Junior School News

Welcome To Junior School! 

So welcome to new Year 1 students who have joined us in Junior School this year. It is wonderful to make a whole lot of new friends. 

Welcome back to all Year students! We have missed you and so pleased to see you all excited and ready to learn new things this year. 

In Junior School, we are so excited to welcome a new teacher to our school - Mrs Abbie Adams who is teaching Junior B. I am sure you have seen her around or met on Zoom in our virtual classroom. Please make her welcome at KPS and take the time to get to know her. Did you know that Mrs Adams has a dog? Or that she likes to read Harry Potter? Hmmmm, I wonder what secrets you can find out about Mrs Adams. 

We welcome Ms Hubbard back to Junior School and she is so excited to see all her Junior School friends from last year and get to know so many new little people. 

Our Learning So Far.....

We have been so busy in Junior School and hit the ground running this year. We have done testing for Maths, Reading, Writing and Spelling! The students have been demonstrating amazing resilience while we did all the start of the year diagnostic tests. 

Reading: We have been working hard in reading. We have been filling our book boxes with awesome things to read in class. We have also been starting to take home our Take Home books to read, however, sometimes the students forget to change their book or bring their diaries home, so please remind them at home if you end up with the same book several days in a row! 

Spelling: We did a massive Magic words test aimed to test all the words that students have passed last year. Each student has been given their 'catch up word list' and the next list of words to work on. In Junior School we read the first 100 words then go back and learn to spell them. Your child will have reading or spelling written on their Magic word list so you know what they are doing. The catch up word list is for spelling words. Please make sure your child practises reading or spelling these words each night. The Magic words are made up of the most commonly used words and when children can spell these automatically it really makes the writing process so much easier for them......so keep practising! 

Maths: In Maths we have been looking at patterns, odd and even numbers and skip counting by 2's, 5's and 10's. You can help your child by playing a simple, 'I am thinking of a number' game. They are not allowed to guess and can only ask you yes or no questions. It is a lot of fun! You can also encourage your child to skip count by 2's, 5's or 10's when you are next out walking, skip count on each step. 

Last week the weather was gorgeous so we went outside to do some Maths learning. We made amazing patterns all over the basketball court with coloured chalk. Take a look at the photos:

Inquiry

We have been looking at healthy eating and considering what sort of foods can be classified as 'Green', 'Amber' and 'Red'. In remote learning this week we took a look at home to see what foods we have in the cupboard and fridge. Sadly it was decided that Ms Hubbard's favourite chocolate cake was a red food 😢  Take a look at what Will from Junior A found in his kitchen.....

Homework

In Junior School we do not have a lot of homework. However there is an expectation that students will read for at least 10 minutes every day and also practise their Magic words. It is preferable for your child to read to an adult, however if your child is in Year 2, they can read to themselves. Please check in with what they are reading and ask them some comprehension questions like the below. This will help them comprehend what they are reading too. Great readers are always inquiring and asking questions about what they have just read.

• Who is the main character?
• What is the problem in the story?
• What do you think will happen next?
• Tell me what has happened in the story so far? 
• Non fiction books - tell me a fact you learned in this book.
• How does this book connect to your life or the world around you? 

When your child has read, please write the title of the book in their diary on the date you read it. It is important you have signed their reading as well. This is usually checked every day at school. If your child is in the LLI program, they will get a new book and homework 3 nights per week. The book they read with you counts as your reading for that night, just add it to their diary. You can read other books as well if you like. 

Year 2 students will take home some extra phonics and maths homework. This should take around 15 minutes to complete. It goes home on a Wednesday and back to school the next Monday. Year 1 will start this in Term 3. 

Dates to Note:

Monday March 1st - Curriculum Day

Monday March 8th - Labour Day Holiday

Thursday April 1st - End of Term 1

Friday April 2nd - Good Friday