4thFebruary, 2013

WELCOME TO PREP

We are very excited to welcome you to Parktone!

We hope everyone had a wonderful break and an enjoyable first two days of school! This week our literacy focus will be the letter S and we will be learning about shapes.

Literacy
Letter S / Mathematics
Shapes

HOME COMMUNICATION

This is the first of your weekly Home Communications.Your Home Communication will contain information about what is happening in class as well as any upcoming events at Parktone and will be posted online each Monday morning. This document, along with other important notices, will also be available at Parktone Primary School’s website –

We recommend all parentsfamiliarise themselves with the site as it is a great way to keep up to date with what is happening throughout the school.We will print an A3 sized copy to be displayed in the classroom window if you are unable to access the internet at home.

To access the Home Communication, click on the students tab, year prep, information, home commuincation! While you are on the website, you may like to also subscribe to the school newsletter to keep informed about what is happening in the school community.

WEDNESDAY TESTING

Prep testing will begin next Wednesday 13th February and continue on each Wednesday until Wednesday the 6th of March. You will receive a notice tomorrow confirming when your child is required to attend. If this time needs to be changed, please see us as soon as possible as this testing is compulsory for all students starting Prep. Please be advised that students are still not required at school this Wednesday even though there is no testing!!

SPECIALIST TIME TABLE

Prep N / Prep W / Prep H / Prep V / Prep S
Science / Monday 11.10 / Monday
9.50 / Monday
2.40 / Monday
12.10 / Monday
1.50
Physical Education
(Please ensure you are wearing correct footwear for P.E and bring a water bottle) / Tuesday
11:10 / Tuesday
9.50 / Tuesday
9.00 / Tuesday
12.10 / Tuesday
1.50
Art
(Please ensure you have an art smock at school to protect your uniform) / Tuesday 12:10 / Tuesday 1:50 / Tuesday
2.40 / Tuesday
11.10 / Tuesday
9.50

SCHOOL SUPPLIES

It’s lovely to see the Preps in their beautiful new uniforms. Please ensure all of your

child’s clothing isCLEARLY named as well as all additional items such as lunchboxes

and drink bottles that they may bring to school. Please also include a spare pair of underwear in your child’s bag, in case of any ‘accidents’ at school! Thankyou.

BUDDIES

The Prep children met their Year 5/6 buddies on Thursday and Friday. Your child’s buddy will become a familiar face in the yard and we will be regularlymeeting our buddies to eat recess and lunch together as well as play games.

UNIT OF STUDY

This term our inquiry unit will be “Who Am I?”. During this unit students will learn about themselves and their families and their connection to the wider community. This will allow us all to get to know each other and build a fun andwelcoming classroom environment. Along with our unit of inquiry we will be conducting an activity based on looking at ‘our families.’ This activity requires photos of the students and their families! If all parents could please provide a photo to their classroom teacher as soon as possible that would be fantastic!!

FRUIT BREAK

Our Prep students have a fruit snack twice a day to ensure their energy levels are high during important morning learning sessions. The first fruit snack is at 9:50 and the second fruit snack is at 12.10.We encourage all parents to pack FRESH FRUIT in their children’s lunchbox every day. If this is in a container, please ensure the container is labelled.

PARENT HELPERS

During Term 1, we focus on setting good routines and learning to work within a classroom with new people. To enable the children to settle into school routines, we will not require parent helpers for reading at the start of Term 1. We would love any assistance in changing readers however- without reading with the student’s so if you are able to assist in any way with that please advise your classroom teacher and they will create a timetable to send home. As the students become more independent and settled, a notice will come home for any parents interested in assisting in daily classroom activities.

REMINDER: SUNSMART IN TERM 1

In Term 1 all students are required to wear their school hat when outside. Any children without a hat must play undercover during play lunch and lunch.

SHOW AND TELL

Each week the students will have a show and tell session. We recommend that students only bring one item to discuss. We would like the Show and Tell items to link to our letter of the week to assist the students understanding of letters and sounds. For example this week we are learning about the letter S so your child may have a sun hat, a toy snake or a toy sail boat they might like to bring in. We understand that some letters will be more difficult than others but we appreciate any efforts made to connect to the letter we are learning each week.

A poster will be put up in front of Prep S and V each week to let you know what letter we will be studying in the next week so that you have time over the weekend to look for something appropriate together. No set day is required for students to bring in show and tell yet as it is tricky to organise with Wednesday testing, so feel free to encourage your child to bring in their show and tell item on any day of the week, and their teacher will advise them when they have created a roster of days!

HOME COMMUNICATION FOLDERS

On Thursday each child would have received their Home Communication folder and diary inside. This is to be checked and returned each day as this is where we will put any important notices so they don’t end up lost in the bottom of school bags!

If you need to let us know about any upcoming appointments or have any questions please write them in your child’s diary as this will be checked every day by the classroom teacher.

ART SMOCKS

Art smocks are to be brought in as soon as possible as student’s begin their art lessons this week. Please remember to label your child’s art smock clearly!!

READERS

Readers will be coming home for the first time today! This will be the beginning of our home reading program and each child will bring home a Pink reader.The readers are to be kept in the one zip lock folder that also contains their diaries (home communication folder). Please take the time to read with your child each night and encourage them as much as possible! Please ensure that the books are returned daily as students will receive a new book each day!

When starting to read we encourage all children to:

-Point at the words as they go. This helps them identify what a word is and the direction of the text.

-Discuss imagery in the book and make predictions on what might happen next.

-Have a go reading the story either with the parent or just after it has been read to them.

-Please also try to begin to familiarise them with the alphabet as much as possible to assist them in learning the letters and sounds of the alphabet.

Discussions with your teachers

Parents are welcome to speak to their child’s teacher informally at any time, however if you are wishing to discuss your child’s progress or feel that the chat will take longer than 5 minutes, we ask that you make an appointment to meet your child’s teacher before or after school so that time can be set aside. We completely understand that there will not always be opportunities for parents to come to school when wishing to discuss something with their child’s teacher, we can therefore be contacted via email!

We are all looking forward to a wonderful year ahead 

Prep NMrs Sally Northcott

Prep WMr Andy White

Prep VMiss Courtney Voss

Prep HMiss Amy Haslemore

Prep SMiss Anneliese Scheffer