Prep

Dear Prep Students and Families,

It has been a productive beginning to Term Two and our Preps continue to display an eagerness for learning which is wonderful to observe. We participated in an assembly in Week Three where we practised what it means to be principled by listening to the speakers. We also participated in our first Mother’s Day Stall. I am sure you were all pleasantly surprised with your child’s thoughtful selections with you in mind.

Reading

Preps continue to make predictions in both the events of a text and how to make a reasonable guess to read a word, using the first sound as a clue. We have been revising all strategies learnt so far and have been focusing on ‘flip the vowel’, looking for smaller parts (chunking) and identifying the ending of words, ‘s’ and ‘ing’.

Preps participate in daily independent reading and are successfully building their stamina to read for longer periods of time, allowing them time to ‘dip into their reading tool belt’ to apply the various strategies. It is also quiet time for them to simply enjoy the skill of reading.

ICT has recently been introduced to our reading sessions. Students have been exploring Reading Eggs and Fast Phonics. Log in details will be sent home with your child so they can learn and enjoy the educational app outside of school.

Writing

In anticipation of Mother’s Day, students were introduced to what it means to write a list, with the topic being our mum’s and special person. Students recalled things that their mum’s like to do and created a list in a flower template, which they then decorated. They were very excited and proud to also create a Mother’s Day card. It was heart-warming hearing all the reasons why mums are loved.

Students participated in a provocation session to share their wonderings for our Unit of Inquiry Two. Preps reviewed the learner profile attribute displays created with their class to revise what it means to be a thinker, a communicator and to reflect. They then viewed a media text to identify and discuss a range of emotions.

Preps were introduced to new sight words each week. These were: he, she, me, we. They are displaying development in identifying these words in texts shared during reading sessions and including them in their writing. It is impressive to see students independently use their sight word key rings during our writing lessons. If you wish to support your child/ren further at home please ask them to recall these words on their key ring, to identify them in texts or to create verbal sentences using these words.

Phonics

The students have continued to participate in daily phonics sessions and their developing knowledge of letter names and sounds is great to see. The preps are participating in identifying words that rhyme and those that have an alliteration (begin with the same sound) which are skills to develop their oral language. They are engaged when orally counting the phonemes in three letter words, to then be risk takers to read and spell independently on their whiteboards.

When reading with your child/ren at home, please encourage them to use their knowledge of these sounds and to demonstrate to you how they are to beginning to apply their knowledge to read and write words.

Mathematics

In Mathematics, students continue to consolidate their understanding of different representations of number, including quantities, word and numeral. They have used their number knowledge to play games with friends, where they have been subitising, counting on and identifying numbers. 

Subitising is the ability to instantly recognise the number of objects in a small group without having to count them one by one. For example, when you see three dots on a dice, you know it’s three without counting each dot. This skill helps children develop number sense and is an important early step in learning maths.

They have been engaged when playing number and subitising board games, such as Snakes and Ladders, Roll and Cover Subitising, Memory Game and Animal Dots.

Preps also started a new unit on Shape. They have been busy identifying common 2D shapes in their environment, to then sort, name and describe common 2D shapes. Students have been exploring to find 2D shapes such as circles, rectangles, squares and triangles from 3D shapes in the real-world settings.

Teachers have also been conducting assessments to inform our planning and further support your child’s learning.

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