Prep Team News
with Caitlin & Georgia
Hello Prep families,
It has been another wonderful week in Prep. We have been busy with exciting incursions and experiences at school, with more to look forward to in the coming weeks. It has been nice to have some students beginning to earn their ‘25’ and ‘50’ nights of reading certificates in their Home Reading Records. What a great achievement! Please make sure you are listening to your child read every night and recording this in the Home Reading Record. If you have any questions about this, please speak to your child’s classroom teacher.
Fire Ed Incursion
We are having firefighters from our local fire station visit us next week, on Tuesday 3rd June, and the following week, on Wednesday 11th June. These sessions focus on teaching the students about fire safety. We also get to take a tour of a fire truck and have a go at using the water hose. How exciting! Please let your child’s teacher know if you have any questions about these sessions.
Wicked Weather Incursion
Last Tuesday, the Preps took part in our Wicked Weather incursion, as part of our inquiry unit. Students participated in a range of experiments to learn about change including making snow and rain, and exploring the impact of UV light.
National Simultaneous Storytime
On Wednesday the 21st of May, over 2 million learners tuned in for National Simultaneous Storytime. The story chosen this year was ‘The Truck Cat’ by Deobrah Frenkel and Danny Snell and discusses the adventures of a truck cat who gets lost when chasing a butterfly. Below is the link to a livestream from the day where the author reads and discusses her book.
National Simultaneous Storytime 2025
A Reminder about the Yard
Our Preps have come so far since the beginning of the year with their independence and resilience, especially during play times. To continue to encourage this we ask that parents please refrain from visiting the Prep playground at recess and lunch times. Please be conscious that for some students this can be quite distressing as they wonder where their own parents are when their friends get visits from their parents. Moreover, as there are a range of different teachers on Yard Duty in the Prep Area, not all teachers are able to recognise Prep parents, and will need to ask you to leave as this is our school policy for anyone standing near the school gates. If you have any messages or items to pass on to your child throughout the day, please call through to the office and it will be passed on to your child’s classroom teacher.
Curriculum Focus: Weeks 5 - 6
Reading - Students will continue learning about appropriate reading behaviours, including pointing to the words as we read. They will also discuss text features such as full stops and capital letters. As part of our Little Learner’s program, students begin the year learning single letter sounds, with our current focus being the /y/, /r/ and /e/ sounds. To help us remember these sounds, we have met Yasmin the yak, Roxy the rabbit and Eddy the elephant. There are songs about these characters available online, which you may like to listen to with your child at home or in the car:
Writing - Students are learning to correctly form letters and use our sound knowledge to write sentences. This week we are focusing on forming the letters ‘y’, ‘r’ and ‘e’. We are also learning to read and write the heart words ‘she’, ‘he’, ‘we’, ‘to’, ‘do’ and ‘was’ this term.
Numeracy - Students are exploring addition and subtraction. We are exploring the core mathematics concept of part-part whole, using hands-on materials to help us solve number sentences and applying our developing skills to problem solving activities.
Inquiry - This term, our inquiry topic is ‘What is changing around us?’. Last week, the students were immersed in the incursion, Wicked Weather, and enjoyed participating in a range of experiments about the change in weather and how weather changes. Over the coming weeks, we will continue to build on this learning by conducting some experiments in the classroom and discussing what changes humans make to accommodate weather changes.
Homework - Each Monday, students will be given an activity to complete at home that relates to our weekly sound or maths focus. The activity in their ‘Home Learning Book’ will be collected each Friday. Homework in Prep should take no longer than 15 minutes.
Prep: Key Dates Term Two
| Tuesday 3rd June | Fire Ed Incursion (Part One) |
| Monday 9th June | King’s Birthday Public Holiday |
| Wednesday 11th June | Fire Ed Incursion (Part Two) |
| Tuesday 1st July | Parent Teacher Interviews (12:30pm finish) |
Have a great weekend.
Warm regards,
The Prep Team–Caitlin Sullivan (Prep S), & Georgia Grainger (Prep G)