Prep Term 3 Curriculum News 2022
Prep Term 3 Curriculum News
This Term Newsletter will provide you with information about your child’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 back to Term 3! We hope you all had a restful and relaxing holiday and are ready to get back into another term of wonderful learning. We are now officially halfway through the year, and also halfway through Prep! Time is flying, but we still have lots of learning to focus on and events to celebrate, including making it to 100 Days of School! A special celebration day will be held to mark this occasion, with details of this being communicated separately.
We are so excited to build on the skills and knowledge students learnt in Semester 1 and continue to work alongside you in supporting your child during their first year of school.
KEY DATES:
Friday 29th July – 100 Days of School Celebration
Friday 5th August – Curriculum Day (no students at school)
Wednesday 24th August – Book Week Parade (dress up as your favourite book character)
Thursday 1st September – Parent Teacher Interviews 11-7:30 (bookings will open on Compass later in the term)
Friday 2nd September – Whole School Professional Practice Day (no students at school)
Friday 16th September – LAST DAY of SCHOOL before holidays. Early finish time TBC
Home/School Partnership
Together, we have a vital partnership that supports your child to be the best they can be. By working together, learning from each other, and trusting each other, we can not only give your child their best start to school life, but their best start to their whole life.
It is vital that students continue to build their independence and self-management skills. This area of personal development is an essential life skill. By practising simple, everyday tasks themselves, students will understand how to set themselves up for life-long success. Teachers will be encouraging students to be independent in their learning and organisation, and we encourage you to also support your child in the following ways:
- having them take responsibility for their belongings, such as bringing their satchel, jumper, and water bottle to school every day
- walking to and entering their classroom by themselves
- always carrying their own items, including their schoolbag
- correctly storing items such as jumpers and lunchboxes away safely into school bags when not in use
- knowing how to tie their shoelaces if wearing lace up shoes
If students do forget an item and you drop it off at school after learning has begun, please go via the office.
Parents should not interrupt grades during learning time for any reason.
We are looking forward to meeting with you later in the term to discuss your child’s progress during our Parent Teacher Interviews. Of course, teachers are available to talk with you at any time during the term. We do ask that if you would like to talk with your child’s teacher, that this be arranged ahead of time by phone or email. Before and after school are busy times and teachers are not always available; this includes the time before the bell goes in the morning when teachers are supervising students in the classroom. This is also the case during your child’s specialist classes, when teachers are planning, preparing, and organising either individually or with colleagues. We kindly ask that all appointments are scheduled ahead of time, and that dates and times are adhered to.
If you need to notify your child’s teacher of something after learning has commenced at 9am, please send them an email via Compass, or contact the school office who will pass along the message.
Our partnership also extends to Home Reading. Students are expected to read for 10 minutes per night, 4 nights per week. We ask that the adult reading with each child records a short comment in their reading diary about the book they have read. Teachers will check reading diaries regularly. Students need to bring their satchel to school each day, so that they can swap their home readers daily.
Literacy
In Reading, students have revised what it means to be an independent reader, They have covered the difference between ‘real’ and ‘fake’ reading, have learnt more about ‘Just Right’ books, and have continued to build their reading stamina, by reading a range of self-selected books in their book boxes. Students will continue to learn different decoding strategies to help them read unknown words and will be supported to use the best strategy for the word they are trying to read. Students will also begin learning about reading comprehension – that is, thinking and talking about what is read. Students will focus on predicting before and during reading, visualising a ‘mental picture’ during reading, making connections between their own experiences and what they read, and sequencing the events in a story. We will also be regularly exploring the features and purpose of nonfiction texts.
In Writing, Preps will continue to engage with the ‘Writing Cycle’ by thinking of and developing a ‘seed’ idea in their Writer’s Notebooks before selecting, drafting, and revising that idea in their Writing Book. Students will continue to explore how to use pictures and words to communicate their message and will look at how they can add more detail to each of these elements so they can give more information to their reader. Revising writing will be a key focus this term, with students practising the skill of using full stops and capital letters to correctly form sentences that make sense. This increasing knowledge will continue to support students to write more interesting pieces for longer periods of time.
To support their Literacy, students will engage in daily phonics practise to support their letter/sound development. Students will be supported with learning the common sounds for the 26 letters of the alphabet, and how these sounds go together to make words. Students will explicitly practise encoding (writing) and decoding (reading) words by applying their knowledge of sounds and will then be supported to apply this skill during reading and writing.
Numeracy
In the area of Number, students will build on their current number knowledge by working more explicitly with the ‘teen’ numbers. A focus will be fluent counting, including being able to count forwards and backwards from any starting point, comparing and ordering collections using the language of ‘more,’ ‘less,’ ‘before’ and ‘after,’ recognising numbers when written as a numeral, E.G., 14, and making collections using a base of 10. Using this number knowledge, students will begin exploring the concepts of subtraction as splitting a whole into parts, and division as making sure an amount is shared into equal groups. Students will also continue learning how to correctly form (write) numbers.
In the area of Measurement and Geometry, students will explore measuring time by comparing and ordering the length of different events and connecting the days of the week to familiar events. They will also explore the language of position and movement, understanding terms such as ‘under,’ ‘beside,’ and ‘in front of’.
Inquiry
Our Term 3 Inquiry focus is ‘The History of Me’. Students will be exploring their personal and family histories, the make up of families, the celebrations that are important to them, and why families are a vital part of their life. Students will understand that whilst all families are different, every family is important and offers the same thing to children. This Inquiry unit will involve students developing different projects about themselves and their family, so please keep an eye on communication around this.
In addition to this, we will continue to focus on our Respectful Relationships and Play Is The Way social and emotional curriculum. This term, students will explore the topics of ‘Problem Solving,’ ‘Stress Management’ and ‘Help Seeking.’ These Respectful Relationships topics will be connected to our Play Is The Way life rafts, with students gaining a complete understanding of how they have a skillset of strategies that will help them ‘Be Their Own Boss’ and make ‘Strong Choices,’ so that they can continually ‘Pursue Their Personal Best.’
Reminders
Canteen and Food Sharing: We encourage Prep students to only bring a GOLD COIN to spend at the canteen for over-the-counter sales. Students are NOT permitted to buy food for other students, have other students purchase food for them, or share food of any kind.
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 appreciate any donations of tissues, hand sanitiser, and paper towel for use in classrooms.
Hats: From September 1st, our SunSmart ‘No Hat, No Play’ policy is in force and students will need to wear their hats outside when playing at recess and lunch. Your child’s hat stays safely in their classroom so they can play outside during the warmer months. If your child requires a hat for TheirCare, we encourage them to keep a second hat in their bag for this purpose, so their school hat remains safely at school for use during the day.
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 accessed online at our school website from early next week.