Foundation Unit

Reading

Over the past two weeks the Foundation students have thoroughly enjoyed reading texts about living things, in particular learning about the life cycles of plants and animals. They have been practising how to use different word solving strategies such as, get your mouth ready, look at the initial sound, use the pictures, stretch out the word and look for chunks. Students have also demonstrated their understanding of texts read, viewed and listened to, through their ability to make connections and summarise important information. 

Writing

To complement what we have been doing in Reading, students have been writing their own explanations of what living things need to survive, drawing detailed pictures of living things and labelling them as well as having a go at drawing diagrams of different life cycles and labelling those too. Students have particularly enjoyed making their own book titled, ‘Living Things’. Next week, students are going to create their own texts about a living thing of their choosing. The Foundation teachers have been very impressed with the growth that all students have made with their writing to date!

Speaking & Listening 

Show & Tell has been a hit recently with students demonstrating great enthusiasm when sharing their detailed pictures of animals and the knowledge they have gained about animal names and the collective nouns that are used to describe groups of animals. The Foundation teachers would like to thank parents for helping your child to come prepared and ready to speak in front of the class. 

Numeracy

Last week, the Foundation students enjoyed participating in various tasks, activities and games to build upon their knowledge of numbers. Students were naming, representing and ordering numbers from zero to at least 20 using physical materials. There was a particular focus on the ‘teen’ numbers and identifying the number that is ‘one less’ than a given number and the number that is ‘one more’. 

This week we have been learning about location and students have enjoyed describing the position and location of themselves and objects in relation to other people and objects within the classroom and out in the playground. They have been using language like ‘inside’, ‘underneath’ and ‘on top of’. 

We have also been revisiting patterns this week and students have been copying, continuing and creating their own patterns using objects, colours and shapes. In addition to this, we have been recognising and discussing repeating patterns that we use at home and at school in our daily activities that make tasks easier. For example, the routine we follow in the morning when we arrive at school to ensure we are ready to learn at 9am. 

Inquiry

The highlight of the last fortnight would have to be our visit from Wild Action this week! Students got to interact closely with a number of Australian animals and learn more about them and their life cycles as well as what we can do to help these animals. The Foundation students were extremely excited and very keen to share their knowledge with Tilly from Wild Action. We think we may have a few budding zoologists on our hands! 

Foundation Teachers

Libby Cannon (PLC), Courtney Lawrence (PCL)/Juliet Smith, Bree Smith (PBS)