Foundation Newsletter: Term 2 Week 8A

Foundation Newsletter: Term 2 Week 8
 

Connecting with the Preps

 

What a fantastic Grandparent's and Special Friend's Afternoon!! One of the highlights of the term! The children were so excited to have their grandparents, special relatives, family members or friends visit the classroom to look at the incredible work they have produced on their personal histories. It was also a fabulous opportunity for the children to gain insights into their 'special person's' history - what it was like for them at school back in the "dark ages". For those children who did not have a visitor, they were made to feel special too as they spent time with our very wonderful aides, Sarah and Lisa, and were chatted to by other children's 'people'. The children also did themselves proud, singing Mrs Unwin's favourite song Peanut Butter Jam, as well as Waddly Archer and 2 short poems about worms.

Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make the afternoon an outstanding success.

The children have also been LOVING PMP sessions on a Monday afternoon. If you are able to help out with this over the next two weeks or even next term, please come and see us. We usually start about 2:45 and finish around 3:30. All you need is a Working With Children Check!

 

 

Language

These past two weeks we have been focusing on writing simple, imaginative narratives. The children have spent time brainstorming possible characters, setting and adventures - knights, fairies, guinea pigs .... forests, castles, .... falling off a bridge,

After choosing their character, setting and adventure, the children were then encouraged to draw three pictures that represented the beginning, middle and ending of their story - this became their story plan. They then were asked to write at least one sentence about each picture thus creating a simple little narrative. The children - and the staff - were incredibly proud of their efforts.

The children have continued to participate in Guided Reading sessions and other small group activities to further develop and consolidate their literacy skills. Many children have also been doing 'reading records', that is, reading an unseen text to the teacher and being marked on accuracy, fluency and comprehension. The results of and the observations made during a student's 'reading record' help to ensure every child is reading books appropriate to their skill level.

No matter what level a child is at, it is important to not only continue listening to their reading on a daily basis but to also discuss the story - what happened in the beginning, middle and end. Including some challenging questions such as what do you think would happen if..., or does this story remind you of another story or something in their life, can also further enhance their understanding and connection to a story.

 

Maths

During our Warm Ups we continue to focus on counting forwards and backwards, subitising and learning our doubles and Friends of 10. Last week we began our unit on Measurement. We started on Length and used potatoes to order them from shortest to longest. The children also had to find items that were shorter and longer than their potato. This week  we continue to use our potatoes as we focus on Weight (Mass). The students have been hefting and using balance beams to look at what is heavier and lighter than their potato. Next week we focus on Capacity and will be heading to the sand pit with a range of containers!

Buddies
This week the Buddies will be catching up to learn some new outside games and to eat their lunch together.

Reminders

• Could we please ask that for birthdays just a small treat for each student be brought in e.g. freddo frog, cup cake, or lolly pop. Thank you.
• It has been great to see some of our students gain more independence by bringing in their school bag and unpacking it themselves. As we are now in Term 2 it would be great to see more students doing this. You may have a discussion prior to school about what they need to do when they walk in e.g. put bag away, get out drink bottle, put fruit break in their tub and put black pocket in the tub.
• Just a friendly reminder that fruit/veg break is to be raw food, not pureed or dried. Also we have fruit/veg break twice a day and so we encourage the children to have two pieces of fruit for the day. Thank you.

Photos from Grandparent's and Special Friend's Afternoon

Potato Maths