Parent Helpers

We are looking for parent helpers to assist with our mathematical workshops. From next week (week 8) until the the end of the term we require 3 parents on Monday and Wednesday mornings. If you are able to help please add your name to the roster at the front of the neighbourhood.

 

PRC

The deadline for submitting your Premiers' Reading Challenge (PRC) list of books is Monday 3 September.

Please enter the books eligible for the PRC, which you have read, onto your login page at the PRC website. 

Then, print a list of books with your name on it and ask a parent/guardian to sign it. 

Give this signed printout to your Home Group Teacher (who will deliver it to Annette for verification purposes). Enjoy the Challenge!

Can you put that in your own words?

Summarising; "Telling it the short way"

During the past two weeks the year one students have been taking part in reading workshops that focus their attention on the important skill of summarising what they read, or as one of the students said "Telling it in a short way"!  
 Summarising is important as it transfers what the author is telling us into our own words, and in so doing we are re-creating the author's message for ourselves. We used two different thinking routines to practice this skill.

• The first is "Headlines".  After reading a story and discussing it at length, the students were asked to create two headlines; one that matched the story and one that did not. 
• The second routine is "Story Mapping".  This is one way of re-telling a story which is especially appropriate to those tales that involve a journey.  The students were asked to select the most important events in the story and create a map or series of pictures to re-tell the story. 

Below are some examples of both routines.  The children were asked to take home their story map of "Biblioburro" and retell the story to their parents...

 

Chance & Data Challenge

Over the past few weeks the Year 1 Neighbourhood has been exploring the mathematical concepts of Chance and Data with Simon. Last week (18/08/2012) the children constructed a spinner with the colours red and blue and then spun the spinner 50 times and kept a tally of how many times it landed on red and how many times it landed on blue. Simon has added up the resluts from all 3 groups and found that the spinner landed on blue 365 times and red 148 times.

The challenge is to graph the results and bring the graph in to share with the neighbourhood.

The current Learning Agreement: Week 5 & 6

This Learning Agreement belongs to ………………………….

From: ……………….. To: ……………………

My learning goal is

For the learning agreement I need to:

Creating Create a character using plasticine. Take photos of your character doing different things.	Writing Choose an item from the box. Imagine it gets lost. Write or draw what happened. (folded paper)
Investigating What might have happened to it? Write its history.	Constructing Create the scene for a story (where could it take place?)
Reading Look at two books. Compare them and record what you find is the same or different. (Living chart…)	Performing Work in pairs. 1 becomes a character. The other is the reporter. Ask the character who they are and what their life is like

We have some enthusiastic and motivated children in the 3/4 neighbourhood who have initiated a fundraising activity to raise money for the RSPCA by making cup cakes in an exchange for a donation. Although their enthusiasm and initiative have been commended, logistical and man power issues have forced us to rethink our timeline. Now that that the teachers have been involved, we will support the children to establish a manageable process. Unfortunately, this means we will be producing cupcakes for 34 neighbourhood 1 only. This is a good opportunity to remind parents that these types of events will always be accompanied by official notification.

Swimming Program

Our 2 week intensive swimming program begins next Monday (Week 6). The Neighbourhood will be going swimming Monday, Wednesday and Friday of Weeks 6 & 7. We will require parent helpers for all the days. The children will be going to swimming at different times, notes were sent home today informing you what time your child will be leaving and returning to school. If you are able to come along and assist please add your name to timetable at the front of the neighbourhood on the appropriate time slot. Thank you.

Premiers' Reading Challenge

2 weeks to go

The Premiers' Reading Challenge is fast coming to an end. We ask that children print off their completed list and hand it in to their homegroup teacher by Friday 31st August (Week 7). The list is to be signed by a parent or guardian and labeled with the child's full name.

 

Book Week: 18^th August – 24^th August

This Year the theme of Book Week is Champions Read

The Junior School will be celebrating Book Week with a Prep-2 Assembly and Parade

When: Thursday 23^rd August

Time: 9am- 10:30am (approx.)

Where: The Gymnasium

Children are encouraged to dress up as their favourite book character and to bring the book to share. After the assembly and the parade the Prep and Year 2 neighbourhoods will have the opportunity to share their books with each other and the Year 1 neighbourhood will have visit from a special guest.

Getting to the Message!

FURTHER EXPLORING IN PAMELA ALLEN'S WORLD!
Click on the links in the blog post from Sunday 5th August to read more of the children's thoughts about Pamela Allen's message.  This week some children commented on "Alexander's Outing" and "Mr. McGee and the Biting Flea", depending on the book they shared with Janette.  There are some very thoughtful people in year one who really love to engage with the 'message behing the words'!

Reading; Going Beyond the Words!

What is Pamela Allen telling us...apart from a great story?

As part of our ongoing inquiry, "Why write?", we are exploring the stories of Pamela Allen, and looking for answers to the question "Why does Pamela write?"  We are learning what it means to enjoy a story, and through re-telling what has happened, wonder if the author is sending us a message.  The children in year one read "I wish I had a Pirate Suit" with Janette last week.  This week they reconsidered the story, and thought about, or inferred,  the ideas Pamela Allen put in their heads through the story.  Here are their ideas...

Exclamation Marks!
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/92418273/Exclamation%20Marks%20Why%20Does%20Pamela%20Allen%20write%20her%20books.pdf
Full STOPS.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/92418273/Full%20StopsWhy%20Does%20Pamela%20Allen%20write%20her%20books.pdf
Question Marks?
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/92418273/Question%20Marks%20Why%20Does%20Pamela%20Allen%20write%20her%20books%20%282%29.pdf

Reading...Let's Dive Deeper!

Why did the author write that?

As part of our major inquiry into "Why Write?" and it's more personal question "Why do I write?"  we are exploring the message that an author sends through their writing.  Following the excitement of the students' response to Lauren Child last term, we are enjoying exploring the works of Pamela Allen, author of well known books such as "Who Sank the Boat?" and "Alexander's Outing". 
This inquiry into Pamela Allen's world will give us opportunities to continue grappling with the idea of how we read; how do we 'get at' the message an author might have?
Readers need many strategies for unlocking texts, movies, and pictures.  All of them involve thinking skills, and these are our continued focus, and in fact are always a focus throughout life!  We all use these skills to varied degrees, with increasing sophistication...

• Prediction: this includes reading on and re-reading to confirm or reject predictions.
• Connection: relating to our own experiences, other texts, or events in the world.
• Visualisation: imagination!  Running a movie in your head as you read. Acting out!
• Summarisation: re-telling or paraphrasing what you think it means.
• Inferring: taking various clues and thoughtfully connecting them to deepen understanding

In the first three weeks, the children have all taken part in reading workshops that challenge them to develop their observation skills, leading to sharper summaries and thoughtful inferences.  We will continue these conversations with the students as we explore more Pamela Allen books and the works of other writers. 
Read at Home tip;
If your child becomes stuck on a word, suggest that they re-read the sentence, look at the picture, and sound the first letter, or letter cluster.  Then THINK...'use the clues'...what could the word be? 
Also try skipping over the word and reading on to the end of the sentence, then re-consider what the missing word could be.  Encourage them to make connections with their experience of other books/events in real life to assist in unlocking the missing word.  Say the word in letter clusters with your child eg. "br-eak-f-ast" not "b-r-e-a-k-f-a-s-t" (that doesn't help!)
It is great to be back!  Talk to me or any of the year one teachers if you have questions or observations to pass on about your child and reading!
Janette.

Meet the Author - National Bookshop Day

Saturday 11 August

at 759Nicholson Street, Little Book Room

Carlton North

Ph 9387 9837 more information on these free events go to: http://www.littlebookroom.com.au/pages/events

The Year 1 Neighbourhood will present their learning at next week's assembly (Tuesday 7th, August at 9am).

This is our current Learning Agreement

Please take the time to read and speak with your child about what learning experiences they have taken part in this week.

This Learning Agreement belongs to ……………….

From: ……………….. To: ……………………

My learning goal is

For the learning agreement I need to:

Reading With a partner explore an image and record what you infer in your Reader’s and Writer’s Notebook	Writing Continue writing your recount about the excursion to the State Library of Victoria
Investigating Conduct and record a science experiment in your Inquiry book	Creating Use the materials found on the creating table to creatively represent what you saw on the excursion
Constructing Construct a part of the State Library of Victoria you enjoyed being in	Performing Create a sketch. Choose a problem and solve it. Be ready to perform.