Welcome to Term Four!

Welcome back to another busy term in Year 1...I absolutely can't believe it is our last term together! I have loved watching our little loves develop and mature as the year has progressed and I am so very proud of all of their hard work. I will be sad to say goodbye to them at the end of the year for sure! 

I had a wonderful holidays and was lucky enough to celebrate my Hen's Day with family and friends...it's amazing how much makeup and hair styling can transform you! 

I hope you all had a lovely holiday and got to enjoy some of those beautiful days in the sun!

 
Just a few things for this term... 

 
INITIAL LIT PROGRAM 

This term we are trialing a new whole class initial instruction in Literacy program called Initial Lit. This program requires strict time tabling and therefore we will be swapping our daily fitness to a mid-morning break and starting our explicit teaching session at 8:50am. Unfortunately, this means that we will not be able to chat with you after the 8:40am bell in preparation for this first mat session. If you have anything you need to tell us, please email us.  

If your child is late, please sign them in through the office and send them into the classroom independently to avoid disrupting the first mat session.  

More information about the Initial Lit Program can be found here: 

CLICK HERE

 

GATHERING TIME 

As we are still in Phase 4 Restrictions, parents are not permitted in the classroom during school hours. Please continue the Kiss and Drop routine that we have had in place since the beginning of Term 3. If there is any important information that you need me to know, please email me to let me know. 

HOMEWORK 

Homework will be sent home on Monday which includes the homework grid, fluency reading grid and a spelling list with the focus sound that we are learning. We love it when you can fill in your child's R.E.D reading folder which helps us track how they are going in their reading.  This fortnight, our focus sound is 'au & aw' 😎

Please ensure that you sign your child's homework grid before the due date so we can monitor your child's progress at home. Please refer to the photo below of what a completed homework grid should look like.  Many students like to add times under the fluency grid to try and better their record each day.   🌟 

 
 

 
 
 

KEEPING SAFE 

This term, the children will be learning Protective Behaviours through the program Keeping Safe. Over the next few weeks, we will be talking to the children about: 
 

• the concept of personal space and how this is different for different people 

• correct anatomical names of sexual body parts 

• the whole body is private  

• appropriate and inappropriate touching. 

 
This term, the children will be taking part in the Keeping Safe lesson about personal space and body parts. We will be reading stories and emphasising the fact that all parts of their body are private. I understand that the children may laugh and giggle when we talk about the anatomical names, but this is important for every child to know. Recent research shows that knowing the anatomically correct language terms enhances children’s body image, self-confidence, and openness.  This is in conjunction with the Child Protection Curriculum which has been mandated in all schools in Western Australia. 

 
Please find the lesson outline below if you feel you need to discuss this with your child after Friday. 
 
 

 

 
 

If you have any questions or concerns, please email me.  

 

ASSEMBLIES 

This term our class will be presenting a prayer assembly on Friday Week Two - Celebrating the school Grandparents Day (which unfortunately had to be postponed 😥). 

As we are still in Phase 4 Restrictions, these assemblies will be presented to the whole school and will be recorded for parents to view at their leisure. More information to follow in the coming newsletters. 

 
 

I'm looking forward to a jam packed Term Four with your little ones! Thank you for your ongoing support :) 

Miss Prowse 

 
 

A BIG Woo-Hoo for Week 10

 

Good evening parents,

We are so close to the finish line. I want to say a big thank you to you all for the support I have received over the very eventful term we have had. I wish you all a great holidays and cant wait to hear about all the amazing adventures when we return for the final term. 💕😍✨🎉🎊

Reminders

WAM

Wheels after meals today was again another big hit! This children had a ball scooting and skating all around the car park. We are hoping to keep this wonderful initiative going next term too! Thank you for all the last minute drop offs of scooters/skateboards etc. before our lunch time treat!

Operation Christmas Child Donation and Money

Thank you to everyone for getting your donation and money in for our Christmas Shoe boxes. The kids have been watching videos of children in different parts of the world opening their shoe box. We wrote little letters and support and well wishes today and the final touches of our boxes will be happening tomorrow. Thank you again for all of your donations of money and items. 

Mission Markets

Are on this Thursday 24th September, students are to bring a wallet or purse containing no more than $10 and a reusable tote or plastic bag to carry any purchases. 

Faction Tokens and WWWF Winners

Naturaliste won the MJR token tally and Meelup won the Wheelie Walkie Waste-Free count, therefore both factions are able to wear free dress on Thursday (Mission Market Day) as their reward 😎

Homework

Just a reminder that homework is due this Wednesday 23rd. If your child is not here, please feel free to send their homework book in earlier. Please note that there will be no home readers sent home from Wednesday 23rd and for the remainder of the week so the library can do a stock take. We will keep the red reading folders at school over the holidays. If you have any home readers or library books at home please send them in asap.

Art

On Wednesday and Thursday morning, the children's art work and published writing pieces will be available for you to take home. The wonderful Mrs. Hughes has been collating their work and will have it sitting on the silver picnic table outside if you would like to take it home before the end of the term. Otherwise, it will be sent home first thing next term. 

Thank you for your ongoing support,

Miss Prowse 

Week nine...feeling fine!

 Good evening parents, 

Week nine is here....and we can see the finish line in sight! We have had a great week of learning and the children have been very excited to (hopefully) take out the prize for the excursion! Even Mrs. Hughes and I rode and walked to school today to get the point we need to take out the win!

Just a few messages for this week...

Mission Markets - 

These will be on Thursday 24th September. This is always a fantastic day celebrating the feast day of Mary's assumption. We will be celebrating a whole school mass at 10am and then we will move to our market time in which students can participate in a variety of activities.

The Year One children are hosting a popcorn stall on the day with the help of the Year 6 children to run it. We would LOVE some professional poppers to help out while we are at mass from about 9.50am-10.30am. It is always hugely popular and a great fundraiser!

Please know that all staff are very mindful of the amount of sugar consumed on this day and the amount of landfill that is produced!

Students are to bring in a small amount of money, no more than $10 in small coins please. A wallet or purse with their name would be ideal!

Please also see the request from Mrs King and Ms McFarlane about items to be donated for their stall:

Mission Markets Pre-Loved Stall

On the last day of school (Thursday the 24th of September) the children will be participating in our annual feast day - The assumption of Mary. The Year 2 children are running a pre-loved toy and game store and would love any donations such as:

• Books
• Soft & hard toys (clean)
• Board games & puzzles, with all pieces

There will be boxes outside the 2M classroom for you to place your donations in. We thank you in advance for your donations 😊

Merit Award Winner

Congratulations to Jake who was the week 9 Merit Award winner. You are a Year One super star Jake! ✨

Operation Christmas Child - 

We will be making our Operation Christmas Child boxes next week, so it would be greatly appreciated if we can get our donations and money in by the end of this week. There is a box out the front of our room that you can place your donations in and please don't forget your $2.50 to get our boxes over seas in the post 😍

Wheels After Meals (WAM)

The children had the BEST time with this wonderful initiative last week and we will be holding this day again on Monday 21st of September (Week 10). Please ensure your child brings their helmet and protective gear otherwise they will not be able to participate. Hopefully we will have some glorious weather like this week! 

I think that is it from me! Please let me know if you have any questions or queries! 

Miss Prowse 

Wheels After Meals (WAM) and WWWW

 A few photos from this wonderful initiative!

This started out as a letter to Mr. Lee from Georgie Leahy in Year 5 to ask if the children could bring their bikes, scooters, skateboards and roller blades to school and use after the children had finished eating their lunch. 

The children had an absolute BALL and I had no idea we had a few speed demons in the class! 

We will be doing another WAM session on Monday of week 10 so bring along your child's 'wheels' so they can participate in this wonderful initiative! 

Walkie Wheelie Waste-free Wednesday (WWWW)

Next Wednesday is the last week that this fantastic day will be happening and the last day that the children have the chance to win a free excursion somewhere in the City of Busselton. We ask that you Walk, Wheel (or park your car down the road and walk) to school next Wednesday as well as bringing a waste free lunch so we have the chance to win the excursion! 

Library bags

Just a reminder that from next term, if your child does not bring a library bag, we are unable to offer them a spare one. As of last week, there were 14 spare library bags lent out to various children in our class. As we are trying to get the children to build their independence, if they don’t bring a bag, they are welcome to borrow on another day at lunch time during the week. I thank you for your support with this. 

Have a lovely weekend! 

Miss Prowse 

Week 8....sorry it's late!

 Good evening parents, 

My apologies for the delayed blog post. As you might have known, Mrs. King, Mrs. Leahy and myself were all on PD days on Tuesday and Wednesday this week...and as it was a video conference in AEST, we were lucky enough to have our day start at 6:30 am on these days so I do apologise if I seemed a little tired this week! We are very excited to have learnt about the Initial-Lit program which will be a great addition to our English programs starting next year...watch this space!

I hope you all had a lovely Father's Day and enjoyed the pinch pots that the children made...they were absolutely chuffed with their art come present for their Dads!

Just a few messages for this week...

Shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child

Thank you to all those parents who have been so organised with their gift, donation money and popcorn donations. I feel very lucky to have such organised and motivated parents! Please check the previous blog post to check what your child is bringing for this wonderful initiative as well as the information about the $2.50 to get our shoe box where it needs to go. 

Homework

Just a reminder that Homework is due tomorrow so please make sure that your child brings their book so I can glue in the next (and last) homework grid. Thank you for the comments on the grid, I love seeing what they are teaching you at home! 

Merit Award Winner 

Congratulations to Mahli who was our week 8 Merit Award winner. You are a Year One star! ✨

Book Fair (From Marylee Kemp)

When: Tuesday September 15th and Wednesday September 16th 
Where: OLC hall (note the change of venue) 
Times: Before ( 8 - 8.40 am) and after school (2.40-4 pm) on both days. 

We will be open 20 minutes before school finishes each day for those parents who would like to browse without their children. We will also open from 1.10 pm – 1.30 pm on each of these days for the children to come in , browse and buy. If you are sending money to school with your child no more than $20 please. 

With sustainability a high priority on our school improvement plan we have decide to limit the amount of ‘landfill’ sold, in the way of novelty items often wrapped in plastic. Posters, pencils, pens, and some erasers will still be available. 

Scholastic give the school a generous commission which can be spent at Scholastic or taken as cash to spend at local book stores.  

Have a lovely night and thank you for your ongoing support, 

Miss Prowse