Foundation News

Happy 100 days at School!

This week, students in Foundation celebrated their 100th day at school. Even though this milestone was not celebrated as it has been in past years, students dressed up in their party gear, joined into Zoom sessions with a smile on their face and participated in activities from home. It was really good to see the children so excited and happy. Hearing the words "This is the best party ever!" reflected the children's willingness to make the most of any situation and be positive no matter what.

A Snapshot of the day:-

Apart from dancing, singing and blowing out candles on our virtual cake, students ate party food, chatted to friends and participated in a scavenger hunt where they had to apply their thinking to solve riddles, puzzles and problems, and had to find an assortment of objects at home. Children chatted with our mystery guest (Mr Howard) and asked him questions he'd never been asked before. The children listened to humorous stories written by our focus author Aaron Blabey, in one of 4 breakout rooms. A highlight of the day was when Year 6 buddies joined our afternoon Zoom and shared personal, sentimental, congratulatory messages.   

As part of their assigned work, Foundation children were asked to predict what they would be like at the ripe old age of 100. Check out the photos below to see their self portraits.

Spelling

Beginning this week, Foundation students will start to explicitly focus on digraphs in their spelling. Digraphs are two letters that combine together to create one sound. As students learn to read and spell, they fine-tune their knowledge of the relationships between sounds (phonemes) and letters (graphemes) in written language. Digraphs make up an integral part of developing reading, writing and spelling skills. Videos are provided in the daily tasks (Google Classroom) to help support students in the development of their sound and letter knowledge. 

Personal Passion Project (PPP)

It's so great to see students explore their interests and talents and engage in their learning when working on their PPP.  Students meet with teachers once a week to discuss where they are at and the next step in their project. Some students have already chosen to present their PPP during Zoom sessions. It's great to see them speak with confidence and answer questions about topics they have investigated. Here is a sample of some of the projects that have been completed.

Helping Your Child Succeed

Each time students are introduced to a new concept in Foundation, an instructional video is posted in our Google Classroom daily schedule. We believe it is important to support Foundation children with their learning, and give parents insight into how concepts are taught.  We hope videos are useful and encourage children/parents to view them as frequently as necessary. 

It is great to see students submit daily assigned tasks, and we thank parents for allowing their child/children to write and complete tasks without adult help. Each day, teachers post feedback and set learning goals that directly relate to work students have completed.  

Teachers are working extremely hard ensuring differentiated learning in Foundation takes place. One way we are trying to deliver this is through Guided Reading Zoom Clinics. Each student is expected to attend 2 Guided Reading sessions a week. It is imperative students attend both sessions and are on time, so that no-one is waiting and optimum learning takes place. It would also be appreciated if the room in which your child is engaging in Zoom sessions is quiet. If you can hear us...we can hear you!

We remind students that their green resource bag needs to be next to them during every Zoom session. It is important students have resources at the ready so there is no need to walk off in the middle of explicit teaching during Zoom meetings. 

Week 6 & 7 Timetable

Open the attachment to find out what is happening in the next 2 weeks.

Week 6 & 7 Learning Intentions

Open the attachment to find out what students will be learning in the next 2 weeks.

Important Dates

15th-23rd August - National Science Week 'The Power of the Deep Blue'

Friday 21st August - Whole School Zoom Assembly

Staff Contacts

Lorraine Uzunovski   uzul@srprestonwest.catholic.edu.au

Jackie Moloney          jmoloney@srprestonwest.catholic.edu.au

Melanie Pizzonia       mpizzonia@srprestonwest.catholic.edu.au

Please note, we will respond to emails Monday to Friday, between the hours of 8am- 5pm.