Foundation Unit

Students in the Foundation grades have been enjoying some different activities in Maths this term. Our focus has shifted from Subtraction to 3 new topics, Mass, Position and Location, and Division.

Students have been introduced to the term ‘hefting’ during Mass lesson. ‘Hefting’ means to lift or hold (something) in order to test its weight. The students have been hefting 2 items to compare their weight or mass, and then indicating which one is the heaviest and which is the lightest. The students have really enjoyed these investigations and have discovered that the biggest item is not always the heaviest and visa versa.

For our study of Position and Location we have been investigating words that describe our position or how we move. Some examples have been, on, under, beside, come to the centre of the mat, walk between two tables, etc. Soon we will progress to writing or drawing simple instructions and asking a friend to follow our instructions. Board games like ‘Snakes and Ladders’ will also be used to support these activities. We have also enjoyed reading books like ‘Rosie’s Walk’ and ‘Going on a Bear Hunt’, and ‘The Great Rabbit Chase’. The links for some of these stories are below.

Rosie’s Walk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d1_Z068z74

Going on a Bear Hunt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHycGh4q58Q

The Great Rabbit Chase

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv8dCj2rguo

Division has been introduced to the children through sharing activities. These activities are presented as real world problems often after listening to a related story. One example was the sharing of cookies in the story ‘The Doorbell Rang’ written by Pat Hutchins. Children then practised sharing cup cakes among several children and represented this through pictures in order to find out how many cup cakes each person got. The students loved using the patty pans as part of this activity.

As part of our Literacy lessons some of the students listened to the story ‘When I Grow Up by Tim Minchin’. Students then wrote about what they would like to be able to do when they grow up. Some of their thoughts are:

‘When I grow up I want to be a dad’. Oliver
‘When I grow up I want to be an explorer and I want to be a singer and I want to be a hero’. Remi
‘When I grow up I want to go to Bali. I also want to be an art teacher. I also want to be a ballerina’. Pippa
‘When I grow up I want to go through the black hole and go to the Bermuda Triangle”.
‘When I grow up I want to watch T.V. for as long as I want and I want to eat as much ice cream as I want’. William
‘When I grow up I want to have 100 horses’. Tessa
‘When I grow up I want to work in the canteen’. Mia

Foundation Teachers

Debbie Thompson, Sally Quinn, Jody Bretherton