Learning News Kindergarten

Welcome to another wonderful week of learning in Kindergarten!

Home Learning 📚✏️ 

Please continue to enjoy reading together each night. Re-reading the same book is a fantastic way to build reading fluency and confidence! We also encourage you to practice writing letters, decodable words, sentences, and numbers at home. When practicing, please gently guide your child to ensure they are using the correct letter and number formation—building these good habits now makes a huge difference!

Tricky Word Program

Now that we’ve officially begun learning our tricky words, I’d like to explain how our tricky word program works. This program is closely aligned with our Initial Lit lessons and is designed to support students’ literacy development throughout the year.

Over the course of the year, Initial Lit will introduce a total of 55 tricky words. These words are carefully grouped according to when they are taught, allowing students to focus on a manageable set of words at a time. This structured approach helps ensure that students can build confidence and mastery gradually. Each time they master a group of words, they will then move onto the next 'level' and focus on mastering those words. By the end of the year, our goal is for all Kindergarten students to be able to confidently read and spell all 55 tricky words. To help motivate our early readers, we use Australian animal levels to progress through our tricky words! Students love leveling up as they master each list. Our learning journey takes us through these exciting stages:

• Koala 🐨 (Starting level)
• Echidna 🦔
• Dingo 🐕
• Wombat 🐾
• Kangaroo 🦘
• Emu 🐦 (Final level)

Religion

Our First School Mass! ⛪❤️

In Religion this term, our Kindergarten students have been learning all about the church and discovering the special, sacred items inside it. We have also been exploring the meaning of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We learned that the Sacred Heart is a beautiful symbol of Jesus’s infinite, glowing love for all of us and His promise to always care for us.

This wonderful learning comes together tomorrow, in the Sacred Heart mass on Friday, 12th of June, as Kindergarten proudly organise and lead our school mass. The children have been practicing and are so excited to lead our school community in prayer. 

Science

Super Scientists at Work! 🔬🧪 

In science, we have been exploring different materials and investigating their unique properties. Recently, our little scientists put their critical thinking skills to the test with a hands-on weaving challenge!

Using plastic cups and paper cups, the students experimented with weaving ribbon through each material. They used fantastic scientific thinking to compare the two, discovering which material was sturdy and stiff, and which was softer and easier to manipulate. We were so proud to hear them using their scientific vocabulary to explain how the differences in the materials affected their weaving!

Maths

Marvelous Mathematicians 🧮

In math, our young learners are exploring addition and discovering how numbers work together through number bonds.

We have been focusing on the "Friends of 10" to see how different "part" numbers come together to make a "whole" number. The children are getting great at spotting these perfect pairs:

• 0 and 10
• 1 and 9
• 2 and 8
• 3 and 7
• 4 and 6
• 5 and 5

Try it at home💡 Ask your child to show you how a "whole" number can be broken down into "parts." You can use pieces of fruit, cereal, or toys to practice. For example, place 10 items on the table and see if they can separate them into a group of 8 and a group of 2!

Music

Making Music 🎵🥁 

This term, our classrooms have been filled with wonderful sounds as we explore the world of music! The students have been learning to identify the difference between a steady beat and a changing rhythm.

To put this into practice, we have been working in small groups to play various percussion instruments, including maracas, triangles, and drums. This hands-on experience is fantastic for developing their fine motor skills and encouraging teamwork, as they have to listen closely to one another to stay in time. We've loved hearing them play along and sing to their favorite songs—our little musicians are doing a brilliant job keeping the rhythm alive!

STEM

Friday STEM Rotations! 🧠🔧

We love finishing our week with our Friday afternoon STEM rotations! These hands-on activities are a fantastic way for our students to wind down while building essential skills. Each Friday, our little learners focus on strengthening their fine motor skills, practicing teamwork and collaboration and developing vital social skills like sharing and turn-taking.

This term, we have also woven drama skills into our rotations! Through imaginative play, role-playing, and creative movement, the children are building their confidence, exploring self-expression and learning to read body language and facial expressions. It is the perfect, high-energy and creative end to a busy week of learning!