Foundation

Foundation, Term 2: April Newsletter - 2025

Welcome back to Term 2. It’s wonderful to see our students back with big smiles, ready for another exciting, busy and fun filled term.

Literacy

Foundation students continue to develop their knowledge of the letters and sounds. This Term we move onto Stages 2-4 of the Little Learners Love Literacy program. These stages introduce new sounds and more words to read and spell. It is encouraged to still continue consolidating learning from previous sounds. 

Sounds taught so far... 

Heart Words

Students continue to learn Heart Words- these are important words that cannot always be sounded out and need to be learned by heart. 

Heart Words taught so far... 

Knowledge

In Knowledge, students have been exploring a range of stories (Chicken Little, The Three Billy Goats Gruff). They’ve been learning to identify different characters and practise sequencing the main events in the correct order. It’s been a great way to build their comprehension and storytelling skills!

Each day, we have introduced a short 10-minute fluency session. These sessions give students the opportunity to practise reading with their peers and teachers. At this stage, we are focusing on reading individual letters and saying the sounds that each letter makes, helping students develop strong letter-sound knowledge. Over time, we will build up to reading words, sentences, and eventually short books. At the beginning of each session, we revisit our fluency checklist and discuss what makes a great reader

Mathmatics 

In Maths, we will be learning about Part-Part-Whole operations for numbers to 10, using number bonds. By breaking numbers into smaller parts, students are strengthening their knowledge of how numbers fit together. This approach helps students see how different combinations of numbers can make up a whole, encouraging flexible thinking. 

Students have also been reviewing their knowledge of numbers up to 10 and reviewing their knowledge of positional language. 

We have also begun using whiteboards during our mathematics review. Students are learning to quickly write their answers on the whiteboards and show them to the teacher. This fast-paced review helps reinforce concepts we have already learned, ensuring that the information is regularly retained throughout the year.

Social & Emotional Learning

On Thursday we commemorated ANZAC day with a special assembly. In the classroom we learnt about the significance of showing respect and the meaning behind the poppies and wreaths. All of the Foundation teachers were very proud of how respectfully all of the students stood, listened and showed respect during the assembly.

Each week in SEL, we focus on a topic that supports the needs of our students, such as problem solving, showing kindness, and safe play. This week, we began exploring emotions. Students are starting to develop an understanding of different emotions and feelings, and learning that all emotions are normal and a part of everyday life. We’ve been discussing how emotions are not good or bad—they are simply messages that give us important information and help us understand what we might need or how to respond. As part of this learning, we have been using our Resilience Project booklets to engage in meaningful conversations and activities that help us build emotional awareness and understanding