Foundation (Prep)

Welcome Back It's Term 4 !

Welcome back to a wonderful, busy, and exciting final term of the year! Our Preps have returned with big smiles, ready to dive into all the fun learning adventures we have planned for Term 4. As we step into the last term of their first year of school, the children are continuing to grow in confidence, independence, and capability across all areas of the curriculum. Thank you so much for your ongoing support, partnership, and enthusiasm at home. We are looking forward to a fantastic, memory-filled Term 4 with our amazing Prep students!

English

Welcome back to a wonderful final term of the year! Our Preps have grown by leaps and bounds, and Term 4 brings an exciting new chapter in their writing journey as they transition into more independent writing and storytelling.

This term, our young authors are stepping up their skills with a focus on creativity, independence, and adding exciting details to their work. Students are beginning to write short stories all on their own, using their growing knowledge of story structure and imagination. We continue to practice how to start our sentences with capital letters and finish them correctly with full stops, recognising where thoughts begin and end. To make our writing sparkle, we are learning how to use adjectives, detail to bring characters and settings to life (e.g., turning "a cat" into "a fluffy, sleepy cat"). We continue to practice our single and double letter sounds and articulating them correctly, during our shared and independent writing sessions. Students are confidently using all their learned sounds to spell, and build simple sentences.

Students are practising their tricky words daily and are encouraged to refer to them on our word trees in the classrooms when writing.

Mathematics

Our Prep students have been developing their mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills further this term through hands-on investigations of capacity, addition and subtraction.

The students have been learning that capacity is the amount a container can hold. Through practical activities using materials such as sand and water, they have been comparing containers to determine which holds more, less or about the same amount. They have also been developing the language to describe whether a container is full, empty or half-full.

Our young mathematicians have enjoyed predicting which container is the biggest or which one will hold the most material, before testing their predictions. They have been pouring from one container into another to investigate whether the contents overflow, fit exactly or leave some empty space. The students are also learning that measuring needs to befair and consistent. When using informal units of measurement, they are practising filling a scoop to the same level each time—for example, using a level scoop rather than a heaped scoop—or using the same-sized scoop for each measurement. They are carefully counting how many scoops are needed to fill a container and learning that we need to use the same informal unit when measuring and comparing different containers.

Alongside capacity, our Prep students have been exploring numbers. The children have practised adding and subtracting. They have also made number posters, finding smaller numbers inside bigger numbers.

Inquiry

Our Prep students have been learning about our five senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch—and discovering how our senses help us gather information and make sense of the world around us. We have also been exploring weather and thinking about how it influences what we do each day and what we choose to wear. Students have enjoyed observing changes in the weather and identifying patterns across different days and seasons.

As young scientists, our students are beginning to learn about the different tools used to observe, record and measure weather. Through discussions and practical activities, they have been developing their ability to make observations and use simple scientific vocabulary to describe what they notice. It has been wonderful to see the students' curiosity and enthusiasm as they ask questions, share their ideas and make connections between their learning and the world around them.

Grandparents/Special Persons Day

It was a pleasure to invite grandparents and student's special people to spend some time at school with us. The theatre was filled with loved ones to see the student performance organised by Mrs Bailey. We were incredibly proud of the prep students bravely taking to the stage for a performance in front of such a large audience. It was lovely hearing the students reflect on how nervous they were and that they felt proud that they were able to perform in front of their families. When we returned to the classroom, Prep Z listened to the story Room on the Broom while Prep C listened to Winnie the Witch. In both stories the main character was a witch so the children then had fun making their own witches with their families.

Prep Afternoon Tea

This week, the prep students participated in the first year of their ACPS camp program. The children stayed back after school for afternoon tea. We would like to thank the Parents & Friends committee for preparing delicious snacks for everyone to enjoy. As a part of the special afternoon, we had Professor Bunsen visit to talk to us about forces (push and pull). There were lots of hands on activities to explore and plenty of squeals and laughter as we watched some of the experiments. Before heading home, we went back to the classroom to enjoy a story and make our own paper craft astronauts. It was a wonderful day. The preps were asking about the tables set up for the Grade 1 and 2 dinner and many sounded like they were already looking forward to the longer experience that next year will bring.