Dear Prep Families,

We hope you all had a wonderful break and a warm welcome back to Term 4! 🌟

We can hardly believe we have reached the final term of the year! It is wonderful to see our Prep students return refreshed and ready for another exciting term of learning, growth and new experiences. We look forward to making the most of these final weeks together as we continue to build confidence, celebrate achievements and create many more special learning moments.

We are looking forward to making the most of our final term together and creating lots of wonderful memories along the way! 💛

Below is an overview of the learning that has been taking place in Prep over the past fortnight!

InitiaLit

In InitiaLit, we have been learning some exciting new sounds! Students have been exploring the digraphs ‘wh’, ‘th’ ‘oo’ and ‘ng’ and practising reading words such as ‘when’, ‘think’ ‘moon’ and ‘sing’. It has been wonderful to see the students building their confidence as they apply their new sounds when reading and writing!

Students have also been developing their vowel discrimination skills, listening carefully to identify and distinguish the vowel sounds they hear in the middle of words.

We have also been hard at work learning new tricky words! Tricky words are words that we can’t always sound out using the sounds we have learnt, so we need to learn how to read and write them off by heart. Below are our new tricky words that we have covered:

At home, you can support your child by:

Practising reading and writing the new tricky words.
Looking for words containing ‘wh’, ‘th’ ‘oo’ and ‘ng’ when reading together.
Encourage your child to read their decodable readers each night. Ask questions about the story to check their understanding and encourage them to share their ideas, thoughts and experiences to further develop their comprehension and communication skills.

Storybook

During our Storybook lessons, we have been enjoying the beautiful story All Through the Year, written by Jane Godwin and illustrated by Anna Walker. We have been talking about the different seasons and the special activities, changes and celebrations that happen throughout the year. Students have been sharing their own experiences and making connections to the story while developing their vocabulary, comprehension and oral language skills.

The vocabulary we have focused on for this story is:

nervous – Worried or frightened.

bold – Brave and willing to try new things.

tumble – To fall, rolling around.

You can support your child by asking them to explain these words or use them in a sentence.

Writing

In Writing, students have been developing their imaginative writing skills through the much-loved story The Gingerbread Man! We have been learning how to sequence and retell a story using Story Champs icons to help organise our ideas. Students have been identifying the beginning of the story by describing the characters and setting and exploring the middle by identifying the problem and characters’ feelings. They have also been using their growing phonics knowledge to write sentences and share their creative ideas.

Students have also been enjoying recreating texts! Students have read the text The Ninjabread Man and have been exploring how familiar stories can be changed and retold in creative ways. They have been identifying similarities and differences between the two stories and using their ideas to recreate parts of the story.

Maths

Over the past fortnight in Maths, we have been developing our understanding of number bonds and exploring how numbers can be combined to make a given number. We have been learning to identify and represent number bonds using hands-on materials and drawings. Students have also been using their knowledge of number bonds to develop addition facts, helping them recognise different ways numbers can be added together to find a total. They have been building their confidence in explaining their mathematical thinking and sharing the strategies they use to solve problems.

Additionally, we have continued to practise our fact fluency by solving as many simple addition problems as we can in two minutes. We have now included friends to 10, helping us build our understanding of number relationships and develop greater confidence and fluency when solving addition problems.

You can support your child at home by practising number bonds and friends to 10. Encourage your child to find different ways to make 10 and practise recalling these addition facts quickly and confidently.

Celebrating Kindness

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 of demonstrating the school value of kindness inside and outside the classroom.

🌟 Prep A: Vrihaan has demonstrated the school value of kindness by helping his classmates during learning times. Vrihaan had noticed his friend needed help to write a word and supported him to sound out the word.

🌟 Prep B: Lavisha showed wonderful kindness by sharing her pencil with a classmate and comforting her friend when she was feeling upset after the holidays. She listened to her feelings and reassured her, saying, “Your mum will be here at home time.”

🌟 Prep C: Mavi has shown kindness by offering help to his peers when he recognises they need it inside and outside the classroom without being asked

🌟 Prep D: Anfal showed kindness by warmly welcoming a new member of the class and helping her feel comfortable and settled during her first few days at her new school.

🌟 Prep E: Cairo has shown the school value of kindness by showing care and consideration towards his classmates, helping others when they need support, and using kind words and actions throughout the day.

🌟 Prep F: Ekvira has shown the school value of Kindness by consistently including others in play and making sure that no one feels left out. Her caring nature helps others feels happy!

🌟 Prep G: Joanna has shown kindness to her classmates and always being caring, helpful and thoughtful towards others.

🌟 Prep H: Gur Amrit has been helping his friends tidy their area and get their materials ready for the lessons.

🌟 Prep I: Samanvi is always helping her table partner pack up their materials.

🌟 Prep J: Epa has shown the school value of kindness by consistently showing care and thoughtfulness towards her peers and teachers. She is always willing to help others and uses kind words and actions to make those around her feel happy and included.

We are incredibly proud of these students for displaying our school value of kindness each day. Their actions help make Prep a safe and happy experience for all students and teachers. Well, done to all our kindness champions!

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.

School Hats

It’s back to that time of year where the weather is warming up and the sun is shining! This means that children are now expected to wear their hats outside during play times to keep themselves safe. Please ensure your child is coming to school every day with their Tarneit Rise hat. If your child does not have a Tarneit Rise hat, these can be purchased from the office or our school website.

Labelling Belongings

Please ensure that all clothing, lunch boxes, drink bottles and personal belongings are clearly labelled with your child's name and class. 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 and students are dismissed at 3:10 pm.

Thank you for your continued support of our wonderful prep students! We can’t wait to see what other learning they get up to and achieve during our final term of learning!

PLC Prep

The Fortnight Ahead