Prep News

Important Reminders

As per our school's SunSmart policy, all students are required to wear hats till the end of April 2024.

All important dates and events are on our Compass Calendar, please check the calendar regularly to stay up to date!
Production is coming up fast! This week we had dress rehearsals at school. All classes will need to have their hair tied back in a neat ponytail or plait. Here are the costume reminders:

PD and PL - We have the students black tshirts at school as they now have clouds attached to them. On the days they will also need to wear/pack black pants. It might be a good idea for students to wear a singlet underneath their clothes so they can change into their tops easily.

PB and PR - will need to either wear or pack a plain black t-shirt and pants on the production days (24-26th). These will be worn underneath their costume.

Learning in Action

Literacy

This term we are learning about narratives, which are made up stories. In the first week we learnt about the parts of a narrative, knowing that narratives have a beginning, middle and end with characters, settings, a problem and a solution. This week we read ‘The Pocket Dogs’. Afterwards, students identified the narrative parts and looked at how the main character ‘Biff’ was feeling when he got lost.

In Writing, we used our ideas to brainstorm our very own characters, settings, problems and solutions. We learnt a new part of speech ‘adjectives’, which are words that describe a noun/subject to help paint a picture in the reader’s mind. Students enjoyed drawing Biff and writing a list of words that described how he looks, behaves and feels.

Through our Word Work sessions, students were introduced to double consonant digraphs: ll, ss, ff & zz. We learnt the ‘floss rule’ to help us remember how to spell words with these spelling patterns. After a syllable and short vowel sound, we double the consonant letter e.g huff and puff. Our new vocabulary words from the past fortnight are ‘grinned’ and ‘ridiculous’.

Here’s what Tanner from PR has enjoyed learning about in Literacy: “I have learnt that narratives are made up stories. They have characters in them. I like how the characters show silly and funny emotions sometimes. I know that narratives have interesting words in them.”

Preview: Next fortnight we will continue reading narratives and identifying the main parts. We will also have a go at writing our very own narrative!

Maths

This term, students will be learning about place value, sharing, 3D shapes, money and revise other topics we have covered this year.

Last week students learned about place value. Students made and represented numbers using a place value chart, where they identified the tens and ones in a number.

Over the next fortnight, students will be learning about sharing/division and that it means to share something into equal groups. Students practised sharing using counters to represent strawberries and lollipops, and kinder circles to represent bowls.

Our Preps were excited to learn about 3D shapes this term, knowing 3D shapes are 'fat' whilst 2D shapes are ‘flat.' Students accepted the challenge to make spheres and cubes with play-doh and match sticks. Students had lots of fun making their 3D shapes and it was great to see them engaged in their learning.

Zach and Avneet (PD) practising place value.

Indy and Neirav (PD) practising place value.

Liam and Darcie (PB) creating 3D shapes.

Preview: Next week we will continue learning about sharing and 3D shapes.

Inquiry

This term our Preps are becoming “Waste Warriors” in our inquiry unit based on sustainability. We spent the first week looking at our students’ current understanding of waste and how we can reduce it. Here are a few examples:

When you eat your dinner but don’t eat it all
Buying plastic bottles for water
Filling up the bath too much
You should pick things up from the drain to stop waste
Put your old stuff into the recycling bin

This week students have begun looking at the different types of waste, focusing on rubbish and things that go in the rubbish bin. They used their knowledge and have created posters to display in our classroom, to ensure everything is put in the correct bin.

Preview - We will look into recycling and composting, making additional posters to promote the correct use of bins in our classroom.

Wellbeing

The beginning of Term 4 has seen students continue their work on Gender and Identity during Respectful Relationships sessions. Last week, students played the ‘Anyone Can Choose’ game, where they moved in rotations according to activities like washing the dishes, kicking a football and rocking a baby. During the game, discussions were had around doing what we like to do regardless of whether we are boys or girls. This week, students played the Strong and Gentle self-control game, where we focussed on miming the actions needed for various scenarios, like how to gently stroke a frightened kitten. Discussions around both boys and girls needing to be both strong and gentle were very constructive.

Students have completed their final lesson for Friendology! The Kind + Strong session ties all the learning together and students reflect on their knowledge, skills and learning.

Oscar (PL) demonstrating strong running.

William (PD) demonstrating gently holding a frightened kitten.

Brooklyn (PL) demonstrating how to strongly carry a shopping bag up stairs.

Alisa (PL) demonstrating how to gently dust sand off a hurt toddler.

Xavier (PL) demonstrating how to gently carry a birthday cake.

Preview: Next week, students will begin a new Respectful Relationships topic entitled ‘Positive Gender Relations’. We will also be revising concepts from Friendology.

Voice

As a whole school community we have had a large focus upon student voice, and that has been no different in Prep! Our students have been learning about the definition, knowing voice is when ‘you share your thoughts when they’re on topic, suggest ideas that will help everyone and act, making sure you do what you say.’ You might have noticed Preps sharing their voice in the paragraphs above, explaining their learning.

To really emphasise our student’ voice, we have begun featuring a student on our display board and in our newsletter in something we like to call “Prep’s Presenting!” Each fortnight a class will nominate someone to use their voice and display anything they would like eg. jokes, fun facts, work.