Term 1 2024

This term, our focus has been on assisting students to transition to their new classrooms, routines, and school environment, especially for our first-year students. We've spent a lot of time supporting students to understand school rules and expectations and are happy to see our students trying hard to follow these and to cooperate with each other and their teachers. It is emphasized that we don’t always get things right and making mistakes is part of learning but it is important to try again. To further support this social and emotional development, we use a shared language and a range of strategies aimed at developing positive interaction, effective communication and problem-solving. Some examples of these:

Our students have also been introduced to the school expectations of Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be a Learner and Be Safe which we review and discuss at assembly each week. Students confidently share with their peers and teachers, how they have upheld a particular expectation that week.

We had our second Family Fun Night at Lollipops in Bundoora to welcome our families to the school year. It really was that, a fun night for everyone: children, siblings, parents and staff. I just wanted to thank everyone who was able to join us on the night. The children were able to meet their friends and classmates outside school in a very different environment that was exciting, safe and they were able to play independently. Parents had some time to meet with other parents, enjoy each other's company and hopefully make some ongoing connections without worrying about their child. The staff really loved meeting with you in a very relaxed and social setting too. Thank you for helping to make the night so successful. We're already looking forward to the next one!

The discovery unit “Our Community” is guiding students to discover many interesting facts about communities, those who work within it and why they're important.  Students have listened to stories, watched video clips, used photos and technology to develop and support their understanding of a community and the jobs people do. The younger students focused specifically on their family and school communities.  They have looked at family photos, drawn pictures of their families and talked about what makes their family special. They also explored our school community finding out who helps us learn every day. The older students have visited the local Watsonia community, the shops and facilities available there. They had the opportunity to buy items from specific shops and chat to the shop keepers about what they do. 

The students of LPG made some very interesting observations about who does what at school. 

Teachers:

• read to kids
• make playdough
• help with sentences
• do printing for kids
• paint
• watch TV
• ay words
• talk lots
• play games with kids
• just test the kids
• do cooking
• drive the bus

Support Staff

• help us do stuff
• paint
• learning helpers
• help at toilet
• help the teachers
• look after you
• activities

Kath: Campus Principal 

• assembly
• works in office
• visits classrooms
• birthdays
• says hello
• walks around

Kruni in office

• works in office
• phone calls
• drink cups of tea
• says hello
• bus rolls

The swimming program has been a highlight of our Outdoor Education program again this term, providing students with essential water safety skills and opportunities for personal growth. Similarly, Bike Education has given students lots of opportunities to ride bikes with whatever support is required- trikes, adapted bikes, bikes with training wheels or those without. Many or the Prep students are engaging with bikes for the first time which for some, is challenging but certainly is fostering resilience.

Students have enjoyed a range of fun experiences that have assisted the development of students’ oral language, ability to comment and recount and also their emerging writing skills. A range of visual supports such as aided language displays, communication devices, photos and technology have further supported the development of these skills.

We celebrated Harmony Day where students displayed the diversity of our school by wearing cultural dress or the colour orange—a symbol of harmony was reflective of our inclusive school environment. Discussions over the day emphasised the importance of showing kindness, respect, and acceptance to everyone. 

We ended the term with assembly to award Friendship and Personal Best awards to students who tried especially hard over the term. This was followed by a day of fun activities which included a Hat Parade with students showing off the hats they had made as part of their learning program and an egg hunt where students found little surprises that had been left for them. What excitement!

LPA, LPB, LPC

This term the inside classes have enjoyed engaging in a variety of different activities related to our Discovery unit based on the community. We began the unit defining what a citizen, suburb, city, country and local community is. We learnt about things that are natural to the environment and things that have been man made. We enjoyed classifying these things in our school yard and had a fun thumbs up, thumbs down game to classify different items. One of our highlights was our local community excursion where we walked down to the Watsonia shops. The students went on a scavenger hunt to find different landmarks, shops and facilities that can be found in our local community. LPA and LPC bought items at either the fruit shop or bakery and then enjoyed eating their goods back at school. Students have also explored, labelled and identified who may use different local facilities and what their uses may be. 

LPE, LPF, LPG

This term students in LPE, LPF and LPG have engaged in a variety of fun language experiences. These activities give us a shared experience and are used as a springboard to develop oral language and written language.

Each week we have a different experience and follow up with an oral language session where we co-create an ALD and a co-created class text. The next day students use their ALD and write independently about their experience.

Some of our experiences have been: making a bubble wand, marble painting, making rain sticks, using shaving cream, water play and making playdough. The students are highly engaged by these activities and look forward to them every week.

LPH, LPI

What a fun and successful start to the year in LPH and LPI! Our language experiences in our Writing program truly sparked enjoyment and engagement among our students. The Writing program begins with hands-on activities that allow the students to immerse themselves fully in these experiences. Following these experiences, students build their oral language skills through discussions and labelling of these activities. We then complete a co-constructed ‘recount,’ identifying key elements such as ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘where.’ Some of the language experiences we’ve delved into are making bubbles and playdough, creating Easter chocolate nests, and engaging with sensory play with gelli baff, water beads and shaving foam.

LPD, LPJ and LPK

Students in LPD, LPJ and LPK have enjoyed Reading, Writing and Mathematics lessons this term. In Reading, we focused on a story of the week and learnt about the story in lots of different ways including sensory and puppet play We used Aided Language Displays and our AAC devices to identify characters and main events and answer questions.  We learnt that books have a front cover and a title. 

In Writing, we practiced recounting an experience we have participated in at school such as bubble play or making playdoh. We looked at photos of ourselves and used Aided Language Displays to recall the experience. In Maths, we focused on our number work, exploring, recognising and  identifying different numbers in many ways. LPD, LPJ and LPK practiced 1:1 correspondence by counting objects, through interactive games and playdoh mats. We are looking forward to more Reading, Writing and Maths in Term 2! 

Specialists

Term 1 has been a great start in the specialist program this year. In Library, students have been reacquainted with the program and got into the routines again. We have listened to various books about being in the Library, discussed how to take care of our books and recognised the various book part names. Students have the opportunity to borrow books to take home weekly and it’s been fantastic to see most students remembering to bring their library bags for borrowing. Our favourite part of the Library has been listening to stories and then looking at all the wonderful books on display for borrowing.

Art

In the Art room students have had a great start to the school year as they consolidated their knowledge of art safety, including sitting our on seat when working, taking care when handling scissors and following teacher instruction. Students celebrated themselves by creating amazing self portrait drawing which have been displayed in the Art room and they cut out shapes to recreate their home. Also, they discovered a range of mediums for creating their art, including playdoh modelling. This was a very popular activity! I’m looking forward to next terms creations. 

Safe and happy holidays to all from Kris.

Performing Arts

Students have enjoyed the start to the year in the Performing Arts program. They have explored aspects of drama, music and movement with getting to know you games and learning welcome songs that have assisted with establishing routines of the program especially for our new preppies. There was a focus on the Lunar New Year where students listened and played along to music and dance about with puppets representing Dragon and Lion dances that are such an important part of the celebrations. Maracas, sticks and drums have been introduced alongside the use of body percussion to keep the time when singing songs and making rhythms. 

The Lower Primary staff want to congratulate all our students on their achievements so far and the way they continue to strive to learn, to be safe, respectful and responsible. Whether they're new to our school or have been with us for a while, we acknowledge their growing confidence and their willingness to work on new challenges. We are looking forward to a Term 2 filled with more learning, growth, and fun!

Happy and safe holidays to everyone.

Kath