Prep News

Important Reminders

Fathers Day Morning: On Friday the 1st of September, we will be hosting a Fathers’ Day/Special persons morning tea from 9.15-10am. An invitation was sent home earlier this week with further information.

Learning in Action

Literacy

In Reading students have been reading ‘Little People, Big Dreams’ books, particularly looking at David Attenborough and Elton John. Students predicted what the books would be about and made connections to their personal lives. Students also practised their reading fluency and used the strategy ‘looking for parts we know’ when reading words with many sounds. We had so much fun writing a personal narrative about our excursion. Students had to include ‘who, what and where’ in their writing. They were encouraged to choose one moment from the excursion and write about that in detail, rather than listing many things that they did. This makes our writing more interesting to read. Through word work sessions, students learnt a new spelling rule to help them write words correctly. They learnt the digraph ‘ck’, discovering that we used this at the end of a syllable after a short vowel sound.

Preview- Next week we will read about another well known person and apply comprehension strategies. We will engage in an experience and write a personal narrative about it.

Maths

In Maths we have continued learning about teen numbers, specifically to compare and order them. Students learnt to compare teen numbers by making the teen number with unifix and then verbally identifying that e.g 14 is smaller than 16 because 14 has one group of ten and four ones, whereas 16 has one group of ten and six ones. When ordering numbers, students learnt to find the smallest number and the biggest number first, then fill in the other numbers.

Students also learnt to identify parts within a number through being introduced to a place value chart, where they learnt about ones and tens. The preps were able to see a teen number was made of tens and ones, but could also be split entirely into ones. For instance, 16 is 1 ten and 6 ones, or 16 ones.

We finished our time unit, focusing on days of the week. Students learnt vocabulary about ‘yesterday’ (the day that happened before), ‘today’ (the present day we are currently on) and ‘tomorrow’ (the day that is happening one day in the future).

Preview:Next week we will revisit addition and students will continue with their addition goals. We will also start a new unit on mass and introduce the concept of weight.

Inquiry

The students have begun returning their special events cards, and we have loved hearing about the special memories their families have. Here are a few examples:

“Marrying Mummy in front of all our family and friends and having a big party”

“When my kids came over to India, it was special because I haven’t seen them in 4 years”

“When my baby first said ‘Daddy’ it was so cute”

“Going to on holidays to NZ to meet my cousins, grandparents and family”

“Having my three beautiful children, because it made me a mummy!”

Now we are confident identifying significant life events, we are exploring the life events of some well known people. At the beginning of the term the Preps used their voice and chose people from each category to learn about.

Timelines of Neil Armstrong and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson

Preview- Over the term we will continue looking at the following people and create timelines for their lives.

Science Star - Neil Armstrong

Entertainer - Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson

History Makers - Greta Thunberg and Amelia Earhart

Sports Star - Michael Jordan

Wellbeing

This fortnight has seen students continue their Help Seeking unit for Respectful Relationships. Over the past two weeks, students have explored who can help them at school when they have questions or problems - for example: Who can help us when we are hurt or unwell? Mrs Potter or Mrs Philipp in sick bay. Students also drew pictures of their helpful people and highlighted who they would share good or happy news with, and who they like to go for for help.

Ella J would tell her friend Paige happy news, and would ask Miss Lansdell for help.

Raph P would tell his friend Zoe happy news, and would ask his Mum for help.

Friendology has seen students focus on Friendship Fires, using the motto ‘Be a Firefighter, not a Firelighter!’. We discussed that Friendship Fires happen when we have hurt feelings, misunderstandings and disagreements, and practised strategies including talking it out and reactions to help put a Friendship Fire out.

Preview: Next week, we will look at how to ask for help during our Respectful Relationships sessions, and move on to ‘Tricky Situations’ in Friendology.

MoPA Excursion

On Monday the 14th of August, the Preps went on their first excursion! We had an absolute ball at MoPA, drawing on walls, building giant wall puzzles, racing cars, catching flying balls, and building giant towers. We finished off with a special Lysterfield Dance Party, complete with crazy costumes and killer dance moves! It was amazing to see students using their imaginations, work together and just play. As you would have read above, the students used this fantastic memory to write about, but we’re sure the memory will also bring some smiles! A special thank you to Daniel, Elisha, Katrina and Brigitte who came along to help on the day.

Book Week

The preps had a fantastic time celebrating book week! On Wednesday we were lucky enough to be visited by Michelle, a librarian from Rowville Library. She taught us about her job, the importance of libraries and shared a little about the process of choosing a Children's Book of the year. We also celebrated the week by creating our own special book marks, and dressing up as our favourite book characters! Please stay tuned for some pictures of our amazing dress ups in our next newsletter.