Foundation in Focus 

Welcome back to school for Term 2! It was lovely to see so many smiling faces at our doors Tuesday morning and to hear all about your holiday adventures. 

This term in Foundation...

Reading and Phonics

In reading, students will continue to use the ‘Lips the Fish’ and ‘Stretchy Snake’ decoding strategies, along with ‘Chunky Monkey’ - looking for chunks in words, ‘Flippy Dolphin’ - trying an alternative vowel sound and ‘Syllable Sam’ - breaking words into syllables. 

As students become exposed to more texts, a focus will be placed on comprehension and understanding - before, during and after reading. Students will learn to retell/summarise stories, make connections, make predictions and inferences, visualise and ask questions. 

We use the Jolly Phonics program alongside Cued Articulation to learn the letter names, formation and sounds. Students will continue to consolidate their knowledge of letters and sounds of the alphabet as well as learning digraphs including /sh/, /th/ and /ch/. 

Students are encouraged to share their reader every night and write the title in their journal to communicate with their teacher. We encourage you to talk to your child as you read together. 

Writing

This term we will be learning to write a recount and a procedure using the appropriate structure. We will also be learning about the 6+1 Traits of Writing - ideas, organisation, word choice, voice, sentence fluency, conventions and presentation. Students will investigate how they can use these traits to improve their writing.

Students are encouraged to sound out words and have a go at recording the sounds they hear. Remember - practice makes progress and mistakes help us learn!

Students will continue to use different mediums such as chalk, glitter and shaving cream to form letters. We will encourage correct pencil grip, seating position, staying focused and doing our personal best. 

Speaking and Listening

This term Foundation students will be focusing on;

• Sharing thoughts and feeling
• Rhyming patterns
• Alliteration
• Syllables 
• Short oral presentations

We also continue to display focused listening skills, using the 5 Ls of Listening. 

These are:

Lips - My lips are closed

Legs - My legs are crossed and still

Laps - My hands are still and in my lap

Look - I am looking at the person who is speaking

                                                  Listen - I am listening to the person who is speaking

Numeracy

Throughout Term Two the Foundation students will focus on place value, patterns, data

 collection, addition and subtraction. They will be immersed in open ended tasks and engaged in problem solving and hands-on learning. Tasks will be differentiated to cater for all learning goals and needs. We encourage parents to practice counting and telling the time with their children.    

Weekly focus: 

Inquiry

Our Inquiry unit this term is ‘Sustaining Our World’ which will have students understand the conditions required for sustaining the environment in order to better care for the world around them.

They will learn all about the conditions required to sustain living things, how changing seasons impact on living things and sustainable actions to care for the environment.

Each grade has been allocated a garden plot in our HEPS community garden. Students will be growing their own plants and vegetables to help learn about sustainability.

Towards the end of this term all Foundation students will have an excursion to Blackburn Lake Sanctuary to understand the value of bushland, how to maintain a sustainable environment and bring together all we have learnt throughout the term. We will need two parent helpers per class for this activity. 

Specialist Classes

FA Tuesday Art and Japanese, Thursday PE and Music 

FB Tuesday PE and Music, Wednesday STEAM, Thursday Art 

FC Tuesday Music and STEAM, Thursday PE and Art

FD Tuesday STEAM and PE, Thursday Music, Friday Art 

FE Tuesday Japanese and Art, Thursday Music and PE

Please wear comfortable running shoes on PE days. 

Specialist Teachers

Music and Performing Arts - Ms Austin 

Japanese - Miss Pond

Visual Arts - Mrs Mountford and Mrs Hayes 

Health and Physical Education -Mr Hodgson

STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) – Mrs Dennis 

Library - classroom teachers take this class

Important Dates

Thursday 5th May - HEPS Cross Country

23 - 27th May Education Week

Tuesday 24th May - Literacy Multi-Age Day

Wednesday 25th May - School Photos

Thursday 26th May - Open night book fair

Friday 27th May - Education week assembly

Sustainability Excursion to Blackburn Lake (Date TBC) 

Please note - Anyone holding a current concession or health care card are entitled to CSEF (Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund).  Application forms are on Compass or in the iNewsletter. The forms can be printed in several different languages if required.

Monday 13th June - Queen's Birthday Public Holiday

End of term: Friday 24th June - 2:30pm dismissal

Parent/Teacher Communication

We look forward to continuing to strengthen our home and school relationships through regular communication. 

Please use the @heathmonteastps.vic.edu.au email address to communicate with your child’s teacher. 

We are looking forward to a fabulous Term 2, full of rich learning, exciting experiences and amazing attitudes!

Thank you for all your support, 

Brogan, Sally, Emily, Kristen, Becky and Kate