Curriculum News

Our Curriculum Overviews for the Term

English

Reading and Viewing

In Foundation, we will begin the term by revising the Jolly Phonic sounds we have learnt, before moving onto the final digraphs of this phase.  We will continue introducing a new SMART Foundation sentence each week, starting from Week 1, including revising the 16 sentences we have learnt so far. The students will be encouraged to recognise their M100W within these sentences and use their sounds to segment and blend the word of the week.  

Literacy Groups will begin formally in Week 1, with parent helpers required from Week 2. A roster has been emailed to the parents who have volunteered. If you are not yet on the roster and would like to support, either on a regular basis or for a one off day, please email us with your availability and ensure you have provided the school with a copy of your Working with Children Check.  During these Literacy Groups students will participate in activities including letter identification, letter/sound knowledge and oral language activities. Please note if you are helping you may not be with your child’s group, so please have this conversation with them before you start.

We will be learning about a variety of comprehension strategies that can be used to extend our understanding of the texts we read.  Strategies include predicting, retelling, and making connections to our lives. 

Writing

Our writing program will continue to be based on life experiences, exploring different forms of persuasive writing, including letter writing. We will be encouraging students to use the phonics they have learnt to attempt to spell the words they need to convey the message.  They will also be learning how to correctly form each letter individually, through formal handwriting lessons. Please keep in mind that when a student is learning to write they are encouraged to ‘have a go’ and write down what they think and hear - the focus is not on being 100% correct but rather on students gaining confidence in their writing abilities and making connections between the sounds they hear and the letter they have learnt. 

Speaking and Listening

Oral Language underpins many parts of Literacy and the students will complete activities that focus on improving their oral language skills during Literacy activities.  We will also begin to participate in small Reader’s Theatre sessions, where the students will practice and present small plays in front of their peers.  Our Magic Box and Take Home Toy, Pig the Pug, will also continue this term. 

Mathematics

Number and Algebra -In Mathematics, students will continue to develop their number sense through counting forwards and backwards, and ordering number activities.  We will continue to explore numbers of the day, in relation to counting up to our 100 days of school, as well as identifying numbers before and after, and placing numbers on number lines. We will continue to work through the addition and subtraction mental strategies, with the main focus being on subitising - the automatic recall of the amount of a collection of items up to 5, and partitioning collections of 5 - being able to automatically recall how many more would make 5. Students will use the Olympics to explore the concepts of length and duration, and will also explore practical strategies to solve simple subtraction problems, with a focus on counting back. We will finish the term exploring geometric shapes and repeating patterns using colours, shapes, objects and money. 

Inquiry/Religion

During our Term 3 Inquiry unit, “That’s Not Fair!”, we will explore the concept of Justice at a Foundation level. Our major focus will be on developing our understanding of fairness and what it means for us, as individuals and as a class. The students will explore the meaning of right and wrong choices and how their decisions affect others. We will be learning about God through a focus on morality and justice, developing an understanding of fairness and justice through the story of Jesus, and reflecting on how they can act as a disciple of Jesus. We will use scripture to explore how Jesus calls us to follow God’s word in our relationships, and make connections to their own experiences of family and friendship. 

Throughout Term 3, the students will also be celebrating significant events in the church calendar, including the Feast of St Mary of the Cross, Mary McKillop, and the Assumption of Mary, mother of God. 

Genius Hour

During Term 3, students will also be exploring the Physical Science concepts of push and pull through a range of hands-on experiments during Genius Hour. 

Wellbeing

Our Wellbeing focus for Term 3 is positive coping. We will be working on developing resilience and learning different coping strategies through games and the idea of winning and losing.