Prep

Dear Prep families,

Welcome to Term 4! We hope you had a restful break and are ready for our final term of Prep. It’s wonderful to see everyone back, refreshed and excited for all the fun learning ahead. This term is expected to be another exciting term, as we’re looking forward to many special moments such as swimming, 3-way conferences, Mini Olympic, and Christmas carols at the end of term!

Reading

In the first two weeks of Term 4, our Prep students have been diving into fiction texts, exploring how authors use characters and settings to tell a story. We’ve been learning to identify where and when stories take place and how characters feel or act throughout the narrative text. Students have also been practising summarising, retelling key events from the beginning, middle and end in their own words. We also introduced the –ell, –ill, and –ump word families when reading. Through word hunts and shared reading, students practised spotting these onset and rimes in stories to help in expanding their vocabulary. 

Writing

We started the term by writing holiday recounts, where students reflected on their break and shared what made it special. We launched our new Unit of Inquiry  and the central idea, 'Stories inspire our imagination and can help us understand the world'. Students shared their ideas about what stories mean to them and wrote their first creative piece inspired by this central idea. This past fortnight, we’ve begun creative writing sessions where students respond to sound prompts and use their imagination to create their own stories. These provocation activities encourage them to take risks and explore their unique voice as writers. Our sight words this fortnight are: because, children, into, now, and came. You can support your child’s learning by practising these words together at home and using them in short sentences.

Literacy Focus:  Phonics and Spelling

In Phonics, we’ve continued to consolidate word families while also introducing our new Morphology component. Students are beginning to explore base words and suffixes, starting with the plural –s. We discussed how adding –s changes a word from one to more than one — for example, cat becomes cats and book becomes books. This helps students understand spelling patterns and word meaning more deeply.

Maths

In Maths, our focus has been on mass and capacity, as well as exploring 2D shapes. Students have been using hefting to compare the weight of objects, ordering them from lightest to heaviest. They learned to use vocabulary such as heavy, light, empty, almost empty, half full, almost full, and full. We’ve also been comparing containers by filling them with different amounts of blocks, then ordering them from least capacity to most capacity. Students recorded their findings by drawing and labelling their results. In our geometry lessons, we explored 2D shapes, describing their sides and corners, and noticing whether the sides are straight or curved. Students enjoyed hunting for shapes around the classroom and sorting them into different categories.

Inquiry

Our new Unit of Inquiry, Stories inspire our imagination and can help us understand the world, has sparked lots of curiosity and creativity! To introduce our central idea, students participated in a See, Think, Wonder activity, where they shared what they already know about stories and what they wonder about how stories help us understand the world. In Writing, we connected this inquiry to creative expression by encouraging students to write short imaginative pieces inspired by familiar tales and story prompts. This unit will continue to develop students’ appreciation for storytelling, imagination, and cultural understanding.

Wellbeing and SEL

This fortnight in Wellbeing, we’ve focused on feeling safe around water, in preparation for our upcoming swimming program. We discussed important safety tips and practised recognising safe and unsafe situations near water. We also explored how our likes and interests are unique and not determined by gender. Students had great discussions about what they enjoy and learned that it’s okay for everyone to like different things — whether that’s dancing, building, drawing or playing sport.

Swimming Program

Our Prep swimming program began in Week 2, and the students were very excited! Each class will attend swimming lessons at the swimming school across the road, where they’ll learn essential water safety skills and build confidence in the water. The program provides a wonderful opportunity for students to develop independence as they manage their belongings and follow routines. We’ve been practising how to pack swimming bags and get ready safely, and we can already see how proud the students are becoming of their growing independence and responsibility.

Reminders:

• Swimming Program:

  • Week 2 (13th–17th October): Prep A, B, C, D, E, F, G

  • Week 3 (20th–24th October): Prep H, I, J, K

  • Please ensure your child brings their swimming bag, towel, goggles, flip flops and a change of clothes each day.

• Friendship Request Forms are due Monday, 20th October.

• Carols recording will take place in  Week 4 on Monday 27th October and Tuesday 28th October. Please practise the allocated carols with your child to ensure that they are well rehearsed before recording day. 

• 3-Way Conferences will be held on Tuesday, 28th October, with early dismissal at 12pm for students.

• Hats - A reminder that hats need to be worn from this term.

• Students are expected to bring their satchel to school EVERY DAY. 

• Please remember to pack a spare change of clothes for your child. Sometimes, little children can have toileting accidents and spills at school.

• If you would like your child to practise our school song, this is the Youtube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua5RnSttwyY 

   

           Warm  regards,

           The Prep Team