Room 7 Newsletter - 3 February 2014

Dear parents,

Happy New Year and welcome to Room 7.  I hope you are all feeling rested and relaxed after your summer break. We are going to have a busy, exciting year in Room 7 and I am looking forward to working with you and your wonderful, enthusiastic little learners.

Please find below some useful information about the coming term.

Before school routine

At the start of the year it is important to establish good independent work habits. Before school starts please encourage your child to hang up their own bag, put their book bag and their snack on their table and to put away their reader from the previous day.

It can be daunting saying goodbye to Mum and Dad in the first few days back after the holidays, it helps if the children arrive in plenty of time to greet their friends and prepare for their day before the bell rings.

Snack

The children will have a healthy snack each morning to keep their energy levels up until morning tea. This is a quick brain food stop so should be a small piece of fruit, vegetables and/or cheese. It is helpful if this can be stored in a separate container and it saves a lot of time if things like apples are cut up into slices and mandarins peeled!

Topic / Unit Study Our school focus this term is “Words”. This topic will provide lots of wonderful opportunities to celebrate literacy, books and language and extend the children’s vocabularies.

We are also implementing the Cool Schools Peer Mediation Programme. This proactive programme teaches essential life skills for peaceful conflict resolution.

Home Reading

Home reading will be underway by week 2 and all children will bring home something to read and discuss with you each night. This may be a new book, a familiar book they have chosen to re-read, their own published writing or their poem book on Fridays. Reading logs will be coming home shortly.

The Magic Castle Book

The children will also bring home their Magic Castle Book. This is a series of challenges involving frequently used words to learn to read or spell. Each time the children complete a challenge they will be rewarded with a character to put on our class Magic Castle. Please spend a little time each night working with your child to learn their magic castle words.

Basic Facts

Maths knowledge homework will begin shortly and the children will bring home their basic facts book each week.

Swimming

Swimming will begin straight away. We will be swimming at 2:00pm – 2:30pm every day. Please ensure your child brings named swimming togs / towel / goggles every day in a separate swimming bag.

Library

Our Library day is Friday. The children will bring home two library books each week. These will need to be returned to school by Thursday.

Named clothing

Please name all of your child’s school uniform and swimming gear (with a permanent marker). It makes it much easier for items to be returned to your child if they are mislaid.

Finally, thank you for your support. I am looking forward to an exciting year of learning with your children this year.

Kind regards

Helen Benson