Argus-Xenica

Welcome! 

The Prep team would love to formally welcome all of our Preps and their families to Aitken Hill Primary. We truly hope that everyone is enjoying their beginning to Prep and the routines that school brings. Prep is a huge year of learning, growth and personality development. Prep is a fun year that challenges students socially, emotionally and academically. 

Phonics

In Phonics, we have been learning about syllables! The preps have discovered that a syllable is the beat in a word and that different words have different numbers of beats. We have been clapping, tapping, and even jumping to count the syllables in words like cat (1 syllable), apple (2 syllables), butterfly (3 syllables), and watermelon (4 syllables). We have had fun sorting words by their syllables and practising breaking them up. The preps have also started listening for syllables in their own names and their friends’ names!

At home, you can encourage your child to clap out syllables in everyday words—maybe even at the dinner table or on the way to school! 

The children have also enjoyed using their knowledge of letter sounds to read and spell words. Seeing the joy in their faces when they blend the sounds and read the word has been wonderful!

Reading

In Reading, we have been learning about the different parts of a book. The preps have learnt that a book has a front cover, back cover, title, spine and pages. We have explored different types of books and begun building our own book boxes. 

We have spent time reading for enjoyment and learning the difference between a letter, word, sentence and picture. We have been able to sort these to create posters and talk about how we know the difference! But then we met the letters 'a' and 'i', and these confused us because they are special and can be both! 

The preps have been encouraged to use the pictures in the book to create their own story that makes sense to the picture, this is helping students develop their language and impressive story telling.

Writing

In writing students have been exploring different school areas and have been immersed in various learning experiences playing with blocks, popping bubbles, writing with chalk, etc. Throughout their writing lessons, students discuss their experiences to help them develop their oral language and build a connection with other students in class. Preps have enjoyed drawing and attempting to write about their experiences to help them become confident writers and develop their writing skills. 

Maths 

In Maths, the children have been working hard to learn the numbers 1 to 10. They have been practising writing the numbers, counting and making collections with different amounts. The students have also been exploring the world of capacity and have learned what full, half full and empty mean. The children have enjoyed identifying the name of the day after singing the Days of the Week song, putting the name of the days in order and talking about activities they usually do on each day.

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

In SEL this Term we have been busy learning about the four school values; care for yourself, care for others, care for learning and care for school. We have been practising how to show these values in the classroom such as listening to the teacher, raising your hand to speak and also showing these values outside such as sharing equipment and playing safe in the sandpit and playground. The prep classrooms have also started creating morning and afternoon routines to help students come into school settled and leave the classroom clean and tidy. We also have been practising how to move safely around the school by lining up and walking quietly and carefully.

Ideas to support learning at home

When we teach students a letter sound, we teach them an action too. This is called cued articulation. If you would like to practise the sounds at home with your child, you can refer to the video below for some support. 

You can support your child by counting collections and recognising numbers around the house and talking about the days of the week and the different things your family does on each of the different day.

Friendly Reminders

• Doors open at 8:50am and dismissal is at 3:20pm.
• Tissue donations for the classroom would be greatly appreciated. 
• Ensure your child’s belongings are clearly labelled. This includes clothing, drink bottles, hats, jumpers and lunchboxes (lids too).
• Home readers are to be changed each day at school. Teachers will check students yellow home reading diaries once a week. Please record in these. 
• Please ensure that your child is reading for 10-15 minutes every night.
• We strongly encourage students to bring along some brain food (fruit and vegetables) that they may eat in class. It is important that this is included as an additional snack in their lunchbox. Please ensure your child has enough food to eat during the day (recess, brain food and lunch)
• Hats are to be worn in terms 1 and 4. 
• Please return digital agreements and photography consent forms back to your classroom teacher as soon as possible.