Prep Term 1 Overview

Prep 2021 Term One

Welcome to Prep! What a wonderful start to the term we have had. This year our school theme is INSPIRE. We promote this concept throughout the year, in our curriculum, celebrations and as a word that brings us together. I will be working with Kate Hetherington, our LSO in the Prep classroom.

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. Food 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. It is also best to make sure your child can open and close their own lunch box and drink bottle as we have noticed many students are needing assistance with this. Just a reminder that students need to have only four items in their lunch box as there are 3 opportunities to eat. Please be aware that some children have nut allergies and cannot come into contact with these foods. Thank you for your understanding with this. 

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. I 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!’ My email is skearns@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au and I 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 will need to wear runners and their sports uniform (polo top and sport shorts). They will do library borrowing on Thursdays 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 on Fridays they will do Visual Art and Performing Art. 

Important Dates:I look forward to seeing you at the Prep Family Welcome Dinner, which is hosted by Year 1 families and the Parents Association. It will be at 6pm on Tuesday 16 February. Siblings are welcome! We will discuss the Prep curriculum with you in depth at our Prep Information Night at 7pm on 16 March.

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 reveals God’s love, reflecting on ways people relate to each other and the environment, 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

We are learning about how we can make good choices and how these good choices help us connect with ourselves and each other, this ties in with SEL and our 3Rs. We shall be investigating healthy food choices and how healthy choices help different parts of our bodies in different ways.  

Below is a quick overview of our weekly timetable

If you have any questions you may contact me skearns@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au 

Shannon Kearns