Hello and welcome to the Year 4K Teal blog!
Kaya,
I hope you have all had a relaxing and peaceful holiday and enjoyed some of this rejuvenating summer weather! I am looking forward to getting to know your beautiful children and working with you throughout your child's learning journey this year. Year Four is a wonderful year to teach for me - last year was the first time in quite a while since I have been in middle primary in my 21 years of teaching and I am looking forward to doing another year in the arena of Year 4. It's when the learning really ramps and and when we see the kids step up with their responsibility but still have their sense of individuality and of course, their awesome humour.
Following is an extremely detailed and lengthy blogpost involving a lot of information. Future ones will be a lot shorter and much easier to read - I promise! Feel absolutely free to email me if you have any questions at all before Wednesday no matter how small it may seem as a quick response might be all you need to answer your wondering and put your mind at ease. There will also be a information powerpoint shared via the blog at the end of Week 2 and a parent information session time held on Tues 6 Feb 5pm.
Okay, here we go!!!
Year 4 is the big kids year and your child is officially in the higher years of primary school. It is a year of growing independence, responsibilities and a time for students to shine and develop their individual personalities and learning styles. It is a big, but exciting year where your child will, discover, grow, create, learn, reflect and experience an abundance of fun and interesting things in our class!
First Day
Your child will see that they have been allocated a seat and a drawer within the classroom. As they come in, we ask that they bring in their bags to unpack, find their seat and then put their belongings in their drawer.
There is a home for their water bottles, and they are to keep their Crunch n Sip on their desks with their pencil cases. They will be directed to the whiteboard/new TV with reminders on what to do. I ask that students come in on their first day on their own without parents, please feel free to email me if you anticipate anxiety issues on the first day or in the mornings so we can accommodate your child and have some measures in place to help them settle in.
Stationery/Book Orders
Exercise and Scrap Books – If you can please make sure that you have purchased the given number of exercise and scrap books. There will be boxes in the classroom for the students to place these books on the first day. It will not be necessary to have names on the books, as we will label the books as we go but it is no problem if you have already labelled books.
Pencil Cases - Your child will have their own pencil case. Please stock their smaller pencil case with lead pencils, a couple of pens, highlighters, a sharpener, eraser, ruler and scissors as these are the most used items. If you would like to include coloured pencils, textas and crayons in this you are welcome to. Alternatively, you can include an additional pencil case with these items. The students can get these from their drawers as needed. I ask that all pencil case items are labelled with your child’s name. On day one, the children will place all spare stationery from their order in a provided ziplock bag labelled with their name on it so that they can replenish their pencil cases as needed rather than needing to collect it from home.
Tissues - If your child can also remember to bring in their 2 boxes of tissues as well, we would be most appreciative.
Uniform
Please check in with the school website or parent handbook sent with the recent newsletter for any last-minute questions and make sure that your child adheres to our guidelines around hair and fringe length. Both boys and girls must have their hair off their face and tied up if it falls below their collar. There is also details about the types of shoes that can be worn and information regarding jewellery. Term 1 is summer uniform.
Gathering Time
Class is open from 8.30am. If you can endeavour to get your child to class on time it helps to feel settled and organised for the day. This is an important time of the day for us to connect with the students and help get them set up for the day ahead. We are available to meet with you upon request before and after school if you wish to discuss anything privately or in detail. We value clear communication between families and appreciate you keeping us informed about your child. An email or handwritten note about an unexpected event the night before or that morning can often explain changes in behaviour and is appreciated.
Daily Routine
I am very keen to encourage a sense of independence and personal responsibility amongst the Year 4 students. I expect that in the mornings they are carrying their own bags to class, water bottle and crunch and sip to come in to class, getting their own chairs and then settling to follow the given instructions on the board. We ask that you support your child to do as much of this independently as possible. I understand that some students require more organisational support than others, but we will work with your child to help develop those organisation skills, to build confidence within themselves as learners and members of the class.
Laptops
There is a lot of excitement surrounding our first use of personal laptops in Year 4. The students will receive and commence using their laptops in the first days of week 3. Our first day for the new laptops to be given to your child will be Monday 12th January (after swimming lessons have finished - wet bathers and laptops are not a good combination)! We will keep you informed about our school laptop guidelines and policies including a student user agreement form that will need to be signed by both students and parents. I will go through the expectations and rules that they will need to follow and encourage you to also have clear rules with their use at home. We will also provide further information will be provided at the Parent Information Evening, in the parent information booklet and in future planned technology parent information sessions.
Swimming Lessons
Lessons will begin on our very first day of school - Wednesday 31st January and will run for eight days through until Friday 9th February. Students are asked to wear their sports uniform every day from Wednesday, first day of school.
Students will need to wear their regular sports uniform (teal on the first day would be great and from then on, teal or faction shirt is fine) including sneakers to and from school and will need a separate bag with their towel, goggles and thongs ready to go.
We also encourage you to also pack a bottle of your child's preferred sunscreen in their swimming bag as well to reapply (especially if they have sensitivities - we have limited options of types of sunscreen available at school). I also recommend that you keep a spare bottle of sunscreen in their school bag throughout the year if they have particular sensitivities or like to independently reapply.
We will get changed and prepare to leave at half past ten. Our lessons run from 11am and we will leave 15 mins prior to our lesson and return within approximately 15 minutes of our lesson concluding. This also means we will have an early recess at school at before leaving and crunch and sip upon arrival back at 12 please make sure there is some healthy fruit or veges to eat each day as they always seem to come back hungry from swimming fun at the beach.
A reminder that although they can wear thongs to the lesson, school shoes are compulsory for the remainder of the day as a safety measure - students must wear sneakers to school and after the lesson each day. Please ensure that your child comes to school with sunscreen on and the following items for swimming:
- Small bag with bathers
- goggles
- rash vest or t-shirt (this is compulsory no rashie/shirt = no swimming)
- towel
- school hat
- thongs/flip flops
- water bottle
- sunscreen if they have sensitivites or wish to independently reapply)
They are welcome to come to school already dressed in bathers and sports uniform over the top as we will be leaving before the school recess break.
Swimming is a very busy time where belongings can be misplaced or lost. We will both be reminding the children before, during and after the lessons that they have all of their belongings but it would be great if you could label all items so that if something does go missing, it can make its way back to the owner. Even in Year 4, things go missing so easily and no one seems to own the goggles or towel that is found at the end of the day!
Timetable
Once swimming has concluded, we will also advise of our classroom timetables, this is helpful to refer back to in case of booking appointments and knowing what to bring/wear on each day. The first two weeks of swimming follow a different school timetable so I will advise you of the specialist teaching days at the end of next week.
Physical Education/Sports Uniforms
Tuesday mornings will be the time for Year 4K Sport lessons with Mrs Mandy Sinclair throughout this year. Please wear sports uniform on Tuesdays this year and coloured faction shirts sports uniform on Fridays.
Library
Library book exchange will commence next week. Year 4's will be required to bring their Library books and bags on a Monday. They are welcome to bring in their books and bags any day throughout the week and keep them in their tray if Monday mornings are a forgetful time in your household.
Bell Times🔔
Doors open/gathering time: 8:30am - 8:40am (This is the time that your child will
settle in, set up their desk, prepare learning space and set up their daily spelling task.
Learning begins: 8:40am
Recess: 10:40am - 11:00am
Lunch: 1:00pm - 1:40pm
End of School Day: 3:00pm for everyone, including pick up lane & bus.
Policy for Early Leaving🏫
This is the same OLC policy regarding early leaving - If you wish to collect your child early from school, you are required to come to go to the office first and sign out via SEQTA using the school ipad. Students are not able to sign themselves in and out so please come into the school office with your child upon returning.
Please remember to ring the office if there is a change to pick or drop off routines throughout the day as we do not check email during teaching hours and break duties. I am more than happy to chat in the mornings or after school about anything at all and if you wish to communicate about any details, concerns or issues via email during the year please keep in mind that I am teaching throughout the day and most days only get a chance to check emails before and after school so if it is anything of importance that occurs throughout the day contact the office. Or feel free to go 'old school' and send a note with your child if there is anything that happens that morning that may affect your child's day at school.
If you have any information that you think will be important for the first day, please don’t hesitate at all to email me over the next few days as the first day is always such a busy time with lots of people, nerves and excitement. penny.king@cewa.edu.au
Seesaw🖥
This is now OLC’s formal reporting format that we are implementing over the year to give you an insight to your child's achievement. This is so you as a parent are informed of your child’s learning in real time and it will allow you to celebrate their success and provide you with an opportunity to work towards their goals at home as well as at school. Don't forget you can have both parents or any family members (eg. Grandma) access your child's Seesaw account and that you can access directly with the Seesaw Family app on your phone, device or computer. The link for your child’s Year Four seesaw learning journal will be sent home as a hard copy and later emailed to you soon, so keep an eye out!
Crunch & Sip🍎
Each mid- morning before recess we will stop for a 5-minute Crunch & Sip break. The idea of Crunch & Sip is that the students have a short break to increase their energy levels, increase awareness about eating fruit and vegetables, as well as encouraging them to drink water and keep hydrated throughout the school day. You can refer to the Crunch & Sip website (www.crunchandsip.com.au) for specifics on a list of foods that can be packed for this time of the morning. Generally speaking, the list will include fresh fruit and vegetables (celery/carrot sticks, broccoli, chopped or whole fruit, as well as dried fruit). Please bring along a water bottle with your child's name on it.
Year Four Cohort
Our twoYear 4 classes presents opportunities to do lots of learning together and create more learning opportunities and develop new friendships across the two classes. We plan to provide some times throughout the week for the classes to mix and swap in some different learning areas. In first term we will also be involved in additional religion lessons with our preparation for our first Eucharist. In addition, we will always having break times at recess and lunch at the same time where students can eat and play together. All Year Four teachers also have dedicated some planning time every week to plan and assess together and we will also be teaching consistent literacy and mathematics program and other learning area programs across both of the classes.
Enjoy the last days of holidays and we look forward to seeing your big Year 4 child on Wednesday!
Kind regards,
Penny
