Prep

Literacy 

In Literacy, students have continued to work on their Core Knowledge unit, 'Let's Explore our World.' In Week 5 and 6, students will learn about the continents South America and Europe. As part of this, they will create the Amazon Rainforest, the Andes, Mount Vesuvius and the Eiffel Tower.

Phonics, Handwriting and Reading Fluency

The Preps have now completed the first set of sounds in Phonics Plus: s, a, t, p, i, n. The students have been taught to read these sounds, write the letters and segment and blend short words using these sounds, such as pin, tap, sit. The students have also learnt three high frequency words: the, for, and. 

The Preps will now move onto the second set of sounds in Phonics Plus and work on these over the next two weeks. These sounds include: m, o, d, g, f, c. The high frequency words that will be taught are: is, of, a.

They will continue to revise the sounds taught in Set 1 (s, a, t, p, i, n) through repeated reading in Fluency each day.  The students work in pairs, with Partner A reading each sound/ word, while Partner B tracks along on their own sheet, then Partner B reads while Partner A tracks. 

A highlight last week was when we introduced the Preps to their own "Fluency Phones" which they can use to practice listening to themselves reading the sounds.

The students will also begin reading decodable books with taught sounds (s, a, t, p, i, n) in class over the next two weeks. After they have read these books in class for two weeks, they will be sent home as part of our home reading program (in Week 7). We will provide more information about this in the next newsletter.

Numeracy

The Prep students have completed their first unit on counting and place value. They are now moving onto counting and writing numerals to 6. The students have loved singing the 'Direction Duck,' song and learning about the different ways they form their numerals, such as sliding forward, sliding back, curving forward and curving back.

SWPBS

Thank you for your support in establishing our morning routines. The students have been noticeably more settled walking independently into the building each morning which has an enormous positive impact on their ability to be prepared for learning.

Dojo Points - The Preps have been very excited to start earning 'Dojo points' when they display behaviours that align with our Gold Standards. When the students reach milestones of points earned (eg. 50 points) they are able to choose a reward, such as a class game outside.

Key Dates

Weds 26th Feb - Preps last rest day

Mon 3rd March - Preps begin full school weeks

Weds 2nd April - Celebration of Learning afternoon at 2:45pm