Week 17 in K2

RRR Booklets

Please remember to send the ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!’ booklet back to school on Monday 7 December. The children will be sharing and using their booklets so please make sure they are in the blue folders. We hope you have had fun at home focusing on reducing, reusing and recycling.

As a reflection on the booklets, we are asking the children to choose one thing that they think they can continue doing all year (turning lights off, reusing or sending books and clothes for others to use).

It is important that they understand that reducing, refusing, reusing and recycling should be ‘a way of life', and does not stop when our unit has been completed. With your support, we would like the children to continue thinking about the rubbish people produce, where it all goes, what we can do to help reduce the amount of waste we all create and preserve the environment.

End of Term Party - Thursday 11  December

The Infant End of Term party is on Thursday 11 December.  Please make sure the children come to school in party clothes, ready for a fun-filled day of special activities.

Please note that there will be no PE on Thursday, as all the Infant classes will be in the Main Hall at our normal scheduled PE time so there is no need to send in kit.

You will have received a letter this week giving you details about the party, with a request for a small plate of food.  Bite-sized food is ideal, in fact the smaller the better.  If you are at all concerned about what you have been asked to bring in, please contact your child’s teacher as soon as possible.  We do not want stressed parents!

Please remember to send your food contributions in a named container (if you want it back) to school on Thursday morning. In response to a question earlier this week, your food contribution is for your child’s class only. Thank you in advance for your wonderful culinary efforts!

Writing Workshop

You will be receiving your child’s latest folder of books he/she has made very soon. Please celebrate your child’s work with him/her. All of the children are very proud of their work and are eager to share their books with you.

Always recognise and acknowledge what your child can do, not what he/she cannot do quite yet. Honour his/her approximations with both illustrations and writing. Young children will not get everything correct every time they write – nor should they. Positive reinforcement and praise for his/her efforts will make your child feel good about writing, even though it is hard for many of our children at this stage of K2.

Leaving early for the holiday?

We are busy right up until the end of term and we do not encourage families to leave early for the holidays.  However, we do understand that it can be difficult to get flights at this busy time of year. If you do have to leave  before the last day of school (Friday 12 December), please let the teacher know so that items can be sent home with your child on his/her last day.

You will receive your child’s report at the end of the final week of term. Unfortunately, if you are leaving early, you will not be able to have this ahead of schedule. However, you will be able to read the report on ePortal after Friday 12 December. The actual report will be posted to you.

Library Books and Reading Books

All K2 children will be borrowing two David Watson library books to keep over the holidays. These need to be returned at the start of next term.

Please note: Levelled reading books will not be sent home in the holidays. The last day for sending levelled readers home will be Wednesday 10 December. All children will choose 3 readers to bring home on the first day of Term 2.

We would like you to read as much as you can with your child over the holiday and to  encourage him/her to continue with his/her own reading, too.  Keeping the reading process going over the three week break will make things much easier when he/she returns to school in January.

Last Day of Term

The last day of term is Friday 12 December. The Infants finish school at 11:00am.  Buses leave campus at 11:00am. Please make sure there is someone at home to meet your child from the bus at the earlier time.

Car children should be collected at 10:50am from the normal pick up point. All cars need to have left the campus by 11:10am to allow the buses to assemble to take the older students home at 12:00pm.

Reminders

• There will be no eBrief or K2 Blog on Friday 12 December

• The next eBrief will be on Friday 2 January 2015

• UWCSEA re-opens on Monday 5 January 2015

Thank you so much to all class parents and classroom helpers for your invaluable support this term. We really appreciate the time you give up to come to school and help the children with their learning.

We would like to wish you all a very happy, safe holiday.

Week 16 in K2

Performers' Assembly

On Wednesday performers from K2 and G1 entertained the Infant children during our Term 1 Performers’ Assembly. Congratulations to Isabella and James from K2SMH and Akhil from K2HWe for being such great risk-takers and performing their vocal, piano and violin pieces so beautifully.

RRR Booklets

Today, your child has brought home a ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!’ booklet. The children all know what they have to do as we have discussed it in class. It would be good for them to come up with their own thoughts of how they can help reduce, reuse and recycle at home but you may need to help them write their ideas on page 3.

Please keep these booklets at home and return them on Monday 8 December (not before). We will be reflecting upon these booklets and the ways in which the children reduce, reuse and recycle at home.

Recycling at UWCSEA

Unfortunately the Recycling Centre at school is only taking paper at the moment so please don not send in any materials for recycling. However, we still want all your CLEAN RUBBISH that the children can reuse in the classroom for models and construction.

WANTED!

We still need plastic bags of all colours for a special Art project so please do continue to send them in.

Leaving early for the holiday?

We are busy right up until the end of term and we do not encourage families to leave early for the holidays.  However, we do understand that it can be difficult to get flights at this busy time of year. If you do have to leave  before the last day of school (Friday 12 December), please let your child's teacher know so that items can be sent home on his/her last day.

You will receive your child’s report at the end of the final week of term. Unfortunately, if you are leaving early, you will not be able to have this ahead of schedule. However, you will be able to read the report on ePortal after Friday 12 December. The actual report will be posted to you.

End of Term Party - Thursday 11  December

Early next week you will receive a letter from the class teacher indicating what food items are needed for the party.

Please could you send food into school on the morning of Thursday 11 December. If you are at all concerned about what you have been asked to send in, please contact your child’s teacher as soon as possible.

This is a non-uniform day for Infant children. They may come to school wearing party clothes or festive colours.

Next Week

Maths

Running parallel to our number work will be a new unit on Data Handling and Probability.
Ways of classifying and sorting objects into given categories and counting the numbers of objects in each category will be explored. Questions will be asked: How can I organise and present the data I have collected? How do I use the information I have found?

Literacy

Our main areas of focus will be:
• Handwriting (numbers, name and ‘one armed robot letters’ r, b, n, h, m, k, p)
• Writing Workshop
• Reading Workshop
• High Frequency Words
• Phonics
• Vowels
• Blending and decoding of CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) e.g. mop, fan, pig and CCVC words e.g. plug, frog, trip.

Week 15 in K2

UN Day

Thank you for coming to support the children for UN Day today.  From comments made by the children, they all seemed to love visiting the other classrooms and doing so many different activities, as well as doing the parade and singing for you all. Hopefully they will have also learned something about other countries, too.

We were so proud of all of them and the effort they put into the celebrations in the Main Hall. They had to learn a great deal of words and sang beautifully. We had many parents giving us positive comments and feedback on the parade and singing and we are delighted that you enjoyed it so much.

Performers' Assembly

On Wednesday 26 November, performers from K2 and G1 will entertain the Infant children during our first Performers' Assembly. If your child is one of the performers you will have been contacted by Susanne Khalek and are invited to the RBT at 1:00pm to watch.

Food Festival - Friday 28 November

The Primary School Food Festival takes place on Friday 28 November. The K2 children will have the opportunity to visit the food stalls in the morning and sample the many tasty fares. We will provide biodegradable containers so you do not need to send one from home.

Children will not need any Brain Food on this day but can still bring a snack. As they will have eaten at the Food Festival before snack time, maybe some fruit would be a good idea.

IMPORTANT

We would like all children to come to school in a national costume, national colours or clothes that reflect their national identity.

HELP NEEDED!

A letter was sent home on Wednesday asking for a few volunteers to help at the Food Festival. If you are able to join us, please return the slip and your child's teacher will confirm what time she would like you to arrive in the classroom.

Next Week

Maths

Running parallel to our number work will be a new unit on Data Handling and Probability.
Ways of classifying and sorting objects into given categories and counting the numbers of objects in each category will be explored. Questions will be asked: How can I organise and present the data I have collected? How do I use the information I have found?

Literacy

Our main areas of focus will be:
• Handwriting (numbers, name and ‘one armed robot letters’ r, b, n, h, m, k, p)
• Writing Workshop
• Reading Workshop
• High Frequency Words
• Phonics
• Vowels
• Blending and decoding of CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) e.g. mop, fan, pig and CCVC words e.g. plug, frog, trip.

Week 14 in K2

Reading Programme

On Wednesday evening Celena Larkey, a lead staff developer from Teachers College, Columbia University, gave a presentation to parents about reading. During her talk, Celena focused on 6 essentials that teachers strive for every day in their classrooms. She suggests parents do the same at home to support their child’s reading in the best possible way. The 6 essentials are listed below:

1. Children need to choose their own books and spend quality time with their eyes on 'just right' books.
2. They should read ‘just right’ books with 98% accuracy. Research shows that acceleration takes place when reading is 98% accurate.
3. Children need to read something that they understand. This means a lot of re-reading of text that they find engaging.
4. Children need to write about things that are personally meaningful so choosing their own subject matter is vital.
5. Every child needs to talk with his/her peers about reading and writing. Research has shown that conversations with peers (and parents at home) improves comprehension and engagement with text.
6. Children need to listen to a fluent adult reader read aloud. This increases their own fluency, comprehension skills, expands vocabulary, background knowledge, awareness of genre and text structure.

Celena also had some suggestions on how you can encourage more reading at home:

• Become an expert at your local library and book store.  
• Keep books organised and have your child help you to organise his/her books.
• Encourage different kinds of reading.

As teachers we have learned so much this week from Celena about teaching young children to read and in the coming months we will be implementing many of her ideas in our classrooms. We are very excited about our Reading Workshops and look forward to witnessing the growth and development of the children’s skills.

More information about Reading and Writing Workshop can be accessed via this link to the Teachers College site:

http://readingandwritingproject.com/

Magic Materials

Our Unit of Study, ‘Magic Materials’ is well under way and we have all been thinking about and discussing ‘Where does all the rubbish go?’  

Each classroom will be setting up its own Recycling Centre, in order that we can focus on 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle'. Please send in your clean rubbish. Anything that you would normally throw away, or recycle somewhere else, we will be able to put to good use! Please make sure all items are washed and clean as we do not wish to attract ants!

The children can decide what they want to do with their rubbish. Items could be put in the junk modelling box for reusing and reducing waste or put into the various recycling containers. We will be making visits to the UWCSEA Recycling Centre, located by the Bus Bay, when our bins get full!

PLASTIC BAGS WANTED!

We will be doing some art projects using plastic bags. Please could you continue to send in any plastic bags you have – the brighter, the better! Thank you.

PE and Swimming

K2SMH and K2HWe have now finished their swimming programme and will be doing PE on both Tuesdays and Thursdays.

UN Day in the Infants:

Friday 21 November

UN Day is nearly upon us! 

The morning will begin in your child’s classroom. Each K2 class is going to focus on two countries (see below). There will be hands-on, practical activities set up in each room, and you will be able to go around the different K2 classrooms, doing a variety of arts and crafts, whilst learning a little about those countries along the way.

The following countries will be represented in the classrooms:

K2HWe

Japan & The World

K2SMH

Great Britain & The Netherlands

K2JiS 

Mexico & Indonesia

K2ZBr

India & Vietnam

The timings of the morning will run as follows:

8:50am  Arrive at UWCSEA

9:00am-10:00am  Activities in classrooms  

10:30am  Infant Parade and songs in the Main Hall

11:00am  Finish

Week 13 in K2

K2 Morning of Sport

The children thoroughly enjoyed demonstrating their agility, dexterity, hand-eye coordination and speed in a wide range of activities yesterday morning. It was lovely to see them showing their skills, and to see how they are all developing their ability to listen to and follow a set of instructions.


It was wonderful that so many parents, grandparents, siblings and helpers were able to watch and cheer the children on, too. Thank you to everyone involved, especially the P.E. Department, for making it a very special morning.

UN Day in the Infants: Friday 21 November

We look forward to welcoming you to school for another UN Day!

The morning will begin in your child’s classroom. Each K2 class is going to focus on two countries (see below). There will be a couple of hands-on activities set up in each room, and you will be able to go around the different K2 classrooms, doing a variety of arts and crafts, whilst learning a little about those countries along the way.

The following countries will be represented in the classrooms:

K2HWe
Japan & The World

K2SMH
Ireland & England

K2JiS
Mexico & Indonesia

K2ZBr
India & Vietnam


The timings of the morning will run as follows:

8:50am  Arrive at UWCSEA

9:00am-10:00am  Activities in classrooms

10:30am  Infant Parade and songs in the Main Hall

11:00am  Finish

If you have not yet filled in the google doc informing us which flag(s) you would like your child to make for our UN Day celebrations, please do so by Monday 10 November, as we wish to start making the flags. If we do not hear from you, we will use your child's nationality as indicated in the UWCSEA documentation. If you are unable to stay for the Infant Parade and songs, please arrange for another adult to take your place.

Events like these are an important part of our philosophy of holistic education and develop many skills, such as cooperation, spatial awareness, social, gross motor and communication skills.

Staff Training Day - Monday 10 November

UWCSEA will be closed for Staff Training on this day. We are welcoming Celena Larkey back from Teachers College, Columbia University, New York who is running further training on Reading Workshop. Our staff training continues throughout the week, both during the school day and after school. There will be times when the teachers are involved in labsites (training in classrooms with the children). When this occurs, we will have cover teachers taking our classes so your child may come home and tell you that for a small part of the day, he/she had a different teacher.

K-G2 Parent Presentation: Nurturing Our Young Readers

Celena will also be doing a presentation for K-G2 parents 'Nurturing Our Young Readers'. This will take place on Wednesday 12 November, in the Multi Purpose Hall at 6:30pm. Learn more about the research behind Reading Workshop and how parents can nurture and support young readers at home. If you would like to attend please sign up through the link in the e-Brief.

iLearn Parent Workshop: iPads for Learning 

Tuesday 18 November   6-7pm David Watson Library

It will not have escaped the notice of many parents that iPads are quickly becoming a popular tool for enhancing teaching and learning throughout the Primary School. What is perhaps less obvious is the why, the how, and the 'what do we use them for?'. This workshop will explore the most common apps your children use at school, particularly in the Infant School and Grade 2. iPads will be available for you to use, although you are welcome to bring your own.

Please RSVP here. For more information contact Sean McHugh. We recommended that you visit the Dover DLC blog and read this post prior to the workshop.

Next Week

Maths

Investigations will continue with Measurement, alongside our number work.

Why is it important to know how heavy things are and how long they are?
Which words can we use to describe length?
Which words can we use to describe weight?

The children will be learning how to describe an object using different measurements e.g. length, height, weight, size. Comparisons between two objects will be made: Which is longer/shorter, taller/shorter, heavier/lighter?

Literacy

Our main areas of focus will be:
• Handwriting (numbers, name and ‘one armed robot letters’ r, b, n, h, m, k, p)
• Writing Workshop
• Reading Workshop
• High Frequency Words
• Phonics
• Vowels
• Blending and decoding of CVC words

The K2 Team

Week 12 in K2

Writing Workshop

We do hope you enjoyed looking and sharing your child's books that he/she made during the last half term. It is wonderful to see the eagerness and enthusiasm during workshop time, as the children make and create their books.

Do remember that as both teachers and parents we need to encourage our children to develop their love of writing. We can work together to achieve this by:

• nudging not pushing
• honouring approximations
• recognising that writing composition is the primary focus at this age

Firstly, resist the urge to push your children with their writing. Ultimately, you will end up with a reluctant writer. Always recognise and acknowledge what your child can do, not what he/she cannot do yet. Nudges work better and your child will be more likely to embrace a suggestion rather than you pointing out what he/she has not done.

Secondly, honour their approximations with both illustrations and writing. They will not get everything correct every time they write – nor should they. Learning to write is a process and like any skill it takes time and mistakes will be made along the way.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the primary focus should be on the composition. Whilst writing conventions are important, the stories children have to tell and their powers of imagination are crucial to them becoming good writers. If we spend too much time focusing on conventions, such as punctuation and spelling, we lose the spontaneity of children’s writing at this very early age.

Unit of Study

Our 'Materials' Unit of Study continues to the end of this term, with a special focus on ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’.

The Enduring Understandings are:

• I can sort rubbish in different ways.

• I understand that I can use less and I can reuse things to help the earth.

• I can reuse materials to make something.

The Essential Questions are:

• Where does all the rubbish go?

• What happens to material waste?

• What can we all do to help the earth?

• Why is it important?

Many of the children are already familiar with the idea of recycling; they use ‘rubbish’ for junk modelling or 'Make and Take' at school. Each classroom has a box for recycling scraps of paper and card, and the children are encouraged to use paper that has already been printed on one side for their drawings and craft work. 

We are sure that you have ways of recycling things at home too, and we will be exploring and investigating many different aspects of the three Rs! It is a very interesting and exciting part of the unit for the children, and one in which they will be able to take ‘action’ readily. 

WANTED - PLASTIC BAGS!

We will be doing some art projects using plastic bags. Please could you send in any that you have – the brighter, the better! Also, please do continue to collect and send in any boxes, tubes, bottle tops, egg cartons and other rubbish that can be reused for the children's junk modelling.

K2 Morning of Sport Thursday 6 November

Our Morning of Sport will take place come rain or shine! The tabloid events will take place in the Sports Halls, and we will finish with relays on the Casurina Field. We aim to start at 10:30am and should be finished by 12:00pm. The children will take part in a variety of athletic activities, which demonstrate skills they have been learning in their PE lessons this year.

Obviously PE kit must be worn, together with a hat for the running events outside. Should the weather be inclement on the day, the relays will take place in the sports hall. All parents are warmly invited to come and join us for a morning full of fun and action!

Staff Training Day - Monday 10 November

UWCSEA will be closed for Staff Training on this day. We are welcoming Celena Larkey back from Teachers College, Columbia University, New York who is running further training on Reading Workshop.

K-G2 Parent Presentation: Nurturing Our Young Readers

Celena will also be doing a presentation for K-G2 parents 'Nurturing Our Young Readers'. This will take place on Wednesday 12 November, in the Multi Purpose Hall at 6:30pm. Learn more about the research behind Reading Workshop and how parents can nurture and support young readers at home. If you would like to attend please sign up through the link in the e-Brief.

iLearn Parent Workshop: iPads for Learning 

Tuesday 18 November   6-7pm David Watson Library

It will not have escaped the notice of many parents that iPads are quickly becoming a popular tool for enhancing teaching and learning throughout the Primary School. What is perhaps less obvious is the why, the how, and the 'what do we use them for?'. This workshop will explore the most common apps your children use at school, particularly in the Infant School and Grade 2. iPads will be available for you to use, although you are welcome to bring your own.

Please RSVP here. For more information contact Sean McHugh. We recommended that you visit the Dover DLC blog and read this post prior to the workshop.

UN Day - Friday 21 November

The Infant School will be celebrating UN Day on Friday 21 November. For this event we will need you to accompany your child around a series of activities in school from 9:00am to 10:15am. You are then invited to the Main Hall where the morning will culminate with singing and a parade. Watch for more details in upcoming Blogs and eBriefs.

Primary School Food Festival - Friday 28 November

We will be asking for some parent helpers to take small groups of children around the amazing food stalls so do mark this date in your diaries. Your child's teacher will get in touch with you nearer the time.

Next Week

Maths

Our next unit is Measurement, where we will be looking at the Essential Questions:

Why is it important to know how heavy things are and how long they are?
Which words can we use to describe length?
Which words can we use to describe weight?

The children will be learning how to describe an object using different measurements e.g. length, height, weight, size. Comparisons between two objects will be made: Which is longer/shorter, taller/shorter, heavier/lighter?

Literacy

Our main areas of focus will be:
• Handwriting (numbers, name and ‘one armed robot letters’ r, b, n, h, m, k, p)
• Writing Workshop
• Reading Workshop
• High Frequency Words
• Phonics
• Vowels
• Blending and decoding of CVC words

The K2 Team

Week 11 in K2

We hope you have all had a very pleasant break and we are very much looking forward to welcoming the children back to school on Monday.

Handwriting

Formal handwriting practice is being taught in the classrooms on a regular basis and pencil grips are being modified where intervention is needed. If your child has an awkward pencil grip, please do try to correct it at home as well, as engrained habits can be so hard to change. Correct letter formations and orientation need to be practised again and again. As children become more capable and dexterous, letters will automatically be formed correctly, which in turn makes the whole writing
process easier.

Mark Your Diaries! 

Dress Up Day

October 31 is Dress Up day in the Infants. Although it is Halloween and some children will want to come dressed as witches or skeletons, your child can come dressed up in any costume he/she wants to wear e.g. a cowboy, pirate, fairy or princess. Anything goes, as long as it is practical for a normal school day so no masks or restrictive clothing please!

Morning of Sport - Thursday 6 November

On Thursday 6 November, we will have our K2 Athletics Morning of Sport. Tabloid events will take place in the Sports Halls, and we will finish with relays on the Casurina Field.

The day is a chance for every child to participate in activities that he/she has practiced in his/her PE lessons this year.  This is a morning of maximum participation and we do hope to see all the children taking part.

The programme will start at 10:30am and is scheduled to finish by 12.00noon. The children will take part in a variety of athletic activities, showing their agility, balance, speed and hand/eye coordination.

It is important that your child has a good breakfast and is wearing his/her PE kit. Should we face inclement weather on the day, the relays will take place in the sports hall.

We very much hope that you will be able to join us for a morning full of action and fun!

Staff Training Day - Monday 10 November

UWCSEA will be closed for Staff Training on this day. We are welcoming Celena Larkey back from Teachers College, Columbia University, New York who is running further training on Reading Workshop. Celena will also be doing a presentation for K-G2 parents 'Nurturing Our Young Readers'.
This will take place on Wednesday 12 November, in the Multi Purpose Hall at 6:30pm. Learn more about the research behind Reading Workshop and how parents can nurture and support young readers at home. If you would like to attend please sign up through the link in the e-Brief.

Infant UN Day - Friday 21 November

The Infant School will be celebrating UN Day on Friday 21 November. For this event we will need you to accompany your child around a series of activities in school from 9:00am to 10:15am. You are then invited to the Main Hall where the morning will culminate with singing and a parade. Watch for more details in upcoming Blogs and eBriefs.

Primary School Food Festival - Friday 28 November

We will be asking for some parent helpers to take small groups of children around the amazing food stalls so do mark this date in your diaries. Your child's teacher will get in touch with you nearer the time.

The K2 Team

Week 8 in K2

UWC Day

We all had a fantastic day on Wednesday to celebrate UWC Day! Continuing our work on 'Materials', we went to the Botanic Gardens to search and investigate the different materials from which things are made. To assist our children, we were delighted to have some Grade 11 and 12 students with us for the day, who brought a wonderful element of fun and excitement to our activities. 

In small groups, they walked around the gardens identifying what things are made of, talking about the materials and taking photos using their iPads. So that the teachers did not have twenty photos of the same thing from one child's iPad in our photo streams (and this does happen!), the older students helped edit the photos, too. There were snack and drink stops along the way and time to play hide and seek, and tag in the large open spaces.  

In the afternoon, the K2 children were thrilled to have their new buddies come to the classrooms and play with them in Discovery Time.

For a snapshot of the many activities that happened throughout day across the school, please click here.

Writing Workshop

As teachers we are very excited about our Writing Workshops and witnessing the growth and development in the children’s skills. Our main focus for this year is to develop each child’s confidence, so that he/she is able to read and write on his/her own, to the best of his/her ability.

Your child will be bringing home the books that he/she has made so far. These are for you to keep at home. Celebrate all the things your child can do with his/her drawing and writing. Be positive and praise all the effort that has gone into thinking of what the books are going to be about, the drawing and the writing.

Maths 

During our Shape unit, we have been exploring the following key questions:

• Which words or vocabulary do I know to describe shapes?
• Which new words or vocabulary do I need to describe shapes?
• How can I sort these shapes?
• Can I combine shapes to make new shapes?
• Can I recognise and create patterns with shapes?

We have been finding and describing objects in the environment using names of shapes, both 2D and 3D (squares, hexagons, circles, triangles, rectangles, cubes, cones, cylinders, spheres).

Being able to describe a shape can be challenging and we will be introducing mathematical language to help describe both 2D and 3D shapes eg flat/not flat, sides (curved, straight), corners, edges, faces. The children will be matching and sorting the shapes and becoming more familiar with their names.

Swimming

When your child is swimming at school, please may we ask that he/she comes to school in his/her PE kit only. We are having a number of children who have full swimming costumes on underneath their PE clothes. As we do not swim until 11:30am, it makes going to the toilet a lot harder than it needs to be. It also means many of the children are too hot during morning play time. We thank you for your help and support.

Stick Man! - Theatre Trip

On Thursday we will be going to see 'Stick Man!' The theatres can sometimes be cold so please put your child's school cardigan in his/her bag if your child may need it.

Dress Up Day

October 31 will be a Dress Up day in the Infants. Although it is Halloween and some children will want to come dressed as witches or skeletons, your child can come dressed up in any costume he/she is happy to wear e.g. a cowboy, pirate, fairy or princess. Anything goes, as long as it is practical for a normal school day so no masks or restrictive clothing please!

Please note!

Monday 6 October is a Public Holiday so the College is closed. We look forward to seeing all the children again on Tuesday morning.

There will no eBrief on Friday 11 October. The next eBrief and K2 Blog will be on Friday 24 October.

The K2 Team

Week 7 in K2

Class Details

In the past, teachers have sent out class lists giving contact details of parents. This information is now accessible to all on the Parent Portal on the UWCSEA website. Class Parents are using this information to contact you with details of parties and activities pertinent to your child's class. In addition, other parents in the class will use the information on the Parent Portal to contact you if the need arises.

To avoid missing out on important information, invitations and dates of events that are being shared within your child's class, please make sure you have submitted your data protection form. If you have not yet done this, the data protection form can be found on the portal forms page on the portal (the grey 'forms' button in the middle of the parent portal will also take you there). Alternatively, you can also login to the portal, click on update details, and then update your profile on the parent address book tab to 'opt in', without having to download and return the form.

The new data protection laws meant that unless the data protection form was signed and returned we needed to opt you out as the default from the start of the year. When you opt in, parents in the class can then find your contact details. We recommend at least one parent being opted in so as to not miss out on important social opportunities for your child.

UWC Day - Wednesday 1 October

UWC Day is an opportunity for the whole Campus to focus on our values, in particular Service to others. The usual timetable will be suspended for all students as they take part in activities and projects with outside groups and students from the High School.

The K2 children will be going off campus for the morning to the Botanic Gardens with their teachers and some Grade 11 and 12 students. As part of the Service element, the older students will be helping our children with their current Unit of Study on materials by exploring the gardens, finding out and discussing what things are made of, searching for different materials and recording their findings with their iPads. 

In the afternoon, the older students will continue working with the K2 children; using Doodlecast Pro they will help guide them through the process of selecting a few photographs and recording their voices as they talk about the materials they found. 

We will have Brain Food at school before leaving UWCSEA at 8:30am. We plan to return by 12:00pm.  

IMPORTANT! In preparation for the trip, could all parents:

• have your child wear his/her PE kit and trainers
• put sunscreen and insect repellant on before school, if desired
• make sure a hat is at school
• pack two snacks and two drinks (water bottles with a strap are ideal) in a small backpack 
• pack a raincoat or disposable poncho

We will have lunch in the classrooms as normal. End of day bus and car pick ups will remain the same. Please note that after school activities will run as normal. 

Swimming for K2HWe and K2SMH 

This starts next week!

K2SMH will swim every Tuesday from 30 September and conclude on Tuesday 11 November.
K2HWe will swim every Thursday from 2 October and conclude on Thursday 13 November.

On swimming days, your child will need the following items: swimwear, a UVA swim top (compulsory), goggles (if they wear them), shoes to wear to the pool and a towel.
Swimming is part of the P.E. programme and all children are expected to swim each week. If for any reason your child is unable to swim, he/she will sit by the side of the pool and watch or read a book.

Theatre Trip

On Thursday 9 October, we will be taking the children to see a production based on the popular Julia Donaldson picture book 'Stick Man'.  If you have not yet returned the letter requesting permission and payment, please could you do so by Monday 29 September?

Week 6 in K2

Swimming

K2HWe and K2SMH will be starting their swimming programme very soon.

K2SMH will swim every Tuesday from 30 September and conclude on Tuesday 11 November.
K2HWe will swim every Thursday from 2 October and conclude on Thursday 13 November.

On swimming days, your child will need the following items: swimwear, a UVA swim top (compulsory), goggles (if they wear them), shoes to wear to the pool and a towel.
Swimming is part of the P.E. programme and all children are expected to swim each week. If for any reason your child is unable to swim, he/she will sit by the side of the pool and watch or read a book.

If for any unforeseen circumstances your child is unable to participate in the majority of swimming lessons, he/she will revisit the unit with the next K2 class on Swimming.

If a child has a long-term, chronic condition and is unable to swim at all, then a doctor’s letter is required and he/she will join another class for a P.E. lesson.

Writing Workshop

On the path to becoming ‘literate’ children have to listen, speak, read and finally write. Writing is the most challenging of them all.

Firstly, children will only get better at a skill with practice, whether it is a sport, or drawing or origami. Writing is no different and children need to practise, practise, practise in order to improve. Quantity is far more important than quality. They need to draw pictures to tell a story, make marks on the paper, write letters, words and sentences again and again and again.

Secondly, as teachers and parents we must avoid looking at children’s writing from a ‘point of deficit’. This means that we should look, see and delight in all the things the children are doing, not what they are not doing yet. Correct letter formation, writing from left to right, accurate spelling and punctuation will all develop when they are ready. You can help your child have a positive attitude towards writing by praising all his/her efforts. Get him/her to talk about the pictures, tell the story, read his/her writing (even if it does not make any sense to you) and say what a great job he/she is doing and how proud you are!

Thirdly, and very poignantly, our children often see us reading at home but we rarely model writing. Composing an email, sending a text message or writing on Facebook do not count as modelling writing! Children need to see us with a pen in hand, writing a list, a note, a postcard, a letter or a story.

Celebrating Achievements Board

The K1/K2 board, which celebrates the achievements of our children out of school, is looking rather empty!

Please do send in items that we can put up on the board for our whole school community to see. K2JiS and K2ZBr have a board outside their classrooms for the same purpose. It is always so lovely to celebrate these achievements within the class; we are looking forward to seeing what the children have been doing outside school. 

UWC Day

UWC Day is on Wednesday 1 October. The K2 children will be going off campus for the morning to the Botanic Gardens with Grade 11 and 12 students. As part of the 'Service' element, the older students will be helping our children with their current Unit of Study, exploring the gardens, finding out what things are made of, searching for different materials and recording their findings with their iPads. A letter requesting your permission to take your child off campus was sent home today in your child's blue folder. please return it by the requested date.

Theatre Trip

On Thursday 9 October, we will be taking the children to see a production based on the popular Julia Donaldson picture book 'Stick Man'.  The School of the Arts Singapore (SOTA) are showing 'Stick Man 2014!' at the Drama Theatre at 1 Zubir Said Drive. Please check your child's blue folder for a letter requesting permission and payment, which was also sent home today.

Next Week

Maths 

Shape will be a new focus for us over the next three weeks. In particular we will be investigating:

• words to describe shapes
• sorting shapes
• combining shapes to make new shapes
• recognising and creating patterns with shapes
• identifying 2D and 3D shapes in the environment
• building shapes

Continuing on from the last few weeks, will be counting. This leads naturally into addition, which can be seen as counting the total of two sets.

We aim to develop the children’s mathematical language, in order that they have an understanding of words such as: plus, add, and, total, sum of, and are confident in using the terms. ‘Equals’ can also be substituted for is, makes.

4+2=6 could be read as four plus two equals six, but it is also correct to say four and two makes six. It does not matter which way your child reads a number sentence so long as he/she has an understanding of what it means i.e. finding the total of two sets.

The children will become more proficient in finding totals. This could be with counting two sets of concrete materials (fingers, blocks, counters, etc) and working out how many there are altogether. Some will have moved on from this ‘concrete’ stage and will be learning how to ‘count on’ from the larger number, either in their head or on a number line. Others will be breaking numbers down into tens and units and finding the totals in this way.

For all children, whatever their mathematical ability, it is important that they are able to use appropriate language to express how they worked something out and to give reasons. When asked how they arrived at an answer, a child might say “I just know it!”  Alternatively he/she may begin to explain the methods he/she used.  This provides vital information for us, as teachers and you as parents, to learn about the strategies being adopted.

There are many different ways to solve a problem of ‘How many altogether?” The children will be introduced to and develop a range of strategies to solve problems. Eventually they will adopt the strategies that work best for them. There is not a right way to do addition; providing the answer is correct, that is all that matters.

Literacy

Our main areas of focus will be:

• Handwriting (numbers, name and ‘long ladder letters: l, i, t, u, j, y)
• Writing Workshop
• Reading Workshop
• Phonics
• Decoding of CVC words

The K2 Team

Week 5 in K2

Learning Journals

Yesterday, you should have received an email with a private link to your son/daughter's Learning Journal. This is a Google+ album. Through this journal we hope that you will get a glimpse of some of the learning your child is involved in at school. Some of the selections may be annotated to describe a specific aspect of your child’s learning, while the majority will be of your child ‘in action’.

We will continue to add photos into your child's Learning Journal throughout the year. You will be advised of updates to this journal through the K2 Blog and an email from your child’s teacher. This journal will stay online until the end of this academic year, at which point it will be removed. Please make sure you download any or all of the Learning Journal by then.

Please note that we have encouraged the children to capture as much of their work as possible.

Here are a few suggestions that will allow you to use this link more effectively:

1. You do not need a Google account to view or download this album or individual photos or videos.
2. Bookmark the link to your child’s Learning Journal, for easy access for the rest of the year.

We hope you enjoy looking through your child’s album with him/her.

Reading at home

From Monday your child will be bringing home his/her first levelled reading books. The excitement and enthusiasm for reading these 'just right' books in class has been terrific!  Every day, three books will come home in the blue folder, all chosen by your child during Book Shopping. Enjoy these books for that day and then return them to school the following day for your child to make a new selection. If the books have not been read, please return them to school anyway, as your child will need them for Reading Workshops.

If your child is at the very beginning of their reading journey and reading Red Elephants, Orange Elephants or Orange Monkeys, he/she will need your support with each book.

Here’s how to make first-time reading fun and easy:

Read the title of the book and look at the front cover together. Ask your child what they think the story is going to be about.

Look through the pictures together so that your child can see what happens in the story before reading the words. Introduce and discuss any new vocabulary.

Read one or two pages to your child, placing your finger under each word as you read. “Touch and Say”

Let your child touch the words and read the rest of the story. Give him/her time to figure out each new word.

If your child gets stuck on a word, you might say, “Let’s look at the picture. Is there a clue? What would make sense?”

If your child is still stuck, supply them with the right word. This allows him/her to continue to read and enjoy the story. You might say, “Could this word be ‘ball’?”

Always praise your child. Praise what he/she reads correctly, and praise good tries too. Talk around the book and if possible, make a connection with something from real-life, e.g.“Can you remember the time when…. ?“

Give your child lots of chances to read the story again. The more your child reads, the more confident he or she will become. Have fun!

Writing Workshop

Children are encouraged to see themselves as writers through drawing, labelling and writing sentences and have been making books, showing the stories and information they want to share. They are developing routines for self-managing their writing tools and equipment and have learned that ‘When I am done, I have just begun!’ which means that they can always go back and add more details to their pictures and writing of unfinished books.

After School Activities

Due to the large number of Infant children involved in after school activities and the inevitable confusion and congestion arising, we ask that these routines be followed:

If you are accompanying your child to his/her activity, please meet him/her at the designated assembly area, not at your child's classroom.

Each day indicate in the Message Book if your child will be attending an activity that will affect his/her regular pick up arrangements.  For example, if your child would normally take the bus home from school each day but is now involved in swimming one day and gymnastics on another day, we need notes for each of those days. A blanket note, such as “My child is doing swimming every Tuesday so please do not put him/her on the bus” is not sufficient.

We recognise this is an extra for you on these days, but after much trial and error we have found it is the best way of keeping track of the transportation logistics for 22 children.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Next Week:

Maths 

Our main focus will be:

• Where do we see numbers?
• Why do we need numbers?
• Counting objects in a set
• Counting groups of objects
• Recognising numbers and matching to number names

Literacy

Our main areas of focus will be:

• Handwriting - numbers, name and ‘long ladder letters: l, i, t, u, j, y
• Writing Workshop
• Reading Workshop
• Phonics and decoding CVC (consonant/vowel/consonant) words

The K2 Team

Week 4 in K2

Parent-Teacher Conferences

On Wednesday many of you had a chance to meet with your child’s class teacher and discuss how he/she has settled into K2 in these first few weeks. Thank you for taking the time to meet with us.  We really value the time spent together, as it helped us get to know your child better. These discussions only enhance the important relationship between home and school that is so vital to your child’s welfare and learning.

Please contact us via the message book or email if you wish to meet at any time during the year.

May we please ask you to avoid the mornings (7:30am – 8:00am) as this is time we spend welcoming the children into class, talking to them and encouraging them to do their morning jobs. We thank you for your understanding.

Four K2 Classes ... similar but different, too!

There are four classes of K2 children, with 22 children in each class.  Those who have had children in K2 before are already aware of some of the curriculum changes over the years and the differences within the classrooms.  The K2 teachers do not strive to be carbon copies of each other.  Each teacher is unique, has her own teaching style, and will have things she wants to do with her class that may differ from another K2 class. This is okay!  The K2 Learning Programme outlined on the school website is the same for all the classrooms.  How a teacher chooses to deliver the learning intentions to her class is very much her own.

Helping Booklet

IMPORTANT!

Please remember to send the little booklet called ‘I help at home’ back to school on Monday. Your child will need it in school as we will be doing follow up activities and partner work. We look forward to seeing how busy and helpful the children have been! Helping others at school, both in the classroom and the playground, is something we are all working on to develop positive, happy relationships.

Unit of Study

We have started our first Unit of Study, which is called ‘What's Rubbish?’ It will run for the whole of Term 1.

Unit Summary:

In this unit children will classify the materials they encounter on a daily basis and identify materials suited for specific tasks. They will investigate materials: what they look and feel like, how they change when heated, cooled and mixed and observe what happens to materials when they are discarded. Developing an understanding that action can be taken to reduce our environmental footprint will be a focus throughout the unit.

We will be focusing on enabling the children:

• to explain how materials can change.
• to sort materials that degrade naturally and those that don’t.
• to demonstrate ways in which they can help our earth by reducing, reusing, refusing and recycling.

Recycle your junk

If you have any items that could be reused or recycled such as wrapping paper, cardboard, magazines, boxes, cartons, toilet rolls, plastic, cans, Pringles tubes, scraps of fabric etc, could you please send them into school?  We are always looking for materials that can be used for junk modelling! This activity links perfectly with our new unit so please send in as much as you like!

Celebrating Achievements Board

The K1/K2 board, which celebrates the achievements of our children out of school, is positioned on the ramp going up to the K1 pod. At the moment we have a few shining stars up there!

If you wish to have something on the board, please include a photograph and caption about your child’s recent achievement.  It does not have to be of a sporting nature or organised activity; it could be tying shoelaces for the first time, learning to ride a two wheeled bike, helping others at home with jobs such as washing up, cleaning the car, making his/her bed, helping in the wider community, making something and so on.

Do send in medals and trophies too, if applicable.  Although these will not obviously be displayed, your child will have the opportunity to show them to the class. Even better, include them in the photograph!

Next Week:

Maths 

Our main focus will be to answer the question: Why do we have numbers?

We will be:

• Finding numbers in the environment
• Counting
• Comparing numbers

Your child will be engaged in a range of practical and/or written activities, which will challenge him/her appropriately.

Literacy

Our main focus will be:

• Reading Workshop
• Writing Workshop - book-making
• Phonics
• Handwriting  - formations of some of the long ladder letters – l, i, u, t, j, y

Reading Workshop

The children have made a great start to Reading Workshop and have loved looking at the selection of books in their new classrooms and taking books home to share with you. Our first unit will guide students in learning the routines and procedures that will enable them to become successful in Reading Workshops. Selecting their 'just right' books will be a highlight each week. A big part of this unit will be building up an understanding of the purpose of reading and rereading; readers constantly think about and make meaning from what they are reading. Establishing reading partnerships will give the children the opportunity to discuss their reading on a regular basis, sharing their thoughts about the various books they read. The class will work to build their reading time and stamina, with the aim extending independent reading time.

Beginning next week, we will be introducing Book Shopping. This is the time when each child chooses their  'just right' books from our levelled readers and he/she keeps them in his/her book baggie or book box for a week. These will be read throughout the week in our Reading Workshops and at home.

During Reading Workshops next week, the children will be reading these books independently but we are not sending levelled readers home until sometime in the week beginning Monday 15 September. This will give us time to check that the books are 'just right' and are an easy, comfortable read for your child.  They should in in no way be a struggle. Please note that the first day of books coming home may vary from class to class.

As teachers, we will use ‘instructional’ level books, which tend to be more challenging ones, and work with small groups of children to address specific reading needs.

Whatever skill we are learning, we all get better at it by practising over and over and over again. The same applies to reading. We want all the children to continue to develop their love of books and to feel good about reading. This will happen through time spent independently reading and understanding books.

Handwriting

It has been noticeable in these first few weeks just how many children enjoy writing and love getting their ideas down on paper. Many of them, as expected, are using a mixture of capital and lower case letters. In lessons where handwriting is taught explicitly, we will be focusing on the correct formation of letters, in particular lower case letters. We teach the 'sassoon' font, as this paves the way for the cursive handwriting programme which begins in Grade 1.

The K2 Team

Week 3 in K2

Programme Evening

It was lovely to see so many of you on Monday at Programme Evening. We trust that it was an informative session.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Wednesday 3 September

School finishes at 10:30am for all Infant children on Wednesday. Please make sure you have returned the form indicating your child’s arrangements for going home on this day.

You will receive a confirmed time for your Parent-Teacher conference by or before Monday. It would be much appreciated if you could arrive a little earlier than your appointed time so that we can keep to our schedules as best as possible.

Please contact Margaret or Melissa in the Infant Office should you have any queries.

Class Photographs

Whole class and individual photographs will be taken during the next two weeks. It would be lovely if all the children could be in the class photograph, so fingers crossed that everyone will be present on the day their class has the photograph taken.

Monday 1 September - K2HWe and K2ZBr

Tuesday 2 September - K2JiS

Wednesday 10 September - K2SMH

Reading Workshop

The children have made a great start to Reading Workshop and have loved looking at the new selection of books in the book boxes. During Reading Workshop, your child is choosing one book to bring home each day. This could be a picture book, a non-fiction book or a leveled reader (this is not necessarily your child’s reading level). We are not expecting your child to be able to read all the words, but rather share the book with you, tell the story from the pictures, identify the odd word, read what he/she can, or have it read to him/her. Please return the book the next day, as we need our book boxes full again for the next Reading Workshop.

David Watson Library

Books from the David Watson Library (DWL) have already started to come home. As we outlined on Programme Evening, the DWL comes to the K2 classrooms once a week. These can be distinguished from our Reading Workshop books as they have a pink David Watson Library return slip in the front. These books can be kept at home, to be enjoyed again and again, and returned to school before your child's next DWL day.

DWL Days

K2JiS - Monday
K2SMH - Tuesday
K2HWe - Wednesday
K2ZBr - Friday

Next Week:

Maths

Our Maths Curriculum is an exciting programme. It is fun, engaging and stimulating! Time will be spent consolidating the children’s learning, understanding and application of skills they have already begun using. They will also be introduced to a whole range of new concepts over the year, when they are ready. Concepts will be introduced and then revisited throughout the year.

All Maths lessons are differentiated and will extend those children who pick up concepts very quickly, as well as cater to those who need lots more time to consolidate their learning. Please rest assured that your child is being challenged at his/her appropriate ability level.

Literacy

Writing Workshop will be launched next week. The children will be very busy making books, using drawings and writing to tell their stories and tell about what they know and love.

During mini lessons, a new idea or concept is explicitly taught. The children are then encouraged to put this idea into practice during the bookmaking part of Writing Workshop. This year, this will happen during our Centre times. Sometimes the teacher will work directly with the bookmaking group, nurturing and guiding the children through the process of drawing and writing. At other times, the children will be working on their books independently.

Emergency Contact Details and Infant Survey

If you have not already done so, please complete and send in the Emergency Contact Details and the Infant Survey forms as soon as possible.

The K2 Team

Week 2 in K2

Welcome to the first issue of the K2 newsletter!

All four classes have made an excellent start to the new school year and we are delighted with the way the children have settled into their daily routines; making new friends, playing together and learning. The teachers have used the first week to get to know the children, ensuring they are happy and secure in their new environment and assessing them in various curriculum areas. The children have also now met all their specialist teachers.

We will be using this weekly Blog to keep you informed about what will be happening in the K2 classrooms in the week ahead. Details about trips and special events will also be outlined so do please make sure that you read it each week.

Programme Evening

Monday 25 August is our Programme Evening. It will be a very informative session about how your child's class will be organised and you will be given key information about our learning programme. We hope that you will be able to attend and look forward to seeing you for a 6:00pm start in your child's classroom.

Nut Free Infant School

We have a growing number of students in the Infants who have a severe allergy to nuts and nut based products. Our K1 students all eat their snack and lunch together and Grade 1 students move between each other’s classrooms for language lessons. Therefore the Infant School remains a ‘Nut Free Zone’ to minimise the potentially life threatening dangers to those children who are at risk. Thank you for your understanding.

Hats

Please be sure your child has a hat for outdoor play, as the sun can get very intense. Hats will be sent home every Friday to be laundered and need to be returned in the school bag the following Monday. The children are encouraged to personalise their hat by decorating it.

Cardigans

Your child may find the air conditioning at school and/or on the bus quite cool. If this is the case, please purchase the grey school cardigan from the College shop or our uniform suppliers for your child to wear.

Food Containers

Please label all food containers with your child’s name and whether it is brain food, snack or lunch. This assists both your child and us when he/she is unpacking his/her school bag and getting organised for the start of the day. Brain food items, such as chewy bars or bananas, can have your child’s name written directly on the item. You will need to pack cutlery and straws if needed, as we do not provide these items.

Water

Water is available for the children in the classrooms and in the playground. The children are encouraged to have a drink at regular intervals throughout the day. Please do not send in water bottles and flasks, as they tend to leak in the school bags.

Labels

Please make sure everything your child owns and brings to school is clearly labelled with his/her first and last names. Please check the labels regularly, as they can fade or fall off after repeated washings.

If you end up with items not belonging to your child, please return them in the school bag as soon as possible.

Home-School Communication

Communication between home and school is vital and valued. Please use the message Book in your child’s folder to communicate with the class teacher. Please check this every day and date all messages with the day/date to which the message applies.

Information may also be sent to you by email, so we ask that you please check your inbox regularly. Each class teacher has a school email address that we encourage you to use as well

Arrival At School

If you drive your child to school in the morning, please arrive between 7:30am and 7:50am. If you arrive before 7:30am, the teachers are busy with preparation and will not be able to supervise the classroom. If this is the case, please go to the adventure playground until 7:30am.

The teaching day starts at 8:00am. Children who arrive in the classroom after 8:10am will be marked in the register as ‘Late’. You will then be required to go to the Infant office to allow Margaret or Melissa to amend the register.

From our experience, children find it rather unsettling to arrive after the rest of the class has gathered on the carpet and they often feel very uncomfortable walking in when everyone turns to look at them. A timely arrival gives your child time to unpack and allows for a smooth start to his/her day.

Birthdays

Birthdays are a special time for children and we like to celebrate each child's birthday in school. However, in order to maintain consistency for all of our students, we do not allow gifts or sweets to be distributed to the class. If you want to celebrate with cake then we ask that you send in small, individual cup cakes for each child in the class.

Class Parent

The role of a ‘Class Parent’ is highly valued by the teachers. Thank you to those of you who have already offered to take up the position. If you are interested in taking on this role for your child’s class, and the position is still vacant, please contact your child’s teacher as soon as possible.

Emergency Contact Details

If you have not already done so, please could you complete and send in the Emergency Contact Details and Infant Survey forms that you have received in your child’s school bag this week.

Recycle Your Junk

Please send in any materials you have that could be recycled for junk modelling. Boxes, tubes, fabric, corks, buttons etc are always gratefully received. Many thanks!

We are all very much looking forward to a super year in K2.

The K2 Team