September 2nd 2013 . Dear Parents, Welcome back everybody after the summer and hopefully it as a rela!

in" break for all# $ere are some notes and reminders hich may be helpful at this time before e start our school year. Please keep this note safe as it is relevant for the rest of the year.

Reading in Senior Infants. %ormal readin" be"ins in Senior &nfants. We have 6 formal readers to be completed this year from the %olens 'eadin" (one readin" scheme. )his ork ill be covered in school ith additional home ork at relevant times on the vocabulary. &n school readin" is tau"ht formally by teachin" the children a mi!ture of readin" skills. )hese include breakin" do n ords usin" phonics *letter sounds+, learnin" the ords by si"ht especially common or basic ords, lookin" at ord families and rhymin" ords or lookin" at clues in the sentences. ,ou can e!pect to find a ne ord all in your child-s readin" folder from time to time as e ork our ay throu"h these books this year. ,ou can monitor your child-s pro"ress by playin" "ames and testin" these ords at home .ll children learn ho to read at different speeds and in different ays. .t this sta"e it is still very important that they en/oy books and see readin" as a orth hile activity.

 Parallel Readers We ill continue ith the parallel readers at home this year. ,our child is not e!pected to be able to read these books independently at this time. .t this sta"e some children ill en/oy havin" the book read to them, some ill be reco"nisin" common si"ht ords that they see over and over a"ain, some ill be tryin" to "uess ords by lookin" at clues, some are usin" their phonics and soundin" out the ords some children are readin" the books themselves. Please si"n your child-s list every ni"ht so that a ne may be "iven. book

& plan to or"anise paired readin" ith an older class that the children ill have a chance to read these books a"ain in school in the mornin"s. Writing in Senior infants 0ur aim this year is to build on the pre1 ritin" and ritin" skills developed in 2unior &nfants so that the children ill be independent riters by the end of the year and ready for first class# Pre1 ritin" skills included learnin" ho to hold the pencil correctly, spirals, 3i" 3a" lines, anti1clock ise circles, do n1strokes and early attempts to rite letters. .ll of the lo er case letters ere tau"ht last year and the capital letters are introduced soon in Senior &nfants. At this stage every child should be able to write all of the lower case letters correctly. We are revising all of these letters at the moment and it is a really important time to correct any letters hich are formed incorrectly so that habits are not formed as e rite more and more ords every day. & usually encoura"e the children to rub out and correct the letters themselves each time one is formed the ron" ay.

&n class e ill be ritin" every day pro"ressin" from copyin" simple sentences to developin" the confidence to rite sentences of their o n at the end of the year. &t is important to revise the sounds of all the letters so that your child can use appro!imate spellin" to rite some ords from memory.

Homework in Senior Infants )his ill include a parallel reader each ni"ht as before and in the last term a home ork ritin" diary. )here ill be a note to follo about the ord alls from the formal readers. .lso be"innin" in 4ovember the class ill have 10 simple ords to learn every eek. )hese are taken from our spellin" scheme called Spellbound. )here ill be a note e!plainin" all of this to follo after $allo een. P. !ays 0ur tracksuit days this year are Wednesday and %riday. Parent"#eacher $eetings Parent5teacher meetin"s ill be held this year in 2anuary5%ebruary. . note ill follo about this nearer the time. %.&' (ollection. &n Senior &nfants the class kno to ait at the indo sill ith me if they cannot see the person ho is supposed to collect them. )hey kno not to alk a ay from the indo to ards the "ates unless they see this person. Please remind your child every no and then about this in case they for"et# )arley .fter 6hristmas %arley, our class bear ill come for a sleepover in every child-s home for t o ni"hts. &nformation about hat to do ith %arley ill follo .

 )ruit *reak and #reats 2ust a reminder that e have a 7 minute fruit break every day at about 10 o clock here the class can eat a piece of fruit. )his is separate from small break so your child ill need somethin" small for small break too. )he class are only allo ed to brin" in treats on %ridays and there is no need to brin" in treats for other children. Please note that yo"urts and frubes are not allo ed in school. +ost Pro,erty Please remember to label everythin" belon"in" to your child. &f there is somethin" that & find that & cannot find an o ner for & usually leave it in the indo so that it may be seen and hopefully claimed. )his is really important as it "ets colder and hats, scarves and "loves ill be brou"ht into school# .s al ays if you have any 8ueries or concerns, please contact me or call into the classroom, 9ind 'e"ards, :s. ;racken