International Dot Day!

   

Tuesday, September 15

The Busy Bees have joined over 21 million children and adults around the globe in 196 countries to celebrate International Dot Day – a grass roots “creativity and courage” movement, started in 2009 by a teacher in Iowa. Inspired by New York Times best-selling author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds’ classic storybook for all ages The Dot. Exploring the themes of creativity, bravery and self-expression, The Dot is a story of a perceptive and caring teacher who reaches a reluctant student who thinks she can’t draw by encouraging her be brave enough to “just make a mark and see where it takes you.” What begins with a small dot on a piece of paper becomes a breakthrough in confidence and courage, igniting a journey of self-discovery and sharing, which has gone on to inspire countless children and adults around the globe to just give something a try.

Today, we celebrated The Dot by reading the story and discussing the author's message. Then we went on to make our mark and created our own dots to show how we are all unique and special. It is ok to try your best and your best is all we are asking for! This has been our message as we start Grade 1; a growth mindset with our Cupcake Work and continuing to try our best with positivity and risk taking in what we attempt to do as we learn.

The author also created a little song to go along with the book and we listened while we worked.

Here are some of our own dots from our activity!

Let's all give it a go and try our best in Grade 1!

You never know what may happen from just a little dot!

Cupcake Work!

Cupcake work you may ask? What is that?

Well Mrs. Herbert showed us all some cupcakes today to pick which one we would like to enjoy! They were decorated like bee hives with yellow icing and special sprinkles and little bees to go with our Busy Bee classroom theme. We were excited to pick the one all decorated with the extra things!

However there were many no one picked! These ones weren't as nice. One was burnt to a crisp, black and hard as a rock. No one wanted that one! And there was one with no icing, and one that was sort of sloppy and one with no sprinkles or bee decorations. Why didn't people want these ones?

Well when Mrs. Herbert asked the class, they said they wanted the ones with all the good things on it that make them extra special That makes complete sense!

This week, we will read this poem to solidify what picking that cupcake really meant...

I looked at all the cupcakes,

Sitting on the plate so fine,

And I wondered and I thought a bit,

“Now which one will be mine?”

Our teacher made them for us,

With gooey frosting spread with care,

Covered with coloured sprinkles,

Topped with sweet bee wear.

But one just didn’t look so good,

It was burnt and small and round,

With a tiny smudge of frosting,

But no sweet treats were found.

No one picked this cupcake,

‘Cause it really was a mess.

Of all the decorated treats,

This one was not the best.

Our teacher noticed no one ate it

And asked us all, “Why not?”

We told her that of all the treats,

This one didn’t look so hot!

“I see,” she said, “On this one,

I did not do my best.”

This one did not measure up,

It did not pass your test!

You didn’t want a cupcake,

That I didn’t make with care.

When handing finished work my way

Show me, that you really care.

I don’t want to see your work

Until you’ve done your best.

Work neatly and carefully,

Work hard to pass my test.

Then I will want to choose your work

To show to everyone,

And you will be so proud of

The fine ‘cupcake’ work you’ve done!

So now you see that this very special lesson went right along with explaining how Grade 1 works. We will be learning how levels work and that trying our best is what we always want. Sometimes we might try our very best and our best might be a level 1 or 2 and that's ok. Mrs. Herbert is here to help. As long as their best effort is given. No burnt cupcakes for us!!

Welcome to our classroom where our best work is not a burnt cupcake. We try our best, with our positive attitude! And of course, we ate our yummy cupcake but here are some photos from our special activity...

Grade 1 Self Portraits

We worked some 'magic' this last week in art and completed a self portrait with some special assistance from what we called MAGIC (tracing) paper in Grade 1. Students completed these amazing drawings of themselves and we have them up at school. Can you guess who is who?

SPCS on Social Media!

Did you know that you can access information about school happenings on Facebook? There are two sources of information for families:

South Perth Centennial Public School

This page is run by the school staff with information shared about school events & information, a way to see what we are learning and any school board information to share. Follow this page to stay in the loop. It is a newer page that was created with our new school admin but will be a great source of info throughout the year. Similarly, we have an Instagram account as well that will have similar posts if you have an Instagram account.   

South Perth Centennial School Parent Group

The is run by our School Council parent volunteers to post about information, upcoming event reminders, etc. Feel free follow this page as one more source of information and a way to connect with other parents of our school! 

Reminder that all are welcome to join in with our School Council meetings to help make decisions going forward with our school community. The first meeting of the year will be Monday, September 28 @ 6:30pm in the school library. Meetings are scheduled one per month throughout the school year. We would love for you to join us and share your ideas! 

Our Class Agreements

As we settle in to our Busy Bee classroom, we would like to share with you the classroom agreements we discussed and focused on during our first week of Grade 1. We have been following these agreements and are learning the expectations and routines in our class based on these.

Our class agreements are posted in our classroom so they are easy to reference and bee themed, just like us!

We use these to help guide our day and make good choices in all that we think and do. We know that sometimes we don't make the right choice but are learning to take ownership and show integrity. We know that we can make up for it and do better the next time. We also get rewarded for making good choices too! We can BEE great!!

Our First Week In The Busy Bee Classroom!

We are so excited to be in the Busy Bee classroom! We have had a fantastic but short week getting to know each other and jump into new learning for Grade 1!

These are some things we have done this week:

• met some new friends 
• got to know one another
• practiced writing numbers we know
• started to learn about repeating patterns
• started to learn how to create a tally chart
• started a spelling test to see what words we know
• started our reading centers
• wrote about our first day of school
• did some colouring
• learned the classroom rules
• learned how to keep our classroom tidy after play time
• met Mrs. Herbert, Mrs. Stemmler and Mrs. Gillis
• learned some of the routines in Grade 1
• learned the magical 'yet' word and the swear word ‘I can’t’
• learned that mistakes are ok and proof we are trying
• started some art we are excited to share soon

We are excited to be together as Busy Bees and look forward to all the new fun and interesting things we are going to learn to do!

What a great week we have had and what a positive mindset to start our school year off!

Fall Into Reading - Scholastic Book Orders

Scholastic's Digital Flyers are now available for September & October! Click on the image above to take you to each digital flyers. As you click on items, it will load the online shopping link to be able to add items to your cart instantly. Remember at checkout to apply the Grade 1 Busy Bee Class Code RC192592 to add rewards to our class resource account.

A paper copy of the flyer will come home to browse through as well. However, we share on the blog as well in case that paper copy gets replaced or extended family would like to place an order. All ordering is completed online and sent directly to your home or to the school. If you require any help, please let me know. Happy to help get books into little people's hands in any way possible to find a love of reading. 

Orders are due: October 2, 2026

Happy reading!!