School of Foundations
Early Stage 1
The Hub
Students in Kangas visited the Hub during the week. The hub is a place where students can go to learn, connect with peers and read. It has been furnished with comfortable furniture and is full of interesting and exciting things to see and read. In Term 2, all of Kindergarten will be able to regularly use the Hub during the school day and even during some break times!
Palm Sunday Prayer
On Wednesday, Kindergarten led the School of Foundations in a prayer. We sang songs, prayed and waved craft palm leaves to commemorate Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Well done, Kindergarten!
History
During the week, students in Roos reflected on their learning in History throughout the term. Mrs Fryer supported the children by using prompts and questions that reminded the children of how much they have learned about their personal history.
Mathematics
During the week, students investigated how to find half of an object and a collection of objects. Students learned that half is two equal pieces of the same size and shape when halving an object. When halving a collection of objects, we found out that half must be two equal groups of the same quantity. You can support your child at home with halves by providing them with opportunities in cooking, craft and while they are playing with their toys.
Stage 1
English
This term students have really enjoyed learning all about fairy tales and focused on reading like a storyteller. Students have looked at the different punctuation we can see in books and how they give us clues on how we should read.
Last week we celebrated ‘Fairy Tale Day’ where students rotated through a range of activities. These included making puppets, guided drawing activities and coding!
This week your child started working on a new text purpose, writing to inform. Next term your child will be learning all about animals and working towards writing an informative report. Over the holidays, you could spark interest in your child by asking them about their favourite animal.
Mathematics
Over the last few weeks we have explored using positional language in our maths learning time. Students explored maps and the position of objects in relation to the position of others. We also practised using our left and right to describe where we might place objects.
This week in mathematics we have been learning about chance. We have focused on the language of probability and using these terms to describe different situations. Students have been asked to use the terms ‘likely’ and ‘unlikely’ when thinking about everyday events.
To support our mathematical thinking at home during the holidays you may like to try the following activities:
- Can you draw a picture following directions? For example, draw a banana to the left of a monkey.
- Write a chance story including the words impossible, certain, likely and unlikely.
- Counting and organising a collection of items.
Religion
This week we have been focusing on the Easter Story. Your child has been exposed to the term Holy Week which focuses on Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday. Stage 1 has been working on presenting the Liturgy ‘Holy Thursday’ to the School of Foundations.
Looking Ahead
Next term we'll be looking at Living Things and how they grow. Stage 1 will also be writing informative texts, complimenting this learning, will be the Stage 1 excursion to Featherdale Wildlife Park.
Stage 2
Reading
In reading, students in Stage 2 have been focusing on the reading strategy of visualising. Visualising helps the reader create a picture as they read and assists students to comprehend what they are reading. They read an excerpt from the story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that described Willy Wonka. Students had to visualise what they thought Willy Wonka looked like using only the information from the text.
Writing
Students in Stage 2 have been writing persuasive texts for a variety of purposes. They wrote letters to the “Once-ler”, a character from The Lorax, trying to persuade him to stop chopping down the trees. They also began writing reviews of their favourite books and games. We focused on using high modality and emotive language to convince the reader.
Maths
During our maths block, students have been learning how to think multiplicatively and explain and prove their thinking using multiplication and division number sentences. Students had to organise their thinking in arrays and they even challenged themselves by trying to visualise their totals using partial arrays. Students also began describing the multiples of their numbers.
History
Stage 2 has been looking at what life was like for convicts on board the First Fleet and some of the challenges they encountered. Using primary and secondary sources, students researched what some convicts experienced and what their first impression of Australia was.
