Foundation
Upwey South Primary School
Communicating with the Foundation Team
We look forward to partnering with you in 2022, and welcome your input:
Holly Peters Holly.Peters@education.vic.gov.au
Lisa Dam Lisa.Dam@education.vic.gov.au
Holly Peters
Lisa Dam
Holly Peters
Lisa Dam
WELCOME TO FOUNDATION TERM 1 2022!
We would like to welcome all of our Foundation students and families for 2022! What a fantastic beginning we have made to the school year. The students have settled in extremely well to school life, and have been very busy getting to know each other, their teachers and their school.
Foundation B
Foundation A
Foundation B
Foundation A
We read the story "Where is the Green Sheep' written by Mem Fox, and it led us on an exciting journey/tour around the school to try and find him! We eventually found him asleep back in the classroom.
ENGLISH
At Upwey South Primary School we follow the InitiaLit Literacy Program which encompasses all of the literacy strands. InitiaLit is an evidence based whole class program which provides students with the essential core knowledge and strong foundations to become successful readers and writers. InitiaLit addresses the five key components of effective reading instruction – phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension strategies as well as spelling and handwriting. For further information regarding this program you can visit the following website:
https://multilit.com/parents/.
Over the past week, the students have settled into the structures and routines of school beautifully. In English, InitiaLit Foundation is going well, and we are developing the skills of recognising rhyming words, clapping syllables in words as well as orally segmenting and blending phonemes. We have been learning the difference between a word, letter and a sentence and will be developing our phonemic awareness through learning letters of the alphabet and the sounds they make. In Writing, we are concentrating on developing the correct pencil grip and writing posture. With each new letter learnt, the students will practise writing it with the correct starting point and formation.
We have sent home the Term One Reading Diaries with students this week. The purpose behind these diaries is to encourage students to read each day - stories can be read by adults, with students joining in if they can.
‘There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates' loot on Treasure Island’
Walt Disney
MATHEMATICS
In Numeracy, most of Term One will be focused on developing number sense. We will be consolidating the skills of connecting number names, numerals and quantities of numbers from 0 to 10 through a variety of hands on activities and games. We will be explicitly teaching the formation of the numerals 0 to 10 to ensure the students are writing them correctly. Every day we have been recording the number of days we have been at school in preparation for our ‘100 days of school’ celebration. In Measurement and Geometry, we will be learning the days of the week, describing and sorting 2 dimensional shapes and making and describing patterns.
INQUIRY
In Inquiry, students are introduced to the idea of the classroom being a community and they will learn about classroom rules. They will increase their knowledge of ways to keep themselves safe and healthy in different situations and activities. They will also learn to interact and play together in a range of contexts and begin to recognise personal preferences, likes, dislikes and strengths of themselves and others. We will be exploring and learning the meaning of our three school values Respect, Responsibility and Resilience. The class will then brainstorm ways that they can demonstrate these values in and out of the classroom. We will then develop a classroom matrix based on these values, which will outline expectations of positive behaviours for our learning community.
FOUNDATION EARLY YEARS INTERVIEWS
We are currently conducting the Early Years Assessment with students every Wednesday. Assessment interview times are located on the double doors where the students enter in the morning. These assessment interviews are conducted one to one with the student and teacher. Parents are to drop their children off for this interview. They will take around 45 minutes, followed by a 10-15 minute chat with parents/guardians afterwards. Please ensure that you and your child arrive on time.
We are looking forward to an exciting first term of learning! If you have any questions please contact us via email or in person.