Prep

Dear Prep families,

Welcome back to Term Two! As we dive into the new term, the crisp air and cooler weather greet us, signalling the transition into a fresh phase of learning and growth.

Literacy

What an exciting way we celebrated beginning Term Two! With much excitement, we met many teddies and friends and enjoyed the opportunity to share a lovely picnic with our classmates. 

The students engaged in Teddy Bear stories, practiced reading to their teddy friends and then wrote about their picnic experience. 

The students were able to make personal connections to the stories read as they too had gone on a Teddy Bears Picnic, which is teaching them about making 'text-to-self' connections.

When encouraged to write about our picnics, it again utilised their personal experience, like the language experiences we have been using during Term One. As a class we planned our ideas, thinking about our 5 Ws; Who, What, When, Where and Why, before writing sentences. As always we started our writing by drawing a picture about what they did. After the students drew their picture, they then attempted to write a sentence/s about their picture. We encouraged the students to include the 5Ws which helps them to expand on their writing ideas.

Numeracy

In Numeracy  we have been focussing on the days of the week. As with our numbers, we have talked about days that come before and days that come after. The students have been practicing ordering their days, using their letter and sound knowledge to help them. We have discussed that there are five weekdays and two weekend days and explored the events which happen on these days. We have been working on the students understanding that knowing the days of the weeks helps them to organise their time and activities. 

We encourage parents to continue these discussions with their children, talking about when they have extra curricular activities, when plans have been made, and when holidays or special events are coming up.

Cyber Safety Prep Presentations

With the introduction of iPads in Prep in Term Two, our Cyber Safety Presentations have come at exactly the right time!

We learnt that the internet plays an integral role in our daily lives, therefore, prioritising cyber safety is essential, particularly for young people navigating the expansive online world. Over the last two weeks, the Cyber Safety Project visited Saltwater College, delivering informative sessions to our students. The Prep sessions were designed to equip students with the necessary knowledge and skills to safely navigate the digital landscape.

The presentations comprehensively covered various aspects of online safety, including safeguarding against cyber threats, implementing privacy measures, awareness about online risks, educating students on cybersafety and staying alert and cautious. The aim was to empower students to navigate the digital world confidently and responsibility, through a fun and interactive way.

Three-Way Conferences in Week 3

In Week 3, students will have an opportunity to share their learning with families. We are excited to share our Prep students' achievements and celebrate their learning with families. 

Please make a booking through XUNO. If you are unable to do so, please reach out to classroom teachers for support.

Wellbeing

Our Preps have made a great start to Wellbeing this term. To ease students back into the term, they have continued their learning around the topic of ‘Personal Strengths’. 

Throughout this topic, students have had the opportunity to explore what it feels like when they have to do something they are afraid of as well as explore what every day bravery looks like. To conclude this topic of learning, our Preps named and celebrated personal strengths (such as helpful, kind, patient, brave, neat, hardworking, friendly) and through this, were able to recognise other people’s personal strengths. Students also started learning about the topic of ‘Positive Coping Strategies’ and participated in a range of activities that enabled them to re-engage with a vocabulary of common emotions and build social good will through group play. They learnt about positive self-talk strategies and were able to identify negative emotions and what can help them cope when they experience these negative emotions. Well done Preps!

REMINDERS:

• Students are expected to bring their satchel to school EVERY DAY.
• Prep students use iPads in Term Two. Your child’s iPad will need to be configured by our IT team to enable them to use them at school.
• Snack and lunch times are 20 minutes long. Please encourage your child to eat their snack/lunch within a 20 minute period, as this will help them to follow school routine.
• Please remember to pack a spare change of clothes for your child. Sometimes, little children can have toileting accidents and spills at school.
• If you would like your child to practise our school song. This is the Youtube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua5RnSttwyY 
• Lastly, a reminder about bringing in headphones if you have not already done so. We will be using them, along aside the iPads.

Kind regards, 

The Prep Team.