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