Prep
Dear Prep Students and Families,
Wow! What a fantastic fortnight we have had in Prep, full of excitement and learning. Our cohort have experienced a lot of 'firsts' these few weeks and can you believe it we are halfway through another term?
Reading:
In Reading, the students have continued to enhance their skills of predicting when reading a text. When predicting, students draw information from the front cover using the title and pictures that are there. Some students have been able to use their prior knowledge to enhance their reasoning when discussing why they have made their predictions. We have continued to revise our reading strategies so far and are encouraging students to discuss the strategies they have used to strengthen their reading.
Preps participate in daily independent reading and are successfully increasing their reading stamina, allowing them to read for a longer time and to enjoy the story for a longer period. It is also a time for the children to enjoy quiet time and practise reading skills.
In Reading, we explored our new Central Idea, 'Emotions, attitudes and beliefs influence the way we act.' Students had discussions centred around personal feelings, the emotions that they feel themselves and the impact and effect this has on behaviour.
Writing
Students have continued to explore recounts about what they have done on the weekend. They are including who they did it with, where they went, what they did, when they did it and why they did the activity.
To continue delving into our new Unit of Inquiry, we are making emotion puppets - either emoji stick puppets or paper bag puppets. With our newly made puppets students have had conversations with others about how they are feeling and why they feel this way. We have also introduced four new sight words, these were: with, what, you, your. They have completed their special sentence in their special writing books that can be read at home when completing their nightly reading.
Phonics
The students have continued to participate in their daily phonics sessions and extending their knowledge of letter names and sounds. Students are exploring rhyme, alliterations and syllables through our sessions. We have begun to look at long vowel and short vowel sounds, a long vowel sound says the name of the letter and a short vowel sound says its sounds.
Mathematics
In Mathematics, students have continued do delve deeper into their learning about 2D shapes and where they can be found in the world around them, connecting to 3D representations. They learnt about four common 2D shapes - the square, circle, triangle and rectangle, through discussions discovering how many sides and corners each shape has and where to find them in the real world. They have enjoyed labelling shapes based on their knowledge and features becoming experts of squares, circles, rectangles and triangles. Students were given a variety of materials to create any 2D shapes that they know, this ignited excitement and creativity allowing the students to work as a team discussing why their shape wasn’t a certain shape as the features didn’t match.
We have also returned to number this week, exploring numbers up to 20. The students enjoyed a game of Bingo, waiting with suspense to see if they are the lucky one to call Bingo. We began exploring number lines from 0 to 20, demonstrating that numbers are a part of a sequence and follow on sequentially. Students were exposed to number relationships using the part-part-whole method, which allows students to see the relationships between numbers and how they are interconnected.
Three-Way-Conferences
This week the students completed their first three-way-conferences at Saltwater College. They shone so brightly and proudly sharing their work with their loved ones. We are all so proud of the students being risk takers, sharing the new knowledge they have gained so far in their learning journey.
Incursion
The Preps were so excited to engage in their first incursion while being at school, exploring the Aboriginal culture. Students developed an understanding of the rich, vibrant and ancient traditions of Australia’s first inhabitants. Aboriginal Infusion was a highly interactive and engaging program that enabled students to explore dance, didgeridoos, Aboriginal artefacts and enjoyed listening to traditional storytelling.
Reconciliation Walk
National Reconciliation Week is an opportunity for Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how we can each contribute to reconciliation in Australia.
On Friday, 30 May, all classes at Saltwater participated in an commemorative walk around the perimeter of our school to honour the significant show of support for reconciliation in 2000, when 250,000 Australians walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Our Prep students enjoyed the walk, proudly displaying their artistic flags.
Reminders
Students are expected to bring their satchel to school EVERY DAY.
Prep students have begun using iPads. 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 with iPads.
Warm regards,
The Prep Team