Prep Team News

Hello Prep families,

We cannot believe it is Term Four already! The Preps have settled back into school with ease, working hard in their classrooms each day and enjoying catching up with their peers. We have loved hearing many exciting holiday stories. It is looking to be another busy and exciting term, as we look ahead to our Aquarium Excursion next week. 

Our Willy Kid theme this fortnight is ‘Willy Kids are Cooperative’. We watched an episode of Bluey and talked about the ways that we can be cooperative Willy Kids when interacting with others in the classroom and playground. 

As you would know from the end of last term, students are required to wear their school hat outside at recess and lunch times. Parents, if you wish to do so, could you please support your child to apply sunscreen each morning before school. This helps to make our transitions outside each day easier. 

Melbourne Aquarium Excursion - Wednesday 21st October

As part of our Inquiry unit this term, 'What Do Living Things Need To Survive?'the Prep students will be visiting the Melbourne Aquarium. They will learn about the different animals that live under water, how they are suited to their habitats, and what their habitats provide for them.

Students should bring a small backpack containing only their lunchbox, hat and a water bottle. The students will be responsible for carrying their own belongings throughout the day.  Any rubbish or food scraps that they have will need to come home with them. Permission and payment for this excursion is due on Compass by Friday 16th October. We are looking forward to a fun and exciting day! 

Term Three Specialists

This Term, all Preps will attend Specialist classes. These include Visual Art, Music, French  and Physical Education. Please see the weekly timetable below.

Parents, could you please support your child to return their library books on their given day. Please also ensure your child is dressed in their P.E. uniform and is wearing runners on the day that they have P.E. Students remain in their P.E. uniform for the entire day. 

Curriculum Focus: Weeks 1 - 2

Reading - Students will continue learning about appropriate reading behaviours, including pointing to the words as we read and taking a breath at full stops. They will also discuss text features such as full stops, capital letters, exclamation marks and question marks. As part of our Little Learner’s program, students are continuing to explore digraphs, with our current focus being the /ph/ and /wh/ sounds.

Writing - Students are continuing to develop their letter formation and sound knowledge to write sentences. In particular this term, students will be planning and writing their own narratives, using the structure of beginning, middle, end. We will also explore non-fiction texts as part of our Inquiry unit and use these texts to record information. 

Numeracy- Students are revising addition and subtraction. We are revisiting a range of games and strategies to reinforce understanding of these concepts. We are also beginning to learn about sharing a number of objects equally between two groups. 

Inquiry - This term, our inquiry topic is ‘What do living things need to survive?’ Our big topics will include: What are living things and how do we know they are living? What do different things require to stay alive? How can we help these things stay alive? Do living things need to be in the right place to stay alive?

Homework - Each Monday, students will be given an activity to complete at home that relates to our weekly sound or maths focus. The activity in their ‘Home Learning Book’ will be collected each Friday. Homework in Prep should take no longer than 15 minutes.  

Respectful Relationships - This term, our Respectful Relationships topic is stress management. Activities will assist students to recognise and identify their own emotions, describe situations that may evoke strong emotions, recognise and identify how their emotions can influence the way they feel and act, and develop self-regulation strategies. 

Prep: Key Dates Term Four

Have a great weekend. 

Warm regards,

The Prep Team–Caitlin Sullivan (Prep S), Claire Davies (Prep D) & Georgia Grainger (Prep G)