Foundation

Dear Parents,

Congratulations on making it through the first term of Foundation! It was wonderful to see so many families at the parent teacher interviews last week, to talk about how far your children have progressed this term. It was also lovely to see how many children were dressed in something special for Harmony Day on Tuesday. We have included some photos below. 

Please stay safe over the holidays, whether travelling far away or staying close to home. We look forward to seeing you all on our first day back - Monday 15th April. 

Important Dates:

Term 2

Week 1

Monday 15th April - First day of Term 2 - 9am start. 

Tuesday 16th April - Bring Library Books and bags to school.

Week 2

Tuesday 23rd April - Bring Library Books and bags to school.

Thursday 25th April – ANZAC Day (No school today)

Gastro Guidelines

If your child has vomited and/or experienced diarrhoea at home, it is extremely important that they stay home for 48 hours to recover and avoid sharing an infectious illness with classmates, teachers and the wider school community. 

Children who return to school within 48 hours often feel very unwell or they are physically ill in the classroom. Please help us to reduce the impact on your child's class by keeping your child at home for the full 48 hours until they have fully recovered and are no longer infectious. 

Term 2 History Unit – What’s My Story?

In Term 2, we will be discussing and sharing our own personal stories to understand our own history and that of our families, including stories from different cultures and other parts of the world. As participants in our own history, we aim to develop knowledge and understanding of how the past is different from the present.

As a part of this unit, we will be using photographs from students’ personal histories. As soon as you can, please send us (via email or on a USB) the following photos:

1 x Baby Photo

1 x Family Photo

1 x Celebration (eg. Diwali, Christmas, Lunar New Year, Easter, Birthday, Wedding etc)

1 x Personal choice (eg. holiday, with extended family, with pets etc)

If you have any questions, please email your child’s teacher.

Library Bags

Library bags – bring each Tuesday WITH the book inside.  Your child will be unable to borrow a new book if they are missing either their old library book to return, or the library bag to take the new book home. Please encourage your child to keep the book and the bag together and place them in their school bag when you are finished reading it. 

School Uniform

School hats will not need to be worn in Terms 2 and 3. Please put them in a safe place at home as they will be required again in Term 4. 

Classroom Assistance

The students (and teachers!) love having grown ups come into the classrooms in the morning to help students practice their sounds and reading. Our parent helpers are welcome first thing in the morning until approx. 9.30 – whether you can stay only 10 minutes or the whole time.

If you are helping, you must have a valid Working With Children Check (which can be applied for online). Then follow these steps:

• Sign in at the front office before the bell
• Come into the classroom once the class has entered
• Grab the reader folders tub and sit at one of the tables
• Choose a student to sit next to you and read through some of the book (3-4 pages).
  • Please don’t do the whole book as we want as many students to practice as possible!
  • You might like to start (or finish) with your own child
• Repeat with another student – until your time is up
• Sign out at the office

We love our parent helpers and know that you also have very busy lives… so please don’t stress if something comes up and you can no longer come in one morning or the opposite and suddenly you can – you are more than welcome. Finally, younger siblings are welcome to come in and visit too.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Absence Notes

If your child is away for any reason, please update this in Compass. We require this notification for legal purposes.

What's on in the Classroom? 

English

We have learnt all of the single letter sounds and are beginning to introduce some special friends (where two letters together make one sound - sh, th, ch, qu, ng and nk). We will revise these sounds next term before introducing new sounds for students who are ready. 

Many parents told us how their children are trying to read everything they can when at home and out on adventures! We are very proud of their efforts and love that they are curious about literacy in real life. 

Maths

Next term we continue to explore numbers in the teens, subitising (looking at a small group of objects and working out how many there are without counting), measurement, data representation, time and patterns. 

Easter Egg Hunt with our Buddies

We spent some time with our Buddies on Harmony Day and again on Thursday, where we were lucky enough to be visited by the Easter Bunny and hunt for Easter eggs!

Show and Tell Timetable

This term, our Show and Tell is connected to our History Unit. Each week we will have a new topic for students to either show something or talk about. 

Although it is not mandatory to complete Show and Tell every week we highly encourage children to bring it as regularly as possible as it is a vital component in the Speaking and Listening strand of the curriculum. Show and Tell is a great way for students to gain confidence speaking in front of their peers, as well as a chance for them to practise listening respectfully to others.  As a guide, each child should bring in one item and aim to speak for 1-2 minutes (depending on how confident they are in front of an audience).