Yellow Dragon Class News

Dear Kindergarten Yellow Dragon Families,

Welcome to week 3! (The teachers staff day counts as a week, so last week was technically week 2). It is a little confusing!! This week Kindergarten are continuing to get to know each other through name games, co-operative play sessions and class discussions during crunch and sip.

This week Kindergarten Yellow Dragon won LIONEL THE LISTENING EAR because we were such AMAZING listeners in assembly last Thursday! A wonderful achievement!! I was VERY proud of them!! If you would like to meet Lionel, please come into our classroom. (He is a golden ear!)

This week Yellow Dragon had their first official HSIE and music lesson with Ms Carton. They had a wonderful time starting their discussions about ‘school days’. In music the children sang lots of songs and had a chance to play some musical instruments.

On Monday we also went to our first Kickstart lesson with our teacher Mitch. This week’s sport was baseball. We played a fun warm up game called ‘builders and destroyers’. The children really enjoyed this! Yellow Dragon also learnt how to pitch, bat and field. It was great to see so many of the children in their sports shoes on Monday.

The children are becoming more familiar with our daily routines. Thankyou very much for your assistance with this. Most Yellow Dragons are remembering to put their red note bags in our box and put their crunch and sip on their tables in the morning.

This Wednesday will be our first library lesson. Please make sure your child has their red note bag on this day or they will not be allowed to borrow. If you are unable to find your child’s red note bag on library day, simply send a plastic bag to school and they can use that instead!

This week Yellow Dragon have started to learn their first sightwords: look, I. On Monday I sent home a note that listed all the sightwords for term 1. Each week I will put the weekly sightwords on our class blog so that you can practise them at home with your child. I also sent home a note that suggested some ways that you can use the sightword list, making learning sightwords fun! If you didn’t receive either of these notes please let me know.

As a class, Yellow Dragon have been thinking of lots of ‘I like’ sentences. Some examples are:
I like ice-cream.
I like dragons.
I like school.
I like my friend.
I like rainbows.
I like lentil bolognese.

In writing lessons, Yellow Dragon are continuing to focus on writing their names and identifying the sounds they can hear in their name. As a class group we put each other’s names on our flower alphabet cupboard. In Yellow Dragon we have lots of children with names starting with ‘A’, ‘S’, ‘P’ and ‘M’. We will also begin to one-to-one match words and copy sentences using our weekly sightwords later this week.

In mathematics this week we are continuing to learn about numbers 1-10. Yellow Dragon can confidently count forwards and backwards to 10 and are starting to identify numbers before and after. As we learn about number, we are completing more of our special number booklets. This week we will also start to learn some new maths games called: ‘Around the world’ (recognising dots on a dice) and ‘Teddy Bear Race’ (number recognition).

As the weather was very wet last Friday, Kindergarten were not able to go outside for sport. The Orange Dragons came into Yellow Dragon classroom instead for a quick dance session. We had lots of fun learning the chicken dance. Kindergarten were exhausted after all that amazing dancing!!!
(I was pretty exhausted too!)

Meet the Teacher evening has been scheduled for Wednesdsay the 15th of February. This is an opportunity for me to outline Yellow Dragons routines and discuss what we will be learning this term. It is also an opportunity for you to get to know other Yellow Dragon parents. I hope to see you there!

Just a couple of reminders:
-Assembly is on Thursdays at 2.30pm in the school hall on Australia Street (Opposite the main school building).
-We have some children with severe allergies in Kindergarten this year, as well as the older grades. Please remember to provide a nut free, egg free lunch for your child to ensure the safety of these children.
-Tabloid Sports day will be on March 15th (Thursday). If you are interested in being a parent helper on this day please come and see me.

I hope you are having a great week! Please come and have a chat if you see me in the playground!

Kind Regards,
Katy Richardson

Dear Yellow Dragon Families,

Welcome to the new school year! I would like to extend a particularly warm welcome to all the new families joining Australia St Infants for the first time! And of course it’s great to see so many familiar faces!

I have enjoyed the time I have spent with Yellow Dragon so far and look forward to the year ahead. Over the next few weeks I will be spending time setting up routines and helping all the children settle into our school.

Yesterday I sent a note home with lots of information about term 1. I won’t repeat it all again, however feel free to come and see me if you didn’t receive one or would like to discuss any of the details.
When the bell goes at 9am in the morning, Yellow Dragon will line up under the COLA. I have shown the children where our special spot is, however I won’t be far away if they are unsure.

Mondays will be our Kickstart day. I would recommend that the children wear sports shoes on this day so that they are more comfortable during the session.

Red note bags need to come to school each day. There is a box outside Yellow Dragon near a big bear. It would be great if you could help the children get used to placing their school bag on their hook, their crunch and sip on their desk and their red note bag in the special box each day. That would be fantastic!!

Hats are also very important. Please make sure that your child has a hat everyday that is clearly marked with their name. I find that black texta is the easiest for them to see and recognise.

I will be BEST STARTING the children next Tuesday and Wednesday. A note will go home closer to this time with more details. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to come and see me.

In the afternoons, I have asked the children to come and tell me when they are leaving and who they are leaving with. This is so that I know they are all safe and sound. I would appreciate your co-operation with this, thankyou!

I would like to welcome Winona Lykabyo, an intern from the University of Sydney, who will be working with Yellow Dragon this term. Initially she will be observing and will then teach some lessons throughout the week. I will speak to the children about this a little further down the track.

This week Yellow Dragon will be looking at the numbers 1-5 and starting our special number booklets. We will also be learning about all the other children in Yellow Dragon and getting to know the playground, teachers and routines of Australia Street Infants School. The children will also be learning about what makes up a sentence, comparing names, and identifying letters in words.

I think that is probably enough information for now. I will be hanging around in the playground each afternoon, please come and introduce yourself and have a chat.

I look forward to the exciting year ahead!

Regards,

Katy Richardson