Greetings Parents and Caregivers.
Welcome to a brand new year and term. We look forward to working with you this year and having your support for our upcoming events.
A special welcome to Mr. George Latu our new teacher in Room 16. We pray that you will enjoy and value your time here at Holy Cross. We are looking forward to working with you and supporting you in your teaching.
We also welcome the new children to our school and to the Tumanako Syndicate. These children are all in Room 14;
LOCHLAN TE’O, ROMANUEL ESELOMA, KSHAUNISH BHANDARI & SEBASTIAN GAGO; We pray that you and your families will enjoy being part of the Holy Cross whanau.
Our school value for this term is Human Dignity.
Our syndicate focus is Managing Self which is one of our key competencies.
In Room 15 we have Mrs Maureen Gass and in Room 14 Ms Pat. Helsham.
In Year 3 and 4, the children have google.docs accounts which you can access. This is a good tool for homework. Don’t forget to go on our school website and look at the Tumanako folder to see who our Class captains are and also view some of the children’s work. We will have this all up and running by next week. By now you would have all received an email or notice about signing up to Seesaw. Please do so as soon as possible so that you will have access to your child’s work on Seesaw. IXL will be up and running soon so watch this space…
Term 1 units:
RELIGION: CHARISM OF HOLY CROSS/ PRAYER/ GOD/ LENT/ JESUS/ HOLY WEEK/ EASTER
LITERACY: WRITING: WRITING E ASTTLE TEST RECOUNTS/ LETTERS/ EMAILS /POETRY WRITING/ GOOGLE DOCS, DESCRIPTIVE/ REPORT WRITING USING THE SEVEN DESCRIPTORS
ORAL LANGUAGE: Daily Prayers/ shared news/ class & group discussions/ role plays/ buzz groups/ donut talking circle/ think pair share/ oral presentations.
READING: Instructional, Independent, Shared books. Children continue to read at their ability level and are encouraged to aim high. We use the Daily Five programme for reading.
SPELLING: Children will be doing the Schonell spelling test to see what their spelling age is at the beginning of the year. Throughout the year we use the You Can Spell programme and children will have spelling words each week to learn.
HANDWRITING: Handwriting samples. Teachers follow the HCSP format of handwriting for Year 3 and 4 children.
MATHS: ADDITION/ SUBTRACTION/ MULTIPLICATION/ DIVISION/ STRAND- STATISTICS:
TOPIC STUDY: SCIENCE: THE LIVING WORLD– LIFE CYCLE OF THE BUTTERFLY. We have a trip to Butterfly Creek on Thursday 14th March. We will study the butterfly and learn about their habitats and environment. SOCIAL SCIENCE: HOLY CROSS CHARISM– Belonging/ setting up class rules and treaty. Sharing what we know about our school. PEPEHA – PROUD TO BE THE PERSON I AM- (Key Competency- managing self) HEALTH: SAFE ENVIRONMENTS: Building a Safe and Positive Class Community: looking at friendships / classroom treaty/ rules / and accepting differences.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION: Fitness– Fitness run around the new covered area of the tennis courts/Jump Jam. Skills– LARGE BALL SKILLS / SKIPPING
ARTS: VISUAL ART: Self portraits- sketching and using a variety of mediums.
MAORI: The children have the opportunity to participate in Te Reo Maori lessons in our classroom with Whaea Bronwyn. This is every Tuesday for 1/2 hour.
MUSIC: The children have 1 hour a week with our music specialist. For our syndicate this is every Monday.
SPECIAL EVENTS Monday 4th February– school begins Friday 15th February – Full School Mass Monday 11th February – Office Foyer Room 15 Tuesday 12th February– Sacramental Programme meeting for Year 4 Parents. Monday 18th February – Assembly Room 15 Tuesday 26th February – Dedication Mass for all school staff Wednesday 6th March – Ash Wednesday Thursday 14th March– BUTTERFLY CREEK TRIP Sunday 17th March – St Patrick’s day First Reconciliation for Year 4 children: Tuesday 19th March Monday 25th March: Annunciation of the Lord Week 10: End of Term 1 Mass– Tumanako Syndicate preparing this. Friday 12th April– school closes for the end of term.
Again thank you for your support. May God bless us all as we begin this school year together.
From the team;
MAUREEN GASS– R15 / GEORGE LATU /-R16 / PAT HELSHAM– R14 (TEAM LEADER)
