Year 1 Newsletter

The children have been working hard building relationships and trying to get themselves back to the GREEN ZONE when they feel their energy is too high or low throughout the day. We have been learning how to be Super Flexible Thinkers to defeat 'The Unthinkables' that may become active in our brains.

You may have heard the children talking about some of the characters e.g.

• Rock Brain- makes people get stuck on their ideas.
• Body Snatcher- moves people's bodies away from the group.
• Brain Eater- distracts people
• Space Invader- gets people to invade others' personal space.
• Energy Harey- gives people too much energy.

We are continuing to build our toolbox of strategies to be calm and ready to learn. Here is the link to the Zones of Regulation parent resources that was previously shared with everyone.

The Year 1s worked really hard to make new friends during Inquiry Play by asking people their names and asking if they could play with them. We hope to see many more connections being made next week. Please visit your child's Seesaw portfolio to have discussions at home about what has happened in school.

The Year 1s have made a great start in their phonics groups. Look out for the writing sheets they are bringing home so that you know which sounds your child is working on. In class, we are learning how to become more confident authors and illustrators. We have been reading lots of stories for inspiration. The focus this week has been on wordless picture books to encourage storytelling and talking about sequencing ideas.

Over the next few weeks, the children will be studying the styles of authors and illustrators and trying out things in their own bookmaking. They will begin to apply their phonetic knowledge to share their ideas with others as their confidence grows.

As part of our Who We Are unit, we look at data handling to find out more about ourselves and others. We have been making glyphs, pictographs and tally charts to share information and have been working hard on our number formation. The children are really enjoying surveying their friends.

Please click the link to find out more about Chinese learning this week.

Wednesday 21 September 22 - Year 1 trip to the theatre to see The Gruffalo live on stage.

The Year 1s will be leaving school at 9.00 am to visit The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in Wanchai to watch The Gruffalo. The show begins at 9.45 am and will last 1 hour. As this is over their regular big snack time, we ask that everyone has a larger breakfast on this day and we will have a big snack when we return to school. We will be getting the bus back to school at 11.00 am so the children can have snack straight away and then go out to play.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to take any children on amber or red codes to the theatre. Other arrangements will be made in school for those children impacted should this be needed. Please talk to your child about what it may be like in a theatre and if you know that your child is a little wary of the dark or loud noises, then please contact your child's class teacher beforehand to make them aware.

Just a reminder about sharing of contact details with class parents:

Once each class has a class parent assigned, they will be in touch with the parents of their class.

However, they are unable to contact anyone who has not specifically signed the e-Notice "Sharing of Contact Details with Class Parent".

If you have not done so already, please sign this form on the Gateway asap.

** this e-Notice is solely for the purposes of communication between the class parent and you, your details will not be used for any other purpose**