Preps Term 1 Overviews

              Foundation Term 1 Overview

To all our wonderful Prep families,

Welcome to what is going to be an incredible learning journey for all of our Prep students! In Prep we have a team of 9 incredible teachers who will be supporting your students to dream big and achieve their greatest potential…

Learning to learn

During the first three weeks of Term 1 the students have been focusing on a ‘Learning to learn’ program. They have been learning about the school rules (Striving for Excellence, Respectful, Safe) and expectations. They have been learning about and practising routines and how school works. 

Reading

In Reading, we will focus on concepts about print, identifying what a picture, letter, word and sentence is, and pointing to the words while reading familiar sentences. We will develop our phonics knowledge with the following letters/graphemes (m, s, f, a, t, p, c, i) and the sounds/phonemes they represent (e.g. when we see the letter “m” we make the sound /mmm/). We will listen for sounds in words, such as identifying that ‘monkey’ starts with the sound /m/. When reading books, we will discuss what is happening in the pictures, make predictions before reading, and summarise what we have read.

Writing

In Writing, we will focus on writing personal recounts based on our discovery language experiences. We will verbalise what we want to record as an author, draw a detailed picture to match, and begin to record familiar sounds in the words to label or describe our pictures. Through our phonics program, we will practise letter formation and writing letters when we hear familiar sounds (e.g. when we hear the sound /mmm/ we write the letter “m”). We will practise writing our name with a capital letter at the start and the rest lowercase. We will build our fine motor skills by engaging in craft experiences.   

The visual below shows the stages of writing. At this point of prep we are at stage 1 (pictures) in writing. Throughout prep your child will progress through the different stages.

Numeracy

In Numeracy, we will learn about the numbers 0-10 in depth. We will use 1:1 correspondence (touching each object when counting) to count collections and understand that the last number tells how many. We will model these numbers using materials, identify and name numerals. We subitise or immediately see small collections of numbers 0-5. We count forwards and backwards from 0-10. Students will be introduced to addition and subtraction and develop vocabulary and build an understanding of how we add two groups together, subtract from a group and model an addition and subtraction problem using verbal stories and materials. We will focus on time, learning about the days of the week through daily routines. We will connect events to different times of the day and days of the week (e.g. on Friday we have Art). We will explore location and direction, building on vocabulary such as in front of, behind, next to etc and follow directional language. We will explore financial maths through shop play, and learn about how money is used to pay for goods and services. We will use problem solving activities where students are given an open ended question and use materials, diagrams and number sentences to support them to find different answers.  

Unit of Inquiry and Social and Emotional Learning

In Inquiry, we will be focusing on the health unit ‘We use our bodies to communicate safely’. We will also be looking at how we express emotions and use words and actions to describe how we feel. In Social and Emotional Learning, we will be focusing on practising the school rules of being Safe, Respectful and Striving for Excellence. We will be working on using the 5Ls of learning - Listening, Looking, Hands in Laps, Legs crossed and Lips quiet.

Discovery

Discovery Learning engages students in Literacy, Numeracy and Social and Emotional Learning, by allowing them to develop their skills and understandings in an open, student centred environment. In Discovery, we are learning about being safe and exploring what our interests are. We will work on building our vocabulary through language experiences. This will provide the opportunity to write using colourful semantics, building students’ verbal and written sentences with a who, the what doing, and the where. 

Ways to help your child at home

Home Reading (This program will start in week 4)The expectation is for your child to read their take home book each night. Please have your child bring their reading satchel each day and record the title, date and a comment in their yellow reading journal at home. Take home books are for enjoyment and for your child to practise their reading strategies, and are not meant to be a challenging task. In addition to the Home Reading program, Wushka and IXL are optional resources to help your child practise their reading and maths. Your child’s login details and passwords can be found in the inside cover of your child’s yellow book. Students also have a homework folder where they can practise literacy and numeracy skills. Aim for 10 minutes of homework each day. 

Goals and achievements

New goals and achievements will be available to view on COMPASS in Weeks 5 and 10. These goals include one for Reading, Writing, Maths and a social and emotional learning goal. Additionally, you will find strategies that you can implement at home, so that together, we can support your child’s learning.  

Kind Regards,

Prep Teachers