From the Year Prep Classroom

Where did those two weeks go? It has been another busy and exciting fortnight in our Foundation Space!

Learning About the Bossy ‘E’ In Prep, we’ve been learning about the bossy ‘e’, which is a special letter that changes the sound of a vowel in a word. For example, in a split digraph like a–e, the ‘a’ says its name instead of the short ‘a’ sound because the ‘e’ at the end is “bossy” and tells it to be long, like in “cake” or “make.” We are practising spotting the a–e split digraph in words and using it in reading, writing, and spelling activities, so the children can recognise it easily and build their confidence as readers!

Initial Lit Reading – Online It’s fantastic to see so many children reading at home with excitement! Our Initial Lit readers are still online and updated, making them a perfect extra option if you’re looking for more books for your child to enjoy at home. They’re a fun and easy way to keep reading practice going anytime, anywhere!

Maths Fun: Money, Numbers & Place Value! Money, counting, and numbers have been a blast in Prep lately! We’ve loved exploring coins and notes, learning what they’re worth, and seeing how money works in real life. The children had so much fun sorting, counting, and even pretending to shop. So, lots of giggles and “wow!” moments along the way. You can keep the fun going at home by letting your child count coins when ordering lunch or helping out at the shops.

Next, we’re diving into place value! The Preps are discovering how numbers are made of tens and ones. Using 10-frames, they can see numbers in groups of ten, then add the leftover ones to build bigger numbers, just like stacking blocks to make a number tower!

Italian In Italian, the Preps have absolutely loved learning all about colours! They’ve had so much fun writing the colour names in Italian, and they’re quickly becoming confident little linguists! 

 We have Chickens! OMG what an egg-citing week in Prep! The children (and the staff!) were absolutely over the moon to discover that 12 fluffy little chicks had hatched over the weekend! There were squeals, smiles, and so much curiosity as everyone rushed to meet our new arrivals. As part of our Inquiry unit, the Preps have been learning all about how chicks hatch. They now know that fertilised eggs stay in an incubator for 21 days at around 37°C with 50–55% humidity. They were fascinated to learn that the eggs need to be turned three to five times a day for the first 18 days, then kept still from day 19 as we increase the humidity to 65–75% and wait patiently for the big hatch! If there’s one thing we know they’ll never forget this year, it’s this Inquiry unit. It has been an absolute highlight! A huge thank you to Mrs Mestrom and her dad for sharing their amazing expertise, and to Mrs Trembath for providing the brooder box. 

First Aid Fun! We were so excited to welcome Jordynn Ednie on Monday for a special First Aid session with our Preps! The children were completely absorbed, learning real-life skills to help keep people safe.

Here’s what they confidently shared afterwards:

· Call 000 if someone needs help

· Basics of CPR by pushing on the chest

· What to do if someone is choking

· DRSABCD steps: Danger, Response, Send for help, Airway, Breathing, CPR, Defibrillation

The Preps did an amazing job and were so proud of what they learned. A big thank you to Jordynn for such an exciting and important session!

Off to Pevan & Sarah We Go! We are SO excited, the countdown is on! Today we even received a hand-delivered letter from Pevan and Sarah via mail, telling us how thrilled they are to have the Preps coming to see their live show in Albury on Monday the 24th. The kids were absolutely buzzing! Due to some hiccups with PUSH notes on SIMON Everywhere, we had to switch back to good old paper permission notes, which were sent home last Friday. Please make sure these are signed and returned as soon as possible so your child can join in on the fun.

 Parents can provide permission via email to; school.information@shyarrawonga.catholic.edu.au 

and quote their child's name and excursion they are providing consent for. 

Don’t forget to pack a full lunch, hat and water bottle.

Reminders

· Upcoming Events:

o Week 8 Monday 24th Nov Excursion to Albury ‘Pevan and Sarah’ Show 9am-2pm

o Week 8 Friday 28th Christmas Concert

o Week 9 Swimming Lessons

Preps doing some WONDERFUL Italian colors writing work!