Grade 1 - Letter 2 - 21-10-09

21st October 2009 ‫السلم عليكم و رحمة ا و بركاته‬ Dear Parents, The school timings for next week are as follows. Please bring your child promptly to their classroom at 7:00 a.m. for their registration period. There will be no assembly for grade one next week.

School Timings The school start and finishing times from Saturday 24th October onwards are: Saturdays to Tuesdays

: Start 7:00 a.m. – Finish 1:45 p.m.

Wednesdays

: Start 7:00 a.m. – Finish 1:05 p.m.

Collection Can any parent that has arranged to have his child taken home by bus or driver please ensure that the driver knows, and is able, to collect the children from their form classes. The form teachers need to stay in the classrooms with the children during the dismissal session and are unable to walk specific children to particular buses. Children of this age do need some assistance finding their way, especially in the first weeks. So we would like to suggest that for the first week (at least), someone comes and shows them exactly where to catch their bus. Alternatively if there is an older boy that you know of (and trust) in our school who travels on the same bus you may wish to ask him to collect your son from the classroom and guide him to the bus?

1

It is worth checking with the bus driver whether or not he’ll come to the class to collect your son as some don’t and some buses (for example the Aramco bus) are famous for leaving exactly on time even if they don’t have the full complement of students on board. Books We issued all the books that we had in stock earlier this week. If you haven’t already done so please label, cover and return them all to the class teacher first thing on Saturday morning. We will sort through these books and keep the heavier ones in the classroom and only send home those texts that are necessary for homework or review. As we mentioned previously, no-one received the full quota of textbooks. We have noted all those students who are missing specific books. There are more copies on order and as soon as they arrive they will be distributed, inshā’ Allāh. Information sheet and book list At the beginning of the week we sent home a letter requesting some student information, such as contact numbers, for our class records. If you haven’t yet returned it, please can you do so? If you didn’t receive a copy of the form, you may download a copy in the information request section of the class website. Can you also please also ensure that you’ve signed and returned the booklist that was sent home with the books to confirm their receipt, thank you? The English Language part of the Grade One Syllabus We delay the start of the full English Scott’s Foresman course by three weeks to accommodate an intensive phonics program. We have observed over the years that many students begin Grade One unable to recognise and identify phonics (letter sounds). This is a vital skill that needs to be mastered in order to develop strong reading skills. We have found it necessary that we review this

2

topic thoroughly before embarking upon the full English program as it makes the students stronger readers in the long term. Phonics, or letter sounds, are not to be confused with letter names. For example the letter B has the name bee but the sound it makes in isolation is more like buh. We will be uploading audio clips onto the class website to assist with the correct pronunciation of each sound, insha’ Allah. We recognise that there are some students who join the grade and are already confident in this area, however we ask parents of those children to bear with us and be patient, while we run through this course. We will start the full English course after we’ve completed our phonics program. Homework As the children are still adjusting to the school the homework will be introduced slowly and increase in amount as the course gets more involved. Starting from Saturday (24th October), and every Saturday thereafter, we will be sending home a homework schedule for each week. Website and Phonics We have created a very simple website to keep parents informed of what’s happening in the class and as a means of providing extra material that can be used at home as study aids. Next week we will begin our three-week intensive phonics program. We will be uploading each day’s phonics (letter sounds) onto the class website to allow students a means to practice listening and saying each sound. Please refer to phonics section of the site for more detailed information.

www.g1manarat.blogspot.com/ Class timetables We apologize for the delay in getting copies of the class timetable to you. There are some changes that are expected to be introduced over the weekend to

3

the timetable and we’re waiting for confirmation of these before we send copies home. Stationery Please can you ensure that your child comes to school every day equipped with the stationery he will need in class: A pencil, an eraser, a sharpener and colouring pencils. Children of this age frequently lose their belongings and so it is important that you regularly check to see if they still have these items in their bags. As an added measure you want to consider putting labels on their stationery items as it reduces the arguments of ownership when children have coincidentally bought the same brand. Copy Books / Exercise Books You should have all received a Manarat school bag by now. Inside these bags were some blank copy books/ exercise books for the children. We will not be using these in the class. You may keep them at home and use them for private practice. The course books and other materials that we have in school are sufficient, so please remove and keep at home these copy books. School Uniform The school should be supplying the children with a uniform at some point. Unfortunately we don’t have any information as to when exactly this will be issued. In the meantime can we please ask that you try to dress your child in dark coloured trousers and a white shirt or tennis-shirt (i.e. a collared t-shirt). The children may wear shoes or trainers but we ask that the children do not come to school wearing studded football/soccer boots as these damage and mark the floors. Thank you for your patience and assistance. Grade One Class Teachers

4