Our First Week!

Dear Year 1R Parents

We had a fantastic start to the year last week, as the children began their first few days in Year One! Thank you for your support so far throughout the week in assisting your children to settle in during gathering time and become familiar with the classroom. It has been an absolute pleasure getting to know all of your little people and seeing their unique personalities shine through, as well as witnessing how beautifully they have been bonding as a class.

We welcome four new students into our class this year – Chloe, Lucas, Misheel and Theo. We are so lucky to have some new friends to learn and play with in Year One! We have also had some opportunities to spend time with Year 1P, sharing our first outdoor play session in the nature playground with them, as well as getting together to meet our Year 6 buddies who read us some stories on Friday.

What else did we do last week?

• We talked about our holidays, shared stories and completed our first holiday recount writing piece.
• We learnt about Australia Day and completed an activity about how we celebrated with our families.
• We discussed our school values (Compassion, Appreciation, Respect and Excellence) and drew pictures of how we can live out those values at school.
• Our Parish Priest Father Ian popped in for a visit and has been learning all of our names.
• We learnt about how to stay organised at school – getting our own chairs out, keeping our stationery items tidy, organising our tubs and where to keep our drink bottles and morning snacks.
• We started counting down the first few days of school (we are counting down to the 100^th day)! At the start of each Maths lesson, we have our own chart, that we complete routine number activities on counting down until the 100^th day of school.
• We are learning about the ‘Friends of Ten’. What combinations of numbers can we add together to make ten? Ask your child if they can tell you about this at home.
• We had our first ‘Smiling Mind’ session. After lunch time we take a break to look after our minds and participate in a short mindfulness exercise. You can access the Smiling Minds program from home on smilingmind.com.au if you are interested in using these exercises with your children at home – or for your own peace of mind!

Coming up in week two:

• Our swimming lessons begin on Friday and flow through until the following Thursday. Stay tuned to find out about what times we are rostered on and what to bring. I have received most enrolment forms, but if you haven’t returned yours yet, I will need it by Monday.
• Our class Parent Information Session will be held this Tuesday from 4:30pm. We will go through some important information needed for the year. The school offers a child minding service throughout the period of the Parent Nights, which you are most welcome to use.
• Our first Year One homework will commence in week three, once I have gone through the procedure with you all as parents on Tuesday. It will initially include some reading, as well as sight word practice and the children are encouraged to log in to their Reading Eggs as well as Mathletics accounts from home.

If you have any questions about Year One, ask away at our Parent Session, or feel free to email me at any time. Our Parent Communication Book is at the door, and feel free to communicate any brief messages with me in the mornings.

Happy weekend! 

Amy Rundle