Reading with our Parents

Hi folks,

Here are a few pictures of some of the parents who've come in to read with our class over the past two weeks. It's been great to have so many of you in and the children have really enjoyed listening and responding to stories in English, Cantonese and Putongwa. I know that some of you will be visiting the class after the Easter holidays so I will add more pictures then.

Many thanks,

Mr. Meehan 

The 3 Little Pigs

Dear Parents/Guardians,

As part of your child's homework for the Easter holidays, I have asked that they practice retelling the story of The 3 Little Pigs. You will find more information about this in your child's handbook.

Below are some links to help your child develop their speech, particularly in terms of the sentence openers and vocabulary they should try to use. We have discussed this in class today, so hopefully your child has lots of fun telling you the story. Please encourage them to practice it in English and Chinese.

Kind regards,
Mr. Meehan

Some useful sentence openers
Once upon a time....                  First of all....                      After that....
After a while....                          Next....                             Just then....
Eventually....                             Suddenly....                        Finally....

Capital Letters & Full Stops

Dear Parents/Guardians,

This week we have been improving our use of capital letters and full stops when writing. Some of the homework your child has been given on Education City is relating to this. Please check the 'Comments' section on Education City for a more detailed outline of this.

Below are links to some interactive games from the BBC website which you may also want to try with your child.

Regards,
Mr. Meehan

Full Stops
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/magickey/adventures/hms_game.shtml

Capital Letters
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/magickey/adventures/lug_game.shtml 

Phonics & Spellings in Year 1

Dear Parents/Guardians,

As you are aware, Reception, Year 1A and Year 1B take part in three phonics sessions per week, with a mix of children from all three classes. You will also be aware that your child takes home 5-10 spellings per week given to them by their class teacher. These spellings are differentiated based on your child's spelling ability.

Having discussed this with Mr.Richardson, we have decided to be more consistent with the spellings that your child takes home and we would like for these to be more in line with what they are learning in Phonics. For example, if your child is learning the 'ar' sound in Phonics, they will receive spelling such as far, car, star, start etc. On Tuesday 8th April, your child will be given a new list of spellings to have learnt by the following Monday.

If you have any questions or concerns about this, please don't hesitate to contact me. You can email me at mrmeehan@think.edu.hk 

Regards,
Mr.Meehan

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Some useful links to help develop your child's spelling:
http://www.kidsspell.com/ 
http://primarygamesarena.com/spelling
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Earth Hour - Saturday 29th March - 8.30pm -9.30pm

On Saturday 29th March from 8.30pm to 9.30pm, people across the world will participate in Earth Hour. Hong Kong has been celebrating Earth Hour since 2009 and every year, dozens of iconic buildings and landmarks turn switch off their lights to conserve energy. Last year 2.8 million people in Hong Kong took part in the 'lights-off' event.

In 1B we have been talking about the reasons people celebrate Earth hour and the kind of things that we can do to look after our planet. The children were very knowledgeable about the types of things that they can do to conserve energy and look after their environment. We created some wonderful posters which will be displayed across the school. Well done boys and girls!

Our trip to the Toy Museum

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Here are some photographs taken during Year 1's trip to the Toy Museum.

- Can you identify the old/traditional toys and the new/modern toys?
- How are the toys similar/different?
- What materials are the toys made from?
- Do they have any movable parts?

Regards,
Mr. Meehan

Toys from the past

Hi folks,

Please find attached a very useful Powerpoint which we shared in class today. I encourage you to discuss this further with your child at home. Maybe you can both work together to find modern and traditional versions of the same toy.

Regards,
Mr. Meehan