Dear Families,
Hello and welcome to Weka for
2013!
I hope you have all had an
enjoyable break. I am really excited
about the coming year and I’m looking forward to teaching the awesome children
in Weka.
This booklet is to inform you
about the class routines, my beliefs about teaching and learning and some of
the methods and strategies we will use to help us succeed and grow as learners.
Please do not hesitate to contact
me if you have any queries or questions. My contact details are…
Cell: 027 555 0016
GENERAL
INFORMATION
My goal is for your child to enjoy
school, be enthusiastic about their learning and to develop an independent
spirit.
Independence starts from day
one. All children are expected to take
responsibility for their own belongings.
This means carrying their school bag in the school gate and hanging it
on their own hook as well. The children
are expected to take out their reading folder, diaries and books from their bag
and put them all in a neat pile on their desks ready to be checked. Fruit is to be placed in the bowl on the blue
tote trolley just inside the door before school. These are their jobs. You will be tempted to do these things for
your child, especially if you are running late, but please do not. The children quickly learn these routines
with reminders, and I go over them daily for the first couple of weeks. Even if your child is late, it is still
important they do these things for themselves, as it is part of being READY in
Weka.
Please bring…
|
Every day:
|
On Fridays:
|
Each Week:
|
|
·
Diary
·
Reading Folder
·
Hat
·
Water bottle
·
Togs & Towel
(summer only)
|
·
Poetry Folder
·
Library Folder and
·
Library Book(s)
|
· 3 pieces of
fruit
|
Times – School starts at 8.55am and
finishes at 3pm. Please ensure your child arrives at school in plenty of time
to prepare for their day prior to the bell at 8.55am. Morning interval is from 10.40am until
11.00am, and lunch is eaten indoors between 12.00pm and 12.15pm after which
time children play outside until 12.40pm. Another play break is also scheduled
between 1.40pm and 2pm.
Calendar – On the door to Weka, there is a
calendar. Please use it to record
children’s birthdays, community happenings (fairs, sports days, plays, etc.)
and events that are coming up and may interest our families. There is so much to do in Christchurch!
Diaries – Your child will bring this home
each afternoon. You are able to use the
diary for messages to school if you wish, and our school and class newsletters
will be folded and put in here if you receive a hard copy. In the back of the diary, complete spelling
lists will be housed – they are for tracking purposes. Your child’s personal spelling list will be
written in their diary each week.
Children need to write their spelling words in their diary each day. I
would appreciate families writing the title of the story that their child reads
each evening (Mon-Thurs) in the diary also.
Library
Day – Our class
library day is FRIDAY. Books need to be
back at school by then. There is a tray
just inside the door for book returns.
The Selwyn District Council Mobile
Library will also visit each fortnight. It comes on Thursdays. If your child is not yet a member, you can
join up if you wish.
Sickness – If your child is ill, please
phone the school to let us know that they will be away. Remember, do please keep them off school if
they are ill as sick children do not learn well and their bugs spread like
wildfire in a classroom – especially one as small as ours is! Thank you.
Parent
helping – I enjoy
the support of parent helpers in the literacy (reading and/or writing) and
maths programmes. It’s not tricky to
help – just easy and fun games to play with small groups of children.
We will begin PMP (a gross motor
skills programme) once the swimming pool closes and will need regular parental
support in order for the programme to go ahead.
This is scheduled Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri: 9 – 9.40am. We will need 3 parents to support each session.
At other times, trips require
certain ratios of adults to children to ensure safety. Should you be interested in any of these
options on a regular or occasional basis, we can have a quick chat about what
would be required then you can join us! Please let me know if you are
interested. Parent assistance is always greatly appreciated and valued.
Fun
in the Sun – On
the windowsill, there is a bottle of sunblock.
The children are told this is for them to use and I encourage all
children to put some on early in the day so that they are ready to go out at
playtime. Feel free to help yourself,
too.
Parenting Publications – In the
library, there are a number of parenting magazines and books that may be of
interest to you. Please feel free to
borrow the magazines and return them once you have finished. The books can be borrowed on the library
system and I am happy to organise that for you if you see something you’d
like. Just ask.
LITERACY
Reading
We focus on three areas of reading
in Weka – reading to, reading with and reading by children. I read to the children everyday, the
children read with me everyday and the children will read to me
in some form everyday.
Reading can be a difficult thing
to learn, and it is important to remember that children learn at different
rates and in different ways. In Weka, we
accommodate this by grouping children according to their needs and by using a
variety of methods to engage them with texts.
Once children have figured out the
key to decoding text, they quickly become confident and capable readers. To support this, regular exposure to texts at
home is recommended. Children need to see a word at least 30 times before they
recognise that they have seen it before and they need to see and read it even
more times to remember what it says.
Each day (Monday-Thursday), your
child will be bringing home a book to read with you, and on Fridays they will
have a poem in their poetry folder to share along with a story they have
published.
Make a time each day to sit and
listen to your child read. If they are
just beginning to read, help them to point to the words. Please do not isolate letters or
sounds or cover up the illustrations.
Reading is about gaining meaning and understanding from text – not about
reading words. More information on how
to help your child read is stuck into the front pages of your child’s
diary. Please ask if you have any
questions, too.
Please remember to record the text
title in the diary each day when your child reads to you and feel free to
comment, too. This will show your child
that you value their learning.
Writing
From day one, children in Weka
will be encouraged to write independently with a range of support structures
around them. As with reading, children
are all at different stages of learning to write and they will develop at
different rates. Each child in Weka will
have a personal writing goal to help them focus on what they need to
learn. Once this is achieved, another
goal will be set.
Before starting to write the
children are encouraged to draw a picture to help them remember what they want
to say. As they write, they will say
each word slowly and then record the sounds they
hear in order.
Sometimes this may just be the first and last sound, which is fine. It may also not necessarily be the correct
letter, but will need to have the right sound (e.g: ‘sitee’ for ‘city’). I write the correct
spelling above their attempt once they have completed it. The children do need to see the word
accurately written.
Children are reminded to leave
spaces between words when writing and to put a fullstop at the end of each
sentence. Re-reading what they have
written to check it makes sense is also another important step in the process,
as is sharing the writing with someone – we write for someone to read, after
all (sometimes, it’s only ourselves).
At home, you can help your child
by providing paper and range of writing instruments (pens, pencils, crayons,
paintbrushes, etc) for them to record their ideas. You may also like to use
chalk, the sandpit, even the window on cool mornings to make practicing writing
fun for you and your child. Encourage
your child to write about their experiences.
Spelling
Spelling forms part of the writing
programme as we need to learn to spell to share our ideas with others as we
write. To begin with in Weka, we will
focus on letter identification and alphabet letter phonemes (sounds). Children will spend time each day working on
the phonetic aspect of spelling, which involves listening, sounding, reading
and writing. Basic spelling words have
to be learned too, and your child will be bringing home 3-5 words to learn each
week when they are ready. These will be
written in their diary and the children will copy them into their diary,
too. Saying the letters aloud at the
same time as writing them out is important as the children learn to spell. Reviewing known words now and again is also
recommended.
Handwriting
It is important that children
establish good handwriting habits early on. The purpose is to ensure that children’s
writing can be read easily by themselves and by others, so it must be
neat and legible. Initially, many children struggle to hold a
pencil, let alone forming letters correctly! Because of this, we will start with the
basics.
We begin with establishing good
posture and correct pencil grip as we focus on tracking, tracing and copying
before moving onto learning where to start each letter and how to form each
letter properly.
We use the ‘Magic Caterpillar’
story to support correct letter formation – I’m happy to provide a copy of this
should you like one.
Oral
Language
Talking is at the foundation of
all we do in our literacy programmes in Weka and it is ‘learner talk’ rather
than ‘teacher talk’ which is the most powerful.
I encourage the children to verbalise their experiences, ideas and
wonderings.
They learn to carefully listen to
those of others and comment on what they hear.
They learn to ask quality questions.
All of these things help develop confidence and move their learning
forward as the children become capable speakers and listeners.
Our Oral Language programme
consists of a daily element of rote learning which reinforces the reading and
recall of basic concepts (such as the days of the week). We also spend time thinking about,
formulating ideas and discussing concepts relating to our current unit of
work. We learn about quality thinking
tools, examine different parts of speech in depth and share a poem each
week. Children will also have an
opportunity to bring something from home to share for ‘news’ once a week. This will be put away safely after
sharing.
“TUESDAY
IS NEWS DAY” J
MATHEMATICS
We spend a lot of time focusing on
the ‘Number and Algebra’ learning strand in mathematics at this level of the
school. This is because many of the
basics such as number recognition and counting come into this area and this is
pre-requisite learning for the other strands of maths (Geometry and
Measurement, Statistics). We will be touching on these areas also, though.
Maths in Weka will take a
‘hands-on’, practical approach. The
children use equipment and materials continually to explore and investigate
their ideas. We also use rhymes, poems,
baking, stories, plays and posters
to have fun with maths. There is also an
element of rote learning of some basic concepts.
Children work together at the
beginning of maths each day as part of a class lesson. They then break into small groups so that
they are working at their appropriate level. Each group spends time with the
teacher three times a week. The groups
also play games and complete activities to reinforce their learning with the
support of parent helpers as part of the programme.
You can help your child with their
maths at home simply by involving them in your daily activities such as setting
the table – counting the number of knives, forks, etc; baking – organizing and
measuring the ingredients; out in the car - reading numbers on letterboxes and
on number plates. It may take a little longer to get jobs done, but the
benefits are enormous. Your child will
treasure the time with you. They will
love talking with you and doing ‘big people’ jobs as they learn skills for
life. Maths really is everywhere – you
are only limited by your imagination.
Should you have any questions
about anything you have read, just ask.
I am here to help.
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