Foundation A
Celebrating Learning

Term 2, Week 2

Welcome back to Term 2 families, and an extra big welcome to both Rune and Sitara, who have joined Prep A this term!

Literacy

We are building on our phonics learning and now have enough consonant and syllable sounds to begin our decodable readers. Students are learning through story, repetition, writing, and games. The Sound Box continues to delight each week as students read clues to discover the new sound. Independent reading now extends to our decodable readers.

Numeracy

In Maths, students are learning how organising a quantity of items helps us to count accurately and that some ways of arranging a collection make it easy for us to see how many items there are in the collection, without needing to count every item.

They are comparing, to determine which collection has more and which has less and which arrangements are equivalent in value.

Outdoor Play-Based Learning (PBL)

The cooler autumnal days have been wonderful for our outdoor play-based mornings. Last term students reflected on their play and discussed what they might like to explore this term, with games and nature featuring predominantly in the mix!

Students have established a games club and are trialling different games. These students have been problem solving what resources they might need and how to turn take and share ideas of play fairly by using critical and creative thinking and collaboration. I have been incredibly impressed with students’ openness to new ideas and resilience when games go in unexpected directions!

Here are some of the activities that have been happening in our garden, so far, through student comments and photos:

• So, we’re building a big hole and it’s going to be a water trap so that it doesn’t flood – Nattai

• We’re finding bugs. ‘Cos there’s a carnivorous plant that needs feeding. It has thorny leaves but it doesn’t chew by itself, it bends the leaves so it crushes the food. We have to help, otherwise it can’t do it by itself – Jarvis & Lenny

• I’m making this for the bullants and they can make tunnels underneath all over the place – Rune

• I’II make some breakfast soup. I’II put in some leaves, some peppermint, some vegetables, and some honeysuckles. Honeysuckles are good to taste. I’m making a spicy soup for you Juliette! – Shivani

• I’m tying on this watering can so that I don’t have to carry it – Rune