Foundation 

Communicating with the Foundation Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2021, and welcome your input: 

Holly Peters  Holly.Peters@education.vic.gov.au

Lisa Dam  Lisa.Dam@education.vic.gov.au

Our Learning Overview for Term 2!

Welcome back! 

Welcome to Term 2! The children have returned from a much deserved break with great enthusiasm and an eagerness to learn. This Term is a busy one with events such as; Cross Country, the Mothers Day stall, Show and Tell and the Swimming Program! 

Inquiry

Our topic for Inquiry in Term 4 is Science! Throughout the term, students will investigate how they are Scientists by nature and how people use Science in their daily lives. They will participate in a variety of guided investigations, including making observations using the senses, to explore and answer questions. They will predict, question and observe Science through a range of fun and engaging experiments and explore physical and chemical changes. The students are so excited about this topic and are very keen to participate and learn more about the world around them. 

So far the students have used their senses to investigate the properties of a variety of materials and developed their vocabulary by using different describing words to discuss their features. They have made predictions about what might happen when we mix Borax and hot water together, and have followed the scientific process by  asking questions, making prediction and recording their findings in their Science Journals. 

Literacy

In English this Term, we will be continuing to follow the InitiaLit Program. The main focus of these lessons will continue to be based on teaching and introducing new letter sounds, their characters, and how to blend these sounds to read words. Students have also been learning tricky words, which are irregular high-frequency words. These words contain uncommon spelling patterns and cannot necessarily be sounded out to read  and therefore need to be remembered. As each new tricky word is introduced, we add it to our tricky word tree. These words are practised each lesson. 

This Term they  will be exploring and reading Information Texts. The students will learn their purpose, structure and the difference between these texts and picture story books.  

In Writing,  we have introduced the students to lined dotted thirds work books. The dotted thirds help the children correctly form their letters using the appropriate size and starting points. The students have been super excited to be using these and have worked with concentration and focus. Our writing focus for Term 2 will be on the structure and purpose of writing recounts. Children will use their letter sound knowledge to write words and attempt to incorporate tricky words and basic punctuation in their sentences. 

Maths

In Number and Geometry during Term 2 we will be continuing to develop our number sense through counting and place value knowledge. The Foundation students have been excitedly counting and recording the number of days we have been at school in anticipation of our 100 days celebration. We have been explicitly teaching the formation of the numerals 0 to 20 to ensure that students are writing them correctly without reversals. During the Term, students will be using a variety of strategies to complete and model addition and subtraction problems using groups of numbers. Activities will include the use of concrete materials, fun hands-on games and visual displays. 

In Measurement and Geometry, students have been focusing on learning the days of the week in the correct order, connecting these days to familiar events in their lives and sequence events in time order. They will be exploring the concept of weight by directly comparing the weight of everyday objects using mathematical language. Students will also be learning all about capacity and completing a variety of activities including pouring from one container into another to see which one holds more. 

Buddies

Throughout Term 2 we will continue to have our Buddy sessions each Friday. Last Friday we completed an ANZAC Day activity. We read the story ANZAC Ted by Belinda Landsberry and the children made their own ANZAC Teds together. 

Show and Tell

As part of our Speaking and Listening program, Show and Tell will commence in week 3 (next week) and will run four days a week. This is a great opportunity for your child to become accustomed to speaking in front of an audience and we strongly encourage them to participate. We use the Show and Tell program to form part of our speaking and listening assessment. There will be specific topics for each week, as shown below. The day that your child will have show and tell is dependent of their house colour: 

Monday - Coolibah (blue), Tuesday - Mulga (green), 

Thursday - Waratah (red) and Friday - Wattle (yellow).

Specialist Timetable

Please note the following information regarding the days that each grade has specialist classes.  * These times are subject to change during school-wide events (eg: swimming timetables) *