Prep News 

Dear Prep Families,

Time is flying through Term 4! 

The Prep students have had so much fun revising and exploring some new concepts in Writing, Reading and Mathematics. Let's have a look at what has been happening in Prep:

Mathematics

In Mathematics, the Prep students have been exploring Place Value and what it means to partition numbers. Students have been using a range of manipulative materials such as MAB blocks and unifix cubes to support their understanding of Place Value.  The students have shown enthusiasm and have shown risk-taking when giving reasoning behind their thinking when problem solving.

We have also introduced and exposed the students to a new topic in Measurement and Geometry: Mass whereby they have explored the weight of a range of objects and the language linked with this concept.  The students explored capacity and used a new strategy of 'hefting' where they explored items from around the room, put one item in each hand and hefted to identify which item was heavier and which was item was lighter. The students had a lot of fun and it has been wonderful to see them grow in knowledge and confidence.

Writing

In Writing, the Prep students have continued exploring Procedural text writing this week. They have developed a great understanding of what a procedure is and how to write it. As students have become more familiar with this topic, the use of time connectives language including, 'first, then, next and last' has been positively displayed in their writing.

This week,  the students followed the writing process to write their class chosen procedure. The writing process follows the steps of. 'brainstorm, draft, revise, edit, conference, publish and illustrate'. Students were reflective learners during their writing process as they developed knowledge at their own pace to understand the importance of writing and following a sequence of steps.

Reading

In Reading this week, the Preps have continued to explore Non- Fiction texts that capture their curiosity. The students have continued practicing various reading strategies including inferring, thinking about and beyond the text when reading. 

The students have also been looking into the 'Big idea' and thinking about what the writer want us to know when we are reading, including making text-to-self connections and text- to text connections. The Preps have showed great excitement and are being risk-takers as they extend their knowledge around the application of these strategies.

We encourage families to continue reading with the students at home and ask questions about the texts whilst reading.

Christmas Carols

Students have showed such enjoyment when rehearsing their Christmas Carols lyrics and have well choreographed their dance. We are so excited for our end of year Christmas Carol celebration. We encourage families to read through the lyrics at home together with your child/ren.

The students were respectful and made some poppy wreaths for Remembrance day and some classes used this for their procedural text writing. 

No hat, no play 

We would like to remind families of the importance of wearing a sun-smart hat during outdoor play. It is the policy of the school that all students wear hats for the first and last terms of the school year when participating in outdoor activities. Please ensure that hats are clearly labelled with the student's full name. School hats can be purchased at the main office. 

Reminders

• Students are required to bring a hat to school everyday
• lease ensure students are bringing fully charged iPads with headphones to school daily.
• We encourage students to practice learning the lyrics for their class's Christmas Carol at home.