Room 6 Parent Information Session Overview

Term 1, Week 3, 2016

Dear Parents and Caregivers,
We have had a great start to the year and the class is settling in well to
the class routines and expectations.
Morning Routine
The children are practising their morning routine and your help with
encouraging them to do this independently would be greatly appreciated.
It is expected when coming into the classroom students will; change their
readers, put their green folder and Homework and Communication Book in
the two tubs at the front of the classroom, hand in any notes needed for
the office box, put any lunch orders in the red basket and sit on the floor
ready to start the day.
Jolly Grammar
Jolly Grammar takes place every morning and it is a continuation of Jolly
Phonics.
Jolly Grammar is one part of our English program and is often reinforced
during reading and writing activities.
Your child will continue to consolidate and extend their earlier phonics
teaching by focusing on words relating to one phoneme per week. They
will have a list of words which they will work on in class during spelling,
and I will ask each child to put a copy in their Homework and
Communication Book. This is non-compulsory but recommended to further
extend your childs spelling capabilities. On Fridays I will do a spelling test
and dictation using words/rules from the weekly phoneme and check
which words the children can write.
Sight Words
Sight Words need to be recognised quickly for reading and writing to
become fluent. They consist of words which cant be sounded out and
need to be recognised by sight and also High Frequency Words which are
words that occur very often in reading and writing.
I will do sight word work at school and will monitor each individual child as
to how many words they can read. The words students need extra
assistance with will be written in their Homework and Communication
Book so you can read through them together at home.
It will be on a page under the following title:

Once the students can read and understand each word, I will tick them off
and write a new set.

I am in the process of testing each students current sight word knowledge

so their list will be written in soon. Either myself or a parent volunteer will
test your childs Sight Words weekly and send home the next list when the
have achieved automaticity with each word on the list.
There are many different ways to learn Sight Words. I recommend this
website for 50 playful ways to practice your childs sight words http://childhood101.com/2013/09/sight-words-activity-ideas/
Class Communication
Please check your childs green reader folder daily for notes. There are
often spare notes on the classroom parents information noticeboard
which is located next to the classroom entrance. Please join our class
Facebook site also where I will share learning experiences. If you need to
communicate with me you can write it in your childs Homework and
Communication Book, but please ask them to show me the note as I
sometimes dont check these books daily.
Reading
Readers are ready just outside the classroom for you to take home. If you
have forgotten which coloured reader your child is on, come and see me.
Please ensure you read with your child every night and record their
reading in the Homework and Communication Book. Please record the
name of the book and a positive comment (if you would like). I will aim to
hear every child read each fortnight and will advise your child (and you
via a note in the reading record) when it is time to progress to the next
reading level.
It is important to do a book introduction before reading and introduce any
names or tricky words that children may come across in their readers.
Homework and Communication Book
Your child will have a Homework and Communication Book. They can use
the back of this book to prepare for Sharing if they wish. They need to
bring this Homework and Communication Book to school every day as it is
used for spelling and sight words.
Big Play
Big play will take place with rooms 5a (Mrs. Sayers) and 5b (Mrs. Winter)
each Friday afternoon after lunch. Each classroom will have a different
curriculum based focus that students can choose between. Students are
given their own passports and will use them to document which class and
activity they engaged in. Students are given freedom to choose which
activity they are most interested in and a teacher from each class will run
and supervise each activity.
During this time students are exposed to a range of different activities
which focus on developing their skills such as: art, design and technology,
curiosity, communication, confidence, co-operation, self-regulation,
problem solving and hypothesising. If you have any materials which may
be useful please send them in, for example, timber, bottle lids, plastic
pipes/tubing, old CDs, tiles, boxes, fabric etc.

There will be photos taken of each group during big play that will be used
by the students the following week for writing to stimulate personal and
meaningful learning.
Parent helpers
Parent helpers are always welcome and appreciated in the classroom. You
can assist by listening to children read in the morning, checking Sight
Words, sharpening pencils, sorting readers, volunteering for excursions
and helping with other activities in class. Please note that you must have
the Responding to Abuse and Neglect - Education and Care Training (RAN)
before commencing any volunteer work at school - see the office for more
information.
Allergies
We have severe nut, tree nut and egg allergies in room 6. As a nut aware
school I have bought hand wash which is always available for students to
use (as we are lucky enough to have two sinks in the classroom) and
always remind students to wash their hands before eating. If your child
has food such as peanut butter in their lunch box please remind them to
inform me and I will provide them with a baby wipe for their mouth and
hands. In week 2 I sent home a letter regarding birthdays. We absolutely
love celebrating birthdays in room 6 but need to remember that we
cannot bring in food in to celebrate a birthday. This is because it runs a
high risk that it may contain traces of nuts or eggs. As a replacement you
may wish to bring in things that are not edible such as pencils, erasers or
stickers.
Behaviour Management
In class we talk about personal responsibility. I encourage the children to
solve problems on their own and often stand back from conflict to allow
the children to find a solution independently. As a class we discussed how
to make room 6 a safe and fair learning environment. The students were
in charge of devising each point. We adopted lots of the Play Is The Way
language which comes from a practical methodology for teaching social
and emotional skills using guided play, classroom activities and
empowering language. Each student signed the contract and it is hung up
on the wall as a reminder. I think they did a fabulous job!
Here is a
copy of the class contract:
I will unpack my things in the
morning, walk quietly into class
and sit on the floor ready to start
the day.
I will treat my teachers and
classmates with respect by being
on my best behaviour.
I will do the right thing because
the right thing is the best thing
to do.
I will make good choices.
I will put my thinking in charge
of my actions, not my feelings.
I will deal with problems and not
run away from them.
I will be cheeky if I want to, but I
will not be rude.

Im a strong believer in logical and natural consequences when it comes

to behaviour. The way I see it, if a student calls another student a hurtful
name and the teacher made the student pick up papers, that
consequence doesnt directly relate to what they did and they cant learn
from it. A natural and logical consequence would be to spend some of
their free time to speak about how that child may have felt or possibly
write an apology letter. I will make each consequence related, respectful,
and reasonable to develop an understanding of consequences that follow
though to adulthood.
Parent Representatives
Lauren Wood - shaeandloz@tpg.com.au
Afra Prodan - afraprodan@gmail.com

Other news

Our Buddy Class this year is Room 11 (Year 6/7s). We will be

meeting weekly with our buddy class for a variety of activities.
Library borrowing day is Thursday. Students can borrow a total of 2
books at a time.

If you have any questions or queries please feel free to come and see me.
On Tuesdays we have a staff meeting however I am generally available on
the other afternoons.
I look forward to working with you and your child
throughout the year.

Kind Regards,
Bonnie Jonson.

Room 8
Acquaintance
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Parent Information
Session Overview