End+of+week+message

Term 4 Week 1

Blessings to you all at the start of this new term. I have had a great holiday and I am feeling rested and ready for the challenges of the new term!

One thing that is new is that we have a new student in class - my son Lucas. He has had a great first week and enjoyed making new friends. Please pray for him that things continue to go well and that he gets something special out of our special character.

Having Lucas at school is going to mean a few small changes to my routine. The main one is that I don't want him having to wait around after school every day while I work so when ever possible I am going to get away early and work at home. If you would like to see me after school then let me know before hand so I haven't slipped away. Also I will be doing this end of week notice over the weekend, rather than straight after school on Friday afternoons.

This is a short term and has a lot crammed into it. Week 2 is assessment week - the students have reading, writing and maths assessments to do by the end of the week. There is the school production, athletics day, some science labs, a service project, and prize giving too. For me there is also report writing - always a biggie!

Athletics day warrants some extra information here - the Zone Athletics Day (for 9 years old and older) is Monday 14 Novemeber and I will be taking students who qualify for this along for the day. Expressions of interest and selection will happen this week. We will also have a school athletics day later in the term for the whole school. I will try to make time for some practice/training sessions before the big day, and I would be keen for any parent help I can get.

Another exciting event coming up is some science lab time at Chch Adventist School. inspired by the excitement of an SDL inquiry into chemical reactions I organised 3 hours of lab time at CAS in weeks 4 and 5 this term. CAS have graciously given us this time for free (a small fee for chemical useage is all we need to pay) and so on the Wednesdays of those 2 weeks we will stay on at CAS after technology for lunch and then some time in the science lab playing with chemicals. The following is the main fous of what we will be doing. We are all pretty excited about it too...

//Level 4 Material World// //Students will: // //Properties and changes of matter // //Chemistry and society //
 * //Compare chemical and physical changes. //
 * //Relate the observed, characteristic chemical and physical properties of a range of different materials to technological uses and natural processes. //

//Special Character Focus: // //God has created an amazing world that we live in. We depend on chemical reactions to live.//

I hope you have had a good weekend.

In Jesus name

Simon

Term 3 Week 9

Wow - one more week to go! There is a lot happening next week so we are all going to be pretty busy. First up there is the BP Challenge on Tuesday afternoon. Thank you to the people who have said they will come along for the event. We are more than covered now so it should be great. GO US!

There will be SDL presentations from those who are ready. This is a time when the students become the teachers and share their own learning with the rest of the class. I really enjoy these times as there is always such a great degree of enthusiasm, as students are bringing their passions and interests to their peers.

Production practices are stepping up a notch. There will be two next week, as well as morning assembly singing practice.

I have been toying with the the idea of having a day down at Bishopdale park. The idea is to have school there - do our maths, writing etc, but do it somewhere else for a change. it would also give us the opportunity to do some outdoor activities as well. For this to be a possibilty there would need to be a good level of supervision so please let me know if you have any thoughts/suggestions on this, positive or negative. With the weather improving it could be a great way to spend a day next term!

FInally - thank-you for all your prayers over the last few weeks. My daughter has got a lot better over the last few days - she even went to school for a half day today which she was very excited about.

Below are some photos from our swimming and the RWC day on Tuesday. A big thanks to Mike Brown who helped out on the BBQ at lunch time. Oh, and Homework is due on Monday next week, as are the final chore forms!

Have a great weekend

Simon

media type="custom" key="10664980"

Term 3 Week 8

I would like to thank all of you for being so supportive during the last few weeks as my family has struggled with sickness, especially my daughter. Your prayers, words and gifts have been greatly appreciated. This message is being done Friday evening as I had to leave school pretty quickly today to get my daughter from her grandparents. I have since had the latest blood test results and her white bloodcell count has fallen again. Please continue to pray for her - she is not a happy camper!

To school then... Swimming is finished for this year and things seem to have gone well - the students I have talked to being happy with the programme over the last two weeks. I have missed about half of it this year with the way things have been going, so It was great to see so many parents turning up to encourage and support the students. Mrs Woodlock has got some photos for me that I will get on the wiki soon.

There are two teams that have been practicing for the BP Technology challenge. They have come a long way with their problem solving and teamwork so I am sure we will get a good result this year too. The challenges are to build a pair of newspaper stilts (minimum 12cm off the gound) and a baloon rocket message carrier. We have succeeded in both these tasks in class now so future practice is for refinement. The Challenge day is Tuesday 5 October in the afternoon. The students involved are William, Josh, Rhemard, Laura, Ariel, Abigail and Esther. Some help with transport on the day would afford you the opportunity to come and spectate this event - let me know if you would like to come.

Next Tuesday is our RWC day, and Room 6 is supporting Ireland! On Tuesday students are to come wearing the Ireland colours - green, white and orange. The class will be decorated for the day and each student needs to bring a plate of traditional Irish food that can be easily shared (so that there is a minimum of cleanup). I found this website that was a real help for knowing what traditional Irish foods are: [] As well as that, any food of the right colour would be acceptable - appropriately iced cupcakes, platters of carrots and cucumber, coloured jelly, Fanta etc etc. This will be a great day, and includes a sausage sizzle for lunch as well as a game of touch in the afternoon - spectators welcome; kick off about 2:00pm.

In class we are about to start a maths unit on algebra and the students have done a pretest for this. I will have the results by Monday so if you are keen to take a look ask to see them. Next week for writing we are doing an assessment narrative piece. The students have been working hard at refining this style through the term so a look in their books will let you see the quality of their writing. As always, discussing their work with them is a great way to get them to focus and cement their thinking. SDL inquiries are coming to a close for most students so that will be exciting as they share their learning with each other and be teachers for a while.

Have a great weekend and may God bless you as you rest

Simon

Term 3 Week 7

Firstly - apologies for not keeping up with this over the last few weeks. I have been finding it really hard to shake this flu/cold that I have - it has been 3 weeks now and every time I think I am improving it comes back again. Please pray for me that I will be able to beat this as it has not been easy finding the energy to teach when I have so little energy at all! Not only that but whatever this is, it has been through my family too, and so I have had to take sick leave to look after my children while they deal with things.

Anyway, despite all this there have been some awesome goings on in Room 6 lately. I really enjoyed the student led conferences from week 4. Giving students the opportunity to report back about their learning and how they think they are going allows them to be honest and resposible. Reflecting on their own work also enables them to undersatnd better the ways they are succeeding, and identify the areas they need to work harder. Thank-you to all who were able to make it.

Camp was a huge success! The weather was perfect, the location was beautiful, the programme challenging and fun. It was also fantastic to have so many parents along for the ride - the support and encouragement they provided made a real difference to how things went. Bushwalking, orienteering, tree climbing, swimming, climbing, shooting, archery, initiatives - there was something for everyone. Each evening we gathered in the lounge where we were staying and gave thanks to God for the day - such a positive time with parents and students gathered together to pray and share. There is a photostory below with some of what we did but there are many more pictures than that. I would also appreciate copies of photos taken by others so I can get as good a coverage of the days as possible.

School production is well underway and is looking exciting and big. Almost everyone will be involved in one way or another and I am pleased with how quickly things seem to be coming together. Make sure you come and see it - Novemebr 18.

Finally, swimming is going well this year. It feels better organised and it is good to be able to do this activity again, after the earthquake put the brakes on things at the start of the year. Thank-you all for your support and prayers Simon

media type="custom" key="10476518"

Term 3 Week 3

This is just a short newsletter this week as it has been a short week. Things to be aware of for next week are forms for camp, and student led conferences. I have several parents offering to come on camp with the class but there is always room for more - I believe that the more students see strong relationships between their teacher and parents the more they will take their learning seriously. Let me know soon so I can confirm final numbers with Living Springs.

Once again I encourage you (if you have not done so yet) to sign up for the student led conferences using the following link. [|www.schoolinterviews.co.nz] - the school's code is on the newsletter. These are a great way to stay aware of how things are going for your child.

Planning for the school production is now underway. Look for information about this in next week's newsletter and encourage the students to take part. It is being directed by yours truly with the professional support of Anna Henderson and Naomi Langford so it will be a huge success!

Have a look through the class wiki some more too - all the students are now signed up and today we looked at how to put pictures and video onto the wikis. Some of the students have already figured out how to put youtube content onto the wiki and I have stressed the importance of being responsible about content. However, if there is anything anywhere that appears on the site that you think is dubious please let me know. I will do my best to check things regularly but may miss something from time to time and your support in keeping the school respectable would be gratefully received.

Have a great weekend

In His service

Simon

Term 3 Week 2

Greetings again from Room 6

I hope you all were able to view the newsletter on the wiki last week. As the term progresses it will become more and more important.

One of the big focuses this week has been student sample books - important but not very exciting is how students usually feel about them! However, with student led conferences not far away they will be a great way of showing off your child's strengths and abilities. I encourage you all to come and take part in these as student learning is enhanced considerably when the triangle of relationship between teacher, student and parent is strong.

Sport was very successful this week! The boys managed a draw (1/1) against an obviously older side with some strong players, and if luck had been slightly better they could have won. The senior netball team lost again but the final score was 10/6. The people I spoke to who watched it said that they all played well and to keep the score so close was a real achievement as the other team seemed quite good.

Nearly all our science documentaries are completed. I will get them up for viewing as soon as they are all done. We have had some technical hitches with our computer that has caused some frustration and lost time but we will soon have it all sorted. I love it when students have so much fun with their learning and are confident enough to take risks and make mistakes.

I am off to Glenroy Baptist Camp for my church's winter camp so I will need to wrap up here but I have included some footage of the boys at soccer for you to enjoy. And one last thing, if the snow develops as expected, keep an eye out on your email or the ECS wikispace for updates about school being open or closed.

Blessings

Simon

media type="custom" key="10183037"media type="file" key="soccer.wmv" width="300" height="300"

Term 3 Week 1

Hello to you all at the start of this new term

As part of a drive to make better use of the school's wikispace I am going to put the end-of-week messages on the wiki. I will still email the link to you but as we use this resource more and more I want to keep it in front of you as much as possible. It can be a platform for students to display any multimedia work they do (like powerpoints and slideshows) that are impractical to get into sample books. It can also be a way for students to develop their own e-portfolios of work they are particularly pleased with. Finally, I hope that it will be a place where we keep a kind of a journal of the things we do this year - for photos and reflections and celebrations. The students seem very excited about using the wiki and I hope you will enjoy being able to see your child's work and the work of their peers more easily - I really want room 6 to be an open classroom where you all feel involved.

This week has been a good one. The students seem much more settled and relaxed than at the end of last term - it has been an emotional year and we were all tired. They are excited about their new inquiries for self-directed learning, and I am excited to see the range of ideas that have come forward. Over the next few weeks I will get some of their work online for you to see.

We will be finishing up our unit on geometry soon and moving towards doing some more numeracy skills and strategies for a few weeks. There will be an easTTle assessment for this shortly, so if you want to support your child in this you can quiz them on what they have covered, and how they do it. Pretesting for this strand of mathematics showed that the students were generally better at geometry, but I still expect to see improvement for the 5-6 weeks we have been working on this!

Our writing genre for term 3 is narrative and we will be starting to dig into this next week. This is my favourite style (I often wonder if there could be a book hiding in my head somewhere!) and the students in room 6 are very creative so I expect this to be an enjoyable endeavour.

Up-coming events: - I hope to have another parent meeting, probably in week 3. The last meeting was well attended and very helpful so put this one in your diaries. Thursday 18 August, 3:00pm - Student led conferences are going to be in week 4 - Room 6 camp is week 6. The dates will be September 7 to 9 and the cost again is approximatley $150 per student, $90 for any adults that come (I need four minimum, and thank-you to those who have offered to come already) and a small amount for the bus - $15-$20 per student for both trips. If I can get enough support I would love help to avoid the bus, although as we are walking into Living Springs from the Sign of the Bellbird, transport offers would need to come from parents not attending camp. - Swimming. We are currently booked into Jelly Park for weeks 6 and 7

Have a blessed weekend and I will see you next week

Simon