Prep
Reading
Over the past fortnight, our Prep students have been busy developing their phonics, reading, spelling and writing skills. We have continued to build our confidence as readers by learning new sounds, blending and segmenting words, reading decodable texts and practising our tricky words.
In Week 6, we focused on the ‘ch’ sound and learned that the two letters ‘c’ and ‘h’ work together to make one sound. We practised hearing /ch/ at the beginning and end of words, segmenting words into their individual sounds and blending sounds together to read new words. We also learned the /v/ sound and the letter ‘v’, practising how to read and write words containing this sound.
We continued to practise our tricky words, working towards recognising these words automatically when reading. Students also had opportunities to use tricky words in sentences and practise writing them using different activities and games.
In Week 7, we extended our phonics knowledge by learning the /ks/ sound represented by ‘x’ and the /y/ sound represented by ‘y’. Students enjoyed practising these sounds through word building, reading and writing activities. We explored words such as mix, fix, fox, box, yes, yet.
We are so proud of the progress our Prep students are making in their reading and writing. It has been wonderful to see their confidence grow as they use their sounds and tricky words to read and write independently. Thank you to our families for continuing to support reading at home. Every opportunity to read together, practise sounds and talk about books helps to strengthen your child’s skills and confidence.
Keep up the fantastic work, Preps! We can’t wait to see what you will learn next!
Writing
In Writing this week, the Preps continued to develop their letter formation skills through individual practice. We focused on forming letters correctly, building on and consolidating their knowledge with their handwriting. To keep students engaged, we introduced new fun and varied activities, giving them plenty of opportunities to practise their letter formation in enjoyable and meaningful ways.
We also continued developing our ability to write CVC and CVCC words. Students were encouraged to carefully listen to and segment each word, thinking about the sounds they could hear before writing them as letters. We extended their learning by introducing words containing familiar digraphs, encouraging students to apply their phonics knowledge and think carefully about how sounds are represented in words.
We continued with picture labelling, using the image of the beach scene. Colourful Semantics helped us build sentences by identifying who, what they are doing and where. We also visited the sandpit and pretended that we were at the beach! The Preps used their imaginations to think about what they might see, hear and smell at the beach, helping us gather lots of descriptive ideas to use in our writing.
Maths
In Maths, the Preps have been busy exploring the concepts of mass and capacity through hands-on, practical learning experiences. We have been learning to make thoughtful predictions, explain our reasoning and then test our ideas using a range of materials and tools.
Students have been exploring how we can compare and measure the mass of different objects. They have been making predictions about which objects they think will be heavier or lighter and then checking their predictions through hefting and using balance scales. Students have been developing their understanding that an object’s size does not always tell us how heavy it will be. They have enjoyed making comparisons, discussing their observations and checking whether their predictions were accurate.
We have also been investigating the capacity of different containers and making predictions about how much they might hold. Students have been using water and sand to test their ideas and compare the amount different containers can hold. They have been learning to look closely at the shape and size of containers and use their observations to make sensible predictions. It has been wonderful to see students working collaboratively, sharing their ideas and adjusting their thinking as they discover more.
These practical experiences are helping students build their mathematical understanding while developing important skills in estimating, comparing, predicting, measuring and explaining their thinking. It has been a fun and engaging way to bring our Maths learning to life!
Students are beginning to explore the idea of equal and not equal groups in Maths. We are learning to look carefully at groups of objects and decide whether they have the same number in each group or whether the groups are different.
Through hands-on activities, students are building their understanding by making, comparing and discussing groups of objects. They are practising explaining their thinking and using mathematical language to describe whether groups are equal or not equal.
SEL and Other
In our Integrated unit of Geography this week, some of the Preps had the opportunity to stand up in front of the class and share all about a family holiday using the planning sheet they completed at home. It was wonderful to see some of the students confidently sharing their experiences and the rest of the students listening respectfully to their classmates. We also continued learning about our local community by identifying key places in our community and discussing the different people who work at these places and how they help us.
In SEL, we have been learning about identifying safe people in our lives who we can go to when we need help. We discussed different situations where we might need support and explored who we could ask for help. The Preps also practised using clear words and sentences to ask for specific help, particularly in situations where it might be difficult to find the right words. Through role-play and discussion, students are building confidence in knowing when, where and how to seek help.