Prep Bulletin

Congratulations to all our wonderful Prep students for making such a fabulous start to school! The students are adapting very well to their new learning environments and are enjoying getting to know each other and their teachers.

The first few weeks

The students have begun to familiarise themselves with school routines, their learning environments, are learning to organise themselves and are re-connecting and making new connections with their peers and teachers. We are having lots of conversations about classroom and playground expectations, how to be safe at school, our interests, and how being at school makes us feel. The students are learning to take responsibility by managing their locker and tub spaces and working together when packing up play equipment after recess.

Emotions

This is a very exciting and often daunting time for new school students. Your child may be experiencing a range of different emotions, all of which are normal. Some days they may be eager to come to school and others they may find it more challenging. Dealing with emotions is a continuous and big part of learning. It is important that you acknowledge and validate any emotions your child is experiencing. Having conversations with your child is very important to ensure they can recognise, express and begin to understand how they are feeling and why. We are allowing our students to express what it is they are feeling and discussing ways in which we can manage them (self-regulation). We will continue to explore emotions and assist you and your child during this transition process and throughout the year.

Transition

We would like to thank you, the parents, for assisting us with transition from kinder to school and for the smooth start we have had to the school year. We greatly appreciate your support. If another adult is collecting your child from school at the end of the day, please communicate this to your child and their teacher or to the office. Likewise, if they are to attend Team Kids, please communicate this to your child and the Team Kids staff.

A snapshot into Spelling

Learning intention:We are learning to look carefully at words and identify what is similar in how they look and how they sound.

Learning experience overview:

This is an insight into one spelling lesson where we explored the phoneme (sound) and grapheme (letter) ‘Aa’. The lesson follows our instructional model of Whole, Small, Whole.

Whole:

As a class we explored the ‘Aa’ alphabet card, unpacking the letter name, sound and an object that starts with that letter. Then we brainstormed words that start with /a/ as well as words that have /a/ in the middle. For this lesson we are focusing on the most common sound ‘a’ makes (as in apple, cat, at).

Small:

To consolidate their learning, students completed the pages in their phonics book. See pictures below.

Whole:

To revise and reflect as a class, we practised identifying the /a/ sound in words with sound boxes. Students pushed the sound buttons as they read each sound aloud.