecue to provide much needed sustenance for our athletes.

I am very impressed with the children and our work on the friends of 5, we will be branching out to have a look at doubles to 20 and friends of 10.  Counting forwards and backwards to 20 is an essential piece of knowledge that we need to practice all the time, please help your children at home with their counting.

Let's hope the sun comes out at some point this week.

Mufti Day

Don't forget it is mufti day tomorrow  (Friday ). Bring a gold coin donation and wear whatever you like. Happy Friday☺

A few notices

Notices coming home in your children's bags today...
One is about Student Led Conferences will take place on Tuesday the 1st of December, keep an eye on the school notices to organise a time, have a read of the notice in the book bags so you have an idea what to expect.

There is another notice about the upcoming pertaining to the upcoming working bee, please fill in the jobs you are keen to help with and return to the office.
Thanks

Skoolbo

We have been trying out a new learning tool which the children are really enjoying, here are the details.

Dear Parents, 
Skoolbo – Go! Kiwi Kids Go! is a great new site to help children with reading and maths. 
Children are immersed in an incredible learning world and become highly motivated by the inbuilt rewards mechanisms designed to encourage healthy use and maximise learning. 
Your child has been provided with an account that grants full free use of the program both at home and school. 
As a parent you will also be able to view your child’s results via the Parent Dashboard. 

There is no advertising on Skoolbo and there are no in-app purchases. 
Children are not able to communicate on Skoolbo and there is no possibility of unsafe interactions. How to get going at home: 
1. Visit www.skoolbo.co.nz/downloads and download the software. 
2. Skoolbo is available for tablets (iPads and Androids), computers (PCs and Macs) and through your Internet browser. 
3. Open the software and select PARENTS. In the box that says Username or email, please insert your child’s username ____________________. Then click on the password tab. The password by default is the colour BLACK and the animal BEE, although your child might have changed this at school. 
4. You can link your email to your child’s account, once your child is logged on go to the Parent tab on the play screen and enter your email address. You can now log on through our website www.skoolbo.co.nz and see your child’s results, password’s etc. 

Tips for Maximum Benefit: 
 Encourage your child to use Skoolbo four to five times per week for around 20-30 mins each time (this should be about ten games after which your child is rewarded with a Lucky Prize). 
 Don’t let other children (or adults) play on your child’s account. 
Skoolbo uses a smart algorithm that determines the most appropriate learning activities specifically for your child based on his or her recent performance. Other users could affect the level of activity presented to your child. 
 Celebrate your child’s successes. Examples include the 1,000 Correct Answers milestone and other improvement awards. 
 Refer to the Parent Guide available at the Downloads tab on the web site for additional tips and instructions. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@skoolbo.co.nz or call us on 09 443 4750. 
Best wishes, The Skoolbo Team

User names and passwords are listed below and will come home in their Book Bags on a laminated card.
Alice K  ROOM6 alice3737         BlackBee
Brigitte H  ROOM6 brigitte1815 OrangeCow
Bronson T ROOM6 bronson2553 BlackBee
Chloe L ROOM6 chloe1138         BlackBee
Connor P ROOM6 connor3181 BlackBee
Cooper  C ROOM6 cooper3717 BlackBee
Elizabeth ROOM6 elizabet2384 BlackBee
Emma  E ROOM6 emma3960        BlackBee
Ena  S ROOM6 ena1362         Black Bee 
Espie T ROOM6 espie3960         BlackBee
Isaac H ROOM6 isaac3731         BlackBee
James K ROOM6 james2177   BlackBee
Josie C ROOM6 josie3677         BlackBee
Jun K ROOM6 jun3828         BlackBee
Mark  A ROOM6 mark2878         BlackBee
Natasha  C ROOM6 natasha3457 BlackBee
Neha B ROOM6 neha2389         BlackBee
Oliver B ROOM6 oliver3501         BlackBee
Rohan P ROOM6 rohan2057         BlackBee
Shubh P ROOM6 shubh2584         BlackBee
Sophie S ROOM6 sophie1149 BlackBee
Tirisa K ROOM6 tirisa1829         BlackBee

If you have any questions, just come in and see me or you can e-mail me at brigitteh@stmarysrotorua.school.nz.
Thanks

Book Buddies

A big thanks to the great seniors in Room 1. We all now have a Big Buddy to read to. We will be reading with our Buddies twice a week and they will be helping us with our spelling too. Seniors are awesome!!

Week 5

Greetings all!
First of all a big Congratulations to Bronson for completing his first week at school, you have settled in so quickly to school life, it is lovely to have you in our class.

Thanks to all the parents, grandparent's and grandfriend's who turned up on Friday, it was wonderful to see all of you and for you to share in the children's learning.

A great day was had by all and we saw some of our school groups perform.  Well done Mark for your performance in the Pasifika item.

Your children are welcome to join any of those school groups that were performing, it is a great opportunity to become involved in a team and meet new friends.

In class we are concentrating on our math skills, we will be working on recognising reading and writing numbers up to 100 and on memorising our facts of 5...5+0, 4+1, 3+2, 2+3, 1+4 and 5+0, the children need to turn these facts into knowledge, that is they need to know these facts without counting on their fingers.  It is lots of repetition, lots of flash cards until it is known.  We will also be working on subitising, this is a flash word that means... Instantly recognizing the number of objects in a small group, without counting. Example: when you know there are 5 coins here without counting.

Dice games are really good for this, if you need or want more ideas to help with maths at home check out the Introductory Video at nzmaths, here is the link...

http://nzmaths.co.nz/families

If you have any newspapers, empty cereal boxes, ice-cream containers or toilet rolls lying around at home could you please drop them into class for us to use.

No swimming this week, sadly.  We are back in the pool in Week 6.

Grandparents Day

Friday is Grandparents/Grandfriends Day, here is the timetable for the day...

9.15am Mass

10.00am Morning Tea in classrooms. Children from each class to bring morning tea. Grandparents to go into classrooms.

10.30am Performance on grass outside hall. Stage to be erected. Coffee will be served outside for adults. Children with Grandparents/ Grandfriends can sit together outside during performance.

               1. Kapa Haka

               2. Fillipino Dance group

               3. Gymnastic Group

               4. Poetry Winner. Middle team. (Confirmation        pending)

               5. Speech Winner. Senior Team (Confirmation pending)

               6. Pasifika Group.

AT END OF CONCERT- Playtime.

We will be having a shared morning tea on Friday, so please bring a plate to share with your classmates.