Grade Prep Term 1 Newsletter

This Term Newsletter will provide you with information about your children’s upcoming teaching and learning experiences in the new term. There is also plenty of additional information provided via Compass throughout the school year, so please make a point of touching base regularly.

General
Welcome to the Grade Prep Department for 2023! Our wonderful teachers are Miss Melissa Crosthwaite and Mrs Sally Venn (PCV), Miss Emily Geelhoed (PEG), Mrs Amanda Hilton (PAH), Mrs Cal Treloar (PCT), Mrs Sarah Blair (PSB) and Mrs Chelsea Bevan (PCB). We hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable summer break, and that you’re ready and eager for a wonderful year together.
We could not be more pleased with the positive start the children have made to their first year of school, and all students should be incredibly proud of their efforts. It is so lovely to see such bright and happy faces arriving at the classroom each morning, ready to “Be Brave” and take on a new day of learning. We thank you, parents and carers, for your openness, honesty and flexibility during our start of year Prep Assessment Interviews. The Prep Team are immensely enjoying getting to know you, and your child, during these appointments, and we look forward to using the information gathered to create engaging and purposeful learning experiences for all students.
As students have now settled into the routines of school, it is important to further support them with developing their independence. We strongly encourage you to let your child walk to their classroom of a morning independently, where they can walk themselves in and begin getting ready for the day. Arranging a ‘pick up’ spot to meet your child after school which is not outside their classroom also promotes independence.
We look forward to sharing an exciting and successful year of learning and fun with your child, as well as working in partnership with you to support your child’s growth and development during such a special year of school.

KEY DATES:
Friday 24^th February – Sounds Write Parent Session, 9:15am – 10:30am
Monday 27^th February – Preps begin attending 5 days a week, 9:00am-3:20pm
Monday 13^th March – Labour Day Public Holiday (pupil free)
Tuesday 14^th March – Preps begin using the canteen for lunch orders/over the counter sales
Thursday 6^th April – LAST DAY OF TERM 1 before holidays. Early finish time TBC
Friday 7^th April – Good Friday Public Holiday

Developing Independence:
Term 1 focuses on developing your child’s independence as quickly as possible. We establish high expectations of the students from day 1, and continual modelling and reinforcement of these expectations leads your child to develop the responsibility and independence they need to be successful at school.
At school, students are expected to pack and unpack their bag and lunch box (including opening packets/containers), take off and put on their own jumpers, tie/do up their own shoes, bring their satchel and hand in notes and lunch orders as required, and carry their own school bag. You may like to support this at home by having your child practise opening/closing lunch boxes, containers, and food packets, tying up their shoelaces and packing their bag.
We understand that students will misplace belongings throughout the year, such as hats and jumpers, and we ask that students look in their classroom for their belongings during the day, and that families check lost property regularly.

Communication:
Your child’s classroom teacher is your first port of call if you have any questions or concerns you would like to discuss.
Compass email is the most effective way to contact your child’s teacher, as the beginning and end of the school day involve preparation, organisation and meetings for all staff and your child’s teacher may not always be available at these times. If you would like to talk privately to your child’s teacher about any issues, we welcome you to arrange a time to do so by emailing them on Compass or phoning the school office and leaving a message.
If you require support with accessing or using Compass in any way, please stop by the office and our admin team will be more than happy to help you.

Literacy
Grade Prep students have made a fantastic start with our new phonics program, ‘Sounds Write’. Sounds Write is a comprehensive phonics program which supports your child to learn the skills of blending sounds together to read words, segmenting (breaking) words into individual sounds, and changing sounds within words to create new words. This new learning will support students during their reading and writing tasks throughout the year. We invite you to attend our upcoming ‘Sounds Write Parent Session’, to learn more about it and how you can support your child with practising this learning at home. Students are applying their phonics knowledge to read decodable texts, where they practise the skills of segmenting and blending to read words. Other key early reading skills are also being practised, including pointing to the words, turning the pages from left to right, and moving through the pages from the top to the bottom.

In Writing, students are learning to convey their message through detailed pictures and labels. In the form of their own book, students are learning to add relevant details to their pictures to help their reader understand their message, write the letters to represent the sounds they hear in words, and reread their writing when sharing to an audience. Key early writing behaviours are also a focus, including developing fine motor skills, correct pencil grip, and correct letter formation (handwriting). We will also engage in shared Language Experiences, which will develop our reading, writing, and vocabulary skills.

Speaking and Listening opportunities occur daily in Prep classrooms. Students engage in investigative play multiple times a week, where they enhance their social skills, coping strategies, imagination, and creativity. Students will soon begin participating in more formal Share Time opportunities in the classroom, where they will be able to bring an item to share should they wish to, or simply talk about something that is important to them.

Numeracy
Our budding mathematicians are enjoying engaging in a range of hands on and open activities to help them consolidate their number knowledge to 12. An important part of our Prep Numeracy across the year is developing each child’s ‘Number Sense’, so that they have a solid foundation on which to build later skills. This term, we will be exploring how to make, recognise, and order number collections to 12, as well as focusing on the importance of careful counting, by ensuring we count every item in a group. We will also be exploring 2D shapes in our environment and how we can use these shapes (and other elements, such as colours) to make different patterns.

Inquiry
Our Term 1 Inquiry focus is “All About Me”, where students will focus on their personal and social learning through our Play Is The Way and Respectful Relationships activities and lessons, their Investigations time in the classroom, and during the setting up of classroom routines and expectations. The students learn about their place at Lara Lake by becoming aware of themselves as people and learners, and establishing positive relationships with their peers. Through open interactions with the many staff at school, students also become familiar and comfortable with different teachers and environments. This Inquiry unit is based on developing and maintaining these relationships so that students feel happy, safe, and confident throughout the whole year.

Reminders
Hats: Until April 30^th, our SunSmart ‘No Hat, No Play’ policy is in force. As such, your child’s hat is kept safely in their classroom to ensure they are able to play outside during Term 1.

Sunscreen: Children are encouraged to apply sunscreen at home before coming to school, and to also bring along a small bottle to re-apply themselves as needed before playtime. Teachers are not able to apply sunscreen for students, but will remind students to put it on regularly.

Water Bottles: Please ensure your child brings a named, full drink bottle to school each day. Students are able to refill their drink bottles from their classroom sink.

Label Clothes and Belongings: Please ensure ALL items (jumpers, hats, lunch containers, water bottles, etc) are clearly labelled with your child’s name and grade. If these items are misplaced, they are easier to return if they are named. Any unnamed items will be taken to lost property.

Classroom Donations: We would greatly appreciate any donations of tissues, hand sanitiser, and paper towel for use in classrooms.

Home Reading: Home reading will commence in Week 6 (Monday 27^th February). Students will need to take responsibility for bringing their satchel and book to and from school. More information regarding home reading will be provided soon.

Canteen: Prep students can commence using the canteen for lunch orders and over the counter sales from Tuesday 14^th March. Prep students are not to use or access the canteen before then. We encourage Prep students to only bring a GOLD COIN to spend at the canteen for over the counter sales.

Food Sharing: A friendly reminder that food sharing is strictly prohibited at school for sanitary and allergen reasons. An exception to this rule is on student birthdays or for special events, when individually wrapped food items may be brought to school and handed in to the teacher at the beginning of the day. The teacher will then return the food items to your child to share with their friends at the end of the day before they go home. Please ensure any food intolerances/allergies are up to date on Compass.

Each year level team has provided their families with a detailed newsletter such as this. If you are interested in reading about all the exciting things happening across the rest of the school these can be access online at our school website from early next week.