Prep/1 Mainstream

This term, students are beginning to look at their place in space and ask questions about our solar system. We are delving more deeply into understanding the role of the sun in our solar system, including discovering what happens to our shadows at the beginning vs. the end of the school day.

Last week we celebrated NAIDOC day! It was wonderful to see so many families joining us for a welcome breakfast, face painting, smoking ceremony and the after school sausage sizzle! Students participated in a number of activities to celebrate our First Nations’ traditions and culture. These activities included creating art, dancing, singing, games and connecting to country. As we continue to focus on caring for our country (and each other), it is useful to learn from our experts and to remember Bundjil’s lore.

Literacy

In Reading, students will continue to focus on phonics, including sounding out words, reading fluency and spelling words. Students in both Foundation and Year One are revising spelling patterns with a spelling word list. This week foundation students will revise ccvcc words (drink, plump, crisp) with a focus on hearing all the sounds in the word when reading and writing. Year One students will revise the ch/tch spelling patterns. Students will revise:

ch can be at the start of a word (chip, chum, cheese)
usually follows a long vowel sound at the end of a word (beach, screech, coach)
It can also follow a short vowel with a consonant (lunch, branch)
tch usually follows a short vowel sound and is at the end of a word (witch, catch)
There are some exceptions to think about like much and such.

In Writing, students continue to focus on developing their writing stamina to record factual information about space and then share their new learning with others. Students will continue to focus on the following secretarial skills:

Writing the sounds they hear in each word
Starting a sentence with a capital letter
Putting a finger space between each word
Ending a sentence with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark.
Forming letters correctly

Maths

In Mathematics, students have been exploring the topic of measurement though real-world, hands-on activities. We have talked about the language used to compare and order lengths of objects in our classroom, such as bigger, taller, longer, shorter, smaller, etc. Students will explore how to measure length, mass and capacity using uniform informal units (such as unifix blocks and paperclips).

What other uniform informal units can you find at home that can be used to measure objects this way? Why is it important to measure end-to-end with no overlaps?

Students are also exploring the language of position and location and using this to give directions. Clarity of language is important for providing instructions, but it’s also useful for expanding your vocabulary in general. For example, if you are giving someone directions to find a location, how accurate does your language need to be in order for them to arrive at the right place and at the right time?

Here are some games and activities that you might like to try at home:

Game 1: Obstacle course

Set up an obstacle course inside or outside your home (inside can often be safer). Use chairs, pillows, blankets, and other items to create obstacles that your partner can manoeuvre around.
Blindfold your partner or ask them to cover their eyes.
Direct them through the obstacle course from start to finish using clear, directive language. For example; middle, left, bottom, right, top, behind, in front of, inside, outside, under, below, over, beside.

Game 2: Tens or Hundred Facts Memory!

This is an easy and fun game to play on your own or with a partner. Remove the picture cards from your card deck. Ace is worth 1.

Spread all of your cards out and place them face down.
Turn over any two cards at a time and try to find as many sets of ten as you can! Eg. 9 and 1, 8 and 2, 7 and 3, etc.

Challenge: Pretend each card is a multiple of ten (eg. 9 = 90). How many hundreds facts can you find?

See if you can record ALL of the number sentences for your tens and hundreds facts!

Game 3: Addition Snap!

This is an easy and fun game to play with a partner. Remove the picture cards from your deck. Ace is worth 1.

Divide your cards into two piles face down. One for your partner and one for you.
Say “Ready, set, go!” Both partners place a card from their own pile down in the middle. The first person to add the cards together keeps the set.
Repeat until all cards are gone. The person with the most cards at the end is the winner!

Challenge: Pretend the cards are multiples of ten. 6 + 3 becomes 60 + 30.