Bug Club

These holidays, Kindergarten will practise their reading at home using Bug Club. 

To be successful readers and learners using Bug Club, Kindergarten have come up with a success criteria... 

SUCCESS CRITERIA

• Ask an adult for permission to use the internet
• Get  your Bug Club license
• Click on the Bug Club link to log in Bug Club Log In Page
• Type in your username
• Type in your password
• Pick a story to read
• LISTEN to the whole story first
• READ the whole story yourself
• READ it again and ANSWER the reading bug's questions
• Log out until your next visit
• Put your license back in a safe spot

Readers will be available in each child's individual Bug Club library as of Monday, 29th June. 

Happy Holiday Reading! :)

Winter Chills

With the onset of winter upon us, the weather each day is becoming colder, and the wind much drier. As to be expected, colds and flu's are very common and stopping the spreading of germs is even more important now during this time of year.

A reminder that if children seem too unwell of a morning, have a fever or multiple cold and flu symptoms, we ask that you keep them at home to avoid spreading these to others in the learning studio at school. 

All children are encouraged to wear their jumper or jacket each morning, and we ask for your support in this as it does make a big difference to their wellness throughout the school day. Also, reminding your child about bringing their jumpers or jackets home of an afternoon, will eliminate the chance of not having one to wear the next morning. All children are reminded on a daily basis to check for their jackets before going home.

Children are allowed, and are encouraged to use tissues as much as possible in the learning studio. It might even be an idea to send some spare tissues in your child's pocket in case they need these on the playground in the morning.

Many children are also complaining of having dry, sore and cracked lips; a very common side effect from the cold air outside. Children are allowed to have a basic Chapstick or Blistex balm to keep in their school bags and apply before going outside at recess and lunchtimes. However, just ensuring that lip glosses, lip smackers, lipsticks or anything with sparkle and glitter is not part of our school uniform policy, and we ask that these not be sent to school for this reason.

We thank you for your support and encouragement on these matters and hope that everyone stays well during these colder months!

Changes to Kiss n Drop

Just an update on the afternoon pick-up situation. 

As children have become familiar with knowing what they need to be doing, and where they need to be of an afternoon, at dismissal, we have decided to modify our afternoon pick-up to allow for a smoother and quicker dismissal for all.

If you are a parent who normally parks in the Kiss n Drop line, and waits outside your car until KLS children have been dismissed, we are now asking that you park your car in the visitors car park, and walk across to the front gate, under the bus shelter, to collect your child. As we bring the children out of the school gates, we will ask them to walk to you and then you may walk them to your car.

This will allow for less congestion in the Kiss n Drop line, and will make the transition up to the Kiss n Drop area less chaotic for any child who will be collected later. 

When waiting for your child outside the school gate, we kindly ask that you stand under the bus shelter, and not in front of the learning studios. We will encourage the children to walk to you, once they have spotted you outside the gate.

Any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

We thank you for your cooperation.

Recycled Materials

Hoping that everybody has had a lovely long weekend.

As part of our Inquiry unit this term, KLS have been discovering and exploring the many different types of environments, and looking at those which are BUILT and NATURAL. 

Over the past few weeks, KLS have been discussing the different environments and spaces in our school, and have been thinking about a place which they could design to be added onto our already existing school environment. They have planned, designed, labelled and written about many different materials which could be used in the construction of their 'place'.

To assist with their design, and in order to carry out their planning and constructing, KLS need a variety of recycled materials which they can use.

We are asking for recycled materials of any shapes and sizes, to please be sent into school with your child.

These could be snack boxes, newspapers, meusli bar boxes, empty paper towel rolls, cereal boxes, or any other cardboard boxes.

We kindly ask that toilet rolls, milk cartons and juice containers are not sent to school for hygienic reasons. And also to ensure that any boxes sent into school, contain no food remnants on or inside them.

These can be sent to school in a plastic bag with your child and just kept in front or on top of their locker. We will collect them as the children unpack their bags of a morning.

We thank you in anticipation for your assistance.

Home Readers Term Two

As the children in KLS become more confident and competent readers, we will be swapping their Home Reading books twice a week this term. Children will be given a new Home Reader on a Tuesday and a Friday, so we kindly ask that all home reading books are sent to school on these days. As all kindergarten children are aware, new Home Readers will not be given out unless the previous book has been returned.

Thank you for your continued support!

ANZAC Day 2015

Term 2, Week 1

With ANZAC day upon us once again, there were many insightful conversations in KLS this week involving the questions and thoughts from the children. They were very interested in learning about all the men and women who have been to war, fighting for our country and were able to offer various stories and experiences which had been previously shared.

Children practised the National Anthem and listened to The Last Post, in preparation for our whole school ANZAC day liturgy held on Friday. During this liturgy, all children displayed respect and compassion as they listened to the stories of the soldiers lost at War. 

Throughout the week, children came up with some wonderings about ANZAC day:

* Did the soldiers have any shields?

* Why did they have to go to War?

*How did their mums and dads feel when they left?

*Could they speak to their families while they were in the War?

Maybe you could have a conversation with your child about these wonderings, as we commemorate this special day.

Holiday Learning

These Holidays...

• Choose one or two activities in the activity bank your child brought home (in their reading folder) each day.

• Don't underestimate the power of family outings. These are a great way to start conversations, to use descriptive and comparative language to describe what you see and hear, and gives your child a wonderful opportunity to make connections to their world!

• Have your child write a sentence about their favourite part of their day. You may have to model it first, but get them to help you by asking them which sounds they can hear in the words. Don't forget to use the sight words cards to help too!

• Count. Practise counting a collection of objects. Estimate how many you think there are first before you begin counting them. Or perhaps try to count them by two's.

• Play snap with a deck of cards.

• Practise writing numbers to 20. Cut them up, order them from smallest to largest, or largest to smallest, name a number and create a collection for it.

• Go on an alphabet hunt at home. See if you can find something inside or outside your home that begins with each sound.

• Practise letter formation. Write in sand, in flour, with water, or with texts, concentrating on starting at the correct starting point.

• Go on a shape hunt. What shapes are in and around your home?

• Create and describe patterns using objects in the house. Get your child to pass you the pegs as you hang out the washing and see if you can create patterns on the clothesline.

• Go on a word hunt. See how many of your sight words are in the newspaper or a magazine. Cut them out and create a collage, your own sentences, or even circle or  highlight the words you know.

• Go outside! Kick a ball, throw a ball, play running races, balance along the edge of the driveway or garden bed, play hopscotch, skip with a rope. Gross motor skills are just as important as fine motor skills.

• Play a board game. Have fun and spend quality time together as a family. Boardgames are a great way to promote social skills such as turn taking, listening, problem solving and managing our emotions if we don't win.

• Get talking. Tell jokes, make up stories, retell stories, play 20 questions, play celebrity heads, choose a mystery object and share up to 10 clues about what it could be.

• Play 'I spy'

• Be imaginative. Play, dress up, build a cubby house or a fort (inside!!) with blankets and chairs, even camp inside!

• READ, READ and READ!! Take a trip to the local library and sign your whole family up for memberships. Make this trip as weekly or fortnightly ritual. Select and borrow books to read for enjoyment (that includes you, mum and dad!) Take your stash of books to the park and read under the shade of the tree, or laze on a blanket in the back yard. Turn off the television and sit down and have reading hour as a family. You'd be amazed at the power of your children seeing you take time out of your day to read. This will teach your child to value reading and foster your child's love of books.

• Rest and relax!! Watch movies, cuddle on the couch, take naps, enjoy pyjama days, do puzzles, colour in, draw, cook together. Be sure that the children take time to recharge their batteries. 

With all these ideas, 'bored' is sure to be a naughty word these holidays! 

Our School's Facebook Page

Have you liked the Mother Teresa Facebook Page?

You'll find snapshots of school life, as well as are some great links for parents, such as this one below.

Go to: Mother Teresa Primary Facebook Page

Writing and Pencil Grip

Kindergarten love writing during our literacy block each morning. They show enthusiasm in tackling writing on their own and have shown that they are creative learners who are willing to have a go.

 

Correct pencil grip is essential, not only to improve the appearance of your child's handwriting but to also facilitate their comfort and fluidity when writing. Pencil grip is an important focus for us in the learning studio as it is imperative in building your child's confidence when writing independently.

Below are two links to websites with information from Occupational Therapists about pencil grip. They also include some tips to guide you in assisting your children to develop correct pencil grip, and strengthen their fine motor skills. There are also ideas for further practise in the second link. You may find these useful to try during the school holidays which are fast approaching!

Pencil Grip: An explanation

Royal Children's Hospital: Tips to strengthen pencil grip

A Worthy App

In our learning studio we regularly use this wonderful app to support the children in developing their letter-sound knowledge, as well as directionality when forming letters. 

abc PocketPhonics: letter sounds & writing + first words

We recommend that the children use a stylus when practising their letter formation using this app. This will allow them to also strengthen their pencil grip and fine motor skills as the stylus acts just like a pencil.

To find and download this app onto your devices at home, just click on the link below.

abc pocket phonics - itunes

I wonder...

This term for our Inquiry into Community, our big question is 'What is Belonging?' 

We began unpacking our question by exploring our school logo, our school rules, and the 5 learner qualities on our learner quality wheel. We quickly realised that we belong to our Mother Teresa School Community.

During inquiry, we need to be reflective learners who ask questions. We had to begin wondering last week when this appeared in our learning studio...

We have our ideas about what it could be. Some of us suggested perhaps it was an octopus. Other suggested it was a squid or a grasshopper. Others thought a ghost, or a wolf!

I wonder what you think it could be?

What would it have to do with belonging?

Leave us a comment below. We'd love to hear your wonderings!

Cutting Skills & Fine Motor Skills

Fine motor skills involve the use of the smaller muscle of the hands, such as when doing up buttons, opening lunch boxes or using pencils or scissors. 

Fine Motor skills include:

• Pencil skills (scribbling, colouring, drawing, writing),
• Construction skills (lego, duplo),
• Self care (tyng shoelaces, doing up buttons and zippers, opening lunch boxes),
• Scissors skills (cutting).

Fine motor skills are essential for performing everyday skills like cutting, self care tasks and pencil skills. Without the ability to complete these every day tasks, a child's confidence and feeling of independence can suffer.

To help build your child's confidence and efficiency with fine motor tasks, particularly cutting, we have attached some links for tasks and tips to use at home. We encourage you to read, print, and participate in these cutting activities with your children at home in order to model efficient cutting skills, encourage your children to persist to master this skill, and to assist your child in building their fine motor strength.

Scissor Skills (Ideas & Information about cutting success)

Printables for cutting at home activities

More cutting practice

Sight Words Tips for Learning@Home

Did you know that sight words make up more than 50% of texts we read?

Sight words are the most frequently used and repeated words in the English language. Being able to recognise sight words is an effective reading tool. Generally these words must be read only by sight as they are not easily sounded out or broken apart.

Cut up the sight words each week and keep them in a safe place. We suggest a shoe box, a gift box, or even a large zip lock bag. 

Some tips for learning sight words:

       -       Focus on 5-8 words at a time

       -       Once your child gets to know their sight words, remove the easiest 3 words and 
            add new 3 words

       -       Practice in short sessions (8 -10 minutes is sufficient)

There are many ways to practise sight words. You can use the cards for games such as memory, hop scotch, or snap. Create sentences with them, write them in a tray of sand or flour, paint them on the ground with water, hunt for them in magazines or the newspaper, even make them with play dough!

Sight words games can be fun for the whole family!

   

      Click the link below for some more creative ideas for practising sight words.
Sight Words Activity Ideas

Settling In...

We have spent our first weeks of Kindergarten learning about school life and getting to know our learning environment. We are settling in happily, making friends, and already loving our school days. 

Take a look at some snaps of our time spent getting to know our new friends.

           

   

              

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Kindergarten in such an exciting year and we cannot wait to share our learning with you.

Stay tuned to our blog to learn along with us!