Foundation

Welcome to Cheltenham Primary School Foundation families and students. We are so excited for your learning journey at CPS to begin!

In Term 1, the Foundation students are focusing on their wellbeing and settling into school. This involves learning the routine of the day, navigating their new environment, following multi-step instructions and building relationships with their teachers, peers and Year 6 buddies.

We will also introduce the Zones of Regulation to support students in identifying their feelings and developing strategies to self-regulate when they feel frustrated or upset. These skills will be helpful when they face challenges in the classroom or in social situations.

Literacy

We have been starting our mornings with fine motor activities. The students engage in pre-writing activities that help strengthen their fine motor muscles, such as using tongs, pegging, cutting, building with small blocks and colouring in. This is not just a calming way to begin the day, but it also mirrors the developmental play that students are familiar with from early childhood settings, helping to support a smooth transition into school.

MSL

We have also begun our MSL (Multisensory Structured Language) sessions, which students will engage in several times a week. MSL is a scientifically researched, evidence-based approach that applies proven knowledge of how the brain works, how students learn and how students most effectively learn to read and write. During these sessions, students will focus on:

Identifying letter names and sounds for the letters S A T P I N M D
Recognising rhyming words and continuing a rhyme
Identifying the initial and final sounds of words
Segmenting words
Sounding out and blending 2- and 3-letter words

Reader's Workshop

During Reader's Workshop, students are exposed to a range of high-quality texts to support comprehension and develop an understanding of how writers share ideas. Students are supported to develop reading strategies as they gradually move into independent reading. This term, we are focusing on the mentor texts Each Peach Pear Plum and Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley. Through discussions of these mentor texts, we will focus on:

Building vocabulary
Predicting
Retelling
Sequencing events
Making connections to the text

Writing

During our Writing sessions throughout the term, we will focus on:

Holding a pencil with a correct pencil grip
Distinguishing between a letter, a word and a sentence
Cutting along lines with scissors
Name writing
Copying sentences under a model
Writing sentences using sentence starters

Mathematics

In Foundation, our main focus in Mathematics is 'trusting the count' for numbers to 10. 'Trusting the count' refers to having a deep understanding of what each number means. For instance, when students read, write or hear ‘seven’, they can imagine what that number might look like, how it can be represented in different ways, and how it relates to other numbers.

To develop 'trusting the count' in Term 1, we will be:

Subitising (instantly recognising the amount in a collection without counting)
Rote counting forwards and backwards
Saying the numbers that come before and after
Recognising, ordering and writing numerals to 10
Exploring different ways numbers can be represented, including words, fingers, tens frames or with blocks

Other concepts that we will be exploring in Mathematics include Location and Pattern.

STEAM

Each term, the students will engage in a new STEAM topic. In Term 1, our focus is 'All About Me'. This unit provides a wonderful opportunity for students to get to know each other and develop an understanding and respect for each other's similarities and differences.

Throughout the term, students will explore a range of concepts, including:

Likes and dislikes
Creating self-portraits
Different family structures
Countries our families originate from

As part of this unit, students also complete a 'Me in a Nutshell' presentation. For this activity, students are invited to bring in five objects that tell something about them and share why these items are special with the class.