We have started the new term just as we want it to continue – happy to be together again after the holidays and focus on our new learning.

We were all very sad to learn of the death of our beloved Pope, Francis and the children responded with feeling and a great deal of knowledge about what he stood for in this uncertain world of ours. They knew he was a kind man who was fair and looked after the poor (they learned a new word too – marginalised!) They wondered why he wasn’t buried in the Vatican where he had lived and marvelled at how many people had attended his funeral. We wait in hope as the conclave starts on the 7 May and pray that our new Pope is as inspirational a leader as Pope Francis was.

On Tuesday we shared a beautiful Liturgy dedicated to Pope Francis and our school leaders shared words that reminded them of this special man.

This week we have also been learning about ANZAC Day, which was during the holidays on 25 April. We discussed why it is important for us to remember the ANZAC men and women who fought for our freedom in many wars around the world. We enjoyed painting our colourful backgrounds and cutting out the black silhouettes for our class display.

Over the next week we will be preparing for our Student Led Conferences which we are looking forward to, so we can share our learning with our whanau.

Welcome back to all our families, especially in Room 6. This year we are 21 children in a Year 3 and 4 class. We were very excited to see our friends again after a long time on holiday. We have been quite tired in the afternoons because it has been very warm and we are not used to thinking so much!

We have been discussing ways we can the best learners possible this year. Our Whakatauki (Class motivational phrase) is “He Waka Eke Noa – We are all in this together.” We like this phrase because we we will work together to achieve success for all of us. We all have different strengths which we can use to help others reach their potential. We will all row in the same direction towards our goal of being proud of our achievements this year and how we have gone about reaching those goals for ourselves and others.

This term we will be focusing on Te Atua God in our Religious Education programme. The main idea is the Trinity – what it is and what it shares with us. We will learn that that we are invited into the loving relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As it is a Mystery, we will look at and create our own symbols that represent the Trinity.

As a class we will be joining other schools from around the country by signing up to Young Ocean Explorers. We will become more aware of the importance of disposing of our plastics and rubbish sensibly as we know these make their way into our waterways and oceans. The effects they have on sea plants and sea creatures can turn our pristine marine reserves into unhealthy environments where habitats are destroyed and animals suffer. We will be collecting rubbish and plastics from around our school for 21 days during March.

Here you can see us beginning to paint our backdrop for our healthy and unhealthy ocean habitat:

What a great year we have had in Room 6. We have had two new friends join us who have fitted in very quickly and shared their ideas and personalities with us. We have expereienced many new things and completed tasks that at times seemed tedious (like spelling and Time tables!!) but we have all shown determination and perseverance and been successful.

Recently we celebrated our Graduation Mass, where we farewelled our Year 8 students, who are going off to College next year. We will miss them as we have known them for a long time. we wish them everything of the best:

Then we shared the Christmas Story with our families and community. This was a highlight for us, even though we had lots of practises, because we confidently sang all the songs and participated in this special concert, celebrating the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

We wish everyone who reads our a blog, a very Happy and Holy Christmas. Enjoy the holidays, stay safe and we’ll see you back next year.

What do you think a change of heart means? Sometimes we think it means when someone changes their mind about something that has happened. Perhaps like when we’re at school and we notice we have left someone out of a game or group. We always need to remember to think further than just our needs and put ourselves in someone else’s shoes.

One day it might happen to YOU!
This is the message in Rm 6’s movie for this years Manaiakalani Film Festival.
Enjoy!

Today is the last day of Term 2. We have been reflecting this term on ‘Friendships’ and what it means to be a true and loyal friend as well as what it should look like, sound like and feel like:

We also created some freeze frames on what ‘Friendship’ is NOT!

This theme of ‘friendship’ ties in with our processed Drama book, Fox by Margaret Wild. We are experiencing the close relationship between Dog (an Australian dingo) and an injured Magpie. We have painted some pictures about the ‘setting’ and what we think the bush fire and hot ash might look like. These form the back drop to our new space and we think they look pretty amazing:

Along with our paintings, we have written character observations of either Dog or Magpie as we met them in the story:

Description of Dog

I chose Dog because he has a good heart and a pure soul. I also feel bad for him because Magpie was so mean and rude to him. Dog was just trying to help her but Magpie was just thinking of herself by being mean and hurtful towards Dog. I understand that she was in pain but the way she spoke to Dog was not kind and not the way you say “thank you” to someone who saves your life. Being a dingo in Australia, Dog could have killed her and eaten her up but he took pity on Magpie and offered her a place to stay in his cave. He is a hero.

                                                                                                                                                         Nanda

Description of Magpie

I chose Magpie because I felt sorry that she was in agony because her wing was burnt. She seemed to be frustrated and very rude towards Dog who had just saved her life! She realises that without a wing, she can’t fly and then she is at the mercy of other animals that might want to eat her. She just wants to get away from life and Dog and be alone in the “shadow of the rocks” where she can “melt into the blackness.”

                                                                                                                                                                 Kava

As we begin our holidays, we wish everyone a happy and restful holiday with our families.