Home learning - Term 2 Week 3

We hope you have all got to have some down-time over the weekend.

The Prep team met on Friday and were discussing how quickly the Preps have adapted to SeeSaw. This lead to us making a list of skills they are developing:

IT skills

* using play and pause to start and stop video and voice recordings

* taking photos and uploading them

* taking videos and uploading them

* using drawing tools to add to a photo

* using drawing tools to create

* using the cross to close items

* using the tick to save items

Listening & Speaking skills (component of literacy)

* speaking loudly and clearly so they can be heard

* listening attentively to video and voice recordings in order to be able to respond

* maintaining eye contact with the camera or screen

PYP Learner Profile attributes

* Risk takers. This is so vastly different to what they experienced in T1, yet they are all trying.

* Communicators. They are learning to communicate in a range of different ways.

Please don't put yourself under pressure to complete all of the activities every day. We will assess the children and catch up any missing skills when we get back to school. For the moment, focus on all of the valuable skills they are developing.

SeeSaw

There is a way for your child to upload a photo and read what they have written in one post. After they have taken the photo they can see the photo in an editing page. This is where some of the children have been adding text or borders to their photos. If at this point they click on the microphone, they can add a voice recording to their photo.

Literacy

Reading

We will continue to work with the Write2Read cards this week, adding in some new codes. If possible, could you please film/record your child doing the version without the teacher saying them on one of the occasions this week. Being able to see their progress will assist us with our planning.

The BBC program 'Alphablocks' is a very popular way of supporting alphabet learning. They have two free apps available that you may like to have your child use.

* Meet the Alphablocks

* Alphablocks: Learn to Read

The consonant-vowel-consonant (cvc) words and high frequency words will remain a focus on different days this week.

The Prep teachers were impressed with how the Preps managed the 'Cover and Slide' strategy last week. This is a great strategy for smaller words. This week we will introduce them to an extension which is the 'Take the Word Apart, Then Put It Back Together' strategy. This can be more suitable for longer words and involves using the 'Cover and Slide' strategy but rather than revealing a letter at a time it reveals parts of the word. For example, the word 'plant' would become 'p-l-a-n-t' if we did it letter by letter. Revealing it a part at a time would be 'pl-an-t'. It is smoother for the longer words and tends to keep the sentence flowing better.

Writing

In writing this week students will practise formation of the letter sounds introduced and write consonant-vowel-consonant words using the sounds that have been covered to date. Following on from our letter writing last week, we will be looking at the features of a postcard and how it differs from a simple letter. To develop their familiarisation of high frequency words students will create sentences including these. We ask that you facilitate the prep students independence in writing by allowing them to sound out words on their own and then giving them ticks for sounds that they have correct and adding in any sounds they may have missed at the completion of the task.

Numeracy

Our focus in numeracy this week is on measuring weight and ordinal number.

When measuring weight in Prep we look at comparing items using everyday language of heavier/heaviest and lighter/lightest. We talk about "hefting" items, which means holding one item in each hand and using your judgement to decide which one is heavier/lighter and giving reasons for answers. You may like to get out the kitchen scales to check their hefting but please use hefting as the primary way of measuring weight.

In ordinal number students will be looking at first, second, third, etc., indicating a position in a sequence. Students will be working on counting using ordinal number and identifying objects by their position. Students need to recognise ordinal numbers in both numeral and word form. Eg, 1st/first, 2nd/second and 3rd/third.

Unit of Inquiry

This is the final week of our 'Strategies help manage challenges' unit. Normally we would be doing role plays in class and brainstorming together lots of challenges and strategies and then practising and reflecting on these. We got to do a bit of this in class, however this year our Preps have really 'lived' our unit and seen the whole world apply strategies to the Coronavirus challenge such as washing our hands, social distancing and home schooling. We have continued to work on some scenarios through puppet shows and we thoroughly enjoyed watching the students demonstrate their knowledge through these. This week students will be doing their Summative Assessment to conclude the unit. As it is an assessment task we ask could every student complete this task, even if you can't do it Wednesday. We advise students do this task at the beginning of their day so they are fresh and able to give it their best. If your child is feeling too shy to be filmed or this is just not working please do not force them to do it. Perhaps have them divide the page in half and they could draw the challenge on one side and the strategy on the other. They could then take a photo of their drawing and voice record their thinking over the photo explaining both the challenge and strategy.

Optional activities

In the last column of the weekly learning plan you will find some optional activities. There is no expectation that they are completed. They are there to support the 'I'm bored' children.

Wellbeing

Home learning has been tough for everyone! Our Preps are still young and they had only had 30 days of school and in the last week of term 1 achieved their first full week. Even if you have been shielding your child from the news it's hard to hide that we have had to wash our hands, we can't see some family members and friends, there is talk of people getting sick and dying, we have had to social distance and we have had to introduce home schooling. These are BIG things and unsettling. You may find that all of this means some days your child just does not want to do a task or any learning for the day. Trying to push them will likely lead to tempers and tantrums - not just from the kids. By the way, we teachers have had our days too!

Some suggestions for you that may work.

- don't push them into it. Often at school children also come in and are not in the right headspace for learning for whatever reason, had a bad morning, missing their parents, their toy broke, they are tired. We let them go to a quiet safe space in class and tell them to join us when they are ready to learn. Then we leave them to it. Fussing over them often makes things worse. 99% of the time they pop their head out, see all the others learning and quietly join in.

- Don't forget the star chart - it may help you

- We are happy to chat to them if that helps

- On Thursday in the Unit of Inquiry and optional tasks sessions we are discussing calming places and activities. We have some suggestions in the optional tasks session that you may find helpful - perhaps for yourself too.

Please do not stress about your child 'falling behind' we will make sure we fill the gaps when we return to school. Make sure their physical and mental health is all good and they are still ready and excited to learn - we will do the rest!

The Prep team

0A - Kathryn Morrison

morrison.kathryn.j@edumail.vic.gov.au

0B - Deb Barden

barden.deborah.j@edumail.vic.gov.au

0C - Danielle Palombi

palombi.danielle.d@edumail.vic.gov.au

0D - Julie Daniel

daniel.julie.e@edumail.vic.gov.au

HU - Krystle Horadam

horadam.krystle.k@edumail.vic.gov.au

Prep Fortnightly Snapshot

Issue 4 · 26 Apr 2020

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