We hope that everyone had a well-rested mid-term break, and that we are ready to have a jam-packed remainder of term one!

This week’s theme was filled with many different discussions about our unique families. This is so true; everyone has their very own interesting and wonderful family that we all love and care for. The Squad had so much fun telling their friends about their aunts and uncles, cousins, pets, grandparents and so forth.

Writing and Phonics: The next three letters that were focused on this week were Ss, Tt and Uu. We like to introduce the phonics by playing a game and this week the children had to go around and see how many words they could say that starts with that sound. We were pleased and impressed that they were able to say so many! We then asked the children to focus on their letter formation and we do this by getting the children to write on their white boards and then take what they have learnt, and practice it in their lined books. They are really getting the hang of writing independently. Well done Smart Squad!

Maths: Last week we introduced basic addition and the concept of counting on from a number. So, for example, we have two apples in the basket, and we bought 3 more which means that we have a total of 5 items in our basket. We then extended this by moving on to addition to 10 items. The Squad are working hard to grasp this concept and once they have it, it will be much easier for them to add later in the year. To assist with the lesson, the Squad used a visual aid to practice their addition by using little squares or blocks. It is great to add different aids when introducing difficult concepts so that all types of learners can learn in a way that suits them.

Life Skills: Honesty is the best policy! The Squad really loved learning this little saying to help with the moral conscious theme of the week. We had a great discussion on lies and how it is always better to tell the truth because lies get bigger and bigger until we cannot handle them anymore. The analogy of how snow gathers down a hill was used to help the kiddies understand how serious lies can get.

Art: Since the week was a short one, we have decided to combine our art over two weeks and create a wonderful masterpiece for the Squad to take home. We did however create our very own family tree, where the children drew their unique family members in different circles and then enjoyed telling their teachers who they are and how much fun they have with that person. We have added this worksheet into our ‘Book of Me’ pile and this will be displayed at the end of the year at Graduation. We cannot wait for you to see this wonderful surprise!

Sight Words: look, at, me, in, here, on, she, he, the

 It has been a lovely week, see you all on Monday.

Our Smart Squad Family !