From the Foundation Classroom
Boroondara Park Primary School
Welcome back everyone to our final term in Foundation! I hope you all had a restful break and managed to recharge your batteries!
Term 4 will be a fun, packed term! FKJ students will be doing lots of learning, which will get them ready for their next year in Grade One.
Subtraction in Foundation
This month in Foundation, we’ve taken a big step into the exciting world of subtraction! It’s a brand-new concept for many of our young learners, and we’ve been having lots of fun exploring it in creative and hands-on ways.
What is Subtraction?
Subtraction is all about taking away or figuring out how many are left. For example, if we start with 5 apples and eat 2, how many are left? (That’s right—3!) At this stage, we focus on concrete understanding, using real objects, visuals, and stories to make subtraction meaningful.
How We’re Learning:
We’ve been introducing subtraction with the help of:
- Counters – Taking away a few at a time to see what’s left. Playing the Subtraction Snake Game.
- Story Problems – “There were 4 ducks in the pond, and 1 swam away…”
- Finger Math – A helpful and familiar way to model small numbers.
- Songs & Rhymes – “Five Little Ducks” is a subtraction classic!
- Drawing Pictures on the iPad – Visualizing the problem helps us understand what’s happening.
- Playdough Smash - Students make 6 round balls of playdough and squish 2 to leave 4 balls.
Through these playful methods, students are learning that subtraction isn’t just about numbers—it’s about thinking, noticing, and problem-solving.
How You Can Help at Home:
You can support your child’s subtraction learning with simple everyday activities:
- Snack Math: “You had 6 grapes. You ate 2. How many are left?”
- Toy Clean-Up: “You picked up 4 cars. You had 7. How many are still out?”
- Books & Games: Look for stories or apps that include fun subtraction practice.
Why It Matters:
Understanding subtraction sets the stage for more complex math concepts later on. But more importantly, it helps children develop logical thinking and confidence in solving problems.
I’m so proud of the Foundation students for diving into subtraction with enthusiasm and curiosity. Keep practicing at home, and don’t be surprised if your child starts pointing out subtraction everywhere—they’re becoming little math detectives!
Coming up in the Foundation Classroom
Literacy:
This week in FKJ, our young writers are sharpening their descriptive writing skills with a fun and mysterious challenge! Each student is investigating an unseen mystery object hidden inside a fabric bag. Using their touch, smell, and hearing, students carefully explore the object to gather clues without seeing it first.
Together, the whole grade creates a Word Splash poster filled with descriptive words that capture the properties of the mystery object—words that describe how it feels, smells, or sounds. This rich vocabulary becomes the foundation for their writing. By the end of the activity, students use all the clues from the Word Splash to write about what they think the mystery object might be.
Next week, we’re diving into an exciting new mentor text: Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen. Students will connect their own experiences and knowledge to the story before investigating an important science question: What materials sink, and what materials float? Through hands-on experiments, they’ll test different objects in water and make predictions about which will sink or float.
Numeracy:
- Students are continuing to work on the new Numeracy concept of Subtraction
- Students will also be introduced to the Measurement of Mass. They will be discovering what objects in the classroom are heavy and light and will be using the skill of hefting.
Future Dates to remember..
20th October - Foundation Urban Upcycle incursion.
3rd November - Pupil Free Day
4th November - Melbourne Cup Day public holiday
10th November - whole school production
18th -24th November - Swimming Week. ***New Dates***
Lesson Time - 10:30am to 11:15am
Tuesday 18th November
Wednesday 19th November
Thursday 20th November
Friday 21st November
Monday 24th November
Each group will require one parent volunteer to attend on each day of the program to assist with bus transportation, student supervision and changing room duties. If you are free and able to support for any of your child's sessions, please make contact with me. You must have a current Working with Children Check and the BPPS volunteer induction must be completed.
Warm regards,
Miss Jones.
Team Foundation