Online learning check in and Narrative Tutorial

Hi Parents,

I hope your home learning is going well. This week we are trying to move onto See Saw to be our main online learning platform. We are going to read a story with you today and the video will be available this afternoon as an announcement to watch, just like quiet and calm story time after lunch at school :)

We are intending to provide daily learning as of next term including some schedules which can be adapted to your family and needs. This week, we are trialing using the announcements feature on Seesaw so a suggestion is, to check the Seesaw inbox each morning. See below a couple of schedules from the world wide web...but a more formal OLC schedule will be given next term.

 

Please feel free to email us if you are having any issues logging on to:

- Reading Eggs
- Mathletics
- Seesaw
- Study Ladder

We have chosen to use the online learning programs as they allow us to set tasks in line with with teaching and learning programs so that there is continuity between home and school while this crazy period occurs. We have also chosen to use these as they provide us with reports on how the children are progressing and  it also allows us to see who has logged on and what tasks have been completed each week/day. We can give you feedback through Seesaw which gives it a personal touch to this new learning environment - PLUS we get to hear your beautiful children's voices.

Please see below the tutorial on how you can using the Boxing up the text template, which was included in the Week 9 online learning documents.

I hope you are all surviving this weather inside! 

Big virtual hugs to you all! 

Miss Prowse 

Week 9 Home Learning

Dear Parents, 

It really has been an interesting week to say the very least and the unknown of the future that lies ahead for all of us.

During all of the these closures there is difficulties and feelings of stress and anxieties and now in addition, and I realise that so many of you have the added pressure of being a teacher to your children.  Some great advice that I have seen and totally agree to involve the following points:

• You don't need to try to replicate the whole school experience, do what works for you and family.
• Don't try to be your child's classroom teacher.  Just keep being the teacher you already are and who have been as their first teacher since the day they were born.
• Please be easy on yourself - keep in mind that we are trained for years and had many years practise and do not expect you to replicate the same overnight.  We know that we couldn't possibly take over your job overnight and we know and understand that you wouldn't be able to do ours.  Let us support you when you need, we are here.
• Remember these things will benefit your child the most right now in terms of home education: reading with your child, cooking with your child, gardening with your child, enjoying nature and its wonders with your child.  Also making and creating things, singing and dancing and playing with your child.  Teaching is talking and listening - telling, explaining, asking, questioning and reasoning is a large part of the teaching and learning cycle. 

Above all, keep being the kind, calm role-model your child needs through this challenging time.  This is how you teach.  Keep doing you - your child is learning from you every day.

For those parents wanting support - we are here.  We are currently learning and evaluation how we can try to adapt our teaching methods to digital based and try to help you and your child  in this new education scenario.  Please find at the end of this post a direct link with the suggested outline for learning experiences that line up with our original planned learning concepts for Week 9, Term 1. These learning concepts are underlined in our home learning document.  See if these concepts can tie into any other happenings or activities you complete around your home as well or any other resources you may have or use.

This week we will be moving onto using more digital learning platform tasks this week as students (and you!) are becoming more familiar with using them.  Please email us if you need the log-in codes emailed to you again. Tasks for reading, spelling and mathematics on our new learning topics and concepts will be set in Seesaw, Study Ladder and Mathletics.  Students are also encouraged to keep reading everyday and can access appropriate leveled readers in the Library part of Reading Eggs app.  We will clear out some of the Week 8 activity tasks on these platforms on Friday afternoon and set the new tasks for Week 9 over the weekend so they are ready for your child to access and select by Monday morning.  We are also planning on including some video instructions on how to complete some of the Seesaw tasks so please encourage your child to watch it first before they complete the worksheet template in the 'add response' section.

Feel free to complete any of the Mathletics, Seesaw and Study Ladder tasks whenever it works best.  We suggest just trying to make sure everyday there is a balanced mixture of one or two reading, writing, spelling and mathematics tasks each day, plus another learning area of your choice.  Or do some intense days of learning and other days not so much - it is totally up to you.

For those parents who are still a little unsure of how to use these digital learning platforms we have made a few tutorials below.  Please note that I'm not really enjoying hearing the sound of my voice when I play them back haha- I don't think I would make it in a career of instablogging...

please click here for the week 9 home learning grid

Additionally here are some paper based Learning Resources for Week 9.  Keep in mind if you do not have a printer then just refer to from a screen and complete on lined or blank paper. 

Please click here for Week 9 Home Learning English Maths Other


Please click here for How to access and use Reading Eggs Library

Please click here for A little introduction to using Seesaw Class at home

Please click here for How to use Mathletics and Rainforest Maths

Please click here for A little introduction how to use Study Ladder for learning

Optional: Please click here for Week 9 HASS Learning from Mrs Meyer.

We understand there is an abundance of other learning resources and websites being shared on social media that are available to use and access for free.  There are also workbooks available to buy and printable worksheet you can access and use just by googling keywords.  While these are not necessary, please still feel free to use whatever you would like if you wish.

Finally, thank you so much for all of the hard work you have done this week at home with your child. I really appreciate the effort you are doing to maintain your child's education and love seeing their work and hearing their voices as they read.  I have also received a few little audio messages and a little video from some of the students at home which have been absolutely beautiful and has reminded me how blessed I am to be their teacher.  It was interesting hearing how a few of them explained how they feel and these messages really have been a gorgeous way of lifting my spirits.  You should be proud of your little tech-savvy children.   

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Thank you for your continued support and assistance,

Monique

Updated Home Learning

Dear Parents,

Thank you for all your ongoing support during this difficult and uncharted time, we have really appreciated your emails of support and kindness.

It is vital that you let Admin know if your child won't be attending school by completing an online absentee form. Please remember to enter the returning date as 09.04.2020 if you are chosing to self isolate until the end of the term. You can also come into the office and complete an extended leave form. Please find the absentee link below:

Online Absentee Link

If your child was away today and you are not returning, could you please email teachers as well so we can forward onto you your child' s personal login codes for home learning. Please find the online learning grid AND resources link below.

Home Learning Resources (Week 8)

Online Learning Grid

Please refer to our previous blog post for tutorials on how to complete some of our daily spelling tasks.

We had a wonderful day of learning today!

Miss Prowse

Week 8 Information

Dear Parents,

I can't believe we are in week 8! The weeks have just flown by! Just a few messages and pieces of information for this week :)

Week 8 Home Learning

Here is an abridged version of what learning concepts we will be covering throughout the week in class. Please find below an outline of Week 8 home learning. I have also attached videos that will give you tutorials on how to complete some Spelling activities that the children are used to completing in class. 

If you have contacted the office and filled out and an extended leave form or emailed us directly, you will receive an email from your teacher, that provides you with the resources to accompany the weekly overview.  

Please note that we will be only providing a very small amount of worksheet type of learning as worksheets are only a small proportion of our teaching and learning in the early years.  

Most learning concepts involve beginning with modelling and then sharing and discussing learning together before finally completing an independent task.  Modelling involves introducing the concept and 'thinking aloud' how to do something and showing strategies how to work out difficult parts and problem solve.  Shared learning involves lots of discussion, reasoning (because) and explaining thinking and problem solving with students.  Independent learning may involve writing, completing a task and sometimes a worksheet.

In Digital Technologies this term, we have learnt how to show our learning using a digital platform and making a web-based learning journal using an app called Seesaw Class.  Our students are familiar with using the app as a way of showing and recording their learning.  Seesaw have  recently released log-in codes during the world-wide shut downs so that students at home can complete some learning tasks, share it with their teachers and continue to keep web-based journals and folders of their learning.  We encourage you to download the app (make sure it is Seesaw Class not Seesaw Family) onto an i-pad, tablet or computer if you would like your child to share some of their home learning with us.

I also investigated a way to share another resource used at school at times called Study Ladder.  This learning platform has also released free home learning (you do not need to sign up for premium) as another way for your child to continue learning about our focus concepts from home.  We have set up each child with an account for Study Ladder as well but please note that this is not an app and will need to be accessed through Safari if you are using an ipad or tablet but it can be easily bookmarked onto Safari for easy access.

If your child is isolation and you have contacted the school, you will also receive a second email with an attached photograph with details of your child's home learning logins so that you can zoom in on the photo to see each of the log in codes and user names.

Please click on the link below to access the home learning grid and see the videos below which help support your child in completing their spelling activities (featuring some new you tube stars aka your Year 1 and 2 teachers).

Year 1P Home Learning Grid (Week 8)

Sound Circle spelling activity

Full Circle spelling activity 

Sound boxes spelling activity

 

Homework

Homework is due this Friday 27th of March. Could you please ensure your child brings their R.E.D reading file AND homework book inside their homework folder so that we are able to glue in next fortnights homework tasks.

Maths

We have had an exciting week learning all about skip counting. We have been learning to count a group of objects and count out loud in 2s, 5s and 10s up to 100. Some clever cookies in our class have even worked out how to count in 10's from an odd number eg. 21, 32, 41, 51, 61 etc. We loved recording our skip counting knowledge on seesaw this week too, we are trying to focus on counting in 10's after 100 as some children are saying 101,102,103,104 instead of 110, 120, 130. We are making this a focus to review in our class maths games this week. 

This week we are moving onto the Mathematics strand of measurement and focusing on the concept of length.  In Year One, children must be able to: 

Measure and compare the lengths and capacities of pairs of objects using uniform informal units (ACMMG019)

• Understanding that in order to compare objects, the unit of measurement must be the same size

We are excited to measure some things around our class and our school!

English

In English we are directing our focus onto narrative stories in both reading and writing.  

Within a Narrative there are five parts we are trying to create (in our writing) and identify (in our reading) These include: 



We are learning to identify orientations in stories we read, noticing how the author introduces and describes the characters and settings.  We are also learning to identify the build-up which is where the author leads up into a problem.  Often in the build-up there is a little hint of the problem to keep the reader interested.  Then there is the problem.  Then the resolution where the problem is solved.  Finally the story ends with an ending.

We call this sequence a 'story mountain' and are using this sequence to write our own narratives.  This week we will be writing our own adventure story by innovating on our class mentor text called 'Sally and Fred's Adventure'.

Magazines

Please if you have any old magazines at home that you no longer need, it would be greatly appreciated if you could donate them.

Phew, I think that is everything!

Enjoy your week and thank you for your ongoing support, 

Miss Prowse

Week 7 Information

Good evening parents,

It has been a big week 6 with most of the children completing 5 days worth of double swimming lessons last week! I must say you all deserve a medal for all the washing and packing you did each day, we appreciate that you were all so organised. We had no lost knickers or jocks and only one pair of socks left over after a big week! Yay!

A few pieces of information this week...

Sickness and hand washing
As outlined in the email from OLC admin on Sunday, if your child is sick or not feeling well, please do not send them to school. We are enforcing hand washing at every eating break, teaching children how to cough properly and I appreciate any parents who have also sent their children to school with hand sanitizer. As the classroom is quite small, we are asking that you please KISS AND DROP in the mornings if you can from tomorrow on wards, as we want to reduce the amount of people in close proximity to one another.

Reading and Maths testing
A few of your children may be coming home over the next few days saying they have done some testing with myself. I have been given some time to check and review the children's reading levels and Maths understanding and the lovely Mrs. Sorgiovanni will be taking my class this coming Wednesday. I will still be on the school grounds, just squirreled away for some one on one time with your child.

Homework
A new homework grid went home with your child today and I am so proud that EVERY homework book was in by this morning, well done to all! I love reading about what the children have been teaching you from school...I hope there is more than one thing, although I know it's hard to remember anything at 4.30pm in the afternoon! Our fluency maze focus is the ee/ea/y sound this week. Don't forget to tick the boxes at the top when your child reads the words. We are aiming for your child to read 20 words in 30 seconds (or as close as they can). Thank you for your continued support.




Harmony Day 
Will be celebrated on the 21st March in Australia. We celebrate Harmony Day to promote diversity and acceptance of other cultures. ... Harmony Day aims to start a conversation about heritage, culture and community. At this stage, there will be no assembly this week but please watch the blog for more information from Admin via the school newsletter. 

Writing Focus
Over the next few weeks, our focus of writing a recount has changed from a recount to a narrative. Although we will still be completing recount every Monday to both build stamina and develop structure, our focus will be shifting towards writing a narrative. Keep an eye on the blog for some of the ways we are learning about how we can split a narrative into five main parts. Exciting times ahead!

Thank you for your ongoing support!

Miss Prowse

Swimming recess change

Dear parents,

The lovely Mrs. Sorgiovanni took the children swimming today and as we have a bit of time at the pool after our lesson finishes, we would appreciate it if you packed the children's recess in a separate container. This will allow the children to eat their recess at the pool instead of at school like previously planned.

When the children come in tomorrow, if you could bring their sip and crunch AND recess into the class and place it on their desk, that would be great.

Day one of swimming went really well and I hope the children are tucked up in bed ready for another day!

Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow.

Kind regards,

Miss Prowse

Week five...still alive!

Dear Parents,

I hope you all had a lovely long weekend with your families and you managed to sneak out to watch the wonderful fireworks on the weekend!

Just a few reminders for this week...

Crazy Hair Day

This Friday it will be crazy hair day for the children who wish to participate. We ask that you bring a gold coin donation to help support St Brendan's School in NSW who were affected by the bush fires in January.

Homework

A new fortnight of homework went out today and has been glued into your child's book. We ask that your child colour the grid of things when they complete them and that you tick the words each night when your child reads their fluency maze (ay/ai/a-e words this fortnight). We have included a 'friends of 10' activity for your child to complete in the maths section of the grid.


Swimming Information

Swimming commences this Monday 9th March to Friday 13th of March. 

The children may wear their sports uniform the entire week with their bathers under their uniform. If your child is wearing a rashie, please bring it separately, as they can be hot under their uniform. 

We are very lucky to be heading to the pool for the morning session leaving OLC at 9.40 am and we will return to OLC by 12.40pm This year the children will have 2 x 40 min lessons within this block, with a 10 min break between each lesson. Within this break, the children will be eating their sip and crunch to keep them sustained for the double lesson. 

Please bring their 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 bathers and thongs but pack their shoes in their bag to wear when they get back from the pool. 

The children will be eating their recess at around 9.20am and taking their sip and crunch with them to the pool for the 10 minute break. I ask that you pack this AND their water bottles in their swimming bag so they can be ready to go at 9.40am.  I would also ask that you bring your child's sip and crunch in a clearly labelled container as these containers often go missing at swimming time.

Please place everything that your child needs (eg. goggles, towel/dressing gown) in a separate swimming bag (plastic or material) along with another plastic bag to put their wet towel and bathers in when they return from swimming at 12.40pm.

If you have any questions, please email me.

Maths Focus

In Maths we have been looking at addition and how we can make numbers in a variety of ways. We have loved playing games, participating in hands on activities and putting strategies into practise. Here are a few snaps from our Maths session last week, I even saw some of the children showed you how we can add numbers together using a coat hanger and pegs!




Thanks for your ongoing support,

Miss Prowse