Prep
Welcome to Term 3!
We hope everyone has had a wonderful and restful break and is feeling ready for another fantastic term of learning. We have lots of exciting experiences, special events and new learning opportunities planned, and we're looking forward to sharing another fun and rewarding term with our Prep students and families.
Reading
Our Prep students have been building their reading confidence by learning to recognise and read high-frequency words in familiar texts. They have been practising spotting these words in books, reading them automatically and joining in during shared reading activities to build fluency.
We have also been developing our prediction skills by using the title, cover illustrations and picture clues to think about what might happen before reading a story. Students have been encouraged to share their ideas using the sentence starter, "I predict...", and explain the clues that helped them make their predictions. Whilst reading, students then confirmed whether their predictions were correct, revised their thinking when needed and used evidence from the text to explain their reasoning.
Our literacy learning has also focused on the short and long vowel sounds /o/ and /u/. Through engaging games, word-sorting tasks and reading activities, students have been learning to hear, recognise and read words with these vowel sounds. As their phonics knowledge continues to grow, so does their confidence in reading new and unfamiliar words independently.
Writing
In Writing, our Prep students began the term by creating holiday recounts, where they drew pictures and wrote about some of the events they enjoyed during their break. They practised sharing their ideas with others before turning them into sentences, while continuing to develop their use of capital letters and full stops.
We have also been strengthening our knowledge of high-frequency words by reading, writing and using them in sentences.
Students have also been exploring onset and rime by building words that end with -at, such as cat, hat and bat. They have enjoyed blending different beginning sounds to create new words and using them to write fun and sometimes silly sentences. This learning is supporting students as they become more confident writers.
Maths
In Mathematics, our Prep students have been learning to recognise, represent and order numbers to 20 and beyond. They have been building teen numbers using tens and ones, matching numbers to quantities and strengthening their counting skills.
Students have been practising counting forwards and backwards, identifying missing numbers, and exploring the concepts of “one more” and “one less” through hands-on activities.
We have also been learning about ordinal numbers and how to describe the position of objects using words such as first, second, third, fourth and fifth.
Wellbeing & Inquiry
In Wellbeing, our Prep students have been learning to recognise different feelings and identify situations that may make them feel worried, stressed or overwhelmed. They have explored strategies to help manage big feelings, such as taking deep breaths, pausing before reacting, and making kind and safe choices.
In Inquiry, students have started exploring our new Central Idea: “We communicate our ideas, imagination and experiences through story.” They have been investigating what stories are and the different ways stories can be shared. Through exploring a range of texts and storytelling experiences, students are beginning to understand how stories can communicate ideas, feelings, imagination and personal experiences. This unit will continue to build on our learning about who we are by exploring how emotions, beliefs, cultures and individual experiences shape the ways we express ourselves.
🎉 Prep's 100 Days of School Celebration! 🎉
Hip, hip, hooray! Our Prep students (and teachers!) are excited to celebrate 100 Days of School on Wednesday 29 July. What an amazing milestone, 100 days of learning, new friendships and wonderful memories!
To celebrate, our Prep students are invited to come dressed in a fun outfit inspired by the number 100. Whether it's 100 spots, 100 stickers, 100 pompoms or another creative idea, we can't wait to see everyone's fantastic costumes!
The day will be filled with exciting classroom activities, games, crafts and plenty of fun as we celebrate just how much our Prep students have learned and grown over their first 100 days of school. We can't wait to celebrate this special day with our amazing Preps!
Reminders
Parent-Teacher Interviews: Parent-teacher interviews will be held on Tuesday, 28 July. Students will finish school early at 12:00 pm, with interviews running from 12:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Both in-person and online appointments are available. Please access your XUNO notification and remember to book your preferred time if you haven't already.
100 Days of Prep: On Wednesday, 29 July, we will celebrate 100 Days of Prep! Students are invited to dress up in something related to 100 days. We can't wait to celebrate together!
Student Absences: If your child is absent from school, please remember to notify the school by entering the reason for the absence on Xuno.
Thank you,
The Prep Teaching Team