Foundation News
Started with a BANG!
Congratulations and a big 'Well done!' to each and every one of our Foundation students. Foundation teachers and support staff are extremely proud of the way students have once again adapted to online learning. In such challenging and difficult times, it is absolutely wonderful to see the children's happy, smiling faces each morning. The children are in routine and are following protocols, well done parents!
As a team, we are working hard to differentiate learning tasks, cater for individual differences and post personalised feedback. Our focus group Zoom meetings and our Guided Reading Zoom clinics are going exceptionally well, and are giving students the chance to work collaboratively on targeted skills, within a small group.
Facing the prospect that students will be learning remotely until the end of term, as a Foundation team, we will continue to work hard and will strive to improve the way we teach online.
Lastly but by no means least, we are so grateful we have the support of parents. Ensuring students attend Zoom meetings, watch instructional videos, complete and upload work and practise skills, are just a few reasons why we are grateful.
Together, we will continue to work towards ensuring each child's confidence and skills grow.
Writing
This term, online writing tasks are designed to give Foundation students the opportunity to experience a variety of writing techniques, including writing about reading, structured text types, handwriting and free writing. It is important that students have these experiences to develop as a whole writer and it nurtures their own personal writing journey.
Free Write Friday
Free Write Friday is designed to give students the opportunity to write about anything they wish. This writing task is not limited to the traditional personal story writing, but can also include creating shopping lists, calendars, and menus. Students may also experiment with writing letters and stories. As students use writing to explore new ideas and communicate with others, their understanding of the writing process becomes more and more sophisticated.
Fabulous Foundation Free Write Friday examples;
The Foundation team have come up with some handy tips on how parents can support their children write at home during remote learning. This document can be found on the Foundation Google Classroom page under the Parent Information tab, or you can view it here.
Personal Passion Project (PPP)
Foundation students have all discussed their PPP with their homeroom teacher and are now up to their 'First Step'. It was really encouraging to hear the excitement and enthusiasm coming from the students as they shared and discussed their interests and passions. When choosing a passion to begin with, students took into consideration what they already know about a topic and what they would like to find out. We have a vast variety of 'First Steps' happening this week including digital recordings, photographs, number investigations, maps and cooking. We can't wait to see to what the students produce.
Week 4 & 5 Timetable
Open the attachment to find out what is happening in the next 2 weeks.
Week 4 & 5 Learning Intentions
Open the attachment to find out what students will be learning in the next 2 weeks.
Important Dates
Wednesday 5th August - Parent Teacher Interviews
Friday 7th August - Whole School Zoom Assembly
Thursday 13th August - 100 Days at School Celebration Zoom
Staff Contacts
Lorraine Uzunovski uzul@srprestonwest.catholic.edu.au
Jackie Moloney jmoloney@srprestonwest.catholic.edu.au
Melanie Pizzonia mpizzonia@srprestonwest.catholic.edu.au
Please note, we will respond to emails Monday to Friday, between the hours of 8am- 5pm.