Foundation News
It’s been an exciting fortnight in our space with a visit to the library and we’ve also celebrated a special milestone as some of our students have started reading their own books!
It’s a joy to see their growing independence and enthusiasm for learning.
Community Project: Exploring Artistic Expression
This term’s community project is all about creativity and self-expression through art. Earlier this week, our school community came together for another art-focused session. Students were introduced to a variety of artistic techniques, including:
Line drawing
Pattern making
Sketching and shading
Collage creation
Each student had the opportunity to explore two of these methods through hands-on activities. To conclude, students proudly presented their artwork and told the story behind their creations. Our Community Project time is a wonderful moment of connection and creativity.
Simultaneous Story Time – The Truck Cat
As part of this year’s Simultaneous Story Time, we had the pleasure of joining with the Nagambie Library for a special reading of The Truck Cat by Deborah Frenkel. Students listened attentively then completed some activities.
Students enjoyed walking to the library together and for some, it was their first time visiting. They had a lovely time and represented our school with pride. We hope to continue building this connection through more visits in the future.
Mathematics
This fortnight, our young mathematicians have been exploring how to partition numbers into three parts, laying the groundwork for deeper understanding of addition and number relationships. They have informally been introduced to the addition symbol as "and" to help students see number combinations in a meaningful way—for example, saying “3 and 4 is 7.”
A highlight of the week was a new game introduced by Teddy called 18. In this game, students roll three dice and add the numbers together; the first to reach a total of 18 wins. This game sparked lots of excitement and provided a fun way to practise adding three numbers together.
We’re also continuing to strengthen the connection between numerals and quantities through hands-on activities. Games like Roll and Collect help students match numerals to actual amounts, while drawing representations of numbers supports the understanding that numbers represent real quantities.
Farrah's Art Pieces
The children also loved colouring in some of Farrah's drawings that she made for them.
Home Reading
It has been so special to watch our learners begin transferring their skills into reading! As you may have noticed, your children may have started bringing home simple readers to practise their sounding-out skills. Re-reading the same book multiple times helps build confidence, fluency and familiarity with words.
We also encourage you to continue reading picture books with your child. These stories help spark imagination, expand vocabulary and prompt rich conversations about the world around them.
Please click below for more information from Initial Lit’s Reading guide.
Some students have also been given sound tiles and sound boxes to use at home. You’ll notice vowels are red and consonants are yellow. Encourage your child to use these to build simple words. In addition to this, we’ve also begun learning some ‘tricky words.' When practising these, simply tell your child the word rather than asking them to decode it. You’ll find sets of tricky words listed at the back of the reading diary. Some children also have these words written on blue cards in their reading bags. Please practise reading these words during reading time.
In the beginning pages of the book, you may have noticed sounds and words practise, please don’t skip this part as it’s a valuable chance for your child to practise sounds, tricky words, and blending before diving into the story.
If you have any questions or would like support with home reading, feel free to pop into the classroom anytime before or after school.
Have a beautiful weekend,
Miss Gab