Foundation News
Reading
This fortnight in Reading, the Foundation students focused on high frequency words, including and, for, the, is, and my. Students reviewed the words as they played games to match a word to a movement during class read alouds. The Foundation cohort also practised identifying high frequency words while playing bingo to recognise reading these key words. Students have also been identifying the sounds they hear in the high frequency words in the same way they identify the sounds during phonics lessons!
“This is the front” - Willow FA
“This is the back of the book” - Aliyah FA
“If you sit on a book, it can break” - Hussain FB
“You need to hold it with two hands” - Ashwyn FB
Writing
In Writing, the Foundation students learned that verbs are action words that tell us what is happening. Through pictures, sentences and class discussions, students practised identifying verbs and explaining how they knew which word showed the action. The Foundation students enjoyed acting out verbs and sharing their own examples with a partner. Students combined what they learned about nouns with their introduction to verbs in sentences to describe everyday actions.
“The i has a dot on it” - Alex FA
“Look I wrote it by myself” - Gurbaaz FA
“I can write the letter a” - Hussain FB
“I did it!” - Amara FB
Maths
The Foundation students learned how numbers can be represented in different ways by matching numerals, number words, pictures and tens frames. They practised their subitising skills by quickly recognising dot patterns without counting one by one and recreating them using counters. Students were also introduced to estimating as they made sensible, close guesses and checked their thinking by counting collections. The Foundation cohort explored how to partition numbers to 10 through games such as The 10 Drop.
“That’s easy! It’s 3!” - Mia FA
“There’s eight!” - Zayne FA
“You put four next to one and it makes 5” - Taner FB
“I can count fast” - River FB
Inquiry
In Inquiry, students explored the importance and meaning of names by sharing stories about how their own names were chosen. The Foundation cohort viewed images of naming ceremonies and watched How I Got My Name as they discussed why names are special and how they connect to family and culture. Students also reflected on the story behind their name and shared their drawings and name cards to show how they have grown and changed over time.
“I’m going to draw my tower” - Alex FA
“This is mom, this is dad, this is me” - Jai FA
“I draw my toys” - Amara FB
“I’m going to draw Timezone” - Thomas FB
Social and Emotional Learning
This fortnight, the Foundation students reviewed different emotions by naming the feelings they know. Students participated in an “Emotional Orchestra”, using sounds and actions to express feelings such as happy, sad, angry, and excited. Through discussion and song, the Foundation students explored how emotions feel in our bodies and what we can do when we feel frustrated. Students also discussed how they can show resilience by being open to trying new things and asking for help.
“I get sad if someone’s not being nice to me” - Willow FA
“I get upset when someone pushes me” - Taner FB
“This is what my nervous face looks like” - Amara FB
Auslan
In Auslan, the Foundation cohort has been learning how to sign the alphabet. Students went through each letter and mirrored the different signs with their peers. Students also began learning how to sign colours. They shared their favourite colours using the new signs they learned during whole class discussions.
“I can do X” - Akanete FA
“This one is S” - Jiraiya FA
“B looks like this” - Layla FB
“X is like this” - Neo FB
Special Events
Meet the Teacher Night
This fortnight, the Foundation students participated in Meet the Teacher night. In preparation for this special event, students discussed what would happen and who would be visiting our classrooms. Students shared how they would like to show their learning and confidence in the classroom. The Foundation cohort were very proud to share their classroom with their families.
Schools Clean Up Australia Day
Students took part in the school-wide cleaning in celebration of Schools Clean Up Australia Day. Students showed the school values of responsibility and kindness as they worked together to pick up rubbish and placing them in the correct bins. Foundation A also visited the Year 2 students and learned about how Clean Up Australia Day started in Sydney. Foundation students worked with the Year 2 classes to write and draw about what they did to help clean the school.
“I want mummy to see my class” - Willow FA
“The fish won’t like it if the river is dirty” - Alex FA
