Week 5 – Term 2
Dear Parents
I hope you all had
a lovely long weekend with your families.
This week we are
presenting the junior assembly. Assembly
is on Thursday at 2:20 in the hall. I
welcome you to come and watch.
This week Finn and
Charles join Room 9. We welcome Nate and
Kairu on their first visits to school.
Please remember to
fill in the yellow Read IT book each night.
It is exciting when the children reach 25 nights of reading. We do a celebration in class when they get to
this mark. It is important that the
children have these and their Alphabet books at school each day in their
reading folders.
This week our
phonics sounds are: h and r.
Our Wonder words
for the next two weeks are: is, the, my. Please do help your child to read and spell
these words.
It is neat to see
comments left on the blog. Please do
share the blog with your child. I try to
update it regularly.
I have left a
sheet on the red table for you to book a time to discuss your child’s super
start to school and set some individual goals for your child. I am looking forward to spending 15 minutes
discussing these with you.
Have a wonderful
week and please do ask if you have any questions
Jane Allen
jane.allen@stalbans.school.nz
Week 4 Term 2
Dear Parents
What a fantastic
weekend of sunshine we have had.
The children are
settling into routines and are keen to get on with their learning. They have enjoyed experimenting with the
magnets and on Tuesday afternoon we have a special “Force Detectives” session
with science alive at school. We require
parental help for the session. Please
see me if you are able to help. Our time
is from 1:30 – 3:00 on Tuesday.
This week…
This week we
welcome Erin to Room 9. Charles and Finn
will be having their last pre-entry visits before they start next week.
On Wednesday Jasmin
Hansen will be teaching in Room 9. Each
term classroom teachers are given 2 days where they are released to do
assessements, planning and admin requirements.
Jasmin will follow the regular Room 9 timetable and routines on
Wednesday.
On Thursday we have
a Mufti Day. Mufti Days mean the
children can wear their own weekend clothes.
More information will come out in the week about this day.
Reading
I hope you are
enjoying using the Magenta word cards at home with your child. These words are the High Frequency words that
appear in the reading books. It is
important for your child to instantly know these words. Once they have mastered these, I will check
their super knowledge and will then send the Red words home. We do learn these words at school as well.
If you would like
to help out in the classroom please just feel free to ask. It is always lovely to have extra help,
especially at writing and reading times.
I am also wondering if anyone would be willing to put the weekly reading
books away in the resource room. I can
show you how they are numbered and coloured to make it nice and easy.
Wonder Words
Last week I
attached our three wonder words for your child to practise reading and writing
at home. We focus on these words for two
weeks and are displayed around the classroom.
The words are: I, a, am.
I hope you all have
a lovely week and enjoy the long weekend coming up. Let’s hope for some sun!
Jane Allen
jane.allen@stalbans.school.nz
Week 3 Term 2
Dear Parents
I am so proud of
Room 9 for their amazing running at the cross-country last Wednesday. Top Effort to all of our class!
It was so lovely
to see the children enjoying themselves and completing their first school
event.
New Children
This week we welcome
Harry and Jesse to Room 9. Finn and Erin
will be with us on their pre-entry visits.
Phonics
This week our
special letters are: p and n.
Remember to help your child by revising the sounds at home, drawing the
pictures for the sound and asking your child to sing the tune to help them with
the action/sound.
Maths
This week is all
about recognizing the numbers to 20.
Inquiry
Our Inquiry is
based around Magnets. Last week I asked
the children what they would like to find out about magnets and these questions
will form the basis for our Inquiry. If
you have any magnet resources/books that the children could use in class I
would be very grateful for them. A
magnets table will be set up for the children to explore and experiment.
Wonder Words
This week I will
begin our Wonder Words focus. Each
fortnight the children will have three or four words that we will be
concentrating on reading and writing/spelling.
I would appreciate any help at home in learning these. These are words that the children are
expected to be able to write by the end of the first year of school.
Our words for this
week are: I, am, a
School Entry Assessments
I hope to finish
the children’s school entry assessments this week. I will then organize a meeting with you to
discuss where your child is at and set goals that we can focus on. These meetings usually take 15-20
minutes. It is a lovely time to
celebrate how fabulous your child is.
Have a fantastic
week and do ask if you have any questions.
Jane Allen
Week 2 Term 2
Dear Parents
Last week flew by
and I am so impressed how the children have settled into school life and
routines in Room 9. We started the week
with 4 children and this week we have doubled in size and welcome Dyllan and
Charlotte to our class.
Cross Country
On Wednesday it is
our cross-country. It is held over the road at English park. We have had a couple of ‘walk arounds’ so the
children are familiar with the course.
Year 1 children will be running after morning tea at 10:50. We welcome you all to come along and support
your child. The children need to wear
their house colour on the day and sensible shoes for running. If you are unsure what house your child is
in, please check the house colour templates on the whiteboard in the classroom.
Reading
I am so pleased
with the enthusiastic start we have had to reading in Room 9. It is lovely to read your comments in the
yellow Read It book. The best way to
help your child at home this week is to ensure they finger point to each word and
make sure the finger hops to the next word.
This week I will give each child a set of High Frequency words that you
can use to learn at home. These are
words that are in their reading books and words they need to master.
Phonics
Our letter sounds
this week are T and I. Please make sure
that you go over the sounds we are learning and the previous sounds at
home. The children enjoy drawing and
sticking in pictures associated with that sound into their Alphabet books and
we show the fantastic work off at school.
They also enjoy reinforcing the sound learnt with the song and bringing
in an item that begins with the letter.
Maths
We will be focusing
on numbers to 20, counting forwards and backwards and also using our fingers to
count this week.
School Entry
Assessments
Over the next few
weeks I will be completing a school entry assessment for each child to obtain
their numeracy and literacy stage. This
is part of our school data gathering and gives a sound base line as to where
each child is starting at. I will set up
an interview with you to communicate the results and set goals for us to work
on at school and at home.
School Disco
This Friday night
is our school disco. More information
will be sent out in the week. I will
definitely be at the disco and would love to dance with Room 9 children.
Please do feel free
to ask if you are unsure about any aspects of the school routine/day you are
unsure of.
Remember to have a
look on our school blog and leave a comment if you can. http://room9year12013.blogspot.co.nz
Jane Allen
May 6th 2013
Term 2 – Week 1
Dear
Parents/Caregivers,
Welcome to St Albans School! I am really
looking forward to teaching your wonderful child this year.
Starting school is such an exciting time
but it can be an anxious time too.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or
concerns. I consider it to be an absolute
pleasure and a privilege to be teaching your child and I am looking forward to
getting to know Room 9 as the term progresses.
A little bit about me:
I am originally from Dunedin. We have lived in Christchurch for the past 10
years. This is my 15th year
teaching and I have taught most levels from NE to Year 8. I am incredibly excited about teaching Year 1
this year. My husband Bruce is an
accountant. We have three lovely
children who are all at St Albans School. Thomas (9) is in Year 5, George (8)
is in Year 4 and Annabel (5) has just started in Room 8. I feel I can relate to how you may be feeling
with a new child starting school.
Every week I will send home a class
notice. This will be stuck in your
child’s red notebook on a Monday. Please
read this as I hope it will keep you up-to-date with what is happening at
school and in Room 9.
On the back of this newsletter is some
general information to help your child settle into Room 9.
Please ask if you are unsure of anything
related to the classroom or your child.
Kind regards
Jane Allen
Room
9 – Information for Parents
aStationery Packs
These are at the
Office and will be given to your child on their first day of school or they can
be purchased earlier on a pre entry visit. They have everything your
child needs for the year. You can cover them if you wish. You will be invoiced
if the pack has not been paid for prior to school.
ŠUniform
It
is really helpful if all of your child’s school clothing is named/labeled.
Hats
are to be worn in Terms 1 and 4.
Our
school uniform can be purchased from Postie Plus at Northwood or from Sussan
Ross on Rutland St. The school café also
has a great selection of second hand uniform.
This is run through the PTA.
There is a lost property box located outside Room 1.
mAbsences
Please remember to ring the office if your child will
be away. An eletronic roll will be taken
at 8:55. Any absences will be noted and
if the absence has not been notified then the office staff will be in contact.
If your child is late to school in the morning, they
must report first to the school office and get a green late pass. Those children not in the classroom by 9am
will be marked as late. Thank you for
your help with this. It is really
important for your child to be at school with enough time to unpack and settle
in, so they are ready for a day of learning.
&Reading Folders
Your child needs to have their reading folder at school everyday. Your child will have a new
reading book Monday to Thursday. Keep
these in the folder for the week. I
really value reading your comments in your child’s reading log so please fill
this in each day wih the name of the book and a comment about how your child is
doing.
§Poetry books will go home on Fridays with the latest class poem to share. I will collect the readers in on a Monday
morning.
&Alphabet book
The
children learn a phonics based programme.
We will be learning a different sound every 2 days. The children will be taught an action and a
song to go with the sound. They will stick the sound they have learnt in their
book and will be asked to draw or stick something beginning with that sound at
home. The children are encouraged to
bring something starting with that sound to school and to put it on our special
letter table. Reinforcement of the sound
at home will help the children to remember it, which will help with literacy
skills.
%Start of the day
A reminder that the earliest time children can come
into the classroom in the morning is 8:30am,
once the bell has rung. Before this
time, teachers are busy preparing for the day ahead and may not be in the
classroom.
Please encourage your child to do their morning jobs
independently.
%End of the day
Please remember to wait outside the classroom until
3:00pm. This is a busy time of the day
for the children. We usually give out notices and any reminders at this time and
would prefer if the children did not get distracted.
WWater bottles
St Albans School is a “Water Only” school. We
encourage children to bring a water bottle to school. By having a bottle in the classroom, they are
able to drink water when they need to during the day which helps them to be
alert and ready for learning.
&Library
This
will be on a Friday morning at 9:30 for Room 9.
Please
make sure your child’s library book is returned into the class library box by
Thursday. Each week your child is able
to get one new library book out provided they have returned the previous one.
¿Junior Assembly
This is on Thursday afternoons at 2:25pm. I
will endevour to inform you if your child is receiving a certificate at the
assembly. All parents are welcome to
come to assembly at all times.
dDiscovery Time
We will be having our team discovery time on
Wednesdays from 1:30-2:50. This is a
fantastic time for the children to develop key competencies through activity
based, child-directed learning.
&Class Leader
Each
day a class leader is chosen. We call
this person the Superstar for the day.
This child will get to bring the class mascot home for that night. Please feel free to add to the diary and
return the next day to share the adventures.
Please add as much or little as you can manage!
vContacting me
Please feel free to contact me via email:
or through the school office on
355 9132.
Remember to check out our class blog through the
school website or directly:
Please do leave a comment on our posts. We love them!
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