Foundation 

Spotlight on Learning

Dear Families,

We can hardly believe we are already in Week 4 of Foundation! The children are continuing to settle beautifully into classroom routines and are growing in confidence every single day. It has been wonderful to see new friendships forming, independence building, and smiling faces arriving each morning ready to learn.

A big thank you to all the families who joined us for our Open Evening. It was so lovely to see so many of you there and to share a glimpse of your child’s learning journey so far. Your presence and involvement make such a difference, and we truly value the strong partnership between home and school.

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support. It plays such an important role in helping our little learners thrive. We’re excited for all the growth and discoveries still to come this term!

Religious Education Focus:  

This week in Religious Education, students learned about and practised making the Sign of the Cross, and explored the meaning of Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent. We placed ashes on our foreheads in the shape of a cross as a reminder that we are sorry for the times we make mistakes and that we want to try our best to make better choices.

English Focus:. 

This week, we read the book “Oi Dog!!” by Kes Grey. It is a fun rhyming story where Frog changes the sitting rules for animals, leading to lots of silly mix-ups and laughter while playing cleverly with words and sounds. Students made text-to-world connections between the rules made by Frog in the story and rules they follow in their classroom.

You can access a link to the read aloud below:

Phonics: During explicit phonics instruction, we focused on the /p/ and /t/ sound/s. We introduce sounds based on the Little Learners Love Literacy book, ‘Milo’s Birthday Surprise’.

Mathematics Focus: This week students continued their learning on matching collections of objects to the correct numerals from 0–5. We are practising counting carefully, saying one number for each item, and recognising that the last number we say tells us how many there are.

SEL: This week students explored feelings such as happy, sad, frustrated and worried, and discussed what can cause these emotions and how they link to being ready to learn.

Integrated Curriculum: Geography 

This week, students explored environments and identified natural and built features in different places. We learned that a good place to live needs both natural features, like trees and water, and built features, like houses and roads.

AUSLAN: 

This week we learnt the signs: question, who/whose, what, where is…?, which of these?, toilet.

Next  week we are learning about... 

Religious Education: Students will learn why we pray and how prayer helps us connect, give thanks, ask for help, and reflect in many different ways.

Integrated Curriculum Focus: Next week we will learn about how Country is more than just land.

English Focus: Next week we are reading the book: 'Oi Dinosaurs' by Kes Gray.

Mathematics Focus: Next week we will continue focusing on counting and number. We will be learning to represent the numbers 0-10 on a ten-frame.

SEL: Next week we will be building their personal strengths through cooperative games and learning how to share and care for others, including understanding these values from Aboriginal perspectives.

AUSLAN Focus: Students will consolidate their understands of the signs that they have learned so far.

Late last term all families were emailed links to some Welcome to Saint Thomas Newsletters.  

If you would like to revisit any of these they can be found at the links below.

Ways to engage with the newsletter:

• Read or watch the weekly book with your child at home (there is often a read aloud on you tube). Talk about what the book's most important ideas are. Point to words that begin with this week's sounds.

• Ask your child to retell the story using their own words.

• Talk about who the characters are, where the story is happening.

• Practise handwriting using the visuals provided.

• Take the idea around Mathematics and ask students to repeat an activity they did at school, with you.

  Important Reminders

• Please ensure that you are labelling your child's belongings.

• Can we please ask for a socks and underwear to be placed in the front zip pocket in case of a toileting accident. 

• Comprehension questions to ask when reading with your child to support early reading development.

  "Point to where it shows...." the .......sound

  “I wonder why…”

  "what makes you think...."

  “This reminds me of…”

  "Show me where it says"

  “I didn’t understand that part, so I’ll reread it.”

  Use a mix of Who, What, When, Where, Why, How questions based on the book.

Important Dates

TERM 1 KEY DATES — 2026

• Monday 9 March - Public Holiday — School Closed

• Thursday 2 April - Holy Thursday — Last Day of Term 1

   

  TERM 2 START DATE

• Tuesday 21 April - First Day for Students

   

Contact Us 

galilee@cranbourneeast.catholic.edu.au  all teachers