Prep News 

ENGLISH

Reading:

In Term 2, students read different fairy tales through the progression of the term. Students were asked to use their prior knowledge to re-tell or sequence a book in order of beginning, middle, and end. Students worked on their prediction skills, using the “I predict” statement to state what they believed would happen next in the story they were reading. The second half of the term saw preps focus on the nonfiction topic of “Helping Hands: Emergency People,” which linked to our inquiry focus for the term. Prep students continued filling in their take-home readers with the help of their parent or carer, reading three skill-based texts and two free choice texts that they had chosen with the help of their homeroom teacher. Well done to all prep students on a fun and engaging term 2.

Writing: 

During Term 2 in writing, prep students will continue their focus on fairy tales, by responding to the focus fairy tale for that week. Some of these texts include, three little pigs, billy goats gruff and goldilocks and the three bears. Students will be provided with a modelled sentence about the text, in which they will use this modelled sentence to respond to the text. Students will continue their focus on the fundamentals of handwriting, like holding their pencil correctly, using capital letters for names and at the beginning of sentences and finally writing left to right and starting from the top of the page. This will be a focus during whole class work and also in our recently commenced small writing group’s. It's shaping to be an exciting term in writing for the prep cohort!

MATHEMATICS

In mathematics, students commenced the term by focusing initially on comparing collections of objects within the number range of zero to ten. This was studied during the first three weeks of the term. Concurrently, students focused on units of measurement, specifically length and height, employing mathematical language such as “longer” and “shorter” to describe these attributes. Subsequently, the focus shifted to ordinal numbers, with students connecting ordinal terms (first, second, third) to their numerical representations (1st, 2nd, 3rd). The curriculum also included learning about two-dimensional shapes and their respective features. Counting beyond twenty constituted one of the final mathematical units of the term, during which students practiced counting forwards and backwards up to twenty and represented these numbers using hands-on materials. The term concluded with a data unit, where students formulated questions about familiar topics involving binary outcomes, such as yes/no or chocolate/vanilla.

INQUIRY

For inquiry, students studied various members of the community, including police officers, paramedics, and fire officers. They examined the roles these individuals played and how they contributed positively to the local community. As previously mentioned, students also explored these community members during reading and writing sessions, allowing them to apply their inquiry knowledge across multiple areas of learning. In social and emotional studies, students first revisited the routines and expectations established at the beginning of the year. They also reviewed the classroom agreement and the expected behaviours for prep students. Subsequently, the class progressed to the respectful relationships unit titled “Problem Solving,” which addressed conflict resolution and strategies students could employ both inside and outside the classroom. The final social and emotional topic for the term was “Positive Coping.” This unit involved continued identification of emotions in their various forms and strategies for managing these emotions constructively. Overall, it was a busy yet rewarding term in the inquiry curriculum for the prep learners.

SCIENCE

This term, our amazing Prep students have been busy exploring the fascinating world of weather! As budding weather detectives, they investigated a range of weather conditions and discovered how these influence the choices we make in our daily lives.

Throughout the term, students engaged in hands-on learning by observing and describing the weather at school. They explored different weather symbols and learned how these are used in weather reports, helping them understand and interpret the information we see on the news or in forecasts. The Preps also examined how various weather conditions and temperatures affect the types of clothing we wear and the activities we can enjoy. They learned about seasonal changes and how weather varies throughout the year.

As part of their learning, students completed practical activities linked to each of the four seasons, gaining a deeper understanding of how the weather shapes our world. It has been a wonderful term full of curiosity, discovery, and fun!

LOTE - AUSLAN

During this term, Grade Prep students learnt about: Deaf Culture, Feelings, Greeting and Questions and Around the House. They learnt about Sea Animals, Days of the Week and Months of the Year, Numbers 1-20 (using their dominant/writing hand) and Weather. The final week focused on revision and celebrating our learning. The Auslan signs for these topics are core learning, which extends in future Auslan learning. Lessons consisted of explicit teaching through videos, supported by activities, games, stories, songs, poems and group practice. Learning Auslan involved both expressive (signing) and receptive understanding skills (reading back what others’ sign), hence lesson activities continued to develop these skills. At this level, the students mainly worked in the whole group, managed by the teacher and were provided with the opportunity to reflect on their learning together.

ART

What wonderful artworks Preps produced in Term 2! This term the Preps revised the routines and expectations in our classroom environment. Students consolidated their knowledge of the art element of colour which was covered in Term 1, and this was incorporated into activities. The main focus this term was the element of line. This included directed drawing and identifying and naming different types of lines e.g. horizontal, diagonal or vertical. Students explored how to form different types of lines (straight, wavy, curly, zigzag and spiral) to create shapes. A variety of lines were used to create their artworks. Students also used different mediums, which included oil pastels, charcoal, paints and chalks. 

Lots of exploring and fun was had and fabulous works of art were produced this term. Fantastic work, Preps!

P.E

This term, our amazing Prep students have continued to grow and shine in Physical Education, building confidence as they practised important movement skills in every lesson. They’ve learned new games, discovered how to work with others, and started solving challenges together as active learners. We focused on skills like throwing, catching, running, jumping, skipping, and kicking — and it’s been wonderful to see each child give it their best. Some favourite games this term included Numbers Sport, Tag, Feed the Frogs, Hopscotch, and Spud. These fun activities helped build teamwork, fairness, and an understanding of how to play by the rules. Well done, Grade Preps, on a fantastic first half of the year — I can’t wait to see what we’ll explore together in Term 3!