Prep
Dear Prep Community,
It is hard to believe that Semester One has come to an end and our prep students are already halfway through their very first year of school! We are so proud of the growth and enthusiasm they have shown throughout the semester.
Our recent Pyjama Day was a wonderful celebration and lots of fun for everyone involved. Prep students and staff embraced the spirit of the day by wearing their favourite pyjamas, creating a relaxed and cheerful atmosphere across the school. It was fantastic to see so much enthusiasm and laughter with everyone enjoying the opportunity to come together. Thank you to all families for supporting the day and helping make it such a memorable occasion.
Semester One reports have now been completed and we encourage families to take time to celebrate the progress and achievements their children have made so far this year.
Below is a snapshot of some of the learning and highlights from the past two weeks.
Reading
In Reading, students have continued to build their early literacy skills through exploring a variety of nursery rhyme texts. We have focused on using finger tracking while reading and have used cut-up sentences to sequence nursery rhymes, helping to strengthen word knowledge and develop an understanding of sentence structure. Students have been building on their letter and sound knowledge by blending and segmenting the sounds they hear in words while also establishing independent reading routines and building confidence as readers. In the classroom students are continuously exposed to a variety of text types through daily read alouds, shared big books and nonfiction texts as well.
How you can help at home
We encourage families to read daily with their child. The books sent home in reading satchels may seem easy, however they are carefully chosen at your child’s reading level so they can practise reading independently and confidently. While reading together, ask your child questions about the story, encourage them to make connections to their own experiences, and talk about the characters and events. This helps deepen comprehension and supports students in becoming confident, capable readers. Reading satchels also contain a list of 30 High Frequency Words, we encourage families to help their children practice these words at home.
Writing
During Writing sessions, students have been exploring long and short vowel sounds and learning about onset and rime patterns to support their growing phonics knowledge and spelling skills. Students have been encouraged to develop word lists and use these words in sentences. After the fun students had designing and making their own toy out of recyclable materials, students were provided with an opportunity to reflect on this experience and use this to form a piece of writing.
Students have continued to be provided with daily free writing sessions where they have the freedom to write about topics of their choice or interest. The goal of these sessions is to build confidence, independence and enjoyment in writing. Students are encouraged to use their letter-sound knowledge to independently stretch out and record words, while also practising finger spaces, capital letters and simple punctuation.
How you can help at home
Encourage your child to write about topics they are interested in, as students are often more motivated and engaged when writing about things they enjoy. Support them to slowly stretch and segment words so they can hear and record as many sounds as possible. Remember, writing at this stage is about building confidence and having a go rather than perfect spelling.
Mathematics
In Mathematics, our focus has been on numbers from 0–20. Students have been developing their understanding through activities involving bundling, exploring teen numbers and using tens frames to represent quantities and build number sense. Students have been learning the difference between 'ty' and 'teen' numbers and how to identify them accordingly.
In our classrooms students have daily opportunities to practice their counting skills as we continue to count and record our days at school in preparation to recognise and celebrate our 100th day. Students practice counting forwards, backwards and skip count within 100.
How you can help at home
You can support number learning through everyday counting activities and games, with a particular focus on correctly saying teen numbers rather than “-ty”.
Inquiry
We have had some exciting experiences in Inquiry this term! Students enjoyed making toys from recyclable materials, their very first excursion to Village Cinemas to watch Toy Story 5, which was a very exciting experience for everyone. We also celebrated the Māori New Year, Matariki, with our buddy classes, creating colourful kites to fly as part of the celebrations. As we finish the semester, we are wrapping up our inquiry unit exploring how toys have changed over time and reflecting on what we have learnt, enjoyed and still wonder about toys.
How you can help at home
Ask your child to tell you some of the things they learned about toys during this unit of inquiry, what learning experiences they enjoyed and to share any questions or wonderings they still might have.
We wish all our Prep families a safe, happy and relaxing two-week holiday break. Thank you for your continued support throughout Semester One. We can't wait to welcome the students back in Term 3 on Monday 13 July, ready for more learning, growth and exciting experiences in Semester Two!
Thank You
Thank you for your continued support throughout the term. We are incredibly proud of the growth, creativity, and enthusiasm our Prep students are showing each day!
Reminders
Please ensure all school uniform items and belongings are clearly labelled with your child’s name.
Please ensure your child has a spare change of clothes in their bag in case of accidents or spills.
The Premiers Reading Challenge is open and running until September 4th. Students received logins, passwords and bookmarks this term.