Prep

Dear Prep families,

Wow what a wonderful start to the year we have had. Can you believe we are only two weeks away from finishing our first term?

It is important to remember that even though the holidays are coming up, we still need to attend school unless we are sick.

The students and teachers have been discussing our classroom expectations and developed an essential agreement together, outlining how we will work together in our classrooms. Our students have shown great knowledge of how they learn the best and what they can all do to make sure everyone can learn at school. We look forward to sharing these with our families in the near future. 

Reading

In reading our students have been focusing on the decoding strategies of 'Swapping the vowel sound' and 'Skip it'. The swap the vowel strategy assists the reader in looking at the vowels in the words and seeing if the long or short sound makes sense. Skipping it allows the student to skip an unknown word and continue reading for meaning to try and work out an unfamiliar word. The students have been risk takers and communicators while learning these strategies and continue to show their reading knowledge growth as they use all of the strategies they have learnt to assist them when reading new texts.

At home we encourage you to read with your child each day and ask them about the strategies they are using and if there is another way they could try, to help them decode words that are challenging.

Writing

In writing we have been continuing to use our special writing books to focus on writing sentences using our high frequency words.

Students have been challenging themselves by adding more information to their sentences or by changing the ending of the sentences. It has been great to see so many students wanting to be risk takers and showing principled learning. We will continue to use capital letters at the start of all of our sentences and a full stop at the end of our sentences, in addition to remembering to use finger spaces to make our writing easier to read.

Please continue to look at the alphabet key rings each week and encourage your child to say the name of the letter, the sound/s it makes and what the picture is on each card.

They might like to choose a letter and draw a picture of something starting with that letter. Your child might like to draw a picture and write about something they have been doing such as a special event or an outing. 

Maths

In maths we have been continuing number recognition and days of the week. The students have further developed their skills in creating numbers using materials and representing numbers in different ways.

They have been using tally marks and tens frames to create the numbers to 20 and beyond. It is great to see all of the students taking risks and being thinkers when completing maths tasks. 

ICT

This week we are beginning to have our iPads configured to the school which will allow us to begin using them for our learning. Please speak with your classroom teacher about when to bring your child's iPad into school and if you have any concerns or questions about this.

Principal Awards

Congratulations to Huntar Buckland for receiving the Principal’s award this week. 

'For making a positive difference to the lives of others by enthusiastically committing to your friend during her recovery. Wow great effort Huntar!'

Congratulations also to Shanaiah Ahmed from Prep C for receiving the Principal’s award.

'For consistently displaying the learner attribute of caring. You look after your classmates when they need help and always fill your teacher's bucket.' Well Done Shanaiah! 

Reminders

• Students are expected to bring their satchel to school EVERY DAY, along with their two take home readers and key ring words. Please make time to read each night with your child as this is an important part of their reading development.
• Hats are to be worn when outside for the whole of Term One. Please apply sunscreen on your child before arriving at school.
• Please ensure all of your child’s belongings are clearly labelled with their first and last names.
• Please pack a change of underwear, socks and shorts/pants in case your child has a toileting accident. These items should be stored in your child's bag and clearly labelled.
• Please check that your child is wearing the proper school uniform, especially closed toed shoes. If they are out of uniform for a given reason, please provide this in writing to the classroom teacher. 
• Attendance continues to play in integral role in your child's learning achievement. If your child is unwell, please ensure the reason for absence has been communicated with the school. 

           Warm regards, 

            The Prep Teaching Team.