Hi Parents and Families, welcome back to school and to the start of 2014. Below is the Term notice which outlines information you may need to know. A copy of this will also be pasted into the children's Homework/Poem books. I hope you have all had an amazing holiday with your children and that they are ready for LEARNING! See you Monday.
Annie
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Nau mai, haere mai, welcome to the
beginning of a new year in Room 13. I am
Annie Russell and I will be guiding your child on their learning journey this
year.
I have been teaching at St Marys for a
long time and I enjoy very much the Year 1 level. I love building relationships with families
and seeing the amazing progress these little people make in their first year of
school. I have four daughters, all of whom
have attended St Mary’s and I understand that sometimes the school experience
can be a daunting one for both parent and child. I am here to help so if you have any
questions or concerns, (even
if you think they may be silly ones), I
am available from 8:30am every morning for a quick chat or to make an appointment
for a time that suits to catch up. It is
so important for your child’s progress that you feel you can approach me to
discuss their learning.
At St Mary’s we are developing life
long independent learners and this begins the very first time your child walks
through the school gate. With this in
mind, here are some ways you can support your child’s independence…..
*Ensure they can open
and close their lunch box and school bag without the need for support.
*Encourage your child to
walk into school carrying their own school bag and to put their book bag and
poem book in the buckets when they reach
the classroom.
*Give your child the
opportunity to practice getting changed into their swimming gear and dressing
themselves in the morning. We will be
swimming all term and it is important that they can manage their dressing
routine at school.
*Ensure your child can
put on and take off their sandals.
Sometimes Roman sandals can be quite tricky. Velcro is something to
think about for winter shoes!
*If your child is upset
at the prospect of you leaving them at school, please alert me to this and we
will work together to alleviate any stress.
In my vast experience, giving your child a hug, telling them you will
see them at 3pm and leaving is the best solution for an upset five year old.
*Please have your child
at school at 8:30am. This gives them
time to settle into their day, have a play and be ready to begin learning. If your child is going to be late, please
alert the office so they can let me know and please only keep your child home
from school if they are unwell. It is soooooo
important that they are here every day.
This year
most of our communication will be via classroom blog. This is up and running now. Your child will also have a poem/homework book
which will include their reading log and later in the year, homework sheets. You will use this book to document your
child’s homework and to communicate with me.
If you need to contact me, my email address is:
annie@stmarys.rotorua.school.nz
Our blog
site is:
wwwroom13stmarysrotorua.blogspot
.com
It is
important that you check the blog daily.
It is in place of notes from the teacher for the most part and it will
have all the information you need to know exactly what is happening at school. It will also document what we are doing in
class so it is a fun way to share the learning with your child. If you do not have internet access, let me
know and I can make sure that we set up another system.
The first
Term is always a busy one. We will be
setting up our classroom routines and ensuring everyone knows the expectations
in Room 13. It is an exciting time of
the year when we are all getting to know each other but it is also a serious
time as it sets the standard for the rest of the year. I like things to run smoothly in the class so
we will be spending the first few weeks deciding on our classroom rules and
targets and figuring out how we can make our room a great place for learning to
occur. Your support during this time is
crucial.
In Literacy
we will focus on Recount writing which is telling a story about something we
have seen, heard or experienced. We will
focus on getting the children writing with some independence while encouraging them to make links with letters,
sounds and the high frequency words. In
reading we will be continuing to make those connections as well as pointing
1:1, retelling stories we read and using our great strategies to figure out new
words. Comprehension is key in reading
so do not be surprised if your child drops down a level or two. After a long break it is normal to lose some
comprehension and we need to ensure they are understanding what they read. Some of the older children are already
reading well so they will be involved in an Independent Reading Programme
whereby their skills of comprehension, vocabulary building and individual
reading and writing will be developed. We
will visit the library every Friday and each child needs a library bag to
transport their book in order to keep it safe.
In
Numeracy we will focus on Number, getting to know our numbers to 10 and 20,
making sets, counting forward and back, understanding what makes 5 and 10 and consolidating
the basic facts. Our strand maths will
be around geometry and investigating distance, direction and change.
Our
concept or integrated topic this term is Citizenship. We will be looking at belonging and the
rights and responsibilities that are associated with being part of a group.
Physical
Education will be around Swimming and Athletics and Religious Education will be
mostly around the Jesus strand with some work on Lent and Easter. Our school’s mission statement is “With
Christ as our Centre we strive for excellence”.
Jesus is at the centre of all our school endeavours and we encourage parents
to discuss this aspect with their children often. A great way to encourage and support your
child in their faith journey is to pray and attend Mass with them.
Homework
in Year 1 should be a short, fun experience.
Your child will bring home a reader (book), a poem book, a word book and
a phonics book every night. Reading
these often will help consolidate the learning which takes place at
school. Most times the reader will have
been seen by your child at school. If on
the odd occasion it is a tricky book or they are not familiar with it, please
read it to them, discuss its meaning and the pictures and spend some time just
talking about what they think of the story.
This is the most important part of learning to read.
The older
children in the class will be working on blends and some basic spelling
words. Please practice these with them
at home as they will be tested each Friday.
We have a
behaviour programme in place at St Mary’s whereby the children can earn Golden
Time. This is a reward on Friday
afternoon for super behaviour and is always an extra special treat. Children can lose Golden Time by not
following the Golden rules and this is always very sad. As you enter the classroom there is a spider
web on the wall and a spider with your child’s name on it. The challenge is to stay on the web
throughout the day by adhering to the Golden Rules. We also have a group reward
system whereby the children can earn pizza pieces by staying on task at their
table. The first group to get a whole
pizza wins lunch! Please discuss these
programmes with your child and check in with him or her at the end of the day
to see how their day went. They love
showing off their achievements to their parents and it’s great to see you get excited
for them. Two Principals awards will be
given each week at Assembly for exceptional behaviour, hard work, kindness,
Catholic Character and amazing manners. These are highly sought after and a big
deal!
I like to
encourage parents to spend time in the classroom. If you have any spare time and would like to
be a parent helper in Room 13, we could use your help putting books away,
pasting work into books, supporting reading and writing and help during some
Golden Time activities on a Friday. Let me know if you can help.
Finally, it
is my absolute pleasure to be teaching your gorgeous children this year. I know we are going to have an amazing time
filled with fun, learning and friendship.
I look forward to getting to know each of you as well.
Yours
sincerely
Annie
Russell
