Prep 

INFORMATION

🏊🏼‍♂️ Swimming - this week!

We are swimming this week! Please see the information below to help you stay organised throughout the week.

Grandparents Day - Monday 8th December, 12.15 - 1.30pm

🍭🍬Graduation Lolly Buffet Donations

📚 Library

Students are no longer able to borrow from the library for the year. We’d love your help returning any school library books with the WPPS stamp - remember to check under beds and in those tricky hiding spots!

✍🏼 Whiteboard markers

Some students are running low on their whiteboard markers, and a few have already finished their allocation. If you’d like to, you’re very welcome to send an extra marker to school, which we will put straight into your child’s bag for them to use. If not, students will still be able to take part in all activities using their clipboard and writing paper instead.

CURRICULUM

We have a reduced curriculum this week due to our swimming program, and we are mindful of supporting students’ energy levels by planning a lighter learning load.

📚 Phonemic awareness: reading and phonics

We are learning about closed and open syllables, and compound words.

Our focus will include:

• Learning the phonemes (the sounds the letters make).
• Practising the graphemes (how we write the letters with correct formation).
• Reading longer words 
• Reading short texts that include the focus long vowel sounds, as well as previously learned digraphs.

We will review previously learned heart words and learn the words friend and because

What can you do at home?

• Help your child read the take-home book, decodable passages and Heart Words from their book pocket. Aim for fluency by the second day of reading. 

As your child reads, encourage them to recognise familiar words instantly and only sound out unfamiliar ones.

• Enjoy bedtime stories together to build vocabulary, comprehension and a love of reading.

• Work through the optional UFLI home pages if you’d like some extra phonics practise at home.

📝 Literature: reading responses and writing 

We are not focusing on a Mentor Text this week. Instead, during our literacy sessions, we will be deepening our understanding of our current CBL topic.

Students are continuing to develop their handwriting and letter formation skills using their Sky, Grass, Ground writing books.

What can you do at home?

• Build in authentic writing experiences like writing a shopping list, birthday cards, wish lists or notes for family members. 

• Say it, then write it – Ask your child to say their sentence out loud first, then write it down.

• Check for capitals and full stops – Remind your child to start with a capital letter and finish with a full stop.

•  Practise writing the Heart Words, taking care to notice the tricky 'heart' parts in the word.

🔢  Maths 

We are learning more about time and the duration of time. Students will explore the idea of events taking a short or long amount of time and learn how to directly compare the duration of two or more activities. They will also solve simple problems by deciding which events take longer or shorter, helping them build a stronger understanding of how time passes in everyday situations.

What can you do at home?

• Compare everyday tasks together, like “Does brushing your teeth take longer than putting on your shoes?"

• Use a timer to measure how long simple activities take and talk about which was shorter or longer.

• Play “Which takes longer?” by choosing two household activities and predicting, then checking, which one takes more time.

• Notice time in real life, such as how long cooking tasks take or how long it takes to drive to school.

🌏 CBL - Discovery

Students will be learning about local endangered species and how we can help protect them. They will explore photos and short videos from the Healesville Sanctuary website to learn more about these animals. We will also look at Healesville Sanctuary’s '9 Ways to Make a Difference' conservation campaigns and reflect on simple actions we can take to help protect our local wildlife.