Dear Parents,
We have had a wonderful first week of classes with your joyful and resilient children! Thank you for all of your support.
Unit of Study: What is your world?
Below you will find a curriculum letter outlining our first Unit of Study in K1. The focus is: "What is your world?" Today we are sending home a "What is your world?" page in your child's blue folder.
Please decorate this page with pictures, words, symbols, colours, photographs (whatever you like) to represent your child’s “world”. Return this paper to school by next Friday, September 3rd. We will be sharing these in class over the coming weeks as we continue to get to know one another.
A sample of what your child’s page could look like can be found above. We are looking forward to launching this unit based on the personal interests and experiences of our students.
All Infant School classrooms are 'Nut-Sensitive’ Zones in order to provide a safe environment for those children with life-threatening nut allergies. We do have children in K1 this year with these allergies.
Please do not send any nuts or products containing nuts in to school for brain food, snack or lunch. We would appreciate you explaining these requirements to those responsible for packing these meals each day at home, for example home helpers, so that we can maintain a safe environment for all our students.
When the students are playing in the sand and water areas, we encourage them to go barefoot. This provides them with a new sensory experience (important for the development of both proprioception and vestibular sense), in addition to keeping their socks and shoes from getting wet and filled with sand.
Home Reading Programme
Next Friday, you can look forward to receiving your child's Song and Rhyme folder! You will find a letter inside explaining the purpose of this special folder. It will be a collection of chants and rhymes your child is learning at school. You can "read" the words with your child, and practice the chants. This is a wonderful way to support early readers. This folder will go home every Friday. We ask that you return it by mid-week the following week so that we may add a new chant.
In addition to the Song and Rhyme folder, your child will also bring home some class books beginning next Friday. Class books will be sent home each week on Fridays. Please return these by Thursday of the following week so that your child can change his/her books. Early readers benefit from reading the same book many times. More information about the class books we will be sending home will be posted in next week's K1 blog.
At UWCSEA we use a platform called Classlist for our parent to parent communication such as our class chat groups for parents. We understand that there are many K1 parents who still haven’t joined and are missing out on the class chats. Parents who are new to the school would have received an email invitation to join. If you wish to join, please follow the instructions in the email. If you have already joined Classlist for your older child(ren), you need to go into your Profile and add your new K1 child. You can also use Classlist to easily find and message other parents in your class to set up playdates etc. It is optional but very useful! If you are having any problems joining, please get in touch with Josi Langhorne on padoverprimary1@uwcsea.edu.sg who will try and help.
Below you will find a curriculum letter outlining our first Unit of Study in K1. The focus is: "What is your world?" Today we are sending home a "What is your world?" page in your child's blue folder.
Please decorate this page with pictures, words, symbols, colours, photographs (whatever you like) to represent your child’s “world”. Return this paper to school by next Friday, September 3rd. We will be sharing these in class over the coming weeks as we continue to get to know one another.
A sample of what your child’s page could look like can be found above. We are looking forward to launching this unit based on the personal interests and experiences of our students.
No Nuts Please!
Please do not send any nuts or products containing nuts in to school for brain food, snack or lunch. We would appreciate you explaining these requirements to those responsible for packing these meals each day at home, for example home helpers, so that we can maintain a safe environment for all our students.
Introduction to "Discovery Time"
This week, individual classes explored our pod areas and outdoor sand, water and play areas. Discovery Time is a time for students to exercise agency over where they choose to learn throughout the K1 learning space. Intentional learning engagements are organised throughout the spaces. These are facilitated by your child's teacher, TAs, and our K1 Support Teacher (Mrs. Morgan). Student learning is documented. Literacy, numeracy and units of study are all embedded into Discovery Time and students are provided with the opportunity to develop foundational learning skills (thinking skills, social skills, communication skills, self-management skills and research skills). Teachers may also use this time to meet one-on-one with students to conference with them on their learning.
When the students are playing in the sand and water areas, we encourage them to go barefoot. This provides them with a new sensory experience (important for the development of both proprioception and vestibular sense), in addition to keeping their socks and shoes from getting wet and filled with sand.
Home Reading Programme
Next Friday, you can look forward to receiving your child's Song and Rhyme folder! You will find a letter inside explaining the purpose of this special folder. It will be a collection of chants and rhymes your child is learning at school. You can "read" the words with your child, and practice the chants. This is a wonderful way to support early readers. This folder will go home every Friday. We ask that you return it by mid-week the following week so that we may add a new chant.
In addition to the Song and Rhyme folder, your child will also bring home some class books beginning next Friday. Class books will be sent home each week on Fridays. Please return these by Thursday of the following week so that your child can change his/her books. Early readers benefit from reading the same book many times. More information about the class books we will be sending home will be posted in next week's K1 blog.
Getting to Know You!
In the coming week, your child's classroom teacher will share with you a Google Slides presentation. You will be asked to find the slide with your child's name on it, and populate it with some pictures and information about your child/family. This will allow us to get to know the families that make up your child's classroom community. We feel that finding creative ways to connect with one another is important during these extraordinary times when we are unable to come together in person as a group.
Feel free to adapt the slide format any way that you like. Participation in the slide presentation is completely optional (if you don't want to share pictures or information, that is no problem -- we respect your privacy).
Connecting with Other Parents
You can also search for parents and children on the UWCSEA website using the parent address book. However, for your family details to show you have to opt in for your family contact details to be shown in the parent address book - the default setting is "no" so you will have to go in and change it. You will find it under Contacts on your family home page in CIMS. Again, this is entirely optional.
Have a wonderful weekend ahead,
The K1 Team
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