The kids were sorted into three groups this morning for swimming, so I now have them ability grouped. If you ever want to come in and help with swimming, that's perfectly fine and the answer is always YES. Most emphatically. The more eyes on the kids in the water the better, and it also spreads my load a little.
We had a packed day today, and I hope not too many children got home with massive headaches. I know I have one - just from all the sun and heat! We spent a great deal of our time outside today, and our "quiet time" after the Sports Night practice was probably one of the more peaceful 20 minutes we've all had in class. We all just rehydrated ourselves and sat back for a moment, reading and listening to music. The rest of the day was hectic, though.
That's part of the reason we didn't get around to swapping books for the weekend! So please, this weekend, it's either re-reading their book from Thursday a few times, or reading their own books. Most children got books out of the library today and have taken them home in their book bags. These (and public library books) do count as home reading so please record them in their Home Reading book.
Oh, and if anyone would ever like to take Stratus home for the weekend, please let me know. I'm not offering it to the kids in general, because I don't want them pressuring and pestering their parents to please have Stratus for the weekend, but the offer is there. He's low maintenance, but he is noisy. He gets seed, loves some fresh apple or other fruit or vege (just not avocado), needs clean water, and gets covered at night. Once he's covered, he goes to sleep pretty quickly and remains quiet while he's covered.
What a great start to the week! We had a lot of fun in Room 19 today, and we started learning about how to set out our books for Handwriting and Writing. The kids really enjoyed having Stratus around, and he'll be around for a while longer. They were most surprised to see the fish tank there, even though there weren't any fish in it (or perhaps they were even more surprised because there were no fish in it!). I'm hoping to have some different tetras in there on Wednesday. I haven't had much luck with tetras in the past, so we'll see how we go!
We learnt a little bit about Chinese New Year today, and most of the kids found out that they were born in the Year of the Dragon or the Year of the Snake. I am most jealous of those lucky Dragons - I was born a Monkey! We learnt that this year is Year of the Rat, which makes Mrs Edington very happy.
We finished the afternoon with some sketching practice - drawing what we see and not what we expect or want to see. The kids got to experiment with the sketching pencils, then had to draw objects around the class they'd never drawn before. What talented kids I have in Room 19 this year!
A notice went home today that needs to be filled out and returned ASAP - permission form for school trips. It was hard to get across to the children that it wasn't for a particular trip and that no money was required. It is simply a form that needs to be filled out so that your child can go on school trips.
Book bags - please make sure your child has them at school, even though we're not doing reading yet. It's such a convenient way of keeping all those notices in one tidy place.
We will be starting swimming in Week 3, not this week. I will give the kids plenty of notice.
Well, we've all survived Week 1! We have made a start on our topic (Cultures) and have even talked about a Class Treaty (or set of rules). Over the weekend I will be looking at the suggestions from the children and translating them into positive language eg. "Don't run inside" will become "Move sensibly around the classroom" and so on.
I have also tried to prepare the class for our very special visitor next week - Stratus! If they come home raving about a cockatiel, you know why. Stratus is my 3 year old male cockatiel. He is tame, to a point, and needs to be reaquainted with being around different people and especially strangers. He has gotten very used to a quiet household where there are only a few people, and he bites a lot at the moment. I will not be taking him out during school time, because he does still get anxious and, yes, a little nasty, with anyone other than myself. If all goes well and the kids respect the very basic rule about Stratus (NO putting anything near or in his cage - including hands!), then he will hopefully stay as our class pet for the year.
With our "Cultures" topic we are looking at different places that people in our class are from, or even where their parents are from. If you're from somewhere overseas and would like to come in and talk to the children about your country and culture, please do let me know!
Also, please let me know if you are available on a regular basis to be a parent helper, even if it's just for an hour or so. At this level we go through a LOT of reading books, and it's a constant battle keeping on top of filing them. If I could have someone to come in and do my book filing on a Friday, it would be most helpful. If you're not sure where or how to file books, never fear - I will show you. It's just all those little things that are sometimes time consuming but need to be done. After art projects I often need help framing and displaying their work. Even if you want to come in and help with art, that's always useful. One more adult running around topping up paint makes all the difference. Right now we're planning on doing art on a Monday, but this is subject to change. Having a parent helper or two during swimming time is also great, and we will be doing swimming from Week 3 on a Friday. Please do come and see me if you want to help.
This year we will not be sending books home with children who do not have book bags. This includes books from the library. They simply get too damaged in school bags. So if your child comes home without a book one night, it could be because they forgot to bring their book bag to school. Please make sure you empty it every night and that it is back in their bag for the morning.
I think that is all for now. If I think of anything else, I'll post it in the next entry.
