Prep News

Important Reminders!

All important dates and events are on our Compass Calendar, please check the calendar regularly to stay up to date!

Students are required to bring their take-home bags to school daily. This will be used for notices, sending home student work and take-home books once we start our at-home reading program.
School Tools - books have been sent home this week. Inside the book you will find letters/words for your child to practise at home. We encourage students to practise reading these words every day.
PMP -Every Tuesday, prep students have PMP. On this day, we ask for the girls not to wear tights as it is not safe to participate in these. It would also be great if you could get your child to practise taking off and putting on their socks and shoes so they can do this independently and efficiently.

At the end of Term 1, the Preps participated in their first Cross Country. We were so proud of their efforts and we congratulate all of them for participating!

What a wonderful end of term celebration we had! Everyone looked amazing in their hats and it was terrific to see the time and effort everyone put in to make such creative hats. We would also like to congratulate the preps for performing in front of the whole school, they all did splendidly.

Learning in Action

Literacy: Students have learned about non-fiction books. We looked at the difference between fiction, noting that non-fiction books tell facts and can be read in any order to learn new information. Linking into our Inquiry unit on Geography, students read a non-fiction text about Earth, maps and where people live e.g. house, apartment, farm and boathouse. Students continued to work on their reading decoding by sounding out words. Each student was provided with a reading goal to work towards.

Preview - Students will continue working on their reading decoding skills and goals. The continuous blending strategy will be introduced. Students will read non-fiction books with a focus on learning information from the pictures.

Maths: Over the past week, students have learnt about the numbers 7, 8 and 9. We have started a new unit focusing on location and transformation, where students are learning about location words such as next to, beside, under and on. We will use these to describe an object’s positions and follow directions.

This week, students were introduced to our Maths Masters Program. Students will have an individual Maths Masters goal and will have the opportunity to practise this goal most days.

Preview- Next week we will continue to focus on making groups of ten by building towers of 10 with unifix blocks.

Inquiry:Students are exploring what it means to be a part of a community. We've worked together to define it as a group of people who belong together, sharing common interests or goals. Students also discussed examples of a community they belong to, like our school community (LPS) and other groups they're part of, such as sports teams or church.

Students then personalised a template, drawing themselves in the centre and their communities on either side. We then shared our work with a partner to encourage communication and a sense of belonging.

Preview - Students will continue to expand their knowledge of communities.

Wellbeing:We're excited to begin our Friendology Program. In recent wellbeing sessions, we've begun focusing on fostering healthy friendships. Our latest objective was teaching students to treat themselves like a best friend.

Through activities and discussions, we've encouraged self-compassion and self-care practices. By nurturing kindness towards themselves, we aim to lay a solid foundation for positive relationships with others.

If you would like to look further into Friendology, view this handout: https://urstrong.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/About-URSTRONG.pdf

You can also activate your parent membership and become a Friendship Coach!: https://urstrong.com/parents/

Curious Corner

We're thrilled to announce the Term 2 redesign of Curious Corner! This term, we're diving into the heart of our community for inspiration, creating an immersive environment where children can explore various roles and professions.

Here's a sneak peek of what awaits your child: Police station, Doctors & Vet Clinic, Cafe, Grocery Store, School and a Sensory Sand Garden.

We're excited to announce that children will get to explore this exciting new space by around week 2 of this term. Through imaginative play and hands-on experiences, we aim to ignite curiosity and deepen understanding of the world around us.

Preview- Next fortnight we aim to have this space complete and have classes visit!

Exciting times ahead in STEM!

We are thrilled to share some exciting updates about our STEM program! As we continue to inspire and empower our students to explore the wonders of these vital fields, we are reaching out to our wonderful community for support.

Your generosity has always been instrumental in helping us provide enriching educational experiences for our students, and we are once again asking for your support to ensure the success and sustainability of our STEM initiatives.

Your support makes a significant difference to our students' learning opportunities and the success of our STEM program. Here are a few ways you can contribute:

Opportunities to help:

Donations of Timber/Wood, appropriate for construction E.g. Billy Cart bases or other small vehicles.
If you own or are a part of a company or business who would be willing to sponsor our engineering program.
If you have connections with hardware stores/companies, helping us to make contact in order to obtain suitable engineering resources.
If you have any household STEM-related materials such as; plastic bottles, milk bottle lids, masking tape, balloons, wooden skewers, plastic or paper cups, unwanted CD’s or DVD’s, Aluminium Foil please drop them off outside the STEM room.
Construction Crew: If you're handy with tools and have some basic experience in woodwork or mechanics, we would be delighted to have your help in the upcoming terms to assist with our Grade 6 Science and Engineering program. Please email sophiechamberlain@lysterfieldps.com or melissaadams@lysterfieldps.com

Thank you for your continued support,

Melissa Adams & Sophie Chamberlain

STEM Leaders

Lysterfield Primary School