Foundation: Connect

Week 8 and 9 Timetables:

Buddy Easter Egg Hunt!

On Thursday 21st March we will be having a Buddy Easter Egg Hunt. To support our Buddy Easter Egg Hunt, it would be appreciated if you could please bring in a packet of easter eggs for your child prior to this date. Please give them to your child's classroom teacher who will collect them. They will be distributed on the day equitably. We cannot wait for the Easter festive FUN!

Parent Helpers

The Foundation Team sincerely appreciate all those who have expressed interest in being parent helpers in the classroom. Your willingness to support our students is invaluable.

As we are in the latter weeks of Term 1, our primary focus is nurturing your child's confidence and independence within the classroom environment and its routines. This period lays important groundwork for the rest of the year.

Starting from next term, the Foundation Team will organise a roster for parent helpers to come into the classroom. Here, you'll have the opportunity to practise one-on-one literacy skills with the children, aiding in their development and growth.

Your involvement helps foster a such a supportive learning community in the classroom and at SEPS. 

Inquiry

It's 'Who We Are' - students will delve into emotions, how to be a good friend, the Zones of Regulation, how to solve problems and how to solve problems with friends.

Emotions! What does happy, sad, excited, scared, angry look like? Does it look the same on each person? Students act out and discuss times in 'real life' when we can experience these emotions and how to label them. 

Numeracy

Can you believe your children have already attended 28 days of school?! 

Each Numeracy lesson begins with marking our 'Days of School'. Students look at the

 number using tally marks, mark them in a 10's frame, cross off the date on a calendar, add to the popsicle sticks (bundling when we get to each 10), AND mark the number on a 100's chart! 

There is a strong focus on 'one more/less' and this learning is threaded throughout the day. Examples could be 'how many students are here today? What is one more/less?' or simple conversations such as 'I can see you have 9 grapes in your lunchbox, what is one more? How many would there be when you eat the next one?'

Students are practising number formation, ensuring they are writing each number the correct way and understanding the amount associated with the numeral. This is reinforced by using materials such as popsicle sticks, counters, MAB, dice and number lines. 

Literacy

By the end of term we will have learnt 12 letters, which is an amazing effort! Students will be learning and consolidating the letters and sounds of s/a/t/p/i/n/b/l/f/u/m/r. 

We are beginning to segment and blend these sounds together, continuing to work on our reading fluency. We are manipulating sound cards, making words and writing words! 

Our heart words are becoming more recognisable as we continue to learn ‘to, was, the and of’. We look forward to using CVC words and our heart words to construct sentences soon!

Students are continuing expanding their understanding of nouns and verbs. They are beginning to identify which is the noun in a sentence and which is the verb. We are orally constructing full sentences to include a noun and verb.

Creative Communities

Students have been allocated a “community” with other students who are in the same House (Waratah, Esperance, Eucalyptus or Wattle). Each community is multi-age from Foundation to Level 6. Foundation students are in the same groups as their 2024 buddy.  

These creative communities will gather on Friday afternoons, once a fortnight. Creating these learning communities will help students across the school create connections and support for one another. We want students to feel included and appreciated by their peers, respected for their differences, and actively involved in their learning. Together, each creative community will strengthen their social and emotional skills through problem solving and collaboration. 

We are so excited for the new connections and friendships students will develop throughout the year. We hope that the more we gather with our communities, the stronger our connections become with one another in the classrooms and outside in the yard. 

Parents, please be mindful that your child will be dismissed from a different classroom on Friday afternoon. 

Celebrating and Looking back at Weeks 6 and 7...