Hello,

We are so very impressed with how well the Preps managed their first school home learning experience. They did well with their online meetings. Some of the skills we observed were turn taking, listening to others, using eye contact and being adaptable. We know this brief stint of home learning would not have happened without your support, so thank you.

A reminder that hats are compulsory from the 1st September until the 30th April. When outside the Preps need to be wearing one of the two designs of Sun Smart hat available from the uniform shop. If you are yet to purchase one, the Legionnaires hats stay on the best when the children are running around and are better with ponytails. It would be great if you could support your child to get into the routine of checking their hat is in their bag each morning. Thank you very much to the parents who have ensured that their child's hat is named.

W2R

This week we will be learning the code 'i'. Students will learn that the letter 'i' makes two sounds (e.g. i like igloo and i like ice). Next week we will be focusing on two new codes 'p' (p like pig) and 'm' (m like mat), both of these codes make one sound. Although students will be exposed to the different sounds each letter makes, we will mainly focus on the first and most common sound.

You may like to ask your child if they can tell you a word with one of these sounds at the beginning or for a challenge, at the end. For example, puppy or mop.

To support students reading and writing, we will introduce students to the Reading and Spelling Tools. Reading tools helps students to decode and blend sounds to read words. Spelling Tools supports students to write words through first listening to sounds and then code matching to its letter.

Phonemic Awareness

This week, we are continuing to learn about rhyme and students are working hard to identify and create rhymes in words. You may like to support your child’s learning by encouraging them to think of words that rhyme. For example, you could ask your child, what does ‘rat’ rhyme with? Then, your child could nominate what they think would rhyme, e.g., ‘cat,’ ‘hat,’ ‘mat’ etc.

We will also focus on extending students vocabulary through sensory experiences, of eating popcorn (p sound) and marshmallows (m sound).

Literacy

We will be introducing students to the purpose of a Reader’s Notebook. They will begin to personalise their own note book. The Reader’s Notebook is another tool used to support the students when reading. It is a space where they can track their thinking, practise strategies taught from explicit teaching lessons and monitor their reading goals.

Handwriting

We will continue focusing on both the uppercase/capital and lowercase letter formation for the codes learnt.

Numeracy

This week in Number and Algebra we will be ordering numbers. Some students will be working with numbers 1-10, others 1-20. Our focus is on learning the sequential order of the numerals 1 - 10. Next week we will move into learning how to write the numerals using correct starting points and formation. In Measurement and Geometry, our sub-strand, this week the focus is on ordering events of a day. Students will be creating drawings of events that occur during the day and posting them on a classroom display. Next week we will be looking into length of time, comparing things that take a short time and those that take a long time.

Unit of Inquiry

We are beginning to work on our first unit of inquiry in Prep, we will be working on this unit throughout Term 1.

Central Idea: “Positive actions help us learn”.

Lines of Inquiry

-Ways to be a good friend

-How to be a good learner (resilience, persistence)

-Actions have consequences

-How we can solve challenges

Currently we are inquiring into ways to be a good friend. While we are inquiring into this each Prep class will be constructing their Essential Agreement. What is an Essential Agreement? In a PYP school, every working group (teachers or students) starts off by creating an 'essential agreement'. In the classroom, this means that, rather than teachers imposing rules, everyone works collaboratively to establish an agreement of how the class will function. We will share these with you once they are completed.

The Prep team

0A - Kathryn Morrison

kathryn.morrison@education.vic.gov.au

0B - Isabella Maresca

isabella.maresca@education.vic.gov.au

0C - Deb Barden

deborah.barden@education.vic.gov.au

0D - Danielle Palombi

danielle.palombi@education.vic.gov.au

0E - Julie Daniel

julie.daniel@education.vic.gov.au

ToD (Teacher of the Deaf) - Krystle Horadam

krystle.horadam@education.vic.gov.au

Prep Fortnightly Snapshot

Issue 1 · 19 Feb 2021

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