Hello and welcome parents to the Year
1S blog,
I hope you have all had a relaxing and
peaceful holiday and we are very excited for the year ahead!
I am looking forward to getting to know
your beautiful children and working with you throughout your child's learning
journey this year.
Year One is a big, but exciting year
where your child will, discover, grow, create, learn, reflect and experience an
abundance of fun and interesting things in our class!
As a parent of a Year One student, it is extremely important to keep in mind that we all build on small successes. Each child will progress at his/her own rate, acquiring skills as he/she is developmentally ready. Maintaining each child's self-esteem and building a secure foundation for future growth will always remain a priority in our class.
Here are some ways you can help:
- Celebrate your child's success, no matter how small they may seem. This will keep your child enthusiastic about learning and proud of their work!
- · Look for and read any notes and letters going home and stay updated on what’s going on in our regular blog posts. These will have important information and helpful reminders.
- · Read to and with your child every day, if possible. The more your child is exposed to language, the easier it will be for him/her to incorporate new skills in reading and writing in the classroom.
This blog will be the main
communication for any parent information over the coming year. Please enter
your email into the 'follow by email' section on the left hand side of the blog
so you will get email updates when I post to the blog.
A few important things over the next weeks:
Swimming
Swimming commences this Thursday the
1st of February and will continue until Wednesday 7th February. Please bring the swimming note that was
sent out the last day of last year. Alternatively, if your note has
gone for a 'walk' the lovely ladies in the office have sent out another note
which can be filled in and brought to school as soon as possible.
We are last group on the day, leaving school at 11:40pm for a 12:15pm lesson. The children will be participating in 2 x 40 minute lessons, with a 10-minute break in the middle. We will bring the children’s Crunch and Sip snack to the pool, along with their drink bottles to help them restore some energy during this break time. We are aiming to return to school just before home time, so depending on time allowance, the children may return home in their bathers.
Please bring a towel, goggles and a spare
plastic bag (for wet bathers) in either a separate sports bag or plastic bag
which will hang outside on their bag hook until our swimming time. We
ask that your child come to school in their thongs and sports uniform. If you
wish, they can wear their bathers underneath (or change at school beforehand).
Sports shoes will be unnecessary, as the children may have little or no time to
change when we return to school.
Home Reading
As the children are settling into the
new routines and expectations of Year One, we will begin sending home reading
books from week 3 on a 2 day roster. Your child will be scheduled a changing
day (Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday) but we ask that you bring their
reading folder everyday so they can read in the morning and keep their sight
words in them for the year.
Sight Words
The aim of the sight word rings are for
your child to practise reading them every night in conjunction with their
reading books as a way to build up their vocabulary and easily recognise the
words in the books they are reading. It is important to remember that children
do not learn new words by being exposed to them only once, repetition is the
key to sight word acquisition.
The children will be tested every few
weeks on their sight words and they will be moved onto the next list of 25 if
they have mastered all of the words on their ring. Please note for your child
to move onto the next set of 25 sight words the children must be able to
both READ and SPELL all the
words correctly. Over the year I will provide you with some games that you can
play using the sight words to make the learning fun!
Specialist Days
Tuesday: Music and Health
Wednesday: Library and Indonesian
Thursday: Physical Education (wear teal
OLC sports shirt)
Friday: Class Sport (wear coloured
faction shirt)
Support Staff
We are very fortunate to have the
outstanding Ms Mel Kent to help and support the children in their learning
journey throughout this year. The lovely Mrs Lynn Peacock and Mrs Chris Derickx will also
be in Year One for short periods of time throughout the school week to support
the students.
News
The children will be rostered on for
news once a fortnight, beginning from Week Three onwards.
Each fortnight on the afternoon before your child’s news day, a bag will be
sent home with a laminated news chart in it.
The idea of the chart is to get your child to think about what they will say to the class before they speak. If you could spend five minutes the night before news assisting your child to fill out the chart (or writing a few prompts with them) that would be greatly appreciated! Please refer to the roster attached for your child’s news day and fortnightly theme suggestions.
Crunch & Sip
Each morning we will stop for a 5
minute Crunch & Sip break. The idea of Crunch & Sip is that the
students have a short break to increase their energy levels, increase awareness
about eating fruit and vegetables, as well as encouraging them to drink water
and keep hydrated throughout the school day. You can refer to the Crunch &
Sip website (crunchandsip.com.au) for specifics on a list
of foods that can be packed for this time of the morning. Generally speaking,
the list will include fresh fruit and vegetables (celery/carrot sticks,
broccoli, chopped or whole fruit, as well as dried fruit). The only drink
permitted is water.
Stationery
All class stationery (pencils, crayons,
scissors etc.) will be collected together at the beginning of the year and
distributed to the students on a shared basis. There will be no need to label
any of your child’s items before bringing them to school. All text books will
be labelled by the staff and checked off on a list when they are brought in to
school. At the end of the year, all remaining stationery items will be shared
out equally between the students to go home.
This year, we are trying to reduce our impact on the environment by not covering our books with contact. We have found in the past that the books have lasted throughout the year and it teaches the children to be responsible and take care of their belongings.
Names
Please ensure that all personal items
(hats, drink bottles, lunch boxes, uniforms, etc) belonging to your child are
labelled to avoid losing items!
If you have any question or queries
please don't hesitate to email me at:
My holiday news is that I got married!
I will now be known to the children as Mrs Sherborne (but my email remains as
my old name for the time being)!
I am looking forward to seeing your
little ones on Wednesday! Have a restful night.
Mrs Amy Sherborne
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