Thursday 2nd February 2017
The Junior School Team would like to welcome
all our new families to HPS and say “welcome back” to our existing
families. The whole team are really
excited about the year ahead.
This year the Junior Team at
HPS has some teachers returning, some ex-Middle School teachers joining us and
some brand new teachers.
Room 9 = Mrs Fiona Blest
Room 10 = Mrs Michelle Wyatt
Room 12 = Miss Samantha Jonson
Room 13 = Miss Alison Wood and
Mrs Katy Currie
Room 14 = Mrs Kristen Oliphant
Room 15 = Mrs Anita Munshi
Room 16 = Mrs April Hobby
Our topics this term are:
English:
Reading skills, Handwriting, Recounts, Flow Charts, Diagrams, Checklists
Mathematics:
Statistics and Number
Concept
Study #1: Learning Focused Relationships – learning about each other and
building a classroom community
Concept
Study #2: – Movement
Physical
Education: Aquatics
E-Learning:
Class Blogs
Reading
- As of week 3, all Junior children will have a reader Monday-Thursday
and a poem each Friday for children in Y0-2 from week 1. Year 3s are expected to read library books or
other books of their choice.
- Please hear them read each night as this is essential for their reading
development.
- This reader is not intended to be difficult. It is intended to be read by your child
independently,
increasing their confidence and
pleasure in reading, and encouraging them to want to read.
- Please sign and comment in their reading logs and return it, and each
reading book, daily.
- Reading logs are marked on Fridays.
- For children who speak more than one language, we encourage them to
read books in their first
language as well as in
English.
Notes regarding home
readers:
* The Reading log contains a
wealth of helpful information to support you in assisting your child to
read.
* Asking your child to retell the story in
their own words or asking questions about your child’s story helps
to aid and develop comprehension.
* Discussing new words is a great tool to help
extend your child’s vocabulary.
* Be patient if children make errors. Resist jumping in and correcting them. Give your child a chance to
think about the word before you try to
help. Ask them to “Try that again”.
* Share your child’s story if it is long. Reading a page each can be a good technique.
Reading should be an enjoyable experience so offer
plenty of praise!
Maths
-
We use a variety of approaches and the children will be utilising a range of
resources.
-
We are keen to build your child’s knowledge of numbers to 5, then 10, then 20,
then 100 and beyond.
-
We will also help the children extend the range of strategies they can use to
problem solve.
Writing
-
At HPS we write daily.
-
On Mondays we usually write a recount of what we did at the weekend.
-
We also write about our current topic of study, a particular writing unit or
our experiences.
- Children are encouraged to try their own spelling by sounding out the initial
and end sounds of a word.
-
We model different styles of writing, including punctuation, grammar and
spelling techniques.
- We value all children’s attempts and encourage a very high standard in
writing/letter formation.
-
Handwriting focuses on correct formation of letters and pencil grip.
- At HPS we use Casey The Caterpillar framework and you can see these up on the
walls in our classes.
Homework
1 . Reading - A reader will
come home on Mondays–Thursdays
and a poem each Friday for Year 0-2.
2. Fast Words - Each week your child will bring
home 5 fast words on a Monday to practice reading and recognising instantly,
until they have finished all the fast words. This helps your child to build a bank of words that they can recognise
without having to figure out the word.This makes their reading less ‘work’ and
gives a sense of early achievement. A
certificate will be awarded when a child has learnt all their fast words.
General Information
Swimming
- The first term is
our Aquatics term and our swimming program involves all children.
- As this is part of
the PE curriculum, please send a note if your child is unable to swim for a
day.
- Please name your child’s togs, towel and cap
and send them in a named bag for
ease of identification!
- Swimming caps are
compulsory and can be bought from the school office.
- Goggles are an
optional extra.
Library
-
All books are to be returned to school weekly in your child’s book bag.
-
At HPS we operate a no book bag, no library books policy.
-
Room 15’s Library day is Friday.
News Day
All
children will have an opportunity to share some news in front of the class on a
Friday.
Or
could have a group of chn bringing news each day so there are 3 or 4 chn per
day sharing and the rest being the audience - with question time -
Some
ideas for news topics are: family outing, holiday, newspaper article, photo,
favourite book, homemade craft, science/nature object, insect, pet, painting,
poster, sports or cultural activity etc. Please remember to check with your
child’s teacher first if you are bringing an animal or something special.
Toys
are not to be brought to school for news or any other time.
Uniform
- At HPS we are proud of our uniform and expect the uniform code to be adhered to
at all times.
- Items such as tattoos, wrist/ankle bands, nail polish and non-uniform jumpers
are not allowed.
- No other items of clothing are to be visible under the uniform. We appreciate your support with this.
-
Please name all clothing and hats
(including underwear while swimming).
-
Hats are compulsory in Terms 1 and 4.
Morning Tea and Lunch
-
At HPS we have embraced the Education for Sustainability (EfS) ethos.
-
This means we encourage both
healthy lunches as well as litter-less lunches.
- Please do think carefully about the
contents of your child’s lunch and limit high sugar items including muesli
bars. What your child eats for lunch and
morning tea has a direct affect on their learning particularly the length of
time they are able to maintain concentration.
-
Water only please for
children’s drink bottles and we have water fountains available.
- At lunch time there is a 10 minute
eating time bell to help your child focus on eating their food before children
will be released to play.
Milk
-
Milk is available daily at school.
-
Please let your child’s teacher know if you DO NOT want your child to have
this.
Parent Help
-
We always appreciate having parent help in our classrooms.
-This can involve anything from sharpening pencils, gluing, etc to listening and
hearing children read.
- If you have any time available please
see me.
Absences
-
Please contact the school office 534-6082 or email
Online Learning, extra trips and
events
-
You will receive a notice
about each upcoming trip or event and can pay for them at that time.
- Payments can be made at the office or
given, along with permission slips, to your child’s teacher.
- All children use ‘Reading Eggs’ and
‘Mathletics’ online programmes costing $35 per year. Payment for these need to made by week 5 of
term 1 this year.
If
there is anything else you’d like to discuss, please feel free to pop in and
see me, or if you’d prefer, make an appointment. Emailing me is also another good way to
communicate. I am available to speak to parents about any matter they feel is
important for the happiness and education of their child. So, if you would like
to a catch me for a chat, I am usually available in class from 8:30-8.50am in
the morning or after school if you want to drop in. ☺
Thank
you for your continued support,
Anita
Munshi
