Prep News

What we've been up to in Prep!

Ecolinc Excursion - Minibeasts

Last week, we had our very first excursion to Ecolinc in Bacchus Marsh. We got to explore the wetland searching for minibeasts, then we got to continue our search looking for minibeasts in compost and water. 

Ecolinc Incursion - Frogs

This week, we learnt all about Amphibians and had a visit from Ainsley from Ecolinc. She taught us about the features of frogs, how they move and what they eat. We got to make a frog from plasticine and we got to touch a real frog! 

Upcoming Dates

TOMORROW: Friday 1st August- 1ooth Day of School 

Thursday 7th August- Responsible Pet Ownership Program Incursion

Friday 5th September- Ballarat Wildlife Park Excursion 

Book Week - Week 5

It’s that time of year again when we dust off the hot glue gun and put together a costume to celebrate Book Week. This year, Book Week will be celebrated from Monday 18th to Friday 22nd August, and the 2025 theme is Book an Adventure! 2025 is a milestone year, celebrating 80 years of the Australian Children’s Book Week! 

We have organised 2 family events for the week: 

• On Monday 18th August from 8.45am to 9.00am our school will open our libraries and classrooms for families to read a story book with their child/ren. The Preps will then get to do an activity with their buddies. 
• The second activity will be held on Friday 22nd August- our annual whole-school book parade. This will be held in The Hub at 9am. We encourage all students to dress up as their favourite book character on this day.

Big Write

This week, we had our first official Big Write. Every fortnight, we will have a Big Write where students get to showcase their best writing! At the beginning of the week of a Big Write, we will send home 'Talk Homework' which will say the topic that we are going to be writing about. The idea is that if students can’t say it, then they can’t write it, so we ask that you have a conversation with your child about what they are going to write. Please do not write down their ideas- the verbal conversation is enough. The better we are as speakers, the better we can become as writers. 

Parent Reading Helpers

We had a great start to our Parent Reading in Term 2.  Now that we are heading into Term 3, we are looking for some more volunteers. Please see the below information from Term 2, if you happen to be interested:

If you would like to help in the morning and could help with the above for the first 20 minutes of the day (8.40 and 9am) that would be much appreciated. This is usually a quiet time for students to ensure concentration and we ask that toddlers are not present during this time. We also understand that many parents work and therefore will not be available.

Important information:

You will be allocated a group of students to listen to, or work with. The group will be one that does not include your own child. 

Students have been practising building their reading skills and you will have a small list of students to work with each day. 

We acknowledge that all children learn at different rates and you will experience children reading at many different stages. Please note that it is important not to discuss any child’s reading ability due to confidentiality.

If you feel that your child may have difficulty saying goodbye to you at the end of the session, we ask that you do not volunteer at this time. There may come a time later in the year that your child will be able to separate from you with ease and then we would love for you to help out.

If you would like to help out, please email your child’s teacher with the day that you would be available to help out. A timetable will then be sent out communicating the day you have been allocated. 

If you would like to assist, we will need you to provide your Working with Children's Check to the office.

Thanks in advance!

Upcoming Learning

Literacy 

In week 3, we will continue to revise the sounds we have learnt with a big focus on vowels. In week 4, we will be learning the diagraph /ck/. Our heart words will be 'see' and 'be'. We will be reading the stories Pocket Dogs by Margaret Wild and Wendy by Gus Gordon. 

Mathematics

In week 3, we will begin learning about at teen numbers. We will also look at the number facts for numbers 5-10 and 10-15. 

Topic 

In week 3, we will be learning about Pets and in week 4, it is science week so we will be doing lots of science experiments! 

In Respectful Relationships we will look at Problem Solving- Friendly and Unfriendly decisions and Stress Management- Melting Tiger game.

Maths Challenge

Check out our first Maths Challenge of the term below!