Term 3 Week 7

Hello,

This week on Friday we are having a 'Good guys and Bad guys' day. This will tie in with the new code 'aw' as in 'law'. Our Preps are invited to come dressed as either 'Good guys' such as super heroes or emergency workers or 'Bad guys' such as villains. The children will have the opportunity to share their outfits and ideas at the whole class Google meets.

Codes

This week we are introducing two new codes that both make the same sound. The codes are 'aw' as in 'law' and 'au' as in 'haunter' (we explain it as a ghost in a haunted house). Haunter may seem like an unusual word to use with Prep children but it is important that we keep the language consistent throughout the school.

Now that the children have developed a bank of codes to work with and are familiar with the use of the spelling and reading tools it is time to introduce our first (technically second, they already know about 'qu, sooky la la') rule. Any children with older siblings will know about boot camping rules. This is the process where we focus on one of the rules each day for two weeks. We only use words within the lessons that contain the rule to boot camp. The purpose of this intense focus for a period of two weeks is to transfer the knowledge into the children’s long-term memory. At the end of the two-week period the children will be given an informal test. This will enable us to see who needs further consolidation of the rule.

Literacy

We loved the nonsense ways that your children came up with to perform their rhymes last week. It was great to see the smiles on their faces and the creativity.

This week will be continuing to explore poems and rhymes. It was pleasing to see that the children are developing their understanding of rhyming words.

The Preps will be writing a 'See, Think, Wonder' about a Santana home from the island of Madeira in Portugal. This will provide them with an opportunity to use their powers of observation and inquiry. They will be generating both statements and a question.

There will be opportunities for the students to reinforce the new codes for this week 'aw' in 'law' and 'au' in 'sauce'.

There will also be an activity for the Preps to continue practising the Oxford high frequency words. For this activity, they will need to know which 10 they are currently focusing on. The booklet is below in case your child has misplaced theirs.

Numeracy

This week we will be continuing subtraction. Students will look at different types of subtraction problems and explore how they may be worded differently but still follow the same principle of taking away the smaller number from the larger number. Last week it was great to see how students were solving subtraction problems by talking through their thinking. Lots of students bundled their objects into groups of 10 which made counting the amounts more efficient.

We will also be continuing to order objects by size using comparative language. For example, shorter, longer and taller.

Unit of Inquiry

This week we are going to inquire into how living in a rural, suburban or urban community can influence what type of house you live in and what Australian Indigenous houses were like. We will also be thinking about everything we have learnt so far about houses and what the purpose of homes are.

Well being

This link appeared in your Compass feed the other day but we felt that it may have got lost in the information about the webinar with Dr Michael Carr-Gregg. If you are interested, there is a video at SchoolTV that is designed to help parents support their children during this time.

We have all had parents mention to us that they are finding it more challenging to motivate their children to complete activities this time. Please remember that our priority is the mental health of the Preps and their families. The last thing we want is for home learning to become a source of tension for families. Harmony in your home has got to come first as if there isn't, you can't leave and go somewhere else for a breather. Please do what you can and know that we understand. We will continue to try and motivate them from our end.

The Prep team

0A - Kathryn Morrison

kathryn.morrison@education.vic.gov.au

0B - Deb Barden

deborah.barden@education.vic.gov.au

0C - Danielle Palombi

danielle.palombi@education.vic.gov.au

0D - Julie Daniel

julie.daniel@education.vic.gov.au

HU - Krystle Horadam

krystle.horadam@education.vic.gov.au

Prep Fortnightly Snapshot

Issue 15 · 23 Aug 2020

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