WHAT ARE WE LEARNING IN PREP?

Religious Education

Religious Education is integrated into the daily conversations and learning experiences that we have and plan for with all of our students. Students at this level participate in parish masses, whole school masses, meditation, classroom liturgies and focus lessons. This term we are learning about ‘Our Prayer Place’. The students will become familiar with prayers-including meditation, our prayer space and expectations during this reverent time, when we talk to God. We will also be learning about, ‘Who is Jesus?’ – events in Jesus’ life from His birth to His death. We will be listening, retelling and responding to stories from the Bible. We will also be focusing on the season of Lent, from Ash Wednesday through to Holy Week and Easter. We welcome you to all class and school masses throughout the year! Inquiry As the Prep students are beginning their school journey, we aim to investigate the following question. How can Jesus show us how to act in our learning community?. The Preps will be immersed in many opportunities to find out and sort out information, to extend and challenge their thinking and reflect on their learning and then share their gained understandings with others. We will work through the following understandings:

 There are many people in our school community with different roles

 The way we speak and act are important in a learning community

 We can contribute to make our learning community successful.

 Jesus’ family were Mary and Joseph

 Jesus was kind, helpful and included everyone

 Jesus shows forgiveness to others

 Jesus was an important part of our community and we can all live like him.

Let's Read!

When parents help their children learn to read, they open the door to a big, exciting world. When you read to your children, they develop a love of stories, they want to read on their own, they practice reading, and finally, they read for their own information or pleasure. When children become readers, their world is forever wider and richer. We cannot emphasise enough the importance of parents reading to their children as well as having your children read to you. Here are some suggestions to make reading enjoyable at home:

 Read aloud to your child: books, newspaper and magazine articles, the back of the cereal box, labels on cans or directions.

 Read poems aloud together to learn about rhythm and repeated sounds in language.

 Point to the words on the page when you read. Move your finger from left to right.

 Listen to your child read their favourite stories to you.

 Go to the library together and check out books. Be sure to ask the librarian for good books or to help you find what you need.

 Have books, magazines, and papers around the house, and let your child see that you like to read too.  Encourage older children to read to younger children.

 Help them talk, draw and/or write about what they read. Take Home Readers

 Your child will begin to bring home a book each night.

We encourage students to read every night and remind parents that the home readers are supposed to be EASY texts. This is very important as it allows the reading to be enjoyable and encourages fluency, phrasing and the use of expression. If your child is sometimes tired or reluctant to read it is perfectly okay for you to share the reading or to read to your child. We will inform all families about take home books, later in the term.

Maths

This year the students will develop a fundamental knowledge of Number, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability. We teach rich Maths tasks, investigations and open ended activities. These are related to real life experiences which assist the children in making more sense of new learnings. In Number and Algebra, the students will explore the numbers from 1-10 through one to one matching of objects, counting, writing and recognition of the numeral name. Students will use hands on materials to create, copy and continue patterns. In Measurement and Geometry, the students will be learning about naming, sorting and describing features of 2D shapes, such as triangles, squares, rectangles and circles. They will also be comparing the length of familiar objects using appropriate language e.g. taller, shorter, longer. Students will also learn the days of the week, and order familiar events in a day

Literacy

All students at Holy Family School have a structured two hour block of literacy education on a daily basis. This incorporates reading, writing, Smart Spelling and speaking and listening. During Term One all students in Prep to 2 participate in Early Years Literacy Testing and teachers collect and analyse student achievement and data information. They use this to set goals for improvement, refocus teaching and learning, direct resources and report on each learners' progress. This term in Prep, we start learning to read with a focus on concepts about print, the difference between letters and words, rhyming words and oral language structures. Through the use of big books and picture books, the students will begin to practise asking questions, making predictions and sharing their understanding of the events in a text. We explore concepts about print including book orientation, title, text direction and punctuation. We track words from left to right and match pictures with words.

We learn to generate rhymes such as cat and mat / dog and log. We also introduce the students to the 100 most commonly used words (common sight words). We will be using ‘Cued Articulation’ which develops a phonological awareness of the English sound system. Each sound holds a hand gesture to represent a mouth and tongue position and the movement of air to make that sound. This is also associated with a song. In Writing, the students use personal experiences to begin writing recounts through illustration and role play. They begin to understand that writing conveys a message. We encourage students to ‘have a go’ and develop their confidence to attempt writing tasks. The students will learn about letter/sound relationships when recording their ideas.

In Handwriting we focus on sitting position, pencil grip, starting position and correct letter formation. We concentrate on fine motor skills such as threading beads, lacing activities and cutting to improve pencil grip and scissor control. Oral language activities are based on many opportunities to speak with and listen to others. The Preps will learn about:

 ‘What does a good speaker do?’ We focus on making eye contact, volume, body language, speed and sharing a variety of ideas.

 ‘What does a good listener do?’ We focus on making eye contact, not talking, body language and asking related questions.

 We also teach the students about following instructions, asking questions and constructing grammatically correct sentences.

WE LOVE OUR BUDDIES

The Better Buddies Framework was founded by the Alannah and Madeline Foundation. At Holy Family, the Prep students are given a Grade 5 Buddy or two buddies. Through Better Buddies, children in their first and second last year of primary school buddy up and learn the values: caring for others, friendliness, respect, valuing difference, including others and responsibility. Better Buddies enables younger children to feel safe and cared for while older children feel valued and respected. This term the students will become familiar with one another, building their friendship and trust with each other. We will be meeting with our buddies every fortnight this term.

IMPORTANT DATES

Dates for your diary