Foundation

Foundation Cluster News

Welcome to Week 5. 

We have lots of exciting events happening in the coming weeks.  

This Monday 17th August, Foundation T (Bumblebees) will be presenting in Assembly. Assembly begins at 2:30pm in the Worship Centre. 

Pong-a-thon 

Pong-a-thon is upon us once again on Friday 14th August. A reminder that students can come along in appropriate casual clothes for this day for a gold coin donation toward the cause. 

Quiz Night 

Just a reminder that the P&F quiz night is on Saturday 22nd August.  Come along for some adults only fun. $125 per table (10 per table) or $15 for an individual. All proceeds will go towards a project around the school. 

Tri Skills/ Fundamental Motor Program 

Throughout this term, students will be participating in both Tri Skills and the Fundamental Motor Program. 

Library News 

A reminder that we have Book Week events happening in Week 6. Students come to school dressed up as their favourite book character on Tuesday 25th August. Families are invitedtoJoin us for our free Community breakfast at 8am (free), before the annual book week parade. 

Great Book Swap 

In week 7, we will be doing the Great Book Swap instead of the book fair. More details to follow in the coming weeks. 

Kimochis at Home 

We have 4 very special Kimochis that are going to come for a visit on the weekend - Brave Bug, Curious Cat, Kind Lovey Dove and Active Hugs. Students have designated weekends where they will bring home a small Bug, Cat, Lovey Dove or Hugs and a book with instructions of what they will need to do. They will take the Kimochi home on a Thursday/ Friday and bring it back on the Monday. Please make sure they are taken care of and don’t get drawn on or eaten by any family pets. If you do not have a printer at home, we are happy to print for you. Thank you. 

 Week 4 Learning Program:   

Reader’s Workshop – Building our bigger reading muscles  

  Word Study – Sounds: Digraphs (pairs of letters that represent a single sound, such as sh, ch, and th) 

CVC (simple three-letter words that follow a consonant, short vowel, and consonant pattern, such as cat, dog, and sun) 

CVCC words (four-letter words that follow a consonant, vowel, consonant, consonant pattern, such as tent, milk, and lamp) 

Bookmaking – Spotlight session: We make our books look stupendous. All about me book (Unit of Inquiry)   

Inquiry into Maths   

Addition: simple adding numbers to 10 and above 

Unit of Inquiry 

Who We Are Central idea: Our identity helps us to understand our and others’ similarities, differences and emotions. 

Line of inquiry 1: What makes me ‘me’ and how I am the same as, and different to others.  

Line of inquiry 2: Emotions affect our behaviour, interactions, and relationships.  

Line of inquiry 3: We can show understanding and respect in our relationships.  

Key concepts: Causation & Responsibility 

Learner profile: Communicators, Open-minded, Caring, Principled 

Christian Studies:  

Christian Living  

Key Idea 1: Religious beliefs and ideas shape people's thinking and actions. 

Library: 

Please look after our books so they are not damaged so that others can borrow them. It is important to note that no borrowing occurs if library books are not returned.  

Please return books and the library bag to class on Tuesday ready for Wednesday library day.  

Thank you all for your support and being avid readers with your children. 

Take Home Folders:   

Take Home folders need to come to school every day. Students will need these to take home notes and any craft they make during the day. New sounds and heart words will also be placed in this folder.   

Take Home Book Bags:   

Your child will bring home 2-4 books that have been their books for Readers Workshop in class to share with you at home. The take home book bag with the 4 books is to remain in the child’s take home folder so books can be updated/ changed when needed. 

Jolly Pouch (purple pouch): Please keep the pouch in your child’s take home folder!  

Your child will receive new sounds/actions in their Jolly Pouch; it is up to you whether you keep the paper in the pouch or find a safe place at home. We hope these resources are valuable for you to practice what we learn in class. When a new sound is introduced, a video will be posted on Toddle to support your child at home. 

Hats: Students generally won’t need to wear a hat in Term 2 and Term 3 unless the UV index is 3 or above. These can be kept in the front pouch of their school bag, so they don’t get lost during this time. 

Gumboots: During the colder months as the weather gets wetter and muddier students must wear gumboots in the nature play at break times. If your child enjoys playing in nature play, please send gumboots labelled with their name to school. These are kept in plastic bags on the children’s bag hooks by our classroom or on the shoe racks if muddy.    

Volunteers: We love having volunteers in the classroom. If you are interested in volunteering, there are a few tasks you will need to be able to help in the classroom.  

• Current Working With Children Check (WWCC)  
• Responding to Abuse, Harm and Neglect training (RRHAN-EC)  
• Valuing Safe Communities (VSC) training; and  

You can find the information here on the school website:  https://www.goldengrove.sa.edu.au/parents-community/employment-opportunities/  

School Calendar  

https://www.goldengrove.sa.edu.au/school-life/school-calendar/  

Please note: During teaching hours, we are unable to check emails.  

Blessings,   

Brianna and Tania 

Brianna Stanley:  stanley.brianna@goldengrove.sa.edu.au 

Tania Tenten:

 tenten.tania@goldengrove.sa.edu.au 

Our learning this week has been focused on making ‘A’ rather than ‘B’ choices. ‘A’ choices are positive, safe and helpful, while ‘B’ choices are negative, disruptive or unkind. It would be great if you could use this language at home with your child as reinforcement.  

We have been reading lots of picture books together as part of our school day. If your child has a favourite book, let me know so that we can read it in class. 

Family photo for classroom 

I would love to create a display of family photos in our classroom. Please send a photo through to my email address and I will print it off. If your child is between homes, you are more than welcome to send in two for display. 

Casual Day Friday 14th August 

On Friday, 14th August, students can come to school in casual clothes for a gold coin donation - all proceeds will go directly to the ping-pong-a-thon. Money will be collected in the classroom and will but placed in each students’ house team.  

Wednesday Rest Day 

We highly encourage you to consider supporting your child with a rest day on Wednesdays during the first five weeks of term. The purpose of having rest days is to build up children’s learning stamina, as we consider that many of them are used to having three days of kindy, which is different to five days of Foundation learning. At the beginning, children can feel very tired and experience big emotions after just three full days of learning. The rest day will help them to slowly get used to being at school for five full days. They could play or spend some time with you doing something together. It is not a day where they do any work. Your child’s wellbeing means a lot to us, and we want them to continue to have a smooth transition into Foundation.  

Book Week – Week 6 

A note was sent home about book week in Week 6. On Tuesday 25th of August, students are invited to come to school dressed as their favourite book character. Costumes do not need to be extravagant and using what you already have at home is highly encouraged! Our community breakfast will be from 8-8:30am, followed by our book week parade. 

Late pick up 

If ever you are running late to pick your child up, I will walk them to the ‘Kiss and Drop’ area (outside the front gates) after school. Leadership supervise this area. 

Hats 

Please ensure your child has a school hat in their bag as they will need to wear them at recess and lunchtime if the UV is above 3. They can be purchased from the uniform shop. 

Toddle 

An invite to join Toddle was emailed out during the holidays. I apologise that some students received the wrong paper invite in their take home bag. If you are still having trouble connecting, please contact the front office. We post important reminders, student learning, photos/videos and assessments on this platform. 

Library 

Students have been given a white Library bag. We visit the library weekly on Tuesdays. Foundation children can borrow two books and keep them for two weeks. I encourage you to read these books with your child weekly so that they can bring them back and have two new books every week to read. 

Assembly and Chapel 

We will not be attending assembly and chapel for the first few weeks to give your children time to become comfortable with being at school first. I will let you know when our first time attending will be in the coming weeks. 

Blue Take Home Folder 

All students have now been given a blue take home folder. They are to come to school every day. In these folders you will find notes sent home, craft students have made, and later in the term, sounds we have been learning that you can practise with them. 

Nature Play 

We are lucky to have a wonderful nature play area at our school. As it can be wet and muddy during Winter, we ask that if your children are wanting to play in this area at recess and lunchtime that they come to school with gumboots. 

Weekly timetable 

Learning program:  Week 5 

This is our last week of Wednesday rest days before we begin our full week of learning in Week 6.  

We continue to consolidate the routines we have been learning throughout the first four weeks, with a focus on A and B choices and following instructions when asked. 

We will continue some alphabet recognition activities and experimenting with letter formation. Students will continue their ‘About me’ books that they started in bookmaking last week. 

We will continue exploring the numbers 1-10 and do some counting activities, with children invited to show me what they already know about numbers. We will start exploring number conservation and doing some subitising.  

For Christian Studies, we continue learning about who Jesus is through reading some stories. 

Mindfulness 

Every week, we will be learning a strategy we can use to keep our body calm. I encourage you to practise these strategies every week with your child at home. It has been wonderful to see the children use these strategies themselves without prompting from me. During Week 4 we have been practising our triangle breathing.  

Triangle breathing 

Trace your finger along each side of a triangle. 

Breathe in on side 1 then hold your breath while you trace the second side. 

Breathe out for the last side of the triangle. 

Blessings for a wonderful week, 

Ellen Zimmer 

zimmer.ellen@goldengrove.sa.edu.au