Foundation News

Dear Foundation Parents/Guardians,

Welcome to Week 9 of Term 1! 

 A big thank you to the parents for your continued support in dropping your child off at the door and giving them the space to independently organise themselves for the day. This practice is key to helping your child develop important life skills and fosters their independence.

Learning Focuses

Below is what we have been focusing on with our learning the past three weeks. 

English 

In English, students have been getting familiar with the routine of the English block. We’ve been revising previously learnt sounds and  practising handwriting with lowercase letters and learning the sounds /g/, /o/, /c/, and /k/. Using these sounds, students have been forming words like "pan," "nap," and "dim." They’ve been practicing saying the sounds in the words and blending them together to create the full word. 

Literature 

In Literature, we’ve been learning about “Nursery Rhymes ." Students have been exploring a variety of nursery rhymes and comparing them with one another to find similarities and differences between two texts. Students also explored what an adjective is and how we can use them in our sentences. 

Maths 

Over the last few weeks, students have been exploring numbers up to 10. In this unit, they have been practicing one-to-one correspondence to count objects accurately and focusing on the vocabulary of ‘more’ and ‘fewer’. They’ve also worked on writing numerals and matching them to the correct quantity. Students have also begun exploring data in the unit ‘Sorting and Surveys’. During this unit they have been sorting out collections and arranging them into graphs. 

Harmony Day 

This year for Harmony day Thank you to all the families who attended the assembly and participated in the open morning session. Students also participated in a series of activities run by the Hindu Cultural Group, such as, yoga, team games and listened to a story about being accepting of others.

CATS:  Throughout the term, your child has been completing Common Assessment Tasks (CATS).  These are tasks that give you a snapshot of how your child is going in their learning across all subject areas.  You will be able to access these and any other important information via Compass. You will receive notifications when CATS are available to you.

Reminders

Home Readers: 

Your child's teacher will send home their take-home readers. Each child will receive two books for the week, which you can help them read at home. A diary will also be provided for you to record your child’s daily reading. The reader bag should go home every day and be returned to class each day. The teacher will check the diary daily, and we will celebrate key reading milestones, such as 25 nights of reading, in the classroom. Reading every day will help your child reinforce what they’ve learned in school. Encourage your child to segment and blend the sounds in the words they are decoding (e.g., s/i/t, sit). Don’t forget to record their reading in the diary!

Fruit snack: 

A part of our daily routine involves placing fruit snacks on our tables. These snacks serve as a brain break, providing students with an energy boost to support their learning. We kindly request that fruit snacks be stored in a separate container from their lunch boxes. Lunch boxes are often large and bulky, taking up valuable desk space. Using a smaller container for the fruit snack helps free up space, which in turn contributes to a more focused learning environment. 

School Hats 

Students are required to wear hats while playing outside, in accordance with the education department's regulations to promote sun safety. Please make sure your child has a hat with their first and last name clearly labeled on it.

Permission forms:

As the term comes to an end, we kindly request that you confirm with the office whether all necessary school-based forms have been completed. These forms include photo approval, technology agreement, head lice check, and local walking excursion consent. Without parental permission, students will be unable to participate in technology-related activities, and your child’s classroom teacher will require confirmation regarding the permission to take photos of your child. We appreciate your support in ensuring these forms are submitted.

Important dates:

End of Term 1 - 4th April. Early Finish time 1:50p

Easter Monday - 21st April. Public Holiday - No school

Anzac Day - 25th April. Public Holiday - No School

First day of Term  - 22nd April. 

Home Learning Ideas

Recently your child's classroom teacher has sent home a login for Little Learners Love Literacy. These logins can be found in your reading diary. Encourage your child to log in and read the vast amount of decodable books available online.  It provides extra reading material each week extra to  your child’s take home readers.  It has some great games and provides your child with comprehension questions.

Some other ideas of things you can work on at home:

• Practise writing words with the letters we have learnt in the classroom. (see above)
• Have your child practise writing their name, lowercase letters and using scissors correctly.
• Ask your child questions about the text they have just read e.g. who is the character? What was the setting?
• Practise counting and writing  numerals to and from 10.

Thank you again for your continued support, if you have any questions, please ask your classroom teacher.

From the Foundation team.