The Golden Sun Newsletter

Argus Community Report

November Update

Amazing! Who can believe we are already in Term 4? Our Prep students have almost been at school for a whole year. All students should congratulated for their wonderful work so far this year. 

 

Term 4 is set to be another busy fun-filled term, including our new Preps visiting for transition, visits from services within our community including Fire Fighter and Police Officers, our first ever Colour Fun Run and our Argus Community Cultural Celebration as part of our Inquiry Unit. 

 

We also had our second Book Fair last week. We looked at the books and wrote our 'Wish Lists' in our library sessions. 

 

 

Our other exciting news is our new P-2 playground. We went out as a community on Monday morning and had our very first play. 

 

 

Reading

In Reading, the Prep students will continue to work on their individual reading goals. Students participate in reading conferences with their teachers where they discuss their current goal, read a text to demonstrate their achievement against this goal and then in collaboration with the teacher a new goal will be established. 

 

Each week students participate in reading sessions where they get the opportunity to practise their reading goal and complete tasks that develop their reading skills. These activities vary according to need but include: 

- making predictions before reading

- learning blends and digraphs- when 2 letters make one sound for example 'sh'

- using Eagle Eye strategy- using pictures to help read unknown words

- using Lips the Fish- using the first sound in a word, getting their mouth ready for the word

- using Stretchy Snake- using letter sounds and stretchy the sounds out in the word eg s- u- n = sun

- developing fluency when reading 

- answering questions about what they have read.

 

Writing

In Writing, the students will continue to develop their ability to record their ideas using pictures and sentences. We will be focusing on 'what is a sentence' and 'how to make our sentences more interesting'. 

This includes learning about:

* punctuation- full stops, capital letters, exclamation marks and question marks

* word choice- using adjectives to make our writing more interesting and choosing vocabulary appropriate to the topic

* correct use of upper and lower case letters

* letter formation and sizing

* spelling Oxford Words correctly in their writing. 

 

Here we are doing our dictation task which we do weekly. This helps us to consolidate some of the above skills. 

 

Maths

So far this term in Maths, we have learnt about 'sharing'. We discovered that when we share a collection of objects that we need to ensure we have a fair or equal share. Students completed a range of hands-on activities where they practised their sharing skills, equally sharing different objects between themselves and their friends. 

 

We had fun learning location and following directions. We had to go on a hunt for the Green Sheep and use location vocabulary. to describe where he was. Words we used included: on, under, in, behind, between, in front of. 

 

We have also revisited the topic of Data. Data is information we can collect. This week we are collecting data about animals that can fly or walk, how many animals there are on a farm, our community birthday months and we are also generating our own question to collect data on. When we collect data, we record the responses as tally marks and then we graph this information.

 

For the rest of Term 4, we will be learning about:

* Subtraction- developing an understanding of the concept and using concrete materials to solve subtraction problems

* Learning the days of the week,  linking days of the week to activities and sequencing familiar events in time order    

* 3D shapes- sorting, describing and naming 3D objects.

 

SEL- Social Emotional Learning

In SEL, we are learning about people who can help us, both at school and in the community. We will be talking about services within the community that we can trust and who help us in emergencies. The Fire Fighters visited this week to talk to half of the community about Fire Safety and will return again next week to talk to the rest of us. We got to look in the fire truck and were amazed at how many hoses they have. They also taught us what to do if there was ever a fire. We need to 'Get down low and GO, GO, GO!' Once safely out of the house we call 000. They also reminded us that we should all have working fire alarms in our houses. The Police Officers will also be visiting us to talk about what they do and how they can help us and our community. 

 

Here are some photos from our visit from the Fire Fighters:

 

Inquiry

Our Inquiry Unit is, 'Who am I? Who are we?' In this unit we will be learning about:

 

* What is a ‘family’ and who are the members in our families?

* How are our families similar and different?

* Where do our families come from and how do families celebrate special events?

 

As part of this unit, we will be exploring some of the cultures represented in our community. We will also have a Cultural Celebration Day, celebrating the diversity of our community. Here are some photos of our self-portraits, Venn diagrams, family trees and our 'Where are you from?' wall (work in progress, as we are still adding names).

 

Notes to Remember

* Please remember doors to the Argus community open at 8.45 and class begins at 8.50

* If you arrive after this time a late pass is required

* We encourage students to enter the community independently

* Ensure your child has a change of clothes in case of accidents 

* Label all belongings

* Students change their take home books each day and please remember to fill out their book titles in their diary each evening 

* Students have letters/sounds and/or sight words to practise each night

* Diaries are checked every Friday, however, students are expected to bring these to school each day.

Tips to support learning at home

If you would like to support your child's learning at home, here is a list of ideas: 

* Read on a nightly basis with your child, talk about the books read (retell the story, identify characters/setting, favourite part, make connections with the text and their own experiences)

* Practise your child's reading goal 

* Encourage your child to use the reading strategies above to read unknown words

* Practise reading and spelling the Oxford Words

* Write shopping lists or letters to a friend

* Play games like I Spy and board games

* Describe location using words such as left, right, up, down, in front of, under on, behind. Maybe direct mum and dad to a familiar location at the shops. 

* Practise subtraction at home using concrete materials

* Talk about days of the week and activities we do each day

* Look for 3D objects in the environment eg. an ice cream cone, a cube shaped box etc

* Count up to 20 and beyond and then back again

* Practise number and letter formation. 

 

Here some You Tube videos the students enjoy

https://youtu.be/HtQcnZ2JWsY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieCxOOY0RTs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkRkzn74Q9U

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qs3c0ehDvZkbiEbOj6Drg

 

Most of all have fun with learning at home, ensure it is enjoyable.

Communication

For our Fun Run, please start asking people to sponsor you. Not only are there amazing prizes but it also helps our raise funds for our school. 

 

Don’t forget to check your child’s book bag and diary every day for any important notices and information.

 

Sentral is also another key form of communication please ensure you have registered and check in regularly for updates and notices. Feel free to pop in and see Fiona, Stacey, Rebecca or Ashley if you have any questions.

 

Thank you, 

Argus Community Teachers