Foundation

Literacy

This term, the students have been working hard to learn new digraphs (2 letters making 1 sound). They have explored the rules for the ai and ay digraphs.

We have also been learning about Fiction and Non Fiction texts. We an identify these texts by their features. The students have looked at what is similar and what is different about the texts.

They have also made comparisons between two texts that centre around a similar topic e.g Facts about whales and a story about whales.

Numeracy

In Numeracy we have started to explore capacity. Students have been learning about full, empty and half full and exploring these using water. On Thursday, we read the story of Alexanders Outing about a duck who got stuck in a drain and was rescued when somebody added water to the drain. Students then worked in partners to save their own ducks and see how many cups of water they needed to use before they could rescue him.

Inquiry

This term, our inquiry topic is investigating weather. We have been exploring weather changes through the seasons. We have explored all 4 seasons, talking about what to wear during that season, what happens in the environment during that season and when it occurs with a particular focus on how it may look different depending on where you live. e.g. some places get snow in winter whilst in Broadmeadows we do not. 

FIRE EDUCATION

Next Monday is our 2nd visit from the Broadmeadows Fire station. During their last visit students got to learn about being safe around fires, get down low and go go go, and places to meet if there is a fire at home. We cannot wait to see what Monday's visit has in store, but we do know that this time it will involve a visit to the fire truck!

BREAKFAST

Look out for information about a Prep breakfast morning in the coming weeks!

Reminders

• School begins at 8:35am. Please ensure your child is at school on time as they will miss out on crucial social and learning opportunities. Children who come after the 8:50am bell must go to the front office to be marked as a late arrival.
• School finishes at 3pm sharp. Please ensure there is a parent or guardian present at pick up at the correct door (Prep A - front door, Prep B - Go through the breeze way to the playground side door) as some students are waiting for extended periods of time.
• Homework goes home on Mondays and comes back to school on Fridays.
• Families are welcome to come to our cohort and school assemblies on Fridays at 2:30. Cohort assemblies are held in the large Grade 1/2 space (through the blue door), and the school assemblies will be held outside under the COLA (unless otherwise advised).
• As the weather is becoming warmer, students are reminded to wear a hat (broad brim, bucket or legionnaire style) at school. Students that do not have a hat will need to sit in the breezeway. Please make sure your child's hat is labelled.
• Personal toys to play with at school are discouraged. This is to ensure that any items that may be special to your child are not broken or lost during play. On occasion there have been times where toys have been misplaced or damaged. We do not want this to happen to your child's precious items.
• Please ensure your child has a piece of fruit, a snack, and lunch as well as a water bottle.
• Lunch orders - Please ensure all lunch orders are placed in the lunch order basket at the beginning of the day. Occasionally, students have forgotten to place lunch orders in the basket and have had an emergency lunch provided.
• Keep up the positive after-school routines (homework, dinner conversations, bedtime).
• Don't forget - School begins at 8:35am daily. Students that attend after 8:50am will need to sign in at the office.

Tasks to work on at home:

• Letter and sound recognition (recognising upper and lowercase letters and their most common sound) for all letters of the alphabet.
• Heart word recognition (recognising explicitly taught words) - My, my, The, the, I, Me, me, like, can, to, so, go, was, we, she, he, do, of, are, too, for, her, see, say, day, into, you.
• Reading a shared book every night focusing on concepts of print (identifying the front cover, a word, a letter, 1:1 finger pointing, talking about the story and using specific vocabulary)
• Fine motor activities – using playdoh, cutting, threading – to strengthen hand muscles
• Build and write taught CV (consonant vowel) no, go, do, to, VC (vowel consonant), is, am on, up, and CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words, cat, met, top, pit, nut etc
• Having nightly dinner conversations with the family (talk about the day)
• Have your child help out in the kitchen by measuring ingredients when you are making meals, and counting items that are going in the basket at the shops. This will assist in developing counting skills
• Look at some of the information provided under the Literacy, Numeracy and SEL/Inquiry headings and review these tasks to reinforce learning.