Grade Prep Curriculum Newsletter - Term 3 2023

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. 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 28th July – 100 Days of School Celebration

Wednesday 23rd August – Book Week Parade (dress up as your favourite book character)

Wednesday 30th August – Curriculum Day for Parent Teacher Interviews (more details to follow later in the term)

Monday 4th September - Responsible Pet Ownership incursion (more details to follow later in the term)

Friday 15th September – LAST DAY of SCHOOL before holidays (early finish time- 2:30pm)

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 school bag

• correctly storing items, such as jumpers and lunchboxes when not in use

• knowing how to tie their shoelaces if wearing lace up shoes.

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 to meet. 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. If students forget an item and you drop it off at school after learning has begun, please go via the office rather than coming directly to the classroom.

Literacy

In Sounds Write, students will consolidate the code that was taught in Semester 1 and will only be introduced to a small amount of new code towards the end of Term 3. They will start to read and write longer words that use the varying word structures below:

• vcc words (vowel-consonant-consonant) e.g. ‘end’

• cvcc words (consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant) e.g. ‘sand’

• ccvc words (consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant) e.g. ‘trip’

• ccvcc (consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant) e.g. ‘swept’

• cccvc words (consonant-consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant) e.g. ‘scrub’

In Reading, students will continue to read decodable texts that align with their code knowledge. They will begin to stretch out the sounds in words, rather than saying the sounds independently, for example, ‘ffffff-lllll-iiiii-p’ rather than ‘f-l-i-p’. Once this blending skill is mastered, they will be encouraged to only stretch out the sounds that they may be stuck on, for example, ‘fl-iiiiiiii-p’. They will be encouraged to re-read portions of the text to improve fluency and phrasing. Students will also be exposed to reading comprehension – that is, thinking and talking about what is read. They will focus on visualising a ‘mental picture’ during reading, making connections between their own experiences and what they read, and inferring meaning based on the clues that the pictures and words offer. We will also be regularly exploring the features and purpose of nonfiction texts.

In Writing, Preps will improve their handwriting by learning how to place letters on dotted thirds. They will respond to simple given prompts by recording spellings that match the sounds they hear in words, and by using their knowledge of basic high frequency words. They will use their many senses to think of adjectives that describe nouns, making their writing more descriptive. Students will be introduced to simple conjunctions that are used to link two separate ideas in a sentence, for example, ‘but’, ‘and’ and ‘because’. They will continue to practise the skill of using full stops and capital letters to correctly form sentences that make sense.

Numeracy

In the area of Number, students will build on their current number knowledge by working more explicitly with the ‘teen’ numbers. The 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, 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. 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. Students will also explore how to tell time to the hour on analogue and digital clocks. 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, similarities can be found between all types of families. This Inquiry unit will involve students developing different projects about themselves and their family, so please keep an eye on communication around 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’ and ‘Stress Management’. 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 range of strategies that will help them ‘Be Their Own Boss’ and make ‘Strong Choices,’ so that they can continually ‘Pursue Their Personal Best.’

Reminders

Home Reading: Students will continue to bring home a decodable book to read throughout the week, as well as a ‘sounds review’ page in their red folder. We encourage students to read their book each night to develop their reading accuracy and fluency, as well as continually revise the sounds and words they know by utilising the ‘sounds review’ pages. Students can also access their Decodable Readers Australia account (digital books). Log in details have been sent home in Term 2, so please speak to your child’s teacher if you have any questions about this.

TheirCare: Students who attend TheirCare either before or after school have begun walking themselves to and from their classrooms. The TheriCare educators send teachers a daily list of Prep students who are attending, and students are reminded to walk directly to TheirCare in the afternoon, or go directly to their classrooms in the morning.

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.

Hats: From September 1st, our SunSmart policy is in force and students will need to wear their hats when playing outside 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.