Hello,

Soft starts

Next term we will be introducing 'soft starts' with the Preps. This is how they will work:

when they arrive at school the Preps will put their school bag in the line and then go and play. Climbing, jumping and swinging are great for stimulating brain function.
when the music starts playing, the Preps will retrieve their bags from the line up area, say good-bye to you and then make their way inside.

The pre-school teachers shared with us how well the Preps managed last year post-COVID so we are confident that they will be able to do this again. It is an excellent opportunity for the Preps to demonstrate their independence.

W2R

To support your child with automatic recall of the codes there has been a video posted on Seesaw so students can practise over the holidays. We encourage your child to practise the codes so they are confident in their sound knowledge for Term 2.

Literacy

There are a range of great websites where your child can practise literacy skills:

www.starfall.com
www.topmarks.co.uk eg. Balloon Phonics
www.abcya.com eg. Upper and lower case letter match
YouTube - Alphablocks

Handwriting

We will continue focusing on both the uppercase/capital and lowercase letter formation for the codes learnt. We have begun writing short sentences to support the skills involved in writing. This includes a focus on consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. For example, 'cat' and 'dog'.

Numeracy

In Number this week we have been using games to practise strategies developed in our unit of inquiry, such as turn taking, ways to decide who goes first and being a good sport. The games played consolidated counting skills, the ability to subitise and number recognition.

If your child is interested in practising mathematical skills over the holidays we have assigned a few tasks on Mathletics, these are not compulsory, simply there if your child is interested. Counting and sorting Easter eggs and playing board games are also great ways to reinforce numeracy skills.

A good website for numeracy and literacy games to support learning is

www.topmarks.co.uk/. You can search games by subject area, the key stage for Prep is 1. Another website is

www.abcya.com/grades/k/numbers. This link is for the prep level games, some of which will be familiar to your children as we have used them as warm-up activities. There is also a pre k level with simple counting games offering verbal feedback for confidence building and number recognition.

Unit of Inquiry

We have now completed our inquiry into ‘Positive actions help us learn’. This week we completed our summative assessment. Students made puppets and then showed their knowledge of the unit by performing a puppet show demonstrating two scenarios;

How to ask to join in a game
Solving a problem using strategies learnt throughout the unit.

They then reflected on if they had:

Showed how to join in a game
Showed how to solve a problem
Used a loud and clear voice
Were a good audience member.

We have uploaded both their puppet show performance and their self-reflection on Seesaw for your viewing.

Over the holidays and throughout the year you can support your child to continue this learning. How can they try and solve their problems? Can they try something before asking an adult for help? You may need to initially support them to think of and work through solutions. As these problems arise again prompt them to think of a strategy to support them solving the problem independently.

In Term Two we will start a new unit of inquiry ‘People have different roles to support the community’. You will continue to learn about their learning in the iNewsletters and on Seesaw.

The Prep team

0A - Kathryn Morrison

kathryn.morrison@education.vic.gov.au

0B - Isabella Maresca

isabella.maresca@education.vic.gov.au

0C - Deb Barden

deborah.barden@education.vic.gov.au

0D - Danielle Palombi

danielle.palombi@education.vic.gov.au

0E - Julie Daniel

julie.daniel@education.vic.gov.au

ToD (Teacher of the Deaf) - Krystle Horadam

krystle.horadam@education.vic.gov.au

Prep Fortnightly Snapshot

Issue 4 · 01 Apr 2021

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