Prep Community News
Dear Prep Families,
What a great few weeks of learning we have had! We are really settling into term 2 now and have been very busy. We are enjoying the independence we have gained from entering the pods on our own in the morning. Here are some of the things we have been learning this week:
English
In our Reading lessons, we have been learning the sounds /o/, /c/ & /d/ as well as practicing how to identify words that begin with these sounds.
We have also been practicing oral blending, where students listen to individual sounds and blend them together to make a word (for example: /c/ /a/ /t/ → cat). These skills help to build your child’s ability to read and write. Some words we have been reading are /d/ /i/ /m/ - dim, /c/ /o/ /d/ - cod, and /d/ /a/ /m/ - dam.
You can support your child at home by practicing the /o/, /d/, and /c/ sounds and thinking of words that begin with this sound, such as, otter, octopus, ostrich, dog, dad, dice, cat, caterpillar, and comfortable. You can also practice oral blending by slowly saying the sounds in a word and asking your child to blend them together quickly.
Click this link to practice all of the sounds we have learned so far in Prep (0:00 -2:02)
We have also been learning some tricky words! These words are tricky because we cannot sound them out; we just have to know them by heart.
The tricky words we have learned are:
You can help us practice by showing us these words and letting us read them to you. You can also use them in sentences such as the ones below:
In our Storybook lessons, we have been reading a new story! Our new story is called ‘Possum Goes to School’, written by Melanie Carter and illustrated by Nicola Orma. Our focus words from this text are rattle, crumble, and pant.
Through our Storybook lessons, we learn essential reading skills such as predicting, summarising, and answering questions about the text. We then make connections between the text, ourselves, and the world around us.
To support your child’s vocabulary development, you can ask them for the definition of each word or to use it in a sentence! Another fun activity is to act out the word. Ask your child to act out the following scenarios:
- Show me how you would look if you were a person rattling some maracas.
- Let’s pretend we were eating a cookie, and it began to crumble all over the floor.
- Show me how you would look if you had been running for a while and began to pant.
In our Writing lessons, we have continued learning about sentence structure. We have been practicing expanding sentences by adding extra detail, such as ‘who’ and ‘where’. This means that our sentences can be interesting and fun to read! We are building these skills orally to help students understand how sentences work before writing them independently.
We have also continued to work on our Story Champs stories to support students’ understanding of the character, problem, character’s feeling, action, and solution. It has been great to see the confidence the students are gaining in their storytelling and their ability to sequence the events from the story.
This term in prep, we have been letting the children have language experiences to inspire their writing. We have been on a nature walk, taken part in Mother’s Day craft activities, and had a teddy bear picnic! This enabled us to draw and talk about our experiences before writing simple sentences. We have really enjoyed getting out of the classroom and having fun experiences.
Maths
In Maths, we have been introduced to addition! We are being exposed to what addition is and what the symbols + and = mean. We have been reviewing our numbers to 10 and practicing counting in our heads. We continue to practice writing our numerals every day.
To support your child at home, you can ask them to read out loud these addition problems.
We have also been looking at length and what objects are shorter or longer. You can help at home by pointing out different objects, such as pencils or crayons, and asking which is longer/which is shorter. You can also show your child these lines and ask your child which line is shorter/longer?
General Reminders
Payments for the Fairytale Fiasco incursion are open on Compass. Our Prep students will have the opportunity to bring fairytales to life with the Fairytale Fiasco! incursion, where students will use drama and performance to explore narratives, fairytales, and creative narrative structure. Students engage in this fun fractured fairytale as characters who need to restore order to Fairytale Land. They will dress up as iconic fairytale characters - Witches, Dragons, Pigs, Wolves, Cats, Mice, and more, to act out a dramatic adventure, learning narrative story structure and expressive storytelling along the way. The cost of this incursion is $22, due on the 9th of June, and is non-refundable as per our refund policy. Some families will have SSB/CSEF credits on their account. If this is the case, your cost has been adjusted accordingly.
At Tarneit Rise, we encourage students to read every night to practice their reading skills and develop a lifelong love of books. Regular reading at home helps build confidence, fluency, and comprehension. Each child has been allocated a specific reading satchel day, which is displayed on the door of your child’s classroom. On this day, please ensure your child brings their reading satchel or red bag so they can change their books and safely transport library books between home and school.
Please make sure that all items your child brings to school are clearly labeled with their name and class (e.g., PA). This includes hats, jumpers, drink bottles, lunch boxes, and uniform items. Labeling helps us return lost items quickly.
As it is now Term 2, children are no longer required to wear hats outside during play times. However, you are still more than welcome to send your child to school with their hat if you would like them to continue wearing it outside.
The first bell rings at 8:45 am, which is when students begin entering the classroom to get ready for the day. Please ensure that your child is at school and ready to learn every day at this time. Learning begins promptly at 8:55 am, and the school day finishes at 3:10 pm.
We kindly ask families to continue supporting this by allowing students to walk into the pod and classroom on their own each morning. If you need to speak to your child’s classroom teacher, please email the school, and this email will be forwarded to the teacher.
This week, we have been focusing on the value of kindness.
Prep A: Harneet – Has shown kindness by including all class members in learning activities and playing in the yard.
Prep B: Iiaan - He is always speaking politely and using phrases like "thank you" and "have a great lunch" throughout the day to help make his classmates and teachers feel happy and safe at school!
Prep C: Siyara - Siyara has shown the value of Kindness by always making sure everyone in the class feels safe and welcome! Especially our new student!
Prep D: Arshpreet – For always offering to play with children who might not have someone to play with.
Prep E: Lotus - By reminding her friend in the yard about the school expectations and safety rules.
Prep F: Aakira - She consistently helps others feel welcome and valued.
Prep G: Ved - For using his manners and sharing materials with his peers.
Prep H: Baani - For including others to play with her and is always willing to share her materials with others.
Prep I: Bella - For sharing her colours with her table partner without having to be asked.
Prep J: Amber - She readily assists classmates and teachers, always showing genuine care, empathy, and thoughtfulness towards others.
We can’t wait to see what else our students accomplish throughout the rest of Term 2!
If you have any further questions, please contact your child’s classroom teacher for support.
Kind regards,
PLC Prep