Foundation

Foundation Cluster News

Welcome to Week 3.  

Week 2 was wonderful with our 100 Days of School celebrations. We are so proud of each and every one of you for reaching this milestone.  

This Monday 3rd August, Foundation S (Ladybugs) will be presenting in Assembly. Assembly begins at 2:30pm in the Worship Centre. 

Please note it is school photo day on Tuesday 4th August. Please refer to the school website for more information. 

Kimochis at Home 

We have 4 very special Kimochis that are going to come for a visit on the weekend - Brave Bug, Curious Cat, Kind Lovey Dove and Active Hugs. Students have designated weekends where they will bring home a small Bug, Cat, Lovey Dove or Hugs and a book with instructions of what they will need to do. They will take the Kimochi home on a Thursday/ Friday and bring it back on the Monday. Please make sure they are taken care of and don’t get drawn on or eaten by any family pets. If you do not have a printer at home, we are happy to print for you. Thank you. 

Week 3 Learning Program:   

Reader’s Workshop – Building our bigger reading muscles   

Word Study – Sounds:  

Digraphs (pairs of letters that represent a single sound, such as sh, ch, and th) 

CVC (simple three-letter words that follow a consonant, short vowel, and consonant pattern, such as cat, dog, and sun) 

CVCC words (four-letter words that follow a consonant, vowel, consonant, consonant pattern, such as tent, milk, and lamp) 

Bookmaking – Spotlight session: We make our books look stupendous. All about me book (Unit of Inquiry)   

Inquiry into Maths   

Partitioning - being able to explore how numbers are made up and the different ways we can make numbers (e.g. 10 is the same as 5 and 5, 6 and 4 etc)  

Unit of Inquiry 

Who We Are Central idea: Our identity helps us to understand our and others’ similarities, differences and emotions. 

Line of inquiry 1: What makes me ‘me’ and how I am the same as, and different to others.  

Line of inquiry 2: Emotions affect our behaviour, interactions, and relationships.  

Line of inquiry 3: We can show understanding and respect in our relationships.  

Key concepts: Causation & Responsibility 

Learner profile: Communicators, Open-minded, Caring, Principled 

Christian Studies:  

Christian Living  

Key Idea 1: Religious beliefs and ideas shape people's thinking and actions. 

Library: 

Please look after our books so they are not damaged so that others can borrow them. It is important to note that no borrowing occurs if library books are not returned.  

Please return books and the library bag to class on Tuesday ready for Wednesday library day.  

Thank you all for your support and being avid readers with your children. 

Take Home Folders:   

Take Home folders need to come to school every day. Students will need these to take home notes and any craft they make during the day. New sounds and heart words will also be placed in this folder.   

Jolly Pouch (purple pouch): Please keep the pouch in your child’s take home folder!  

Your child will receive new sounds/actions in their Jolly Pouch; it is up to you whether you keep the paper in the pouch or find a safe place at home. We hope these resources are valuable for you to practice what we learn in class. When a new sound is introduced, a video will be posted on Toddle to support your child at home. 

Hats: Students generally won’t need to wear a hat in Term 2 and Term 3 unless the UV index is 3 or above. These can be kept in the front pouch of their school bag, so they don’t get lost during this time. 

Gumboots: During the colder months as the weather gets wetter and muddier students must wear gumboots in the nature play at break times. If your child enjoys playing in nature play, please send gumboots labelled with their name to school. These are kept in plastic bags on the children’s bag hooks by our classroom or on the shoe racks if muddy.    

Pick Up Information:  

To assist the children and teachers with end of the day procedures, we would like to know your child’s pick-up details. There is a poster inside the classroom door with pick up options. Please fill this out at your earliest convenience. We are then able to reassure your child at the end of the day. If your plans change on any given day, please ring through to the School Office and they will inform us via the ‘message’ tray of the changes, or tell us in the morning at drop off.   

Volunteers: We love having volunteers in the classroom. If you are interested in volunteering, there are a few tasks you will need to be able to help in the classroom.  

• Current Working With Children Check (WWCC)  
• Responding to Abuse, Harm and Neglect training (RRHAN-EC)  
• Valuing Safe Communities (VSC) training; and  

You can find the information here on the school website:  https://www.goldengrove.sa.edu.au/parents-community/employment-opportunities/  

School Calendar  

https://www.goldengrove.sa.edu.au/school-life/school-calendar/  

Please note: During teaching hours, we are unable to check emails.  

Blessings,   

Brianna and Tania 

Brianna Stanley:  stanley.brianna@goldengrove.sa.edu.au 

Tania Tenten:

 tenten.tania@goldengrove.sa.edu.au 

Students have continued to settle in well this week as we learn and practise our routines. I encourage you to ask your children about ‘Whole body listening’ (eyes looking, body and legs still, mouths closed, hands in lap) and have them show you what this looks like. We have also learnt to “look, say okay, and do it right away’ when asked to do something. 

I also wanted to inform you that I will be away on Monday 3rd of August. Mrs Kat Newman will be teaching the class for the day. Students are familiar with Kat, who is currently teaching P.E. while Ms McCusker is on leave. Please let me know if you have any questions about this. 

Wednesday Rest Day 

We highly encourage you to give your child a rest day on Wednesdays during the first five weeks of term. The purpose of having rest days is to build up children’s learning stamina, as we consider that many of them are used to having three days of kindy, which is different to five days of Foundation learning. At the beginning, children can feel very tired and experience big emotions after just three full days of learning. The rest day will help them to slowly get used to being at school for five full days. They could play or spend some time with you doing something together. It is not a day where they do any work. Your child’s wellbeing means a lot to us, and we want them to continue to have a smooth transition into Foundation.  

Toddle 

An invite to join Toddle was emailed out during the holidays. I apologise that some students received the wrong paper invite in their take home bag. If you are still having trouble connecting, please contact the front office. We post important reminders, student learning, photos/videos and assessments on this platform. 

Family photo for classroom 

I would love to create a display of family photos in our classroom. Please send a photo through to my email address and I will print it off. If your child is between homes, you are more than welcome to send in two for display. 

School Photo Day 

School photo day is Tuesday 4th of August. Please contact the front office if you have not received information about this.  

Library 

Students have been given a white Library bag. We visit the library weekly on Tuesdays. Foundation children can borrow two books and keep them for two weeks. I encourage you to read these books with your child weekly so that they can bring them back and have two new books every week to read. 

Assembly and Chapel 

We will not be attending assembly and chapel for the first few weeks to give your children time to become comfortable with being at school first. I will let you know when our first time attending will be in the coming weeks. 

Blue Take Home Folder 

All students have now been given a blue take home folder. They are to come to school every day. In these folders you will find notes sent home, craft students have made, and later in the term, sounds we have been learning that you can practise with them. 

Nature Play 

We are lucky to have a wonderful nature play area at our school. As it can be wet and muddy during Winter, we ask that if your children are wanting to play in this area at recess and lunchtime that they come to school with gumboots. 

Weekly timetable 

Learning program:  Week 3 

We continue to consolidate the routines we have been learning in weeks 1 and 2. 

We will do some activities using the letters of the alphabet, as well as begin some Bookmaking. Students will have the opportunity to share with me what they already know about numbers. 

For Christian Studies, we will begin reading some stories about Jesus and what he did. 

Mindfulness 

Every week, we will be learning a strategy we can use to keep our body calm. I encourage you to practise these strategies every week with your child at home. During Week 2 we have been practising our rainbow breathing.  

Rainbow breathing 

Hold your arms out to your side. 

Breath in and bring your arms up like you are tracing painting the red band of a rainbow. 

Breath out and bring your arms back down. 

Repeat for each colour of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet 

Blessings for a wonderful week, 

Ellen Zimmer 

zimmer.ellen@goldengrove.sa.edu.au