Kismet Park Newsletter

Prep - Term 1 Curriculum Newsletter 

6th April - 40th Birthday Celebration (1st night)

7th April - 40th Birthday Celebration (2nd Night)

7th April - Easter Hat Parade 9.00am

8th April - Last Day of Term One

UPCOMING DATES FOR TERM TWO

25th April - ANZAC Day

26th April - First Day of Term Two

For all other key dates, please refer to the School Newsletter and Compass

 

Reminders 

  • Communication Bags Please continue to ensure your child is bringing their communication bag to school each day. Communication bags are used for sending home notes, Home Reading books and other learning resources. Notes for teachers can be put into the communication bag. Students will be encouraged to check bags and give notes to their teacher. If you have notes to pass on, please remind your child to give these to the teacher as we continue to support their growth in being independent and responsible with their belongings. 
  • Home Learning: Kismet Park Primary School provides Home Learning that is linked to current classroom programs to provide opportunities for students to review, revise and reinforce newly acquired skills. Supporting your child to complete their Home Learning, which takes around 10-15min 5 x per week, is important for their learning growth. In Prep, the current Home Learning requirements include daily reading and the weekly word list. Additional tasks are beneficial to these. In the event that classroom work is unfinished due to refusal, this may also be sent home for completion. 

Home Reading Books: Students will continue to change and take home a new text at their level on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week. To support responsibility, organisational skills and independence, students are encouraged to do this independently. Books are changed three times a week to allow students to become familiar with the words, practice fluency, build reading stamina, develop comprehension skills and gain confidence in their reading. As the year progresses, students will be encouraged to change their books daily.

 

At this early stage, most students reading will be focused on blending simple words using letter sounds (eg.c/a/t is cat), and identification of high frequency words (eg. the, and). As your child progresses in their reading skills, they will read with greater fluency. Please encourage your child to try to sound out the letters or even read the book using the pictures. Reading at home should be an enjoyable experience for them and you. The most important thing is that your child reads a take home book daily for at least 10 minutes. This will support them in practising the skills they have been learning in class. 

If your child likes to read or listen to other books at home as well as read their Take Home Book, this is very much encouraged too.

 

Home Learning Books: The word and sentence focus inside of these books will be the same as the phonics focus within the classroom each week. Instructions for practicing the words and the sentence of the week can be found inside this book. Students have now begun weekly Dictation on the words and sentences of the week. Therefore, if your child would like to practise writing weekly words in preparation for recording their words in dictation, they can, however it is not a requirement. Please return home learning books each Friday so the next week's words can be sent home the following Monday.

 

High Frequency Words: Your child has taken home a set of coloured High Frequency Words to practice reading. Some of these words can be difficult to sound out using letter sounds until they become familiar with the combination of letters for different sounds, therefore students are encouraged to learn them by sight and store them to memory.  These words are seen regularly in texts and used often when writing so learning these words is beneficial for their literacy growth. Students are encouraged to regularly read and write these words as part of their home learning. Your child's teacher will send home a new set of words when your child is fluent with the set they are working on. 

 

Alphabet flash cards: These flashcards can be used in many ways such as saying the letter names, sounds, words beginning or ending with the sounds and finding objects around the house that begin with the letter or sound. Letters can be used in and out of alphabetical order. 

 

Reading Eggs: 

Reading Eggs is a learning app that is included in your book pack purchase. It is a  fun and interactive app to support phonological development and reading that kids love using. Logins can be found in your childs yellow Reading Diary.

  • Toilet Breaks Students are permitted to go to the toilet when needed, however, we do encourage them to go before starting school and to use break times for toileting to avoid missing valuable learning time. Your support in encouraging your child to go to the toilet during break times is appreciated.  If your child has a medical condition that requires more frequent toilet breaks, please bring along documentation and discuss this with your child's teacher. 
  • Fruit/Veggie Snack Students are given a fruit/veggie brain break each morning at 10am. This helps them to recharge and remain focused. Only fruit/veggies are to be eaten at this time. Please give your child whole fruit/veggies or put your child’s fruit/veggie snack in a separate container as these remain on desks until 10am and whole lunchboxes restrict work space. 
  • Communication with the Teacher: Please be mindful that teachers are often preparing lessons and attending meetings before and after school. If you would like to discuss a topic or issue with your child’s classroom teacher, please contact them to make an appointment. Appointments can be made through SeeSaw or by contacting the teacher by phoning the office. Non urgent messages can be sent on Seesaw. This can be a good way to pass across information or ask questions. Please also be mindful that teachers will endeavour to respond to messages within 48 hours. Urgent messages are best to be called through to the school office. Teachers will check messages and post announcements as often as possible on weekdays between 8:30am and 5:00pm.

Celebrating our Learning in English

This term in Reading we have been learning to:

  • Understand concepts about print and screen, including how different types of texts are organised and the features they have
  • Know the name and sound of the letters in the alphabet
  • Blend the sounds of letters to form words
  • Point to each word, moving from left to right and top to bottom on the page
  • Use clues from text, such as pictures, to support reading
  • Recognise rhyming words and High Frequency words
  • Use prediction and prior knowledge to build comprehension of texts we read and listen to

This term in Writing we have been learning to:

  • Write our name correctly using a capital letter and lowercase letters
  • Form uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers correctly using correct posture and pencil grip
  • Develop and record ideas through pictures
  • Experiment with writing by copying words
  • Represent the different sounds we hear in words by labelling
  • Space words or the sounds at the beginning of words
  • Understand the writing process

This term in Speaking and Listening we have been learning to:

  • Listen respectfully and contribute ideas to discussions through turn taking
  • Respond to questions about a text
  • Connect phonemes to letters
  • Identify words that have the same beginning and ending sounds
  • Identify rhyming words and say two words that rhyme
  • Identify the number of syllables in words
  • Ask simple questions in response to information presented by others
  • Participate in informal and structured class discussions

Celebrating our Learning in Mathematics

This term in Maths we have been learning to:

  • Count forwards from different starting points to 20 and beyond
  • Count backwards from 10 
  • Count by 10’s to 100 and beyond
  • Identify and Represent numbers to 20 
  • Count a collection of objects to 10
  • Name and sequence the days of the week 
  • Identify and name shapes in our environment
  • Identify, make and continue patterns 

Celebrating our Learning in Wellbeing

 

This term in Wellbeing we have been learning to:

  • Work collaboratively with others in a kind and friendly way
  • Identify people that can help us 
  • Understand our emotions and positive ways we can express them
  • Make new friends
  • Use positive self talk such as ‘I can’
  • Develop greater responsibility for our own belongings
  • Increase our resilience when faced with new or challenging situations
  • Understand that mistake are a part of learning and support our growth

Specialist Classes

 

Performing Arts 

Preps have settled in well to the Performing Arts room and have quickly learnt the routines and expectations when joining in with lots of music games. Students have explored basic beats and rhythms on percussion instruments and have enjoyed learning simple songs with accompanying actions. 

 

Japanese

This term as Prep Learners of Japanese, we began to learn about Japan as a country including where it is, the Rising Sun Flag and what kind of things are found in Japan. We learnt to greet our teachers and friends in Japanese, learn a Greeting (Aisatsu Song) and have just begun to learn our numbers.

 

Physical Education 

Preps have started to settle in well during Phys Ed. They have been learning the rules and routines required. We have been active throughout the term and have been concentrating on our motor skills such as running, jumping and hopping.