Term 3 Week 5
Principal's Message
Thank you to those families who have already sent me their passages regarding the Archdioceses' proposal. It has been quite emotional reading them all and we are very grateful for your words.
Please can remaining families try and send something through in the next couple of days so that I can gather them together ready to go off with the Board's response.
Lisa Small
Principal
Faith News
HOW WELL DO WE KNOW THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE MASS PART 2 - THE STORY TELLING:
LITURGY OF THE WORD: When we gather at a friend’s home for a meal, we always begin with conversation, telling our stories. At Mass, after the rites of gathering, we sit down and listen as the readings from the Word of God are proclaimed. They are the stories of God’s people. The Three Readings – On Sundays there are three readings from the Bible. The first reading will be from the Hebrew Scriptures. We recall the origins of our covenant. It will relate to the Gospel selection and will give background and an insight into the meaning of what Jesus will do in the Gospel. Then we will sing or recite a psalm – a song from God’s own inspired hymnal, the Book of Psalms of the Hebrew Bible. The second reading will usually be one of the letters of Paul or another apostolic writing. Both the first and the second reading conclude with the words “The Word of the Lord”, not “This is the Word of the Lord” as Christ is present in The Word. The third reading will be taken from one of the four Gospels. Standing for the Gospel – because of the unique presence of Christ in the proclamation of the Gospel. It has long been the custom to stand in attentive reverence to hear these words. We believe that Christ “is present in his word, since it is he himself who speaks when the scriptures are read in Church” (Constitution on Scared Liturgy #7) The presider will again greet us with “The Lord be with you.” He then introduces the gospel reading while marking a small cross on his forehead, lips and heart with his thumb while praying silently that God cleans his mind and heart so that his lips may worthily proclaim the gospel. In many places the assembly also performs this ritual action. The Gospel reading concludes with the words “The Gospel of the Lord” and we respond, “Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ”. Again, proclaiming our faith in the presence of Christ in the Word.
HOMILY – it means more than just a sermon or a talk about how we are to live or what we are to believe. It is an act of worship rooted in the texts of the Mass and especially in the readings from Scripture which have just been proclaimed. The homily takes that word and brings it to our life situation today. Just as a large piece of bread is broken to feed individual persons, the word of God must be broken open so it can be received and nourish the community. At the end of the homily there is a short period of silence during which we thank God for the word we have heard.
THE CREED – is more than a list of things which we believe. It is a statement of our faith in the word we have heard proclaimed in the Scripture and in the homily, and a profession of faith that leads us to give our lives for one another as Christ gave his life for us. Originally the creed was the profession of faith of those about to be baptised at this point in the Mass.
GENERAL INTERCESSIONS – The Liturgy of the Word (our story- telling part of the Mass) comes to an end with the general intercessions. Now as we prepare to approach the Table of the Eucharist, we look into the readings, like a mirror, and ask: Is this who we are? Does the Body of Christ present in this assembly resemble the Body of Christ pictured in the Scripture readings? Usually not! And so, we make some adjustments: we pray that our assembly really come to look like the Body of Christ, a body of peace, with shelter for the homeless, healing for the sick, food for the hungry. We pray for the Church, nations and their leaders, people in special need and the local needs of our parish – the petitions usually fall into these four categories. The minister will announce the petition, and we are usually given an opportunity to pray for the intentions in our heart, then making a common response like “Lord, hear our prayer “.
Wednesday Mass
Please come and join Room 2 , along with members of the parish, for Mass this Wednesday morning at 9am,
in Room 3.
Parish Newsletter
This week’s Parish newsletter is available here
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: 28 August
Room 2: 04 September
Room 4: 11 September
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.
Room 1 Learning
Here is Room 1 enjoying Monday sports at Akau Tangi ( Kilbirnie Sport Centre).
We have been learning skills in floorball, badminton and netball.
In class. our micr-greens kept growing and growing! It was time to snip and taste. Some of us liked them, some not so much.
Room 2 Learning
This week Room 2 have been learning about the science of colour. We've learned that white light is made up of lots of different colours. Colours are like waves of light that all have their own unique wavelength. We also learned that these different colour wavelengths get bent and scattered as they pass through certain objects - such as a prism. To observe this, we used torches and prisms in our own little science experiments. We practised directing a beam of light from a torch through a tiny slit of paper and straight through our prisms. Here we could see the light being scattered, making beautiful colours. In a darkened room, we had a go at making rainbows with our torches and prisms. We also played with rainbow peepholes, which bend and scatter light through tiny slits. The class were fascinated by how colour is bent (refraction) and spread (diffraction) through different objects.
Room 4 Learning
Alphabet Research Presentations
Last Monday some of the Year 7 and 8s presented their Alphabet Research projects that they created. Every 3 weeks, for their home learning, they create a slideshow about their chosen topic. Erin and Danica shared about a Roblox adventure game they play called "Together Party". Players work together to advance through levels. Riley shared his research on the Cyber Truck, a futuristic vehicle built by Telsa Incorporated. The first model was built in 2019 and they produced an updated model last year. Clara shared her research about the pet chickens they have at home. Here is the slide about the types of chickens they have and their names.:
“I have seven chickens. Their names are: Hei-Hei, Pebbles, Wilma, Bam-bam, Betty, Edie and Edna. Four of them are Hyline Browns and the rest are Wyandottes. The oldest two are about 5 years old, the second oldest are 3 years and the youngest are 4 months old. Hei-Hei and Pebbles are the leaders of the pecking order. They are all very friendly but the Wyandottes are new and still very scared of the rest. The chicken Bam-bam has a very annoying habit of jumping up onto the roof of the coop to avoid getting pecked on her way in. That is because Hei-Hei sits the entrance to try and stop the other chickens from getting in.”
As part of Clara’s presentation her Dad brought two of the chickens to Room 4 for the class to see and hold. Edie and Edna had a great time in Room 4 being fussed over by the children!
