End of Term 4 events

We have reached that point in the year where it is time to begin transitioning your little Pre-Primary student into the main school ready for Year 1 in 2019.

We have covered all of our content for the year, however, 6 weeks is a long break. It will be beneficial for your child if you could still encourage learning at home over the holidays. This can be reading together, writing a holiday journal, counting, adding and subtracting small numbers together using a counting on and back strategy and breaking numbers into parts (6 is made up of 5 and 1, 3 and 3, 4 and 2) these activities can be included in your everyday activities and do not need to be in isolation. Research shows that students learn more and better by using real world scenarios to practise their concepts rather than in isolation. There are also many websites that are useful for students to revise their learning. ICT games is a great resource, it includes both literacy and numeracy games.

Swimming

Thank you to parents for your efforts during swimming lessons. This can be hard work managing your children during these 2 weeks as they are tired and sometimes a little grumpy from swimming. We made it though and students all did really well,we are proud of all of them for the way they conducted themselves both on the bus and in the pool. We do have a few t-shirts that have been accidentally swapped. If you find that one of the T-shirt’s you have aren’t yours then please bring it in and I can attempt to swap them back. Unfortunately none of the shirts have names so it is hard to return them. 

Dancing

We have been participating in dance lessons this term in preparation for our dance party presentations  next week. We are looking forward to seeing as many parents and family members as possible. Bring your dancing shoes ready to enjoy and celebrate with your child. Money for the students bus fare to the dance party is now overdue. Please ensure you bring it in as soon as possible to ensure your child does not miss out on the opportunity to attend. 

Transitions

To ease the anxiety, we are currently conducting transitions with students to enable them with the opportunity to experience what life in Year 1 will be like. Students seem to have mixed emotions about leaving Pre-Primary. Please have positive chats with them to ease their worries and encourage excitement. Students have been to a Year 1 classroom and stayed for a 40 minute lesson last week. They are going to a different Year 1 class this week for another 40 minute lesson. This week we will also be taking our recess to the undercover area to eat so students  can experience what it is like to be a Year 1 at recess. Some kind students in Room 8 have also been taking students out to have a look at the different play areas during recess and lunch. 

Thank you

Pauline and I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for your support and kind words over the year. We love what we do and a lot of time and effort goes into everything from planning to preparation to facilitating each lesson to ensure your children are learning and engaged. It is nice to know that as parents you recognise our efforts and are happy with your child’s progress.

I would like to thank all the parents who have helped us over the year whether it be with parent help, bringing in supplies for our projects or simply working alongside us by supporting your child with their home reading and sight words. Your support means a lot to us and it makes a big difference to your child’s education. 

As you finish your journey with your child in Pre-Primary and look forward into your Journey to Year 1, we wish everyone a happy and safe holiday. Make the most of the break as everyone deserves it.

Welcome to Term 4!

Term 4 is already half way through! Students are well underway to completing Pre Primary and head off to Year 1. Please ensure that even though school is coming to an end, we still have several weeks and attendance is still important to maintain.


Dancing lessons are going well and students are enjoying learning all the dances and getting ready for our end of year dance party.


Swimming for Room 9 will commence in weeks 7 and 8. Students will need bathers, goggles, towels etc. every day. Please ensure that all items are clearly labelled to ensure minimal losses as students will be changing themselves.  Parents are more than welcome to meet us at the pools and watch your child swim. Parents however, will not have duty of care and cannot take children from the pool at any time.


LITERACY


This term we have continued to work on our reading using the FITZROY Readers and our comprehension using the Keylinks texts. Thankyou to those parents who take the time out to read these with your books. It is evidence in your child's progress that they are practising at home.


In our writing we have been focusing on a narrative text structure. Students are busy writing their very own narratives to share. Punctuation use is still a main teaching point and focus in class for most students.


This term we have finished our blend sounds and have introduced digraphs. Digraphs are "2 letters that make one sound". These include sh,ch,th, and wh. We have looked at different words with these sounds. WE are not expecting students to spell these words but just recognise the digraph and hear the sound in spoken words.


Students have now begun spelling 4 letter words using the blends taught this year. These words are ones that are simple to sound out and write. clip, slam, frog, crab etc.

 

MATHEMATICS

We have had a big focus on partitioning, addition and subtraction within 10 this term. Students have been using their skills to solve simple word problems and determining which is the appropriate action when completing word problems.

THE ARTS

Continuing on with our Arts Programme, Students were given the task of creating an old magical tree. First we went for a walk around the playground inspecting the trees, taking photos with the IPads. Students then designed their trees using different shapes and lines. After that we painted and collaged our tree using a combination of natural and man made materials.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

In Science we have been looking at how things move. We have observed ourselves, our friends, animals and toys. We are investigating the different way in which things can move and sorting them into categories.

In Technology, we have been given the task to design and build our own marble run construction. Students will use their knowledge from investigations in science to complete the task. We are looking forward to making and testing our designs.

Testing our marble ramps

Investigating cars and trucks

making ramps for our toys

Building our marble ramps

Building and investigating Beyblades

Investigating Beyblades

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Term 3!

Term 3 is always a busy term. There are many things happening around the school this term so please make a note of these events and keep an eye out for notes sent home to remind you of the things coming up. Term 3 is also another busy term for learning. Please ensure that students continue to arrive at school on time and notify us if your child is unwell or absent from school.

What's going on in class?

LITERACY

We are continuing to build on students phonics knowledge and phonemic awareness. This refers to their ability to recognise sounds and know how to use them when building words. We have now taught all 26 letters of the alphabet and their sounds, we have introduced the vowel sounds both long and short (e.g. 'a' like apple and 'a' like acorn) We have taught the initial blend sounds. Blends are 2 consonants that blend together e.g. st, sw, sp, tw, gr, etc. You may have seen these posters up in the classroom. We are now introducing and teaching final blends sounds. These include the blends that are found at the end of words e.g. mp, ld, lt, nd, ng, nk, etc. Students orally identify these sounds in spoken words and can sort them based on their sounds. We will soon be introducing them to writing 4 letter words containing these blends like, lamp, twig, skip, tent etc.

This term we have continued with our new reading program. All students now read to an adult every day at school. We then send this book home for them to re-read to you at home. please ensure you are returning these books to school daily as they are necessary for the next day’s learning. Books are to be kept in their BLUE folder and placed back in the blue box each morning. We are losing valuable teaching and learning time searching for student’s books and folders when they are not in the correct place .We focus on the strategies and decoding within class. The purpose for home reading is for fluency. All students have been given a text which is at their independent reading level. This means that they should be able to read all or most of the book on their own. Reading aloud to an adult is still very important. They also need to continue to hear others read to them as they will learn fluency and expression by listening to you.

We have also started daily writing this term. Students are given the opportunity to write a small amount each day. They all have their writing goals depending on their writing skill level. It would be great to see parents not only modelling reading at home but also writing and the need for this skill. Students need to see others using these skills to reinforce the importance of learning them. Handwriting 4 times per week is also a focus this term to support students to improve their handwriting skills. We are writing on 24mm dotted thirds paper, ensuring students form letters correctly and attempt to position them in the correct place. This skill is tricky and extra practise at home  will be beneficial to their success. An example of this writing was sent home in your take home packs at the beginning of the year. We write using Victorian Cursive font so some letters are formed differently to the ones you may know and recognise.

MATHS

In Maths this term we have looked at ordinal numbers which are the positional numbers e.g. 1st, 2nd, 3rd. We have taught up to 10th. We are also looking at teen numbers to 20 and using them in different ways. Mrs Cilfone is teaching 2D shapes. Students must recognise and name the shape and also identify the number of sides and corners.

 

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Our focus for science and Technology this term is materials and their properties. We are looking at everyday objects, what they are made of and reasons why this material is used. We are learning particular topic words such as translucent (see through), absorbent, waterproof, bendy, rigid, hard, wood, metal, fabric, paper, plastic etc.

This term students will be given a project to design and make a sail boat that will float. They will use their knowledge of materials and their properties to help them design. We would love for parents to support us by collecting waterproof containers such as meat trays, plastic bottles, straws, etc. for students to use when making their boats. Please wash any containers before bringing them to school.

 

ART

We will be running an art program this semester. Students will be taught about shape, line, texture and colour and how to use these to create a piece of art. Stay tuned to see our progress in this.

MUSIC

We are also running a music program this term. Students will be looking at early fundamental music skills such as rhythm, volume, and pitch.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Mrs Cilfone is running the Geography program this semester. Students are looking at places in their world. They have started with the place they live; their home and suburb. This will then branch out to discover special places around them and how to care for this places.

HEALTH

The main focus this term is on resilience which is the ability to bounce back. This is an extremely important skill to have as it supports students mental health. Students are learning about strategies to use to bounce back when things don't go to plan.

Events this term...

NAIDOC Week

In week 2 we celebrated NAIDOC week. Students attended an incursion to discuss Bush Tucker. We were shown lots of different plants that are traditionally eaten by Aboriginal people in certain seasons. We even got to taste salt bush! We have also completed activities integrated through learning areas in class such as dot painting and tapping sticks to play music.

Faction Fridays

In Term 3, students are permitted to wear their faction shirts on Fridays only. Please ensure all other uniform remains compliant with our uniform policy. This includes shoes (black, white or grey), hair accessories (yellow or green) and school jumpers in the colder weather. Any undershirts must be black or white please.

Book Week

There will be a dress up day and parade to celebrate book week. Start thinking about your favourite book character and organising a costume. This is not a free dress day. Costumes must represent a book character. More information will be provided about the date and time in the coming weeks.

Faction Carnival

Our faction carnival is coming up in Week 7. Weather permitting, the Pre Primary tabloids will be on Wednesday afternoon at 1:15. The flat races are done in the morning of the whole school carnival. Students will need to wear their faction shirts, have a hat and water bottle and sunscreen on this day.

Learning Journeys

All classrooms will be open for this afternoon. It is held on the Tuesday afternoon in Week 10. This experience is designed for students to consolidate and review their progress and learning with their parents. It would be fantastic to see you all there. This afternoon is not designed as a parent/teacher conference. If you need to or would like to discuss individual students progress then please organise a suitable meeting time to discuss.

Room 9 Assembly

This term Room 9 will be hosting a junior assembly. We will be starting to practise in the coming weeks. We are hosting with students in Room 10. The assembly will take place on Friday 15th June. We hope to see all parents and guardians attend if possible.

Term 2 Learning

It is hard to believe that we are three weeks into the term already. We have been very busy consolidating old concepts and learning new ones. As you are probably all aware, this Term is a short one of only nine weeks. We will be very busy trying to fit all our learning in.

LITERACY

Phonemic Awareness:
We have been looking at long words and short words; learning how to identify what makes words long and short (letters, number of syllables etc) we will also be starting to blend syllables together to make words soon.

Phonics:
This term we are focusing on blends. Blends are 2 letters that come together and we hear both sounds. Examples of blends are fl like flag, sl like slip, dr like drum etc. we are learning to recognise the blend in order to identify it in words and also generating words containing the blend.

Sight words:
We have now consolidated the golden words and have taught the red words. We are about half way through the blue words. Your child’s sight word folder will have the sight words in that your child is learning. Please note that we will not give your child more until they are ready. Ready doesn’t mean they can read them in the folder. Ready means that they understand the word and can use it in context e.g a sentence, they can recognise the word within texts and read within isolation. Simply remembering its position in the sight word folder is not learning it.

Reading:
We have been working on some simple reading strategies to help your child learn to read. These are

Eagle eye: look at the picture for clues
Fish lips: look at the beginning sound of the word to try and help work out the word (using picture as support)
Stretchy snake: stretch out the sounds in the word e.g. sh-i-p

Please support your child with reading by practising at home using the readers provided and also by reading to your child to model fluency and expression.

 Oral Language:

Mystery Box: There is currently a mystery box making it's way around. Each night we are sending the box home with one student. Please support and encourage them to put an object into the box (no toys) and think about some clues to describe it. Students then return the box the following day and the class will attempt to guess what is inside.

We aren't sure yet what it is

A Batman cave

Team Building Challenge...

Make something that moves.

A Helicopter and a Jet

An Elephant

Writing:
Writing is always the last area to develop. We have looked at basic writing conventions (left to right, top to bottom) and are now focusing on the writing itself. Now that we have taught the 26 letter sounds of the alphabet, we are encouraging students to have a go at using them in their writing. Students are encouraged to spell phonetically (using sounding out) as a strategy for beginning writing. At this stage of student learning we would expect to see them have a go at writing with some evidence of letter sounds.

Spelling:
We will be beginning to introduce spelling simple sight words such as: I, it, a, to, etc to support students with their writing. We have already been practising spelling simple 3 letter CVC words like cat, Mum, bag etc. please bear in mind that with spelling any words, the general rule is that students must have learnt to recognise and use the word orally 6 months prior to being able to spell it. We will start with spelling the ‘golden words’ as these were introduced in Kindy and have been re-taught in Term 1 of Pre Primary.



MATHEMATICS

In Mathematics our main focus in number has been with the numbers 0-10. This has included the number sequence, the number before and after, number formation, making collections, and comparing collections to determine more, less and the same.

This term we have moved onto statistics and probability. We have been looking at graphing, sorting into categories, tallying and collecting data.

We are now moving onto a concept called partitioning. This concept is where we break a number into parts for example; 4 is made up of 3 and 1, or 2 and 2, or 4 and 0 etc. we will be using lots of objects to help us understand this concept as it is a tricky one. Partitioning is a very important building block in order to help students later with addition and subtraction and also place value.

Making 4

Popstick partitioning

Before, between and after

Number Bonds

SCIENCE

This term in Science we will be looking at the weather and seasons. We will be looking at the symbols for different weather conditions, how the weather changes, what we wear in different weather and how the weather affects what we do.

We will be creating a science project towards the end of term. If any parents have unwanted shoe boxes, these will be perfect for our project. Please collect them and bring them in.

Family Photo for History

Hi everyone,

Hope you are enjoying your Easter weekend. We are looking forward to hearing about all the fun activities you experienced on Wednesday when we return to school!

As part of our History program, we are learning about families. We will be asking students to talk about their families and things they like to do with their families. We would like all students to bring in a family photo to share on Wednesday when they return if possible.

Enjoy the rest of your break and we will see you Wednesday!

Our Learning Weeks 5-7

Our last 3 weeks have flown by been pretty quick. We have been very busy learning lots of new things whilst continuing to have fun.

Literacy

In Literacy, our focus is on oral language, phonics and reading skills.

We have been learning all about syllables (the parts in a word e.g. spi/der) and rhyme (words that sound the same e.g. cat/bat). We have also been listening for the initial sound in words (start sound).

So far this term we have covered letter and sound recognition for the letters;

S, A, T, P, I, N, D,R, E, C, H, O, M, G, U, L, F, B, W, V, J

We have revised our 20 Golden words from Kindergarten and have begun working on our Red words. We now have sight word folders which should be coming home with your child and returned to school daily. We aim to assess and update your child's sight word folder each week. Returning the folder to school regularly enables us to do this. Sight words are important for reading development as texts consist mostly of these high frequency words. Sight words are words we teach students to recall by sight. There are no decoding strategies for teaching sight words (sight words cannot be 'sounded out').

GOLDEN WORDS

I                     is                     Dad                 here

can                 it                     in                     this

see                 the                   like                  go

a                     at                    to                     we

am                 look                 Mum                will

RED WORDS

long              an    

what             has

no                 as

Here are some of our Literacy rotations and activities in action! 

Numeracy

In Numeracy we have covered the numbers 0-10. We have been learning how to form the numbers, how to count out the quantity and order the numbers. We are focusing on our number sequence including numbers 'before', 'between' and 'after' as well as comparing to determine 'more', 'less' and the 'same'. 

We have also covered patterning this term. A pattern is something that repeats itself over and over again. We can make patterns with shapes, colours, actions and sounds. We have been learning how to recognise and continue a given patter as well as create patterns of our own. 

Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS)

Our main goal with developing gross motor skills this term has been with balance and the ability to run using correct techniques. Heres a few pictures of us balancing on the many beams and obstacles in the nature playground.

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