Term 3 Week 8
Principal's Message
Archdiocese Proposal
Last weekend, the Board of St Bernard's sent a reposnse to the proposal by the Archdiocese of Wellington to remove the Integration Agreement for the school.
Below is a link if you would like to read it.
We will let you now when we get a decision from Archbishop Paul. We have started putting together our consultation with the Ministry should that turn out to be necessary.
Lisa Small
Principal
Faith News
Wednesday Mass
Please come and join us as a school, along with members of the parish, for Mass this Wednesday morning at 9am,
in the school hall.
Parish Newsletter
This week’s Parish newsletter is available here
Welcome to St Bernard's School
Today we are delighted to welcome 2 new students. A big St Bernard's welcome to Annabelle and her family, Annabelle will be in room 2, and a big welcome to Reign in room 1, who has joined his big brother Mason at St Bernard’s. Welome to school Annabelle and Reign.
Celebration of Learning
Next Wednesday, September 18, at 2pm in the hall we are holding our Celebration of Learning. Each class will share what they have learnt during the term. We will then head back to classes for you to have some one on one time with your children.
Anyone is welcome to join us- mums, dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, au pairs, etc.
Birthday Wishes
Happy Birthday to Clara who will turn 12 on Saturday. We hope you have a wonderful, fun filled birthday.
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.
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 4: 11 September
Room 1 Learning
Spring sprung in Room 1 last week with flowers on the tables! This started discussions around how our environment changes each season and what we are noticing as Spring starts. A walk around the school looking for signs of Spring had us finding buds , flowers and new leaves growing on trees. We also spotted Spring in the neighbouring gardens!
We noticed tui birds in the kowhai tree. This led to the children sharing and describing different birds they had seen either in their garden or at parks, and we have started doing research to find out and learn about native birds that live in the bush in Aotearoa. We will also learn about some of our native plants ( a great time to do this heading into Spring!).
Last week was Conservation Week, with the theme " Take action for the Environment". The children worked in small groups, sharing their thoughts and ideas and then presented back to the class an action they could take to look after the environment. Here are some of their ideas.......
..." give birds bird food to make sure they get fed in Autumn and Winter"
" cut vines off plants so they can grow"
" look after hurt creatures because we want them to live their life"
" I will help a bird because it was starving so I will give it berries"
" I will help the eels be fed"
" make a warm home for birds and put food in it"
" worms need compost."
" we have to not put rubbish in the sea"
Room 2 Learning
Room 2 has been learning about poems. We've looked at multiple different poems, including acrostic poems, diamante poems, cinquain poems, and limerick poems. We then chose our favourite poem and sketched a picture of the poem with pencil, before using watercolour crayons to paint them. The class have all been very creative and worked hard to apply their knowledge of grammar (nouns, adjectives, verbs etc.) to follow the correct structure of each poem.
We also have been doing some great work in our school garden. With spring here, we've been busy weeding and preparing the garden. Finally, we've planted the first of our vegetables. We learned how to evenly spread out each new seedling. We even found some worms, spiders, and wetas. Some of us didn't love getting our fingers in the soil, but we persevered and had lots of fun!
Room 4 Learning
Forces: Pushing and Pulling in Action!
Last Wednesday Room 4 focused on forces - specifically pushing and pulling. The session started with learning about the three laws of motion - based on the scientific theories developed by Sir Isaac Newton in the 17th century.
The three laws of motion are:
1: An object at rest will stay at rest until an outside force acts upon it. An object in motion will stay in motion until an outside force acts upon it.
2: The acceleration of an object depends on how much force is put upon it.
This can be shortened to Force = Mass x Acceleration
3: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
The children worked through an activity identifying which forces of pushing and pulling machines and items used. Next, they considered sports that use these two forces separately or both forces together when objects are moved.
After that it was time to go outside and put pushing and pulling into action in a series of tug of war competitions. First it was one of one, two on two, followed by two on three and then two teams competing against each other. If the rope stays stationary during the tug of wars it is because two equal forces were acting on it - meaning the forces were balanced. If one person, pair or larger group caused the rope to move in their direction - the forces became unbalanced with a greater force being applied than the one reacting against it. This was an excellent way to see the three laws of motion in action and lots of fun for Room 4!
Community Notices
Looking for a way to get a little bit extra this side of Christmas?
PFI (People For Information) is a research recruitment agency – we recruit people just like you to share your feedback on new products, new ideas, advertising, etc.
Topics can range from shopping to skincare to banking, and each person taking part receives a koha for their time and input (with either a direct credit or vouchers).
The best part? You can fit this around the family – we offer daytime sessions, evening sessions, in person or online via Zoom.
It’s up to you – if you’re keen to find out more please click on one of the links below which will take you to either our website, Facebook page or our LinkedIn page.
We look forward to getting you on board and involved!