Term 1 Week 5
Principal's Message
Meet the Teacher
It was lovely to see so many families last Thursday for our Meet the Teacher social evening. I saw many of you talking to our new families, giving them a warm welcome and making new connections.
Our teachers gave you lots of information but please, always feel free to email them or send Classdojos if there is anything you want to ask or clarify. On the 25th and 26th of March we will hold learning conferences when you will get a chance to hear about your child's learning goals.
School Uniform
I have noticed some aspects of our uniform policy that are slipping.
*Please ensure that earrings are either a simple stud or plain sleeper. Dangly earrings or elaborate studs are not allowed.
*Necklaces that have a cross or a pendant of cultural significance are allowed but must be worn under uniform shirts for safety reasons.
*When wearing PE uniform, children are to wear their navy blue school uniform socks.
*Our PE uniform states plain black shorts or leggings- no stripes or words.
Thank you for your support with this.
Lisa Small,
Principal
Faith News
Wednesday Mass
There will be no Mass this Wednesday.
Parish Newsletter
This week’s Parish newsletter is available here
Marine Education Trip
On Wednesday we will be visiting the Marine Education Centre in Island Bay and carrying out a beach clean up. Children are to wear their PE uniforms for the day.
Please ensure sunscreen is applied in the morning and that you child has a waterbottle with them. We will take sunscreen to be re-applied during the day.
Brooklyn Library Visits
This term we will resume our termly visits to Brooklyn Library. If your child wishes to borrow a book during the visit they need to bring their personal library card with them. We will return books on the next visit if they are brought back in time. Books not brought on the day of the visit will need to be returned by yourselves. If you would like to leave your child's card in the classroom between visits then teachers will find a safe place to keep them.
Room 1: 20 March
Room 2: 06 March 27 March
Room 4: 13 March 03 April
Board News
Our school has a Board of Trustees that govern our school. Our school Board is made up of the principal, three proprietor's representatives, 4 elected parent representatives and a teacher representative.
We are still looking for one more Board member.
Here is some information about what a representative does:
*We hold two evening meetings per term that run from 7pm until 8.30/9pm.
*Prior to the meeting their will be a principal's report and other documents to read (none of which are very long).
*There is the opportunity to attend Zoom Board professional development.
*You will be involved in the governance of the school, ensuring we are meeting Ministry requirements, hearing about teaching and learning, monitoring the budget, supporting and monitoring our strategic plan.
*Board members are entitled to $55 per meeting. This can be claimed or donated to the school.
If you have any questions please speak to Mrs Small.
Absences
If your child is sick or unable to attend school for all or part of the day, please either send a notification via the school app (skool loop), email the school office on office@stbernards.school.nz or phone 3899377 by 9.00 a.m. so that your child's absence can be accounted for.
Children who are late need to report to the office in case they have been marked absent by the teacher who takes the roll first thing in the morning.
If an absence is planned for a special reason, a note or telephone call to the school in advance is appreciated. In cases of prolonged absence, e.g. a family trip, a written note is required.
Birthday Wishes
Happy Birthday to Joan who turns 10 this Tuesday, and Vincent who turns 12 on Sunday.
We also send out belated birthday wishes to Eva and Kotoha who recently had birthdays. We hope you all have/had wonderful, fun filled birthdays.
Room 1 Learning
Last week we were getting into the swing of our reading and writing programmes, learning all the different activities we can do to help us learn to write our letters and words.
We read all together a big book "Car Shopping" and created a mural with our cars and wrote a description of them.
For maths, we have been counting, counting, counting! using the 100s board and number lines. We also wrote practised writing numbers on our whiteboards.
On Wednesday we visited Brooklyn Library with Mrs Small and Carol read us some stories about libraries. It was a very long walk because we had to stop to talk to every cat and watch every recycling truck that we saw along the way!
Room 2 Learning
With our classroom schedule up and running and our testing done and dusted, Room 2 have been enjoying their first full week of regular school activities and routines. Some highlights from this week include our first lesson on writing in cursive, along with our first etymology lesson. I'm sure many of you have heard of Duolingo, which we do for 10 minutes a day as one of our online learning rotations. This will hopefully be a good way for the class to have some fun learning a new language while gaining some valuable insight into different languages and cultures.
Room 4 Learning
Science Box Activity - Float My Boat Design
Last Wednesday Room 4 carried out a scientific design experiment based on buoyancy. Their task was to investigate boat shapes and understand the displacement of water on an object - the concept of buoyancy. Each child was given a 15 cm square of tin foil to create a boat model. The children drew a boat design first and made their design with tin foil. No other materials were used in their boat models. The next step was to test their boat design and see if it could float - show buoyancy - in cold water. If their boat designs stayed afloat it was time to test the capacity and strength of their designs by adding tap washers on top of them until they sank!
When the children returned to Room 4 after their first testing session they could work in pairs or small groups. This meant they could double their tinfoil and make a combined model. Each pair or group was also given an extra small square of tinfoil. The children made adaptations to their original designs and were ready to test their models again. This time it was warm water in the containers. There were some creative boat designs and the record for holding washers came to 36! Some groups came close to this total while other washer totals varied between 10 and 25. Room 4 really enjoyed the activity and the chance to experiment using an unusual material. The children will be ready and keen for their next Science Box activity!
Public Notices
