Melton West Primary School

Prep News 

English

Reading 

In Reading, the Prep students will continue focusing on inferring and making text to self-connections. The students will be learning to make text to self-connections to texts. Students will continue learning about making predictions about a text. The students will be using text clues, such as pictures to help assist and prompt them with making a guess about what the story may be about or what might happen next. They will also discuss their prior knowledge about a topic before reading texts to help with making predictions. Furthermore, the students will begin to engage with inferring characters’ feelings using text clues and their prior knowledge, as well as making connections to texts.

 

Writing 

In Writing, the Prep students will continue their work on writing about a recount of an experience that has happened, utilising the elements of who, what, when and where. The students will also learn how to write a narrative, with a focus on retelling narratives that they have been exposed to during Reading. They will then use these skills to develop and write their own narratives, including a beginning, middle and end.

Mathematics

In Maths, the Prep students will be learning about 3D shapes. They will name and sort all the shapes like cube, sphere. students will be engaged in a unit of Addition and Subtraction, which will involve students adding and subtracting groups to find the total. Students will continue working on number recognition and counting from zero to twenty, subitising. Students will also begin a new unit on Capacity, which involves comparing objects that are heavier and lighter. In addition, students will learn how to create data and interpret the data.

 

Inquiry

In Inquiry, the Prep students will be learning to understand their family history. This will involve identifying members of their family, their cultural traditions and the ways different cultures are presented. The key concepts covered this term will be identity and culture, namely our place in the world and who we are. The key understandings we will address are sharing and reflecting on personal histories and cultures, and learning about Dreaming stories to help describe the cultural history of Australia’s First Peoples. Some of the key questions we will use to explore these understandings are: What is my history / my story and how do I know? What are cultural traditions? What are some of my own traditions that I celebrate? What are the different ways that we show our culture to others?

 

Science

Welcome to Term 3! This term in Science we will be focusing on the Physical Science strand by investigating that how objects move is dependent on a variety of different factors, including their size and shape. 

This is an exciting unit where students will demonstrate different movements using their own bodies, balls, and many different objects and toys! Students will describe the shapes of objects and make predictions on how they will move according to their shape; students will then conduct experiments to test their predictions and observe movements. They will also investigate and explain how the shape of an object affects how well it can roll or slide and will be able to compare and contrast the movements of objects.

Students will participate in various activities including whole class focus and individual ones and through information technology. They will also spend time outside the classroom, observing and practising different objects.

 

 

LOTE - AUSLAN

During Term 3 2024 in Auslan, Prep students will increase their lessons to twice a week. They will learn about:

  • Deaf Culture 
  • Feelings 
  • Greeting and Questions
  • Around the House 
  • Sea Animals 
  • Days of the Week and Months of the Year 
  • Numbers 1-20
  • Weather 
  • Fruit 
  • Zoo Animals
  • Wh Questions 
  • Handshapes 
  • HOLM+ NMF (Handshapes, Orientation, Location, Movement and Non-Manual Features) 
  • Feelings (extending on previous learning about feelings)
  • About Me 
  • Clothing
  • Medical/Health.

The final week will focus on revision and celebrating our learning. The Auslan signs for these topics are core learning, which will be extended in future Auslan learning. Lessons consist of explicit teaching through videos, supported by activities, games, stories, songs, poems and group practice. Learning Auslan will involve both expressive (signing) and receptive understanding skills (reading back what others’ sign), hence lesson activities continue to develop these skills. At this level, the students will mainly work in the whole group, managed by the teacher and are provided with the opportunity to reflect on their learning together. Students will begin to understand what Auslan communication is about, by watching Deaf adults signing on the videos. At this level the teacher guides and supports the students’ learning, as they also continue to develop their own skills.

 

 

Art

The Preps are going to explore the elements of shape and form in Art this term. We will work with a range of materials including modelling clay, chalk and fabric. In addition, we will explore mixed media artworks, which are created using a combination of different materials. Indigenous artworks will be incorporated into some sessions and the works of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso will be our inspiration to explore how shapes and angles can be used to create artworks. Art activities will involve lots of discussion and play, as we discover creative possibilities in making artworks using a range of elements. Looking forward to another wonderful term of Art with Preps!

 

P.E 

During this term the grade prep students are looking continue their great start to the year in Physical Education. Students will be working on moving the body and understanding how to control different movements, they will do this through dance/music, games, and some sports throughout term 2. Students will spend the first half of the term continuing to develop and understand their movement and control of their body, this is building on what was learnt in first term. An understanding of moving the body will then link to the development of the fundamental motor skills. They will spend the second half of term 2 continuing to develop their throwing and catching skills using different objects and working on correct technique when demonstrating these skills. It should be an awesome term for the grade preps with heaps of exciting learning opportunities. I look forward to working with each student and helping them develop their skills in physical education. 

 

 

MUSIC

Welcome to Term 3, Music, 2024! In Music, Grade Preps will continue to practise feeling and keeping a beat with percussion instruments and whole body percussion such as clapping, tapping knees and dancing. They will count a 4:4 beat and learn the symbol (stick notation) to write a crotchet beat. Students will learn the Kodaly rhythmic counting system to assist in notating beat and rhythm and will learn to recall rhythmic patterns. Grade preps will focus on playing and reading rhythms and begin to notate the symbols for crotchets and quavers. These are also represented by the Kodaly rhythmic counting system as ‘ta’ and ‘ti ti’. Learning this system will assist students into composition where they will begin to write their own rhythmic pieces. Grade Preps will continue to be exposed to a variety of songs including nursery rhymes, indigenous music, pop and classical music to support their knowledge of beat and rhythm. Looking forward to working with our Preps in Music this Term!