Foundation

Welcome to Cheltenham Primary School Foundation families and students. We are so excited for your learning journey at CPS to begin!

In Term 1, the Foundation students are focusing on their wellbeing and settling into school. This involves learning the routine of the day, navigating their new environment, following multi step instructions and building relationships with their teachers, peers and Year 6 buddies.

We will also be introducing the Zones of Regulation to support the students to identify their feelings and to develop strategies to calm themselves when they may feel frustrated or upset. These skills will be helpful when they face challenges in the classroom or in social situations.

Literacy

We have been beginning our mornings with fine motor activities. This is a pre-writing activity. The students engage in experiences such as using tongs, pegging, cutting, building with small blocks and colouring in. Not only is this a calming way to start the morning, but it is similar to the developmental play that they were used to in their early childhood setting.

During our morning Literacy Blocks throughout the term, we will also be focusing on:

Recognising rhyming words and continuing a rhyme
Identifying the number of syllables in words
Letter names and sounds for S A T P I N M D
Sounding out and blending 2 and 3 letter words
Distinguishing between a letter, a word and a sentence
Sequencing events
Holding a pencil with correct pencil grip
Cutting along the lines with scissors
Name writing
Copying sentences under a model

Mathematics

In Foundation, our main focus is 'Trusting the count' for numbers to 10. 'Trusting the count' refers to having a deep understanding of what each number means. For instance, when students read, write or hear ‘seven’, they can imagine what that collection might look like and how it relates to other numbers.

To develop 'Trusting the count' in Term 1, we will be:

Subitising (instantly recognising the amount in a collection without counting)
Rote counting forwards and backwards
Saying the numbers that come before and after
Recognising, ordering and writing numerals to 10
Exploring different ways numbers can be represented, including words, fingers, tens frames or with blocks

Other concepts that we will be exploring in Mathematics include Location and Pattern.

STEAM

Each term, the students will be engaging with a new STEAM topic. In Term 1, our topic is 'All About Me'. This is a great way for the students to learn about each other and respect each other's differences. Some of the concepts we will be covering each week are:

Likes and dislikes
Creating self portraits
Different family structures
Countries that our families originated from

The students will also complete a 'Me in a Nutshell' Presentation where they will bring in 5 objects that are important to them to share with the class.