Musical Week Newsletter

Thank you all for your kind messages after my mother's death.

Congratulations Will - a third place in the Otago Championship Cross Country Year 5 Boys in Dunedin on Friday - you put your heart into your training and have shown that you have been "Going For Gold"!  A well deserved achievement.

The Button Box:
The musical is really taking shape, great singing, dancing and acting as we all came together today.  Tomorrow is the dress rehearsal for the kindies and our Tuesday grandparents, so colourful will also be a word when we are all in costume.  Thank you all for sourcing the clothing that each child needs.
Performance Nights:
Room 4 will take their costumes home after the dress rehearsal and need to come to school dressed in costume. We will meet in our classroom at 5:30pm each night. Mrs Eastwood will be there on Thursday night to supervise Room 4 prior to the show. The audience each need a ticket, which can be collected from the office - don't leave it too late to do this, as no ticket means no seat - don't be disappointed.  A box for the gold coin donations will be at the door of the hall.
The audience needs to be seated by 5:50pm, so that the show can start at 6pm.  We need to keep to these times as Tim, Hannah and Ella also have final rehearsals for the town musical "Rush". Good luck for next week Ella.

Athletics:
On Thursday afternoon we will be starting the rotations of athletic practice in preparation for the school athletics competition which will be in the second week of term 4, Wednesday 24th October. We will be looking for helpers for this event. School sports uniform of black shorts and school t-shirt will be needed each day for these activities.

Assembly this Friday:
We will farewell Bailey at this assembly and the Cross Country Certificates will be presented.

Room 4 Outdoor Education:
Last term the staff completed the review of  "camps"and outdoor education. Next term Room 4 will be riding on the Rail Trail and staying away 2 nights as part of this. The tentative dates are Tuesday 13 - Thursday 15th November. This activity replaces what was the Dunedin Camp. If you are able to help for part or all of this time I would be happy to hear from you.  In the meantime cycle fitness needs to be something that you get started on so that you will enjoy this experience.

Maths Buddy:
Mr Hogue has managed to get a fantastic deal for those people who would like to continue to use the maths buddy site.  A note went home today, please send yours back by Thursday so that we can action this offer. This site is excellent as it has great tutorials as well as practice activities.  I recommend that as many as possible continue, as the subscription will last until 31 January next year.

Eisteddfod Speeches

Use the time management planner in your homework book to make sure that you will not be trying to write and prepare your speech at the last minute.  Speeches will be heard on Friday 21st September.  We have been learning about the structure of speeches as part of our writing programme, and most people have decided on the topic that would be interesting for the Room 4 audience.  Follow through the planner to help you meet the deadline - no-one wants to be writing their speech the same week as the musical performances. Once your speech is complete, try practising it on photobooth if you have this programme - you can check out what you might want to work on to improve the oral delivery.

Maths Buddy

The free trial period for this site has expired and at the present time Mr Hogue is searching for a free maths site that can be used to support the class learning as a homework activity.
Our  present topic is multiplication and division, and to be able to use the strategies effectively we need to know our basic facts.  Take one set of tables a night to learn.  Count up and back in the multiples of the table as part of your learning. The last 100 tables test showed that many people are making great gains with their basic facts knowledge.  Keep this up.

School Musical

On Friday everyone  took home a note explaining what their part is in the musical and what they need to wear.  Please make sure that you have read this, if there are any problems please let us know.

It's really important that the words to the songs are well known by now - this has been part of the homework for the last two weeks. Going over a couple of songs each night should secure these.  This is a very important homework item over the next couple of weeks as we need to step up with the singing.

Newsletter/Homework Week 6

How this term has flown - hard to believe it's week 6 already.  Congratulations to those people who competed so well at the Central Otago Cross Country in Arrowtown last Wednesday, and thank you to the parents who provided transport.  Your determination and encouragement of each other made me very proud. It was a new and challenging course with a shoe eating bog! A huge congratulations to Will and also Meg who won their respective races in style - all that training paid off - thanks too, to the parents who took those extra lunch time runs.
Today we were lucky enough to be inspired by the author Des Hunt. His use of humour and science to visually explain the necessary ingredients of a great story had us all hooked.  Yes, we will be recrafting our drafts - he did at least 7 times. This session with a real author  is a perfect way to start looking at our speeches.  These too, can be recrafted, so that they will be exciting and interesting for the Room 4 audience.
Thank you Dale for your offer of walking to and from the pool this week and next week, I do need at least one other parent please.
A reminder that next Monday 27th is Teacher's Only Day, where teachers will be further looking at the teaching of writing.
Next week Alan has surgery in Dunedin, and Mrs Donaldson will be teaching Room 4. At this stage I am not certain how long I will be away from school.

Homework

1. Maths: www.mathsbuddy.co.nz work on the multiplication and division activities, also getting your tables and basic facts to 20 really well known. Check that you complete the homework that is set.
2. Reading - record your reading in the log at the back of your book - remember to read a variety of texts - fiction, non-fiction, newspaper articles, recipes etc.
3. Musical: Keep working on knowing all the words to the songs - you have the sheets. This is your opportunity to show leadership with the singing.
4. Spelling: be ready to test on Friday
5. Morning Programme - Group 4 - Zachary be sure that you remind all of your group.
6. Touch Typing: www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/  Mrs Moors has found that until we are all faster with our typing skills, we won't be able to successfully use all the wonderful technology that is at our fingertips.
7. Speeches: These need to be ready to be heard on Friday 21st September - don't leave it until the last minute to get yours written - this is the week that we perform our school musical. Fill out the planning sheet in your book - then "Go For Gold!" This week our writing topic is speeches.

River Safety

Remember to come as your Olympic hero tomorrow. Wear school tracksuit over your outfit if you are a swimmer or an athlete.  Tracksuits are the uniform for the following Fridays - much easier to change back into and saves kilts being screwed up in bags.

Cross Country - another challenge while you're fit!

A great effort by everyone today - that training paid off. Since everyone is fit now, some people might want to enter the run organised by the Alexandra Harrier and Walkers Club on Saturday 18th August. For our age there is a 2 km off road race that costs $2 to enter - sounds like that includes afternoon tea as well. I have an entry form if you want one - entries close on Wednesday 15th August.  Entries can be made on the day for an extra cost.