Foundation News

Term 1 Comes to an End

With the culmination of Term 1, we celebrate an abundance of learning in all curriculum areas. As part of our Inquiry Unit: "All About Me", students explained what makes them unique & special. They shared examples of family rituals and identified the cultural background(s) to which they belong. Following on from this, students identified special people and places in our school and justified why they are special. This week, our Inquiry unit ends with the children making videos highlighting what makes our school unique.  

Recently as part of Maths, students have been practising  ordering and measuring objects using informal units. Prior to measuring, students have been encouraged to estimate. Estimating is an important part of Maths and real life. Students in Foundation have learnt to differentiate between estimations and guesses. A guess can be defined as 'a stab in the dark'. An estimation on the other hand, requires logic, thinking and reasoning. Estimations do not have to be perfect nor exact. They cannot however, be 'far fetched'.

As part of Reading, students have enjoyed listening, engaging and responding to books written by our Term One focus author- Pamela Allen. Students have learnt the importance of cross checking print with pictures when reading, and are using visual cues such as identifying the beginning and end sound in words, to help them read.  Students are tracking words as they are reading and are able to identify many features of books.

During Writing, students have learnt a number of conventions and the importance of identifying and stretching sounds in words. Many students are now including a growing number of correctly spelt high frequency words in their writing. It is pleasing to see students work on their weekly personal goals  and write a growing number of                                                                                     simple sentences.

This term, as part of our SMART Spelling Program, students have been introduced to a number of high frequency words. These are words that commonly appear in books and they are words we would like the children to instantly recognise, read and write correctly. This week, students in Foundation will be bringing home their Word Book with a list of the following high frequency words: 

 We encourage students to continue to practise reading and writing these words at home.

As part of Religion, students in Foundation have been learning about the important and significant events in Holy Week. These include:

• Palm Sunday
• Holy Thursday (The Last Supper)
• Good Friday
• Easter Sunday

Students were recently asked to draw a significant event that resonated with them. Here are examples of some of their responses. 

Happy Holidays!

We wish all our Foundation families a happy and Holy Easter. We hope everyone has a safe and relaxing holiday break and we look forward to seeing all Foundation students at the commencement of Term 2.

Timetable Week 1 & 2, Term 2

Open each attachment to find out what is happening in the first 2 weeks of Term 2:-

Learning Intentions-Week 1 & 2 Term 2

Learning Intentions for Week 1 & 2 in Term 2 have not been included in this edition of the newsletter. Teachers will be working on these this week and throughout the holidays. Instead, Learning Intentions will be posted via Skoolbag, Monday 19th April. 

Thank you for your understanding.

Important Dates

Thursday 1st April-Stations of the Cross Paraliturgy (10 am).  

Final day of Term- school finish at 1pm.

Friday 2nd April-Good Friday

Monday 19th April-Term 2 commences

Tuesday 20th April- School Photos

Thursday 22nd April 9:30-10:30am and 2:30 - 3:30pm-School Open Day

Sunday 25th April-ANZAC Day

Staff Contacts

Linda Pham (FP)                   lpham@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