Prep

English

Reading-  At the start of this term, students revisited the different aspects and expectations of the reading lesson and added more interest books to their classroom library. Throughout the term students have engaged in class discussions, read alouds, turn and talk and oral language experiences to support their letter identification and high frequency word knowledge. During this term,  students continued to work on the comprehension strategy of previewing and predicting, as well as retelling and sequencing. Students learnt to retell well known fairytales and sequence events in the correct order. During remote learning students took time to focus on identifying the front cover, title and author of different texts and identifying a range of letters in poems and hunting for them around the house. 

Writing-  At the start of this term, the prep students focused on persuasive writing. The students started out by orally sharing their opinion about different topics, such as food and animals and then began sharing the reason behind their opinion. Once students could do this orally they moved on to writing their opinions down and adding a picture to match their writing. Half way through the term, students moved on to writing information reports. This started during onsite learning and then moved into remote learning. Students chose different animals, read about them in books and wrote down different facts they had learnt. 

 Mathematics

In Mathematics, this term prep students continue to engage in the 100 days of school routine. This has included keeping track of each school day until students reach 100 days. Some ways of tracking the days include, using a 100 chart, counting icy pole sticks, marking a blank 100s frame and marking a calendar. We can’t wait until we reach 100 days of school! 

Throughout the term, students have learnt about three topics which included number recognition, length and counting. During the number recognition topic, students would focus on a different number every lesson and really get to know everything about that number. During the length unit, students identified objects that were short and long and compared them to see which object was shorter and which object was longer. During the counting unit, students learnt how to count each object once, know that  numbers are said in a particular order and how to count forwards and backward to and from 10 and then 20. Students continued to work on each of these topics while at home during remote learning, using materials from around their house. 

Inquiry

It has been a very busy term in Inquiry! Our learning area was Civics and Citizenship and our unit title was Helping Hand. The key understanding was that there are key people in our community who can help us and we can trust. The key questions were, who are the types of people who can help us? How can people in my community help me?

We began the Term by looking at the different communities we are a part of. We broke our communities up into home, school and the community in which we live. We discussed and recorded the people who we can trust and who can help us in each of these areas. We discovered and recorded the many ways that others help and support us and who we can trust and go to for help.

In the second part of the Term, we researched and completed many fun and imaginative activities around community and emergency workers. We investigated the many different services available to us in an emergency. We discussed the different equipment used and the many different emergency vehicles we may spot around the community. Some of the students completed remote learning activities around their learnings. I was so proud of the work completed! 

Well done on a phenomenal first semester Prep!

Art

The Preps have had a fabulous second term diving deeper into projects in the art room. We began the term with directed drawing, identifying and naming different types of lines. From there we moved into contour line drawing, creating self-portraits using expressive lines and shapes. The Preps worked well together in making group murals that explored how the art elements, colour and line, can work together in an artwork. We have also created pictures using our bodies as examples of different lines and shapes.

The Preps had a lot of fun working through the process of making their own ‘scratch art’, practicing colour blocking, layering tempera paint and using a variety of tools to score pictures. During online learning, the students were introduced to contemporary artists Yayoi Kusama and Raku Inoue. It was brilliant to see the unique inspiration students gained from the artists in developing their own artworks. Our closing activity for the term will be to watercolour paint our ‘magical line creatures’, drawings influenced by a picture book character who is not quite a bird and not quite a fish. It has been exciting to observe the students’ creativity, enthusiasm and willingness to grow in Art! Thank you for all of your impressive efforts this term Preps. I look forward to more learning and creating in Semester 2!

Music

In Term 2 Music, Grade Preps worked on consolidating their knowledge of pitch (high and low), tempo (fast and slow) and dynamics (loud and soft). Students were able to demonstrate pitch with their voices through singing nursery rhymes and by playing the high and low keys on the glockenspiel. Grade Preps explored rhythm by learning to clap the syllables of words they heard in a song. They also echoed rhythms they heard by playing these back on a percussion instrument. Students were

 introduced to identifying crotchets and quavers by using ‘ta’ and ‘ti ti’. During remote

 learning Grade Preps were given the task of making their own instrument and playing rhythms, including singing their favourite song or nursery rhyme. Well done on a great term Grade Prep! Keep up the wonderful effort. 

PE

In Term 2 Physical Education, Grade Preps focused on consolidating their running, hopping and jumping skills. Students had opportunities to practise these skills by working on their own techniques and participating in team activities. Grade Preps completed obstacle courses which supported practising these gross motor fundamentals and they also worked with their peers in teams. Students were introduced to catching and throwing. They worked on underhand and overhand techniques with focus on positioning their bodies, hands and arms correctly. Grade Preps also worked on catching by ensuring their elbows and arms were bent, placed in front of them and they used the analogy of creating a bowl ready to receive the ball. Both throwing and catching ensured that students had to work on focusing their eyes on the ball during catching and aiming at a target when throwing. During remote learning, students were given activities to keep them active such as practising jumping, hopping, running, catching and throwing. Well done on a great term Grade Prep! Keep up the great work! 

Science

During term 2, the Preps have been focusing on the Earth and Space strand of Science by investigating the weather in our world.  They have been learning about different weather conditions and weather symbols, the four seasons and the appropriate clothing for different types of weather. Students have enjoyed carrying out experiments which show how clouds make rain and how wind can move objects, along with matching, sorting and cutting and pasting activities. During remote learning, students practiced learning the months of the year and the 4 seasons. Well done for all your hard work this term Preps!