EY4 striving for more

Week 5 and we have come so far since the start of the new school year. EY4 has been joined by a new class member bringing our crew to 6 students. It is amazing how the dynamic changes adding one more to the mix and we have been enjoying the benefits of different groupings for learning that helps with social skills, taking turns, sharing and encouraging each other to do our personal best. We have already celebrated one birthday and eagerly await our Crazy Hair Celebration on Friday the 28^th of February.

As we have become familiar with classroom expectations, learning routines and school rules, we are able to take more responsibility for our learning. Every morning we unstack our own chair and open our sign in packet to begin work. At the end of the day, we help pack up, restack our chairs and pack our school bags for home time. We are beginning to earn lots of Ardy tickets for being Safe, Respectful, Learners. When we have at least 10 Ardy tickets, we will purchase items from the new PBL Rewards Shop that will be open in Weeks 5 and 10. This initiative helps us with counting and creates healthy competition to follow the rules at school as we try to collect enough Ardy tickets to exchange for preferred items.

In math we are exploring shapes with a focus on squares, circles and triangles. There are lots of shapes to find on our way to the playground each day. The weather has been very hot some days but it is fun to play under the shade sails and explore the cool sandpit. The swings are as popular as ever but we have learned to wait behind the yellow line until the timer goes off for our turn.

In literacy we are continuing with letter sounds and blending. Learning the sounds the letters make is an important step in learning to read and to be able to decode new and unfamiliar words. We no longer teach the alphabet in order as it can be difficult for children to replace the memorised letters with the sounds they represent. Imagine if you only knew the letter names! A simple word like c-a-t would sound like SEE-ATE. Dog becomes DOHJE. By familiarising ourselves with the sounds of s-a-t-p-i and n, we can decode and read a LOT of simple words that helps us become more confident readers. No matter how well your child reads, listening to someone else read helps them to learn how to read with inflection, to pause at commas and full stops and to read in a natural, talking voice over a robotic decoding voice. We will spend a lot of time learning our sounds and blending them together this term which will help confident readers to write and spell.

Around all of that learning, we have managed to fit in art activities that support our understanding of letters, numbers and Books of The Week. The class had the best time making story wheels for Brown Bear, Brown Bear (what do you see) so enjoy hearing your children sing as they spin!

Until next time, take care of you,

Miss Jodie, Miss Nairda and EY4