Year 1 Update – Wk 18
The children have enjoyed a great week at school.This week the children have really got stuck into are new unit, with many children bringing in artefacts about them and artefacts that interest them from home.
We all really enjoyed looking around the History Museum today and finding out something new about Hong Kong’s past. The children got to draw their favourite artefacts and find out about what life used to be like from watching old footage filmed in the last century. Researching into how life used to be and finding out new information for the first time is very exciting for the children and this was very evident at the museum. Maybe you could ask them about the people who lived on a boat or what it was like to go shopping in the old shopping street. The children were very well behaved and very enthusiastic. They were a great credit to Beacon Hill School.
If you are one of the last people to send the portfolios back to school please make sure they come back to school as soon as possible ready to have more items added this term.
Historical Artefacts
This week the children have been sharing all the different items and photographs of items. It’s not too late to send artefacts into school and we will make sure that all the items will be shared to the children. Thank you to all those parents who have helped their child find a historical artefact that represents what life was like in Hong Kong in the past, they have been very interesting and the children have loved sharing them.
We have also started looking at the children’s personal histories and would also like them to bring in an artefact from their history that they are able to share with others. Examples of artefacts could be a special toy that they had as a baby, photos of them growing up or an item of baby clothing that they wore when they were younger. Thank you to everyone who has already organised this.
Library Days
Please make sure you remember to remind your child to bring back their library books on their Learning Centre day. The children should now be bringing home a fiction book and a non-fiction book. Please note that 1F did not have time to go to the Learning Centre this week. They returned their books and will take 2 new books on Monday.
Parents of 1L
This year the children in 1L will be performing in the Chinese New Year performance on Wednesday 25th January. More details will follow but in the meantime please start thinking about organising a traditional Chinese outfit for your child to wear for the performance.
Central Idea: Exploring artefacts helps our understanding of people’s histories.
This week the children have tuned into our new Unit of Inquiry by finding out more about a range of historical artefacts. The children made some very interesting observations and have developed good questions for further inquiry. The children have enjoyed finding out more and are continually amazed by the inconvenience of many of the older items, especially those from the time before electricity!
We have been starting to look at the children’s own personal histories by drawing pictures and writing about the things they could do at different stages in their lives. They have also shown off their artefact from when they were small. Don’t worry if your child hasn’t had a chance to share yet, we are doing a few each day!
How the World Works (our year long unit of inquiry)
Central Idea: The Earth’s changes affect the activity of living things
This week we have been focussing on the weather and how the temperature is different through a week. Maybe at home you could talk about the differences in temperature from last weekend and this one.
Next week we will be continuing to write pages for our books describing historical artefacts during our Writer’s Workshop lessons. All the children have their own personal targets that they are focussing on, for example, structuring their writing effectively by using finger spaces, full stops and capital letters, thinking of their sentence before they start or sounding out each word.
Phonics
We will continue to focus on all the one letter sounds, including the new sounds:
V, W, Y, Z, J, N, K, E.
The children should be able to hear these sounds in words that are consonant, vowel, consonant, such as log, cut, hat and be able to tell you the word when you give them 3 sounds. We are aiming for the children to be able to write them too, but if your child is still trying to recognise the sound for each letter, please focus on this first.
Camera Words: all, is, me, no, they, said
On each phonic bookmark there are 2 games. Now that 3 bookmarks have come home, hopefully you have 6 games to choose from. Please remember that we do expect the children to do regular phonic practise at least for a couple of ten minute sessions a week as part of their homework. Little and often is always best.
Well done to the following children who won the Golden Book Award this week (9th January).
1F- Gavin Lo
1L- Sophie Poon
1W- Travis Bennett
To do this week:
Activity- Practise using money.
At the flower market we do expect the children to be able to choose their flower, pay for it with money from their purse and take their change. For many children this will be one of their first time dealing with real money (after their trip to Peng Chau Post Office). Please take your child out to the supermarket or a small shop or market to practise what to do on the day. As with everything, the more the children practise new skills the easier each skill becomes.
