Prep to Grade 2: 

Prep/1 A by Mrs Thornton

I was lucky enough to teach the Literacy 2 hour block the other day in this awesome Prep/1 class.

We were working on the letter N both sounding it out and writing the letter.

We read the book "Caring for your Lion" and then we created our own Procedural text. 

I brought in my toothbrush, toothpaste, cup and bottle of water and we had to work out the order of events to clean our teeth and students drew their findings.

We sang, we danced, we chanted our words, we worked hard! Thanks for having me Prep/1 - we had a great morning!  Mrs Thornton

1/2 A

Literacy

Over the last 2 weeks, our grade ones have learned 2 new sounds with 5 new graphemes! Students have been learning how to sound out and build words that feature the /or/ sound which included using two new spellings: 'or' and 'aw'. Students have also been reading and writing words with the /er/ sound this week with its three spellings 'er', 'ir' and 'ur'. 

Our grade twos have leaned excitedly into to a new focus on morphology. Students have been working on understanding the different types of morphemes including prefixes, base words, and suffixes, and have learned and applied two new morphemes, the prefix 'mis-', and the suffix '-ed'. 

Students were very busy in writing time last week drafting and perfecting their heartfelt cards and letters for Mother's day. This week we have jumped back into exploring procedural texts using the fabulous 'Wombat Stew' as our mentor text. Kids are loving working with this text again and are learning to identify and use 'bossy' (imperative) verbs in their writing. 

Maths

In Maths we've been finishing off our unit on addition. Students have done lots of skip counting practice and continued to learn and consolidate some addition strategies including counting on, using tens, doubles, and near doubles facts, and beginning to bridge to ten. 

Inquisitive Minds

Wrapping up our unit of place and community, our Prep/one/twos have been exploring Indigenous connection to land. Students have discussed some of the ways that First Nations peoples have in the past and continue to connect with, care for, and live off the land. We discussed the country we are on (Boon Wurrung/ Bunurong Country) and explored the practice of being welcomed to and acknowledging the Country and its peoples.  

Grade 1s and 2s explored the 7 seasons acknowledged by the people of the Kulin Nations, and looked at the changes in the stars, weather, plants, and animals that signify the seasons and their transitions.

We have also been learning Australia's States and Territories, and the continents of the world.