Foundation News
Kindergarten Visits
Over the past fortnight we have been fortunate enough to welcome children from Guardian Kindergarten and JS Grey Reserve Kindergarten into our school. Together with the Foundation students, the Kindergarten children were able to explore our learning spaces and investigate with one another. It was a wonderful opportunity to connect with our local community and showcase the wonderful opportunities we have at St Raphael's. It was warming to see our Foundation students take the opportunity to guide and support the younger children by inviting them to play. It was a humbling moment when we all well and truly realised that our Foundation students are really ready to step up and take on their new adventures in Grade 1.
RACV Incursion-Road Safety
Recently, Foundation students participated in an incursion program facilitated by the RACV Education 'Safety Squad'. The visit empowered students to share responsibility in staying safe on the roads which included pedestrian safety as well as passenger safety. Students explored different traffic sounds, discovered road signs and the safety precautions that should be measured to decide when it is safe to cross a road. These learnings closely aligned with our Inquiry unit for this term, 'How to Keep Safe Under the Hot Australian Sun'.
Life Guards From South Melbourne Life Saving Club Visit Foundation.
This week, Hannah & Ben from South Melbourne Life Saving Club visited Foundation. The lifeguards spoke to the children about how to keep safe around different bodies of water, particularly the ocean. Students learnt how to signal for help, as well as different arm signals and equipment used by life guards. The session ended with question time. Many wonderings put forth by our students were insightful and interesting. Who knows, we might even see some budding lifeguards in the future!
We thank Hannah & Ben for giving up their time to speak to our students about water safety. This incursion was a great prelude to our Aquatic Education program which commences next week.
Sharing in Maths
This fortnight, the students have been introduced to the mathematical concept of 'Sharing' also known as 'Division'. Students have been exploring a collection of objects and how these can be shared evenly amongst different group sizes. This is known as partition division when an amount is shared into a given number of groups. For example,
There are 4 friends and 8 cars, how many cars does each friend get?
1.Collect 4 Paper Plates (represent group size)
2.Collect 8 Unifix Blocks
3. Share the 8 blocks by placing one block on each plate at a time.
4. Note the number of blocks on each plate
Students were encouraged to discuss their findings and how can they justify the groups have the same amount? Students were encouraged to think what other words do we know that we can use for 'the same'? Eg: equal, fair. How do we know when a share is fair/ not fair?
This week, students will be exploring Quotition Division, exploring the number of groups that match a collection. For example,
There are 6 lollies to share. If each person gets 3 lollies, how people will there be?
1. Collect 6 Unifix blocks.
2. Share blocks by putting 3 on each plate.
3. Note the number of plates needed.
Sharing is a part of everyday life and can be incorporated into daily conversations with your children.
Week 9 Aquatic Ed & Sports Day
Please note that in Week 9, we will have Aquatic Ed on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and on Wednesday 30th, we will have our Sports Day.
Swimming
The swimming program will take place at Thomastown Recreation & Aquatic Centre. Swimming lessons for Foundation Students will commence 10:15am and will conclude at 11am. We ask that students arrive at school on time so we can depart promptly at 9:30am.
Please ensure that students come to school with their bathers underneath their sport uniform daily so they are ready to swim.
Students will need to bring a swimming bag along with their school bag.
In the swimming bag, please include the following items:
- a towel
- underwear
- goggles
- plastic bag for wet towel and bathers
Please get in contact with your child's homeroom teacher if you have any questions regarding the Aquatic Ed program or if you are unsure of your child's house colours for Sports Day.
Sports Day
Students are to wear their house coloured top with their sports shorts to school.
They will need to bring a small backpack containing lunch, snack and drink bottle.
All students must have their school hat in order to participate in the events on the day.
Parent/Grandparent Helpers
This week will be the final week of parent/grandparent helpers in our learning space.
We would like to thank all parents and grandparents who have helped and have given up their time to assist students and teachers in our learning space. The children have really enjoyed having parents and grandparents assist them with their learning. We hope all helpers have enjoyed their time with us.
There will be a school community celebration in the coming weeks to thank all parent helpers. Details will be sent out prior to the event.
Learning Intentions
Week 9 Timetable
Important Dates
Foundation 2023 Interviews-Monday 21st November to Friday 25th November
Royal Life Saving Incursion - Wednesday 23rd November
Whole School Assembly -Friday 25th November
Aquatic Ed - Monday 28th November, Tuesday 29th November, Thursday 1st December, Friday 2nd December, Monday 12th December
Sports Day - Wednesday 30th November
HeadStart Week - Week 9 (5th - 9th December)
Semester 2 Reports sent home - Monday 12th December
Carols' Night - Tuesday 13th December 5:30pm
Year 6 Buddies’ Graduation 5-6:30pm Thursday 15th December
End of Year Mass-10am Friday 16th December
Last Day of School - Friday 16th December 1pm
Staff Contacts
Michelle Slattery (FM) mslattery@srprestonwest.catholic.edu.au
Lorraine Uzunovski (FL) uzul@srprestonwest.catholic.edu.au
Please note, we will respond to emails Monday to Friday, between the hours of 8am-5pm.