Prep 

INFORMATION & REMINDERS

Welcome back!

Welcome back to Term 2! We hope you all enjoyed a restful Easter break and a chance to pause from the usual routine. This term is full of exciting experiences and rich learning opportunities, and we can’t wait to get started!

NEW INFORMATION: Home Reading & Reading Pockets

• From today, students will start bringing home a 'take home' book in their book pocket.
• Books will be sent home on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We do not change books every day, as it is important for children to build fluency in their reading. Re-reading familiar texts is a valuable way to support this development.

Please also remember to:

• Bring your child's book pocket to school each day.
• Read each night. Now that take home books are being sent home, you may just prefer to focus on this. However you are still very welcome to continue to use the UFLI passages that will continue to come home. If the passage feels a little long for your child, you are very welcome to focus on just one sentence, or even isolate and read a few words at a time. You might even like to read individual words from the 'Roll and Read' on the back of the reading passage. 
• Review the sounds and letters have have been taught so far. You will find the sound/letter cards in the 'What you can do at home' section below. Practise the sounds like this: "a spells /a/" (eg. 'letter name' spells 'sound')
• Review the Heart Words in the red booklet. Rather than just reading them, talk about the tricky parts of each word and practise spelling them aloud, focusing on those tricky bits.
• Please fill in the Reading Log each time you read. It can be helpful to snip the corner of the page so it’s easy for everyone to find where you are up to.

Term 2 Specialist Timetable

CURRICULUM

*Please remind your child to go to the toilet before they enter the classroom.

🔤 Phonics and reading 

We are learning about C ( as in 'cat') and U (short vowel sound as in 'up').

Our learning focus will include:

• Understanding the phonemes (the sound each letter makes)
• Learning the cued articulation for these sounds
• Identifying where we might see each letter in a word
• Practising the graphemes (the way we write the letter), including correct letter formation
• Reading and writing 3 letter words using the sounds we know

What can you do at home?

• Support your child to read the decodable passage in their Reading Pocket. Try and aim to read every day, if you can.

•Ask your child to tell you the sounds that C and U make, and to show you the cued articulation for the sound. You can also review the letters and sounds we have learned so far: A, M, S, T, P, F, I, N, D. When practising, say them like this: “A spells /a/.”

• Work through the optional UFLI pages. 

Sound / Letter cards to review:

Optional UFLI Home Practice Pages:

(please see the Wonga Weekly from Term 1, Week 7 with an explanation on how to use these practise pages)

📝 Literature: reading responses and writing 

Our mentor text is Welcome to Country by Aunty Joy Murphy. We have chosen this text to explore our CBL Big Idea of Country. It introduces the concept in an age-appropriate way, supported by beautiful illustrations.

Students will be introduced to the meaning of Country and take part in a sensory walk to experience it for themselves. They will explore key vocabulary and represent their ideas through a mind map. Students will also watch an excerpt from Play School to learn about an Acknowledgement of Country, before contributing to the creation of a class Acknowledgement.

In Writing, students will continue developing their handwriting skills. They will practise using a functional pencil grip while forming the letters C and U, with a focus on correct entry and exit points. Students will also review the formation of previously taught letters.

They will continue to sound out and write CVC words using the sounds they know, and write short, dictated sentences. Students will be introduced to lined writing books and be encouraged to have a go at independently writing their own sentences using a picture prompt.

🏡 What can you do at home?

•Practice letter formation of C and U, and other previously taught letters (see list below).

•Provide activities that build hand strength and coordination, such as playing with playdough, threading beads or using tweezers to pick up small objects.

•Write some 3 letter words using the taught sounds: A, M, S, T, P, F, I, N, O and D. 

🧮 Maths 

Students will begin exploring the concept of part-whole, which supports the development of early addition skills. They will learn to partition numbers to 5 into two parts and identify the parts and the whole within these numbers. Students will then extend this understanding by partitioning numbers to 10 into two parts and recognising the parts and the whole. As their confidence grows, they will also explore partitioning numbers to 5 into three parts, deepening their understanding of how numbers can be broken apart in different ways.

🏡  What can you do at home?

• Practise breaking apart small numbers using everyday items (eg. “We have 5 grapes -how can we split them into two groups?”) and talk about the parts and the whole.

• Play simple games using fingers, toys or snacks to show different ways to make a number (eg. 4 can be 2 and 2, or 3 and 1).

🌏 CBL

Our Big Idea is Country. Students will explore this concept through a range of Guiding Questions, including: 

• What is Country? 

• Who and what lives on Country? 

• What happens to Country during the Wurundjeri seasons?

Students will also consider the Essential Question: 

• Why is it important to care for Country?

To bring their learning to life, students will take part in a hands-on Challenge to 

Rejuvenate the Prep Welcome Garden

 applying their understanding of how to care for and respect Country.

💛 Wellbeing

SWPBS

Our focus is Be a Learner outside by accepting and following the rules of a game. We will also be reviewing and rehearsing all of our SWPBS expectations to ensure classroom routines and behaviour guidelines are understood and maintained, which is especially important as we begin a new term.

Respectful Relationships

Students will be looking at Personal and Cultural Strengths. As part of this, they will contribute to a Celebration Tree, recognising and valuing the strengths that make each person unique.

Cyber Safety

Students will learn about the importance of creating a secure password and keeping it safe.