Welcome Back!!!

Hi everbody,
Welcome back to Term 4!!! I hope you all had a brilliant holiday and had some relaxing family time together. This term is super busy and will definitely fly by. We are starting to prepare for our school athletics day, which is in week 4 on Wednesday 4 November. Sheridan will be participating in an athletics rotation on a Wednesday afternoon, practising running, long jump and throwing. We are also starting to prepare for our Christmas concert, which will be a fantastic show. The fair is on Saturday 7 November and thank you for all your contributions so far. We are really looking forward to the fair!!! Our topic for this term is Social Sciences - How Can I Contribute? Sheridan Syndicate are looking at Christmas Rituals and Customs in Different Cultures. We are tying this in with local charities and how people can struggle at this festive time of year. We will be looking at ways we can help and contribute with our time, money and gifts. Please come in and see the terrific art work that is on display in Room 3. We did some painting at the end of last term. We did koru designs, depicting our families and whanau.

Tongan Language Week

Last week was Tongan Language Week and on Thursday children were invited to come to school in their traditional Tongan clothes. This was to showcase their culture and special customs.
Thank you to Lei'ataua and Rosa for dressing up in their cultural clothes and to Seini for supporting Tongan Language Week.

Room 3 Writing

Last week in Room 3 we wrote a character description about a staff member at Good Shepherd School. We had to describe what they looked like, their interests, their personality and why we chose them. We had to give clues, so the rest of the class could guess who we were writing about.
Who are these children writing about?????

Faith
This teacher is kind and caring.  I was in her classroom last year. She has long, black hair.  She is on duty on Wednesday and Friday.  She is not married.  I chose her because she is nice.

Peter
This teacher is in a classroom, that is higher than 3.  He does duty, because he works at Good Shepherd School.  He laughs sometimes.  He has black hair and he likes wearing clothes and travelling around the world.  He is very helpful and also caring.  He says he is good.  He is in the eighth room.  I saw him at lunchtime.  This teacher has a lot of children in his classroom.

Meredith
My teacher has fair, short hair.  My teacher is in a lower classroom than 9.  She likes wearing dresses.  She is friendly to me.  She knows my name.  I chose this teacher because I like her.

The Assumption

Last week we completed a lesson on the Assumption in Room 3. We learnt about Mary being taken up to heaven. The Assumption is celebrated on 15 August. In class we looked at major events during Mary's life and we acted out these events in groups. Please take a look at the photos below:

Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus

Jesus on the cross

Mary with Jesus on the cross

Mary with the disciples

Jesus with the disciples

Character Descriptions

Last week in Room 3 we wrote a character description about a good friend.  We described what they looked like, in detail, what they liked to do and their favourite things. Here are a few pieces of writing.

Rishmikaa
My sister's name is Kharsha and her favourite colour is purple. She is my friend and I love her. She is my best friend and she loves me. We play kitties on Saturday and Sunday. My sister's favourite sweets are toffees and lollipops and she is four years old. Her favourite fruit are apples and her favourite game is paper, scissors, rock.

Carissa
My friend is Elia and she has brown hair. I love playing with Elia. Elia's favourite sweet is lollipops and Elia is five. Elia likes to play basketball.

Po'oi
Xavier P is nice and cool. He is a nice guy and helpful. He's always good and helpful. He spikes his hair up. He sits nicely on the floor. Coca-Cola sour strips and cold apples are his favourite food.

Science - What's the Matter?

This term our science topic is What's the Matter? - From One State to Another
We have been focussing on the following vocabulary - solid, liquid, gas, freeze, melt, evaporate, boil and heat.
We have been conducting experiments using ice and water. Also we mixed different solids with a variety of liquids and observed what happened. We were looking to see if the solids dissolved or not.
Last week we looked at popcorn and what happens when heat is added to the solid.
This is what we found out:
Popcorn kernels are a solid that contain starch and moisture.
When you heat the kernels, a change of state occurs which is a physical change. The popping of corn is actually a small explosion, which occurs when the pressure inside the popcorn kernel gets to great, from the heat and explodes. The popcorn is still a solid, but it has changed form.
Here are a few photos from our experiment.  We also got to eat the popcorn at the end!!!!

Book Week 2015

Last week was Book Week at Good Shepherd School. We had a fantastic week in Room 3 and really enjoyed all the reading and book related activities. We loved the performance called Worlds Apart and visiting the bookfair. In our classroom we read a lot of books about castles, dragons, knights and princesses!!! Mrs McLeod loved hearing about all the favourite books that children brought in from home. In Room 3 we loved the mystery book box!!!! Check out the photos from the character parade from Friday. Can you guess who the children are dressed up as?