Foundation Learning Community News

Welcome to the Foundation Community news! Since our last newsletter we have been busy with lots of new learning. The routines and expectations of the classroom are now well established and our days are running very smoothly. With a short term we have many events in the last few weeks including this weeks World Dance Incursion and the upcoming Around the World Lunch and much loved Prep Breakfast. Thank you to all of you who have volunteered your time to support these events, we appreciate your assistance. 

Literacy:

We have now been introduced to the first three characters representing sounds of the InitiaLit program; Maggie Mouse (/m/), Sammy Seal (/s/) and Tommy Tiger (/t/). We have been practising finding words beginning with these sounds, handwriting the letters which represent them and many other activities to consolidate our learning.

During our reading sessions we have begun to delve into 'The Very Hungry Bear' by Nick Bland. We have been introduced to interesting vocabulary from the text, including, shrinking, yanked and grumpy. We are also using non-fiction texts to further our knowledge of bears. Did you know that there was a prehistoric bear the size of an elephant! 

Numeracy:

2D shape has been a big focus and our teachers are impressed by how much we already know! We have created shape monsters, shape pizzas and completed colour by shape.  

Next we are moving into the world of counting. Counting forwards and backwards can be a bit tricky, especially those pesky teen numbers! We are learning how to count carefully to ensure we are accurate. A good idea for practise at home is to choose a random number (initially up to 20) and ask your child to begin counting either forwards or backwards.

Inquiry Sharing:

We had the opportunity to bring in a cultural artifact from home which we shared with our classmates. It was great to hear some interesting stories about where our families have come from and what is important to us. Here are some photos.

World Dance Incursion:

We had a wonderful morning of dance and dressing up to celebrate different cultures from around the world. This was to support our Inquiry topic "Who we are and who makes up our classroom community." We learned dances from Africa, India and Spain and were able to dress up in some amazing clothing. See below for some of the pictures from the session.