Week 1 2022

 Hello and welcome to the Year 1K Teal blog!

I hope you have all had a relaxing and peaceful holiday and enjoyed some of this beautiful summer weather!  I am looking forward to getting to know your beautiful children and working with you throughout your child's learning journey this year. Year One is a favourite year to teach for both of us - and each of us have taught it for at least five years on our own and another two years together as a tandem team. We are very excited to be back again for another year in the land of Year One. Your child is lucky enough to have two teachers this year with Mrs Penny King teaching on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and Mrs Gemma Sorgiovanni teaching on Thursdays. Your will be able to contact either of us anytime throughout the week via email and we also communicate daily with each other. 

Following is a very detailed and lengthy email involving a lot of information.  Future ones will be a lot shorter and easier to read I promise!  Feel absolutely free to email me if you have any questions at all beforehand no matter how small it may seem as a quick response might be all you need to answer your wondering and put your mind at ease.  There will also be a parent information session held later in Week Three.  

Okay, here we go!!!

Year 1 is a big, but exciting year where your child will, discover, grow, create, learn, reflect and experience an abundance of fun and interesting things in our class!  It is extremely important that parents keep in mind that we all build on small successes. Year One is such a big year with so many challenges but so much growth too when you get to the end of the year and reflect on your own child's achievements. Each child will progress at their own rate, acquiring skills as he/she is developmentally ready.   

Here are some ways you can help: 

·   Celebrate your child's success, no matter how small it may seem.  This will keep your child enthusiastic about learning and proud of their work! 

·    Read to and with your child every day, if possible. The more your child is exposed to language, correct fluency and a varied vocabulary, the easier it will be for him/her to incorporate new skills in reading and writing in the classroom. 

We are also very lucky enough to have the wonderful support of two class Education Assistants to help with our English and Mathematics learning periods this year. We have Mrs. Edwards (Mon-Wed) and Mrs Spencer (Thurs-Fri) throughout the week and also Mrs Taylor at times. Please feel free to say hello when you see them and ask them any questions if we are not available at the time. 😍 

A few important things for the start of Year One:  

COVID Regulations 😷 
Our first morning when you arrive - Our present COVID guidelines welcome adults onto school grounds, however we are encouraging parents not to enter the classroom unless necessary as we would love to promote independence and adhere to the social distancing guidelines while also looking at this as a great opportunity to develop clear drop of routines for your child and family. We ensure that every morning we come out at 8.30 to greet each child outside the door and have a chat before encouraging them to get out their own water bottle and crunch and sip and enter the room on their own to begin the day. We noticed last year that one last tight goodbye hug to mum or dad on the verandah rather on their mat or chair seems to transition well if you do it outside just before they enter rather than inside. It helps your child to enter the room ready for the day however we completely understand if this is not the case for your child and you wish to try other strategies. We also welcome you to email us if you have any concerns or issues before the first day, including separation anxiety. We will be practising regular hygiene through both washing hands and using hand sanitiser before and after eating times. We understand some children may be sensitive to some hand sanitisers. If this is the case, please email us and provide an alternative hand sanitiser in your child’s bag or let us know what method is best for your child. 

Please keep in mind that the recent COVID regulations require that if you do enter the classroom, you will need to: 

- Sign in using the SafeWA/ ServiceWA app through the QR code located outside of the classroom door.

- Wear a mask at all times

- Keep social distancing of 1.5m where possible and consider the number of adults already present inside.

Uniform⭐ 
Term one is our summer uniform:  
Girls - Summer dress with brown sandals or black school shoes with white socks.  Boys - White shirt, grey shorts with brown sandals or black school shoes with grey socks. Please see school website for more information.  

 

Swimming Information 🏊‍♀️🌊 
Swimming commences Week 1, Wednesday 2^nd February to Friday 11^th of February.  

The children may wear their sports uniform from Wednesday 2^nd of February for the entire week of swimming. It is required that they wear closed in in shoes for the day at school, not thongs. They are able to wear thongs on the bus to the beach and for swimming. We have dedicated time before lunch to get changed into swimming clothes and apply additional sunscreen.

  We are very lucky to be heading to the beach for a 45-minute session leaving OLC at 12.50pm and we will return to OLC by 2.15pm. As we are leaving during lunchtime, the children will get changed and eat their lunch early and have a play.  Canteen will still be running and we would love it if you were able to ‘sunscreen up’ your child before school. We will then reapply SPF 50 before departing for the beach. If your child has skin sensitivity, please let us know via email and we would ask you to pack their own sunscreen as we only have one brand at school.  

What you will need to pack in a separate swimming bag (a recyclable bag with a name clearly marked it perfect):  

·      Towel  

·      Goggles 

·      Thongs/slides (these cannot be worn to school – sports shoes to school, then they can get changed into them) 

·      Rashie – This is compulsory. Your child will not be able to swim without one.  

·      A spare plastic bag (for wet bathers) 

Please name everything including all parts of their uniform! Swimming bags can be hung on the same hook as their school bag hook.

 

Stationery ✏📝📚 

Please remember not to name any stationery as it is all shared in Year 1 and 2.

We will have large plastic tubs outside on the verandah on Monday morning where you can place your child's bag and a separate tub for tissues etc. (It will be ticked off later during the day)

We understand that there has been some delays with the Campion orders so please bring them in when you receive them.  All class stationery (pencils, crayons, scissors etc.) will be collected together at the beginning of the year and distributed to the students on a shared basis.  This year, we are trying to reduce our impact on the environment by not covering our books with contact. We have found in the past that the books have lasted throughout the year and it teaches the children to be responsible and take care of their belongings. 

Headphones (If you ordered them) are the only items that require labelling and these will be kept in their individual tubs for hygiene.

Names 👒 

Please ensure that all personal items (hats, drink bottles, lunch boxes, uniforms crunch & sip containers, etc) belonging to your child are labelled to avoid losing items! You would be surprised how often we find a rogue shoe around the place that no one seems to claim or own :)  

Class Blog 💻 

This blog will be the main communication for any parent information over the coming year.  Please keep your mobile and email updated with the front office to ensure you receive texts and email communication from us throughout the year. 

 

Seesaw🖥 

This is now OLC’s formal reporting format that we are implementing over the year to give you an insight to your child's achievement. This is so you as a parent are informed of your child’s learning in real time and it will allow you to celebrate their success and provide you with an opportunity to work towards their goals at home as well as at school. Don't forget you can have both parents or any family members (eg. Grandma) access your child's Seesaw account and that you can access directly with the Seesaw Family app on your phone, device or computer. We would love it if you can leave a comment on your child's work, as they can access the app at school and they love seeing your feedback!  The link for your child’s Year Two seesaw learning journal will be sent home as a hard copy and later emailed to you soon, so keep an eye out! 

Bell Times🔔 
Doors open/gathering time: 8:30am - 8:40am (This is the time that your child will settle in, set up their desk, prepare their mat learning space and chat/play with friends.

Learning begins: 8:40am 
Recess: 10:40am - 11:00am 
Lunch: 1:00pm - 1:40pm 
End of School Day: 3:00pm for everyone, including pick up lane & bus.  

Children can be collected from bag hooks area on the verandah. 

 
Policy for Early Leaving🏫 
This is the same OLC policy regarding early leaving - If you wish to collect your child early from school, you are required to come to go to the office first and sign out via SEQTA using the school Ipad.
 

Crunch & Sip🍎 

Each mid- morning before recess we will stop for a 5-minute Crunch & Sip break. The idea of Crunch & Sip is that the students have a short break to increase their energy levels, increase awareness about eating fruit and vegetables, as well as encouraging them to drink water and keep hydrated throughout the school day. You can refer to the Crunch & Sip website (www.crunchandsip.com.au) for specifics on a list of foods that can be packed for this time of the morning. Generally speaking, the list will include fresh fruit and vegetables (celery/carrot sticks, broccoli, chopped or whole fruit, as well as dried fruit). Please bring along a water bottle with your child's name on it and this can be placed on their desks along with their small container of fruit/vegetables.  
 

Canteen 🥙🥗 

Canteen will run on Tuesdays & Thursdays. Students are welcome to purchase food and drink at recess without prior ordering. If your child would like a lunch order, you can order online or can be ordered directly at the canteen.  
 

Class Timetables ⏰ 

These will be released after swimming lessons in week three as we have an alternative timetable for weeks one and two. Following is an example of our timetable for the first few weeks while swimming is on:

Year One Cohort

We are extremely lucky to have two small class sizes for Year One which presents opportunities to do lots of learning together and create more learning opportunities and develop new friendships across the two classes. We plan to provide many times throughout the week for the classes to mix and swap in some different learning areas including science, technology and health. We will also be having our fitness and some sports sessions together in addition to always having break times at recess and lunch at the same time where students can eat and play together. All Year One teachers also dedicate time every week to plan together and we will also be teaching the same literacy and mathematics program across both of the classes.

Homework OLC is continuing to follow the Ian Lilico homework grid on a fortnightly system. More information will follow in coming weeks and please note that homework will not begin until week three after swimming is completed.

Home Reading - As the children are settling into the new routines and expectations of Year One, we will begin sending home reading books from Week 3 Monday - Thursday. We ask that your child brings their Red Reading Folder everyday so they can write the title of their new book in each morning during gathering time. On a Friday the folders will be left at school, as there will be no homework assigned over the weekends. There will be a tub placed at the front of the classroom for all the folders.

 Specialist Days - Please note that these set days will begin after the fortnight of swimming.

Monday:  LIBRARY with 1K Teal class/Mrs King and 1K White/Mrs Knezevic.  Please bring library bags and books.  You can bring them in anytime of the week and keep them in their individual plastic tubs at school.

Tuesday: HASS with Mrs Martin

Tuesday: Music with Mrs Jane King

Wednesday: Indonesian with Ibu Katana

Thursday: Physical Education with Mrs Sinclair (wear teal OLC sports shirt and black shorts) 

Friday:  Class sport Year 1 combined (wear coloured faction shirt and black shorts) 

We highly recommend you add these special days of uniform/library book day to your family timetable or calendar.  

Support Staff
We are very fortunate to have the outstanding Mrs Jodie Spencer, Mrs Mary-Lee Edwards and Mrs Amanda Taylor to help and support the children in their learning journey throughout this year.  

Teacher Contact 👩‍🏫 

If you have any question or queries, please don't hesitate to email us via our cewa staff address which is always firstname.lastname@cewa.edu.au

penny.king@cewa.edu.au

gemma.sorgiovanni@cewa.edu.au

Communication Books

This book will be kept just outside the door of 1K to communicate with me how your child is going home if it is ever different to the norm and you would like me to remind them before they leave the end of each day.  Examples of this are “Sally will be going home with Bob's dad” “Sarah is on orange bus today”.  If it is the same routine each day or week that your child knows and understands, such as they catch the bus home with their brother on Thursdays or are to go to Sloane pick up lane every afternoon then details in the communication book isn't necessary. Please remember to ring the office if there is a change to pick or drop off routines throughout the day as we do not check email during teaching hours and break duties. 

I am more than happy to chat in the mornings or after school about anything at all and if you wish to communicate about any details, concerns or issues via email during the year please keep in mind that I am teaching throughout the day and most days only get a chance to check emails before and after school so if it is anything of importance that occurs throughout the day contact the office. Or feel free to go 'old school' and send a note with your child if there is anything that happens that morning that may affect your child's day at school.

 If you have any information that you think will be important for the first day, please don’t hesitate at all to email me over the next few days as the first day is always such a busy time with lots of people, nerves and excitement.

penny.king@cewa.edu.au

I am looking forward to seeing your little ones on Monday! 

 

Enjoy your weekend, 
Penny and Gemma