Foundation 

Spotlight on Learning

Dear Families,

Week 3 has been a wonderful milestone for Foundation students as they continue to settle into ‘Big School’ with growing confidence. Students are becoming familiar with routines, forming friendships, and enthusiastically engaging in their learning each day. It has been fantastic to see them demonstrating our school-wide expectations by being safe, showing respect to others, and taking pride in their learning.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Religious Education Focus:  

This week, we learned about prayer by exploring our prayer table and prayer mat, and talked about who Jesus is. The students discussed how prayer helps people feel close to God and how different items can help us pray and reflect.

English focus:. 

This week we read "Oi Frog" by Kes Grey. A book about rhyming and rules. Students made text-to-world connections between the rules in the story and rules they follow in their classroom. You can access a link to the read aloud below:

Phonics: During explicit phonics instruction, we focused on the f and a sounds. We introduce sounds based on the Little Learners Love Literacy book, 'Milo's Birthday Surprise. 

Mathematics focus: This week, we learned about counting using our fingers and practiced recognising small numbers of items without needing to count each one. The students developed their confidence in quickly identifying numbers through hands-on activities.

SEL: This week we focused on our school wide expectation ‘Respect’.

Students watched a clip called ‘For the Birds’ and identified respect and disrespect. They shared ways that they can show respect and discussed what it looks like and feels like.

Integrated Curriculum: Geography 

This week we focused on different places, their names, and features. The students talked about places they know and described what they might see there, using words such as school, park, road, river, and playground. We also discussed how the features of a place help us understand what kind of place it is.

This is a conversation you can continue at home, "What are the places you like to visit and why?"

AUSLAN: 

This week we learnt the signs: Good morning, good afternoon, how are you?, I am good, I’m ok (positive), I’m ok (average/ so so).

Next  week we are learning about... 

Religious Education: Students will learn about Ash Wednesday, Lent and the sign of the cross.

Integrated Curriculum Focus: Next week we will learn about Natural and built features in our world.

English Focus: Next week we will be reading the book ‘Oi Dog!!’ by Kes Grey. It is a humorous children’s picture book and a sequel to Oi Frog!. It is a fun, rhyming story about what happens when Frog decides to change the rules about where animals sit.

Mathematics Focus: Next week we will continue focusing on counting and number.

SEL: Next week we will explore emotional literacy by learning what causes different emotions and understanding why it feels good when people like and accept us just the way we are.

AUSLAN Focus: Students will learn greetings and facial expressions.

Late last term all families were emailed links to some Welcome to Saint Thomas Newsletters.  

If you would like to revisit any of these they can be found at the links below.

Ways to engage with the newsletter:

• Read or watch the weekly book with your child at home (there is often a read aloud on you tube). Talk about what the book's most important ideas are. Point to words that begin with this week's sounds.

• Ask your child to retell the story using their own words.

• Talk about who the characters are, where the story is happening.

• Practise handwriting using the visuals provided.

• Take the idea around Mathematics and ask students to repeat an activity they did at school, with you.

  Important Reminders

• Please ensure that you are labelling your child's belongings.

• Can we please ask for a socks and underwear to be placed in the front zip pocket in case of a toileting accident. 

• Comprehension questions to ask when reading with your child to support early reading development.

  "Point to where it shows...." the .......sound

  “I wonder why…”

  "what makes you think...."

  “This reminds me of…”

  "Show me where it says"

  “I didn’t understand that part, so I’ll reread it.”

  Use a mix of Who, What, When, Where, Why, How questions based on the book.

Important Dates

TERM 1 KEY DATES — 2026

• Tuesday 17 February - Shrove Tuesday
• Wednesday 18 February - Ash Wednesday   Start of Lent
• Thursday 19 February - Open Afternoon & Family Catch‑Up   4:30pm – 6:30pm
• Monday 9 March - Public Holiday — School Closed

• Thursday 2 April - Holy Thursday — Last Day of Term 1

   

  TERM 2 START DATE

• Tuesday 21 April — First Day for Students

   

Contact Us 

galilee@cranbourneeast.catholic.edu.au  all teachers