Information for week 4 and 5

Baptism Photos/Memorabilia

Over the next couple of weeks we will be exploring the special Sacrament of Baptism. We are learning about how we become members of God’s family through this special Sacrament. The children are invited to bring in a special photo/item of clothing/gift that they may have received at their Baptism to place on the back investigation table and share with the class throughout next week. 

If you could bring it to class in an envelope or printed from home, we would be very appreciative so we can add it to our Baptism display. 

Photos of friends and other family members being Baptised are also welcome.  If your child has not been Baptised, a photo of your child when they were young would be a wonderful addition to our display. It is important to note with the children that God loves all people equally, even if they are not Baptised.



Teddies
The children are invited to bring a small teddy/soft toy to on this NEXT FRIDAY (Week 5) to use during our Friendology session. We will be focusing on how we meet and greet our friends and role playing conversation starters with our teddies.





Parent Help
Thank you so much to those of you who have volunteered to support us in class on the parent help roster next week. It is really appreciated that you are taking time out of your busy schedules to join us in Year One. It is preferred that we have just one parent helper each day (Mon-Thu) to assist with group work and class preparations.

Observation Survey
Some standardised testing will begin next week (week 5) in Year One. The Observation Survey gives us valuable information about your child’s reading ability, writing vocabulary and phonics knowledge.

It is completed one on one with the teacher and during this time there will be a relief teacher in Year One (next Wednesday and Thursday).

Long Weekend
Don't forget this coming weekend is an extra long one! Monday is our Labour Day public holiday. Yay! 

Have a lovely week!


Miss Prowse

Sight word information

Sight Words

Good afternoon parents, 

This week, there will be sight words coming home for the children to learn. This is very exciting for our Year One children, as we have been participating in a variety of sight word activities over the last few weeks. The focus of sight words is for children to be able to recognise the words quickly and effectively without having to sound them out.

I’m aware that sight words were sent home last year in Pre-Primary and I encourage you to support your child as they continue to consolidate words they know and practise the words they have more difficulty with.

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.  At this stage of the year, we will be testing 10/15 words at a time so that children can take the time to really get to know their sight words off by heart. I would also encourage you to get your children to write their sight words on dotted thirds or scrap paper and put them into sentences so they are using them in their writing. 

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!

If you have any questions, please email me.

Have a great week!

Miss Prowse

Merit Award winner for week 3

Congratulations to Phoenix who was our week 3 merit award winner. You are a Year One super star!

Miss Prowse

Our first few weeks of learning!

English Learning 

This week the children in Year One have been reading the classic story of Mrs. Wishy Washy as apart of our shared reading time.

Mrs. Wishy Washy written by Jo Cowley is a book that has been around since 1980. This was always one of my favourite books during school because I remember having such fun reading as a whole class while doing lots of different actions to accompany the text.

The book revolves around a cow, a pig and a duck getting dirty in the mud and when Mrs. Wishy Washy sees them, she decides to give them a scrub in the bath tub. After washing them, Mrs Wishy Washy goes back into her house and as soon as she does so, those naughty animals hop back into the mud!

Mrs. Wishy Washy was a fantastic book that our class explored last week and we had such fun reading it altogether! We found out that the 'sh' sound in Wishy and Washy related to some of our spelling words so we found it easy to read!

Using the talk for write program, the children formulated some meaningful actions to help them remember the story. We also had a lot of fun acting out the story with costumes! Some of the children became characters from the story whilst the other children were the narrators. Clancy and Eva loved being at the front to lead the actions of the text while Zoe H was an outstanding Mrs. Wishy Washy. 

Here is the story for you if you would like to share it with your child: 

Guided Reading Focus 

The children have read a variety of non fiction and fiction texts throughout their guided reading rotations with Mrs. Sorgiovanni and myself and we have explored the comprehension strategy: text-to-self connection. This is when we read the text and make a personal connection to something within the text. We really enjoyed sharing our personal experiences within our guided reading groups and how they can connect us to things that we may read! 

Friends of 10 and number sense in Year One 

Over the past few weeks, we have been exploring the sequence of numbers and where they fit into our hundreds chart. We found that when we cross a decade, the number sequence begins again. The children have loved solving our hundred board challenge puzzles while in their math groups!

We have been exploring the concept of friends of 10 within our Maths dedicated time  in class. We have found out that there are a series of numbers that add together to make 10 and these can also be reversed into turn around facts eg. 4+6 and 6+4 both equal 10. 

Below is a song that we often sing to remember our friends of 10 facts in class.

This relates to the Mathematics Curriculum outcome of:

Represent and solve simple addition and subtraction problems using a range of strategies including counting on, partitioning and rearranging parts (ACMNA015)

Last week, we played the friends of 10 card game and had a lot of fun finding the friends in our stack of cards. If you want to play at home, you can use a simple deck of cards and you need a partner. Take out all of the 10's, jacks, queens, kings and jokers and play the ace's as the number one.

Share out the cards so each player gets 5 cards each and the remaining cards go into a pile between the two players. Make as many friends of 10 pairs as you can and then you can take turns in asking the other player if they have your matching card (eg. if you have a 2 ask your opponent if they have an 8). Keep playing until all the cards are gone and then declare the winner!

We also love hands on meaningful activities that help our learning and the children thoroughly enjoyed challenging themselves to friends of 20 facts too!

We have had so much fun in Year One so far! 

Miss Prowse

Parent Night Info

Thank you to all of those parents who could make it to the parent night last night. Here is a copy of the presentation if you were unable to attend.

Please click on the link below :)

Year One Parent night 2019

Many Thanks

Miss Prowse

Buddy Mass and Information for Week 3

Good afternoon parents,

A few pieces of information from last week and for this week...

Buddy mass last week
This week we were lucky enough to go to Mass with our Year 6 buddies. They showed wonderful leadership and we enjoyed the glorious walk to the church. The children were also lucky enough to get a photo in the church with Father Ian :)

Parent Information night

As mentioned in the newsletter our parent information night will begin at 6.30pm in the hall with a small address from our administration team. We will then make our way back to the Year 1P classroom where I will explain some of the aspects of the Year One program.

I have had a couple of people mention that they were unable to attend due to partners working and children's bedtimes. This is no problems at all as I will be placing the parent night slide show onto the blog for you to go through in your own time.

Thank you for your ongoing support

Miss Prowse

Merit Award winner for Week 2

Congratulations to Kate our Week 2 Merit Award winner! You are a Year One super star Kate!

Miss Prowse

Buddy Mass and News roster

Good evening parents,

Just a few messages for the next few days:

Buddy Mass
On Wednesday morning we will be walking down to the church with our Year 6's for our first buddy mass of the year. We will be leaving the school at 9.00am so please make sure your children are at school on time and have some sun screen on their faces (we will have some at school as well incase you need any).

News Roster
Please take a look at the new News roster. 

In my excitement of getting the news roster out, I accidentally double up on one child's name and missed out on someone. My sincere apologies! I have sent home the news bags today in preparation for group 2 on Wednesday.


Pick up
Thank you to those people using the pick up lane, it seems to be working well and the children are moving smoothly through the pick up area. If you are waiting to pick your child up from the classroom, could I please ask you to wait under the big tree or just around the corner as it is always tricky if siblings are banging on the windows as we are trying to say prayer.

Many thanks for your continued support and the wonderful start we have had to the school year.

Miss Prowse

A few messages before the end of the week

Good afternoon parents, 

We have had a wonderful first three days in Year One! We think it has been pretty special that we can now go out the gate on our own to go to recess and lunch! The children have been enjoying a variety of Maths, English and Religion activities over the past few days and they have loved reading and listening to my favourite stories each morning. Just a few messages for the next coming days...

Church
On Friday, the children will be attending church with the whole school to welcome in the school year. As Mass is scheduled to begin close to 9.00am, we will be leaving the classroom at 8.45am as soon as the morning bell sounds. If you could please make sure your child is at school by 8.40am and put some sunscreen on your child before they come to school, that would be greatly appreciated as we will be walking both to and from the church.

Gathering time
This is a time to settle in your child and get them ready for the school day. In Year One we often have games or activities that are put our for the children. Each morning, please check the smart board at the front of the room and encourage your child to read the instructions with you so they know what to do. Please do not get the toys or games out from the back of the room as these are reserved for our fun Fri-Yay mornings (this also makes it a bit more special).

Siblings are absolutely welcome in the class and the area near the book corner is a nice area for them to go to if they would like to look at a book or play with the soft book buddies. The toys on the shelf are fine to use too, but please pop everything away before you leave, so our classroom environment is ready for the day. If you need to attend to a sibling or you need to leave for any reason, please let me know and Mrs. Hughes or myself are happy to  help settle in your child for you.

News
News rosters will be going home tomorrow and news will begin in week 2. Each child will be in a news group and it will be on a rotating roster over two weeks. I have listed some themes for news, but this is only a guide. Please assist your child by filling out the news pack WITH them, there will be a white board marker and news bag that your child will bring home with them the night before their news.

Parent help
Our parent roster has gone up outside our classroom and this will begin week 5. As we have a large class, please only place your name down in one spot to allow other parents to come in and help with their children's learning. Parent roster will commence at 8.45am - 11.00am.

Communication book
As you enter our classroom on the red table there is a diary. Please use this to communicate any pick ups of different people (play dates/ Grandmas/ Nannies etc.) as this helps me at the end of the day. If you would like to put your child on pick up, please write it in the communication book AND on the pick up list outside the wet area as our wonderful EA's round up the children ready for the end of the day.

Phew...I think that is it! But if you have any questions, please email me :)

Many thanks

Miss Prowse