Welcome to Flanagan

Dear Families of Flanagan,

My name is Mrs Louise Hurst, and along with Ms Karyn Best, welcome back to school for term 2, 2021.
This term will be a little longer than most at 11 weeks but, fortunately, we have a couple of public holidays for ANZAC Day and WA Day in weeks 2 and 8.  So far Term 2 will include homereaders, parent help, school photos and end of semester reports.  Please check your emails regularly for notices on CONNECT.

I am married with two teenage boys, have lived in Kalgoorlie for more than ten years and although we are blow-ins from over East, I cannot imagine living anywhere else. 

Kalgoorlie is a wonderful community of diverse and interesting people.
As a graduate, I began my teaching career last year as a relief teacher around Kalgoorlie after being an education assistant for 9 years (mostly at NKPS).  It is a privilege to be in my new role as classroom teacher in Flanagan at the school that I know best. With guidance from the admin and pre-primary teams (and other ECE colleagues in the Goldfields), I will provide your child with daily opportunities to play, learn and grow according to their needs in a happy, supportive and fun environment.

Term 2 Timetable

Our daily lesson routine

Literacy Block:
1. Introduction (e.g. Letter/sound song, activity or game)
2. Explicit teaching (e.g. focusing on letter/sound recognition, reading strategies, writing etc.)
3. Literacy rotations (e.g. 5 small groups, 1 works with the teacher on an English focus area, 1 group works with EA .
4. Conclusion/revising activity.
 
Maths Block:
1. Introduction (e.g. Number song, mental maths activity or game)
2. Explicit teaching on focus area/topic
3. Learning activities (predominately rotations-e.g. 1 group working with teacher, one group working with EA and three independent groups participating in various math activities that have been previously modelled.
4.Conclusion/revising activity.

Videos we have been learning with in Flanagan

This is a gentle song and video with plenty of supporting visuals all about numbers. 

Here is a catchy tune and video that can help your child develop their knowledge of letters and sounds. We have been doing it in Flanagan, and we love it. 

FLANAGAN PHOTO GALLERY

Images taken by some of our future photographers using our classroom iPads.

Reading with your child every night is enjoyable and valuable.  Term 1 home reading was the 'comprehension' book that has the 'speech' label on the front cover.  Inside the front cover are instructions on how to support your child's oral comprehension as well as recommended questions for 4-5 year olds on some of the pages.  These books will continue to be sent home on Fridays with your child's chosen library book.

​

Home reading will begin mid-way through term two when your child is believed to be ready both academically and emotionally. This is critical as we do not want to discourage students from being confident to read by overwhelming them. Home readers will be changed on Tuesdays so please help your child to remember their homework bag (probably the tartan one with two zippers).

To support your child's learning at school, a decodable home reader will be in their homework bag along with their letters/sounds and word lists. Home reading is a valuable opportunity for your child to practice reading skills learned at school. It is also a time for your child to build their confidence and fluency; for this reason, your child’s home reading book will be at a manageable reading level and will increase in difficulty as your child’s ability progresses. They may also bring home the same book on a number of occasions. When reading with your child, you may like to follow these steps in supporting them:

1. Look through the book and create a story together which matches the pictures.

2. Read the story to your child.

3. Ask your child to read the story to you. Discuss the story with your child. What was their favourite part? What happened 1st 2nd etc. What do you think might happen next?

 
Things to remember:

1. Please continue to read your child a range of texts as this not only exposes them to various text types but you are an import role model for reading.

2. Talk with your child about which are words, pictures and letters. Children need to be taught the difference between these.

3. Most words can be read by sounding them out, however some words will have an unfamiliar sound/letter correspondence that must be practiced eg the: 'th' will be a known sound but the 'e' is the tricky part and will become familiar with practice.

4. Celebrate their successes and encourge practice to make progress!

Following is a simple graphic that explains

how to support your child with their reading.

Start of the Year PowerPoint Presentation