Prep - Year 2

Assistant Principal's Report

Hello parents, what a crazy week it has been.  I hope everyone has coped over the last few days and we were happy to have our school filled with happy and healthy little smiles once more on Thursday.   In good news, before the lockdown, students were doing a tremendous job with their learning and I'm sure that they will settle straight back in.

During Week 3, Prep students developed their ability to read the letters a, f, m and s.  They have been learning to say each letter's name, sound, and find them in words.  In Writing, students are learning correct letter formation, including using the appropriate grip and starting their letters from the correct position.  In Mathematics, Preps have been learning to identify and write numbers using a range of resources and strategies such as 'counting on'.   Purposeful Play has allowed students to continue to develop relationships and get to know their classmates, with students encouraged to share classroom toys and resources, take turns with each other and share things about themselves.  Fine motor activities such as cutting and threading have been incorporated and students have also enjoyed activities such as 'shop play' to help build relationships and spark creativity.

In Year 1, students have been learning about empathy and considering other people's perspectives to understand how they may feel.  To do so, Year 1 teachers read different versions of classic fairytales, such as Little Red Riding Hood by F. Forrester Church who tells the story from the wolf's point of view.  Students then brainstormed characters from different stories that they may have felt differently about if the story was told from a different perspective.  In Reading, students have continued to hear and say the sounds in words and blend two consonant sounds together.  They have also been learning to make predictions using a book's title, illustrations and their prior knowledge of the topic.  In Writing, spelling is a focus with students learning to write the sounds they hear when saying a word.  Students have also been perfecting their ability to write complete sentences using spaces, capital letters and full stops.  In Mathematics, students have continued learning counting strategies, begun naming and identifying the properties of 3D shapes and have started using tally marks to record data.  When I was lucky enough to observe a wonderful lesson in J07, students were able to make connections between tally marks and counting by 5's.  One clever clog even went a step further declaring that there were 190 fingers in the room as there were 19 people!

In Year 2,  students have also been learning about empathy by explaining what it means, providing examples of how to demonstrate it and understanding why empathy is important.  Classes made their own definitions using student ideas and participated in role-play activities with partners and finger puppets to practice showing empathy in scenarios.  In Reading, students have been learning to find 'good fit books' by using the 5 finger rule. 

They have learned about reading expectations including real reading vs fake reading and have begun reading conferences with their teachers to reflect on their strengths as a reader and set goals.  In Writing, students have focussed on workbook expectations to set them up for success.  They have learnt to write the date, start from the left-hand side and form their letters accurately.  Students have also been learning to use capital letters for the start of sentences and proper nouns.  In Numeracy, our Year 2's have been learning to order 3 digit numbers by using MAB to understand the value of each digit.  They have also started to identify and describe 2D shapes and have enjoyed drawing, designing and using computers in the process.

Have a lovely weekend everyone

Regards

Scott McKinnon

Assistant Principal (Junior School)