Prep Term 1 Overview

Prep 2022 Term One

Welcome to Prep! What a wonderful start to the term we have had. This year our school theme is RENEW. We promote this concept throughout the year, in our curriculum, celebrations and as a word that brings us together. The Preps have been introduced to the expectations of school life and how we show respect to self, others and property. We have identified places to play around the school, how we can ask to play with other people and how to spot students who might need a friend. 

We look forward to seeing you all at our ‘Meet and Greet’ interviews. The school newsletter is sent out on a Monday every fortnight. It will keep you in the loop with all that is going on at St John’s. These newsletters contain important dates, special days and updates. Please let us know if you have not received a Newsletter yet. 

Food

The Preps eat a fruit/vegetable snack each morning around 10am. The fruit or vegetable should be chopped into small pieces as students do not have a long time for this snack. Please bring a named drink bottle to school every day for water. Please practice opening and closing their lunch box and water bottle. Just a reminder that students need to have only four items in their lunch box as there are 3 opportunities to eat. Children are not allowed to share food from their lunchboxes at school either.

Please do not put sweet treats in their lunchboxes and use small containers instead of plastic wrappings. 

Please be aware that some children have severe nut and egg allergies in our class and cannot come into contact with these foods. Thank you for your understanding on this issue. 

Book Bags

Our blue book bags need to be brought to and from school each day. They are used for notices and reminders, so please check them each day when they come home. At school they live in our ‘book bag locker.’

Hats

Hats will stay at school and are to be worn daily. Hats will come home at the end of Term 1 and will need to be worn again in Term 4. 

Communication

Good communication between home and school is a vital aspect of your child’s learning. We regularly use email correspondence and are often available before and after school for any queries you have. Please come and see us at any time and know there are no ‘silly questions!’

Our email addresses are swilton@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au and jmiller@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au we will endeavour to answer emails within 24 hours during weekdays.

Please make sure that you have the Skoolbag App, as many school notices and reminders will be sent via the App. 

https://skoolbag.com.au/web/?schoolid=22726

Specialist Classes

Preps will do Sport (Physical Education) on Tuesdays and  Fridays. They will need to wear runners and their sports uniform (polo top and sport shorts) on these days. They will go to the library on Fridays where students can borrow 1 or 2 books per week provided they have returned their previous books. 

On Thursdays they will also attend Italian and Performing Arts and on Fridays they will do Visual Art. 

Important Dates

Meet and Greets will be held on Thursday the 10 February. This is a great opportunity to meet with your child’s teacher and give them any additional information about your child that you would like them to know.

Prep’s and new families dinner, which is hosted by Year 1 families and the Community Association, will be held on Tuesday the 15 February at 6pm. 

Twilight Sports will be held after school on Monday the 7 March at Bill Sewart Reserve Nunawading. 

Curriculum Overview 

English 

In reading we will be orientating the book, this includes finding the title, author, where we start reading and summarising the text. In writing we will be orienting ourselves with writing conventions, where to write, writing across the page, using spaces, putting letters together to make a word. We shall also be starting our Smart Spelling program. 

Mathematics

In Mathematics we will be focusing on counting numbers from 0-20, writing numbers, connecting numbers to materials and subitising. Later in the term we will be exploring 2D shapes and data collection. 

Religious Education 

We will be exploring who God is through interpreting the ways the natural world and humanities reveal God’s love, reflecting on ways people relate to each other and the environment and identifying and explaining who God is to us.  

Social and Emotional learning (SEL)

The Preps will be learning that everyone has an invisible bucket. The bucket fills up when people say or do nice things and is emptied when people are mean or they feel sad. At St. John’s we all want to be bucket fillers, not bucket dippers. This concept of ‘filling up a bucket’ runs through the whole school and encourages positive behaviour and interactions with others. We will be learning the 3Rs - Respect Ourselves, Respect Others and Respect Property. This is a song we have watched to help us understand bucket filling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaddbqEQ1NE

Inquiry

This term for Inquiry we shall be looking at Economics. We will be building an economics and business vocabulary that will include everyday words such as money, banking, choice, buying and selling, etc. We shall be exploring why we use money and  the importance of resource allocation through experiences of choosing between alternatives when making decisions about spending money or how they use their time. They will also have opportunities to develop their decision-making skills, basic money and financial skills, and to work collaboratively in group situations.

Weekly Timetable

Below is key information you will need to know from our timetable. 

If you have any questions you may contact us at swilton@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au and jmiller@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au 

With Thanks,

Jessca Miller and Shannon Wilton (Kearns)