Prep Community News
Dear Prep Families,
We are now over halfway through Term 3, and we are so proud of the growth that our Prep students have made this term! They have settled back into classroom routines beautifully and continue to work hard every day.
Below is a snapshot of the learning that has been taking place in Prep over the past fortnight.
InitiaLit
In InitiaLit, we have learned three new sounds! Students learned ‘sh’, as in ‘shell’, ‘ee’ like in the word ‘tree’ and ‘qu’ like in the word ‘queen’. We have also been continuing to practice reading and writing words with our digraphs: 'ck' (which makes the /k/ sound) and double consonants 'll', 'ss' and 'ff'.
We have learned many new tricky words this past fortnight as well! These words cannot always be sounded out, so students are learning to recognise them automatically. The words ‘all’, ‘tall’ and ‘call’ all contain the word ‘all’ within them, so they are considered part of the ‘all’ family. For the words ‘so’, ‘no’ and ‘go’, they all end with the long ‘o’ sound, and are part of the same word family too!
At home, you can support your child by:
- Practicing reading and writing the new tricky words. Can your child use them in a sentence?
- Looking for words containing sh, ee, and qu, and any other digraphs, when reading together.
- Encouraging your child to read their decodable readers each night.
Storybook
During Storybook lessons, we have been enjoying the story My Two Blankets. It is a beautiful story about how we can belong to two different places, languages, and cultures, and connect with the people around us.
Our focus vocabulary has included:
- Strange – something is weird or different from what we are used to
- Whisper – To say something in a very quiet voice.
- Lonely – feeling alone and sad by yourself
You can support your child by asking them to explain these words or use them in their own sentence.
Writing
In Writing, students have continued learning about the differences between informative and imaginative writing. We have been exploring informative texts by learning how authors share facts about a topic. As part of this learning, students have been writing simple factual sentences about dogs and giraffes, focusing on using capital letters, finger spaces, full stops and their growing phonics knowledge to spell unfamiliar words. Students have practiced writing sentences about where these animals live, what they eat, and what they look like to teach us facts about animals!
We can use language boards, such as the one below, to structure our sentences to make sure our sentences have a noun (who?) and a verb (what doing?).
Mathematics
In Mathematics, we have started to introduce the concept of subtraction! This involves the students learning how to subtract one or two from numbers up to 10, build fluency with number facts involving adding 1 as well as continue developing confidence when recognising and representing numbers.
We are also working towards understanding the concepts of heavy and light, when comparing an object’s mass. You can ask your child to compare two household objects and describe which one is light and which one is heavy.
Celebrating Respect
In Prep, we love recognising students who consistently demonstrate our school values. Over the past fortnight, each Prep class has celebrated one student who has done an outstanding job at demonstrating the school value of Respect inside and outside the classroom.
🌟 Prep A: Abdullah has shown the school value of 'Respect' when moving around the school as a 'Zero Hero'.
🌟 Prep B: Kienzl has been a Zero Hero every time she lines up with her class. She is an excellent role model for Respect. Great work Kienzl!
🌟 Prep C: Mavi always uses his manners when talking to his teachers and classmates.
🌟 Prep D: Arika has been setting a good example of how to show respect in the class and on the playground and being a great helper.
🌟 Prep E: Cairo uses kind and polite language, listens to others, and shows consideration for his classmates and teachers.
🌟 Prep F: Mira has shown respect by always listening to her friends and allowing them to share their thoughts and ideas.
🌟 Prep G: Kayenaat shows respect by consistently listening to the teacher with your legs crossed, hands on her lap, eyes on the teacher & answering on signal! Well done!
🌟 Prep H: Waris always says 'please' and 'thank you' to adults and to his peers!
🌟 Prep I: Qiyara has been showing beautiful respect by keeping her hands to herself and respecting her friends' boundaries.
🌟 Prep J: Jenil consistently listens to the teacher with their legs crossed, hands on lap, eyes on the teacher & answering on signal! Well done!
We are incredibly proud of these students for displaying our school value of Respect each day. Their actions help make Prep a safe and happy experience for all students and teachers. Well done to all our Respect Champions!
Zoo Excursion Reminder
A friendly reminder that our Zoo Excursion will take place on Friday 28th August.
Payment is due by Friday 21st August and can be made through Compass. If you require any assistance with payment, please don't hesitate to speak with your child's classroom teacher or contact the school office.
General Reminders
Reading at Home
Reading regularly at home is one of the best ways to support your child's literacy development. Even 10–15 minutes each evening reading together, practising decodable readers or talking about stories helps build confidence and fluency.
Please remember to send your child's reading satchel or red reading bag to school on their designated reading day so they can exchange their take-home readers and library books.
Labelling Belongings
Please ensure that all clothing, lunch boxes, drink bottles and personal belongings are clearly labeled with your child's name and grade. This helps lost items quickly find their way back to their owners.
School Times
Students begin entering classrooms from 8:45 am to unpack and prepare for the day. Learning begins promptly at 8:55 am, so arriving on time helps students settle in and make the most of every learning opportunity.
School finishes at 3:10 pm.
Thank you for continuing to encourage your child's independence by allowing them to enter the classroom on their own each morning. If you need to pass on information to your child's teacher, please contact the school office and your message will be forwarded.
Thank you for your ongoing support. We are incredibly proud of the wonderful learning our Prep students have done so far in Term 3 and look forward to another exciting fortnight of growing together.
PLC Prep