Prep News
Dear Prep Families,
The past fortnight has included some revision of previously taught concepts, along with the introduction of new concepts to be further explored as we progress through our fourth Unit of Inquiry. It has been absolutely fantastic to see our Prep students apply their previously acquired knowledge to complete tasks independently and solve problems presented in Reading, Writing and Mathematics.
Reading
In Reading this week, the Preps have continued to explore Non-Fiction texts with a focus on developing their reading comprehension skills. Strategies such as retelling, inferring and summarising were revised to further consolidate student knowledge and understanding. They were exposed to the common types of comprehension questions that were linked within the text, beyond the text and about the text. The students were encouraged to explain their thoughts and feelings about the book they read, as well as discuss reasons why. We encourage students to continue to share with their families whilst reading together at home.
The students demonstrated great enthusiasm when expressing their text-to-self and text-to-text connections. It has been wonderful to see students showcasing such passion for reading and expressing their ideas relating to the texts they are reading. We encourage families to continue to ask students questions about the books they are reading at home to further develop their comprehension skills.
Christmas Carols
The Prep students have commenced learning our Christmas Carol lyrics for the school's end of year Christmas carol celebrations. The students are very excited to be able to plan what their dance choreography will look like and have enjoyed singing along to the lyrics within the song.
Writing
In Writing, the students were exposed to various language experiences to scaffold their understanding of Procedural text writing. They were given opportunities to be creative and share their knowledge of how to draw their favourite animals. Students were encouraged to use time connectives through the exploration of language such as 'first, then, next and last' to structure their procedural text.
In order to further enhance their writing, students have been learning the importance of adding verbs and adjectives into their sentences.
To join in the the festivities of Diwali this week students participated in the creation of several craft activities such as making lanterns, paper rangolis and Diya. These hands on experiences tied in well with our focus on procedural writing as students wrote about how they created the colourful crafts.
Mathematics
In Mathematics, the Prep students are learning how to solve addition and subtraction problems using 100's chart and number lines to support them. Students were given opportunities to count collection of objects and demonstrated their understanding of addition and subtraction strategies.
The Prep students are building upon their understanding of Australian money and its value using play based money. The students are enjoying identifying Australian coins and notes and ordering them according to their value.
No Hat, No Play
We would like to remind families of the importance of wearing a sun-smart hat during outdoor play. It is the policy of the school that all students wear hats for the first and last terms of the school year when participating in outdoor activities. As mentioned in previous newsletters, we understand that this is often an item of school clothing that can be easily lost. Please ensure that hats are clearly labelled with the student's full name.
Weekly Reminders:
- Students are required to bring a hat to school everyday - No Hat, No Play.
- Please ensure students are bringing fully charged iPads with headphones to school daily.
- We encourage students to practice learning the lyrics for their class's Christmas Carol at home. These carols