‘We do not remember days, we remember moments’ (Cesare Pavese, Italian poet & novelist)
Hi everyone!
Memorable moments were in abundance for the Preps last week as they experienced their first Full Dress Rehearsal for Concert and their first Transition Session in the Jpod.
Full Dress Rehearsal
Climbing into a furry, sparkly, elven or in some cases snowy costume, inspired students to sing and dance their hearts out as they gave outfits a trial run.
Transition to Year One
On Friday, current Preps spent a happy morning engaged in Science and P.E. while the Preps of 2017 came to school! After Specialists and snack play our Preps arrived at the Jpod for the much anticipated first Transition Session, even staying to eat lunch with their future classmates! After lunch play, the Prep Team heard some of the highlights before Preps turned their attention to preparing for the commencement of school swimming on Monday. We look forward to hearing all about their Jpod experiences next week!
Writing
Students wrote about some of the things they are looking forward to when they are learning in the Jpod next year…
Matilda
Jye
Owen
Will A
Indigo
Ruby T
They also enjoyed Wacky Wednesday (free) Writing!
Alexia
Rokhsar
Kaley
Lily
Emelia
Maths
Teachers continually assess student understanding during daily activities and use this information to plan appropriate learning experiences for students. However at this time of year, assessment takes on more of a ‘summing up’ role as the team prepares to send Preps in to their next learning area. This information will help students take a running jump straight back into their learning when the new school year begins!
While assessment takes place during numeracy sessions, students have opportunity to practise previously learned skills through playing familiar maths learning games together. Last week, some students made posters with the open brief of recording ‘something (or things) you learned in maths this year’. Prior to commencement, we discussed some of our learning areas like addition & subtraction strategies, money and measurement (eg. length & weight). You can share some of their thoughts below. They filmed and recorded their own reflections.
(Music in iMovie credited to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra5AO2Ca5PI&t=282s
Investigations
At the end of Week 5, small groups of students were work shopping short skits in preparation for a Prep Performance. The skits are designed to bring a message to their audience about how citizens can make the community a better place by practising good citizenship – working together, obeying laws and caring for nature and the environment.
Some groups started by making a story board with help from a teacher. Students were encouraged and assisted to sequence their skit and review their story to see if it carried their intended message clearly.
Next, they considered props needed while acting. We saw lots of props when we went to see ‘Snugglepot and Cuddlepie’ last term. Preps connected with their learning around performing arts last term and used it to inform their project. Last Monday they got to work creating props.
On Thursday, students rehearsed their skits using the new props. They checked them for durability, size and usefulness. Teachers helped take note of any alterations needed.
Students had a great time learning about and writing limericks and acrostic poems in writing sessions last week. They especially enjoyed sharing their work with parents and friends at Junior Assembly on Friday. Those who presented verse to the audience demonstrated developing public speaking skills – they stood tall, spoke clearly, and politely listened to their friends in turn. Preps who did not present also had an important role to play – they encouraged classmates during a quick rehearsal before assembly and gave wonderful feedback, like ‘I can’t hear you, could you speak a bit louder?’ or ‘That was so funny!’. They also helped their friends by being a fantastic audience during assemebly – sitting quietly with eyes to front and hands to self and laughing quietly when something was funny. Well done Preps!
You can see the limericks and acrostic poems that were shared at assembly below. Poetry comes to life when read aloud so hopefully next week we will be able to record some students reading their verse. We also watched the video below together, to learn how to write limericks.
Jayden & Jordan B
Lily & Ruby T
Owen & Summer S
Will H & Conner H
Willow & Zaidyn
Reuben & Lucas
Summer J & Connor D
Rose & Kodi
Jordan S
Ethan
Banjo
Last week students also completed their information posters about native Australian animals. Be sure to stop in and have a look at the display!
Information poster display in the Book Corner.
Aiden
Jack
Oliver E
Reading
New reading strategy…
Our new reading strategy last week was ‘Flip the Sound’. This means if you are trying to read a word you don’t know and you have blended the sounds in the word together but it doesn’t ‘sound right’ when you cross check it, see if any of the letters in that word could make a different sound. For example: ‘cake’ can sound like ‘c – a – ck – eh’ when each letter is ‘sounded out’. But if you flip the short ‘a’ sound and turn it into a long ‘a’ sound, the word sounds quite different.
Work On Writing…
Each reading session has a Work On Writing (WOW) component which required students to use provided resources to write as independently as possible. During this time other students will be Listening to Reading, using a Word Work phonics app or engaging in a Guided Reading session with a teacher in a very small group. Last week, WOW linked to our rhyming focus in writing sessions.
Students shared books containing rhyming pictures.
They also had opportunity to provide their own rhyming word by selecting a single picture and thinking of their rhyming word to match it.
Students are writing independently of teacher input during WOW but they do talk with and help each other.
Jordan S
Maths
Students continue to consolidate previous learning and use these understandings to provide a foundation on which to build new comprehensions.
Consolidating previous learning…
Number Facts.
Once students are grounded in linking quantities to numerals 0 to 10 and in the concept of addition, automatic recall of number facts assists students make mental calculations.
‘Adding to 10’.
‘Adding to 10’.
‘Adding to 10’.
Writing numerals 1 to 10 correctly. Apart from conscious practise like this, students are given feedback on their numeral writing during learning experiences & the chance to rework.
New learning…
Modelling 3 digit numbers using ‘number expanders’ & MAB.
We used the ‘number expanders’ to focus on the hundreds, tens and ones present in each 3 digit number created by students. As students progress in their mathematical comprehension they will be able to use number expanders to help partition and rename numbers. For example, 567 is made up of 5 hundreds, 6 tens and 7 ones. It is also made up of 567 ones … 56 tens and 7 ones … or 5 hundreds and 67 ones.
New Addition Strategy – ‘Make a 10 to Add’
It can be easier to add numbers together when we work with tens. For example, 10 + 6 may be easier to mentally calculate than than 9 + 7. Everyone thinks differently and uses their ‘maths brain’ differently. Students need a variety of maths strategies in their tool belts, just as they do when reading. They are then able to choose which strategy is the most efficient for them when solving a problem that requires mathematical thinking. ‘Make a 10 to Add’ is another addition strategy to add to their tool belts.
New Addition Strategy
We can add this to our ‘Addition Strategy Tool Belts’.
Learning this strategy starts with adding a single digit number to 9.
You take one of the ‘ones’ from the smaller number and use it to make a whole 10. Then you add the left over ones onto the 10.
Students practised this new skill at their own pace.
Using concrete materials like blocks helps students visualise numbers and trust their calculations.
They also practised their new strategy playing ‘Memory’ with these cards. Counters were made available so students could model their thinking.
Investigations
Last week students were asked ‘What is your role in our Community? We watched the video below and learned two new words – ‘citizen’ and ‘citizenship’.
This video helped us learn about citizens and citizenship.
We learned that ‘citizens’ are the people who live in a community. When citizens do things to make their community a better place, they are practising good ‘citizenship’.
Students talked, drew and wrote about how they help make their community a better place!
Ava and her mum cook for sick peopole.
Matilda plants things with her mum.
Bradley cares for people.
Lily picks up rubbish.
Afterwards, we wondered how we could share with people what we know about citizenship and making our community a better place.
How can we show what we know about what we can do to make our community a better place?
As you can see, this group of Preps has a flair for drama and they have decided they would like to ‘put on a show’, a performance, like ‘Snugglepot and Cuddlepie’. Small groups were created and students have begun work shopping short skits which will enable them to share their message with you. Stay tuned for updates!
Sculpture
In a similar vein, make sure you drop by the Prep Room to have a look at our class sculpture. This was inspired by our excursion to the National Gallery of Victoria last term, where we viewed the Subodh Gupta exhibition entitled ‘Everyday Divine’.
Students worked with teachers to put it together in Week 4.
It was suggested by students that a barrier similar to those we saw in the National Gallery would help protect the delicate construction.
They named it ‘Silverchair’.
Many everyday special objects were contributed, painted & carefully placed (thank you to Mr Ramage for the Liquid Nails!).
Miss Benci’s love of coffee made it into our sculpture. Can you spot your child’s special item?
Well, as you can see, your children pack a lot in to one week! As we journey through Term 4 it is important to remember that Preps can become quite tired this time of year. In addition to extending themselves academically, emotionally and socially daily, they are also preparing for transition to the Jpod (first session coming up this week), the School Swimming Program (Weeks 7 and 8) and the School Concert (for which they have been practising hard!). As you know, they may require a bit more down time than usual and it is especially important that they continue to have a regular bedtime to ensure enough sleep to cope with the demands of each day.
Here is some of the learning undertaken last week…
Investigations – Guided Inquiry: Our Community
As you know, during Weeks 1 and 2, students focused on what they know about their community, creating artefacts and writing to share with the visiting friends and their classmates.
On Monday last week, the whole class enjoyed viewing a ‘My Story’ created by Owen and Lindsay. The boys had worked with a teacher during Week 2, to access Google maps in order to get an idea of where Grovedale fits into the global community.
We saw screenshots they captured of earth, Australia’s states & territories, Victoria, Grovedale and also a bird’s eye view of our own school!
Later, we discussed what ‘community’ means. A community is the place we live, work and play! There are different kinds of communities: urban, suburban and rural.
We talked about why it is good to live in our community.
Jack: ‘We do fun things’.
Indigo: ‘You can live next to your favourite place’.
Conner H: ‘We have hospitals’.
Ruby J: ‘We have playgrounds’.
Will H: ‘We can go to the beach’.
Willow: ‘We can play netball’.
Zaidyn: ‘We can play cricket’.
Indigo: ‘We can paint’.
Following this we set off on a Community Walk to get us thinking about things we want to find out about our community.
We saw playing fields & Grovedale College
Netball courts
A playground with adjacent tennis courts
A football club
Different signs
Public transport
Shops we use sometimes
On return from our walk, students brainstormed questions about things they wanted to find out:
Later in the week, they used books, apps and teacher selected videos to find out about their questions. Below you can view one of the selected videos.
Students also used this app in an effort to answer their questions:
Tune in to future posts to see what they find out!
Writing -Narrative focus
Students continue to stretch themselves when writing, according to their own individual focus (eg. using spaces; using upper case letters to start and full stops to finish; writing a whole sentence or more than one sentence; experimenting with punctuation). In addition, as a group, they continue to enjoy exploring different genres of writing. For example, they wrote recounts in Weeks 1 and 2, of their holidays and of the Prep Activity Night; revisited procedural writing while planning their gourmet pizza construction, and narrative when they drew and wrote their own ‘problem’ for a shared read aloud story.
Last week, Preps delved further into narrative text construction. Some experimented with writing a complete short narrative piece including a character(s), setting, problem and solution. You can read some of these in one of the posts coming up next week.
Others explored creating a solution to a problem. These students took part in a shared read aloud. The teacher stopped reading just before the problem in the story was solved and it was up to students to think, talk, draw and write their own solutions! We loved hearing their ideas for how they thought the story should end!
In this story Little Mouse ran away to find the perfect family. Would he ever go home again?
Nathan thought he might climb a long ladder to live on the moon.
Lily decided he may go to the snow.
Henry mused that perhaps he would go to live with polar bears.
Bradley wrote from Little Mouse’s point of view: ‘I went to my tent and watched the volcano ….’
Next, they created their own character as a group using a new app named ‘Character Creator’. Each student thought up a sentence about her, told a friend and wrote it down.
Using the Character Creator app, students took turns to choose a head, eyes, mouth, arms etc. They voted on names and called her Alexia.
Alexia
Will H
Lily
Kaley
Maths – Introduction to Sharing
After a warm-up whereupon student were required to share themselves equally between chalk circles in home group, they heard and created number stories as an introduction to the idea of sharing (division).
You can enjoy this new learning with them below by viewing the iMovie.
Below is a You Tube clip containing animated sharing stories your children might enjoy. Why not make up some of your own at home?
Hi everyone! Here are some of the moments that encapsulated the preps’ learning this week…
Investigations
Guided Inquiry: ‘Personal Identity – My Family’
As you saw during Week One, students discussed and shared some of the things they like, that help make up who they are. Last week, students began to think and talk about some of the very special people in their lives – their families. One of the ways they shared this information with the prep learning community was through creating videos. In order to do this, they tuned in to the technical aspect of operating the video camera on the iPads, worked together to film each other, edited and revised their work and shared it with their group. This experience involved negotiation, persistence, feedback and a sense of audience, relating to three of the 6Cs – collaboration, character and communication. You can see a sample of their work below:
Maths
The numeracy focus last week was on reading and writing numerals, the verbal counting sequence and accurately counting a collection of objects by counting each object once. A variety of games and learning activities offered different ways to engage in these learning foci. One popular game not pictured below was the ‘Number Treasure Hunt’ – pairs took turns to hide a laminated numeral outside; the partner then had to find it, with tips like ‘warm….hot….boiling!’ and ‘cool, cold, freezing!!’; once the numeral was found the seeker read it out loud, getting help from his/her partner if needed. This would be a good game to play at home!
‘Greedy Stars’
When playing ‘Greedy Stars’, pairs take turns to throw a die; each time they land on a star, they collect one counter; when ‘time’s up’ is called, students count their loot!
Starting at the lowest (circled) number, some students count in order, identifying the missing number & placing it on the leaf
Others explore the challenges associated with counting larger collections. They will investigate this further throughout the term
Some learners practise counting in order from different starting points, writing in the missing numbers (100s charts provide visual support if needed)
Number sequence puzzles encourage students to order numbers correctly by rewarding them with a picture
Reading
Our focus author during Library sessions is Aaron Blabey. We read ‘Sunday Chutney’ in Week One and ‘Pig the Pug’ last week. While enjoying the read aloud, students note rhyme, Magic Words in the text, starting sounds and pictures and discuss the books’ themes like belonging, treating others as we would like to be treated, sharing and regulation of our emotions.
Each reading session during the week now encompass a mix of:
Guided Reading with a teacher
Read to Self
Read to Someone
Listen to Reading
Work on Writing
Word Work
Students have been doing a wonderful job of transitioning between their different learning experiences during reading sessions, making the most of their learning time.
Writing/Philosophy
In preparation for our Whole School Assembly Anzac Service last Thursday and Anzac Day coming up on Monday, students tuned in to the meaning of Anzac Day in an age appropriate manner. We read ‘Anzac Ted’ together and teachers explained that many Australians offer assistance to others during unsettled and sometimes dangerous situations (for example, during times of fighting/war and natural disaster, like flood or earthquake). Sometimes, the helpers may be injured themselves or feel a bit frightened while they are helping others. On Anzac Day we think of the people who go to help others even though it might be scary or uncomfortable. Thinking of their hard work, on Anzac Day, is a way of saying ‘thank you’.
Indigo
Banjo
Jack
Prep Anzac Poppies made with Mrs Burns during Art Specialist Sessions
Whole school display created by students with Mrs Burns during Art
Come and have a look at the display outside the library
Letters and Sounds
Students continue to enjoy a wide variety of short, game based learning experiences during Letters and Sounds sessions. These include:
short songs with actions
rhyming games (eg. ‘Doggy, Doggy, Who’s Got The Bone’ and ‘I’m thinking of something that rhymes with bed, I use it to think, it is my ….. (head)’
starting sounds games (eg. ‘I spy something/someone starting with …… (the sound, rather than the letter name – eg. ‘Sssss’ for ‘Sally)
Magic Words games (Snap!; Memory; Treasure Hunts; Word Sorts; putting the word in a sentence; finding the word on the Magic Words list when the teacher calls it out)
oral blending (eg. asking students to pass the ‘h – a – t’; students blend the sounds together, say the word ‘hat’ and pass it)
Students work together to identify starting sounds for the pictures
Working together enables them to learn from each other
Things to remember:
No school on Monday April 25th – Anzac Day Public Holiday
Next week, please send a photo of your child with some family members ready to use next Friday (April 29th). If possible, they will need to be able to keep it and attach it to their work
The last session of Kinderlinks will be held next Friday (April 29th) from 1.30 to 2.30 in the Prep Room. The theme is ‘Music Fun – Beat the Drum’ with special guest drummer Mr Ramage!
We hope you have a safe and happy long weekend and look forward to seeing you all next week!
Congratulations to all GWPS students on their wonderful performance at the school concert last Thursday! You really wowed the audience with your dance moves, your smiles and also with the way you helped and encouraged each other. Well done!
Concert Reflections…
Last week, prep students reflected on the concert during Philosophy session. They discussed how they felt before and after the performance, touching on pre-show nerves and the sense of accomplishment and pride felt when they overcame these feelings. You can share in this thinking by watching the video below.
Transition to the Jpod…
Preps enjoyed two transition sessions in the Jpod this week. The first was a shared CAFE reading hour, the second session involved enjoying maths games together, followed by eating lunch with Jpod friends. As you can see below, prep students are already feeling at home and comfortable in the Jpod learning space, spending time with their future classmates. The next transition session is to be held this Tuesday.
Familiar learning routines like CAFE reading will continue in the Jpod.
Preps will continue to play maths games for learning when they are in Year One!
Reading…
This week, reading sessions were conducted as a whole group. Students shared two read alouds – ‘The Gruffalo’ by our focus author, Julia Donaldson and ‘You and Me: Our Place’ by Leonie Norrington. Following discussion about author purpose and making connections to previous Julia Donaldson books and Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime stories, students had fun creating a crafty response to the stories.
Maths…
Students played familiar games requiring the use of subtraction, addition and two digit place value learning. They also had opportunity to further explore the concept of ‘sharing’ while sharing a ‘You Tube’ story and acting it out using counters as cookies. You can share the story together below if you like.
This story begins with two children and 12 cookies, however, more and more friends keep arriving! Preps extended their thinking to consider what they could do to share the cookies once there were 12 friends and everyone had one cookie each and then ….. the doorbell rang again! They said they could break them in half! (Good thinking!).
Writing…
Students were given time to complete the books they are making for a friend. We are all looking forward to sharing them with each other next week.
Investigations…
Well, the learning games for next year’s preps are really coming along! Teachers and students have been having so much fun trying out the games in order to offer feedback to the creators. We think the new preps are going to love these games. Stay tuned to see some of the finished products in next week’s blog post.
Things to remember…
Classroom Helper ‘Thank You’ morning tea is next Thursday (December 10th) at 11am.
There is no Milkshake Day next Thursday due to our wonderful helpers hopefully enjoying treats of their own at the morning tea!
Please remember to return your End of Year Excursion consent forms and payment if you have not already done so.
Wow! Week 8 was an awesome week of fun and learning!
Swimming…
Students continued to demonstrate considerate behaviour towards classmates, teachers and other community members during the second week of the swimming program. They were also amazingly organised, getting changed efficiently and keeping track of all their belongings. Well done, Preps! Playing in the Water Fun Park at the pool on Friday was definitely a highlight of the week!
Investigations…
On Tuesday, students prepared for their visit to a local kindergarten by brainstorming questions to help them find out the kind of games new preps might like to play for learning next year. Afterwards, we walked down the the Grovedale Community Hub Centre and spent some time with the kinder kids there.
Brainstorming questions to find out they kind of games kinder kids like to play.
Preps talked and played with the kinder kids to gain insight into what learning games will be fun for them to play next year.
Upon our return to class, students chose their own groups and nominated a learning game they would like to make. Before heading off to finalise plans together, students could be heard asking each other ‘But where is the learning?’. Using feedback from each other and teachers, they planned and commenced constructing some fun learning games for the new preps to enjoy next year.
Madi K & Helena are making a game to build fine motor and numeracy skills.
Natalia, Ella & George are creating a fun Magic Words game.
Isabelle & Kiera are constructing a shopping game.
Mikayla & Kaylee are making a ‘Guess my number!’ game.
Brayden, Toby & Declan did a great job of communicating while starting to build their game.
This project is rich in opportunity for students to develop ‘the 6Cs’ – that is, the qualities and skills required for lifelong learning!For example:
Character: students are seeking feedback and using it to improve their games; they are working through challenges and setbacks with perseverance and grit (eg. if one material like sufficient numbers of cardboard tubes, is unavailable, students are thinking about a substitute materials and using them with excellent effect!)
Citizenship:the children are highly motivated by the reason behind their creative ventures – to help the new preps next year have fun while they are learning! Some students are verbalising that they are looking forward to helping the preps next year.
Communication:preps are really challenging themselves to think about what will be fun for the new preps next year. They are tuning in to the importance of bringing the learning in their game to the forefront without too many unnecessary distractions/decorations
Creativity: students are displaying the perseverance required to hold onto their vision until their task is brought to completion
Collaboration:preps are engaged in some effective teamwork – listening to and incorporating each other’s ideas, speaking respectfully and sharing equipment
Critical Thinking and Knowledge Construction: students are testing their games to see if they have the desired effect; they are using what they know, to teach others; they are applying logic and reasoning (for example, Remy and Yize showed their ‘Dinosaur Game’ could be useful for students to learn about the passage of food from mouth to bottom and also about the importance of eggs in the life cycle of dinsosaurs)
The teachers are looking forward to playing some of the games with students next week!
Writing…
‘Making a book for a friend’has been very exciting this week! Early in the week, preps asked a friend what kinds of characters and settings they would like in a story book/narrative piece of writing. Equipped with this information, pairs have separated in order to write and illustrate a book for their friend. We are all looking forward to reading the stories our friends have written for us. Without giving too much away, here are some opening pages…
Taylah
Fate
Kiera
Maddox
Bonnie
Harry
Maths…
Students were introduced to the concept of ‘sharing’ this week. They played two games, one which involved ‘sharing’ a certain number of counters between the number of groups indicated on a rolled die. They scored two points if the counters could be shared with no ‘left overs’ / ‘remainders’and one point if there was a remainder.
The other game required them to place a collection of objects into certain sized groups (eg. putting 20 ‘biscuits’ into groups containing only two biscuits each and finding out how many groups this makes). Students had opportunity to begin constructing an understanding of ‘sharing’through use of concrete materials like counters and play dough and talking with their partners.
Things to remember…
Thank you to everyone who has returned the permission slip for the impending pre-concert visit to The Arena.
Please remember to return consent forms for the End Of Year Excursion to Barwon Heads if you have not already done so.
The last Kids’ Kitchen Special Lunch Daywill be held this Friday December 4th. All orders with correct money are due in on Wednesday December 2nd.
Students will enjoy two transition sessions to the Jpod this week – one Monday and one Wednesday.
Hi everyone! Why not check out the new Prep News Boardstarted up by students last week? It is located in the Book Corner. Last week students posted comments about their ‘Minute To Win It!’ experiences during writing session. They will have opportunity to comment on other parts of the school day and to respond to classmates’ comments, too. Feel free to see what’s new on The Board when you drop off your child!
Makenzie
Ella
Ruby
This week students focused on correct use of the conjunction ‘and’ in writing. After trying out some amazing circus skills, they wrote about their funny feats using ‘and’. For example, ‘I can hoola hoop and juggle’. While learning new writing skills, preps are doing a great job of remembering the ones they have already learned, like using a full stop to finish a sentence, an uppercase letter to begin and re-reading to ensure their writing makes sense.
Students enjoyed poetry read aloudsof some Roald Dahl ‘Revolting Rhymes’ last week as part of their exposure to a wide variety of text types during reading sessions. They even experimented with creating their own poems! This week they are tuning in to reading lettersthrough read alouds of ‘The Jolly Postman’, ‘Dear Greenpeace’ and ‘Click Clack Moo: Cows that type’.
During numeracy sessions students continue to focus on addition, subtraction and two digit place value.
During Investigations in Week 2, students were inspired by one group’s animation showing an aspect of the community they felt was important. Last week they brainstormed people who make a positive contribution to our community. This is the list they came up with:
Following this, preps were placed into randomly chosen groups of three. Each group jointly chose a special person from the community on whom to focus their research and learning. Their directive was to consider why these people are important to our community with the aim of creating an animation to showcase this learning for others.
To this end, groups have planned together; explained their plans to a teacher; experimented with using the ‘I Can Animate’ app and commenced building a diorama which will function as a mini film set. Filming will take place this Thursday.
This experience is giving opportunity for preps to develop skills needed for life long learning, in particular, collaboration. The video below shows some prep thinking about their community learning and about their experiences with group work.
Speaking of community, Mr Ramage’s special bear, Ed, has some friends visiting from overseas. These friends are taking turns to go home with students for a week each in order to learn about our community. Preps are helping the friends record their experiences together by creating their own writing and drawings for the journal that accompanies the friend. Students may also include photos if they like.
Inspired by the Jpod’s new look, the Prep Class Blog has had a colour makeover to celebrate Spring!
In other learning last week….
Reading – Exploring different text types!
Students continue to be challenged by teachers in guided reading groups to independently choose and use CAFE reading strategies while reading readers. You can encourage this when you read athome with your child. If they are stuck, wait three seconds then ask them ‘Coach or time?’
As a whole group, we read a newspaper article about bees from a kids’ newspaper, a children’s magazineand a ‘Dennis the Menace’ comic strip. Students linked the comic strip to the digital text of the ‘Dennis the Menace’ cartoon and movie. All of these texts present information in different formats and for different reasons. At home, talk with your child about the different text types you see around you.For example, if you are looking at a kid’s magazine together, discuss what message you think the author wanted to get across to you and why different colours, font sizes and text boxes may have been used. If you’re reading a comic together, consider the shapes of the speech/thought bubbles, caption boxes and the print features – why do you think that word is in bold type? Why do you think the author wrote that sentence in all upper case letters?
Last Wednesday we had some special visitors in to read with us! Grovedale College Year 7 students came over to share the different books they had created, with the preps. Preps were treated to a range of texts – fiction and non-fiction created using mixed media of drawing, painting, collage and digital format. Before session end students shared their favourite books and asked some questions about the book making process. They learned that the Year 7s plan before making, just like preps do!
Writing
Individualised focus areas for writing last week were: learning to use ‘connectives‘ correctly (like ‘and’, ‘then’, ‘because’); correct use of a full stopand upper case letterto begin a sentence; re-readingwriting as you go to ensure it makes sense.
When your children write at home, encourage them to always re-read their writing before they are finished.
Seeing as their were lots of birthday parties in the holidays, students were given opportunity to write about one of the best parties they have ever been to! Here is some of their work…
Ruby
Lachlan
Fate
Maths – subtraction & two digit place value…
Some students were introduced to the concept of‘subtraction’– they were exposed to other words that mean the same thing, like ‘take away’ and ‘minus’. Students told each other number stories & used tens frames and counters to model their stories for a friend. At home, tell subtraction number stories to each other using real life objects (eg. socks). Students are only working between 0 and 20 at this stage.
Other students are consolidating two digit place valuelearning. Solidunderstanding of place value is an essential foundation for further numeracy learning and will help students get to grips with the slightly tricky ‘teen’ numbers! Learning took place while playing the card game ‘Go Fish!’ with place value playing cards.
Learning to play ‘Go Fish!’ with regular playing cards.
Place Value playing cards.
‘Doubles Bingo’
Concurrently, students continue to revise previous learning during ‘warm ups’ that help them tune in to the impending numeracy session. Two recent warm up games have been ‘Bump!’ and ‘Doubles Bingo’. ‘Bump!’ reminds students that when adding a small number (like 1, 2 or 3) to a larger number, counting on is a good strategy. ‘Doubles Bingo’ teaches children that they can learn useful facts to assist them in problems requiring addition. Numeracy strategies are like reading strategies – you can choose the strategies you know when you are solving maths problems!At home, give each other ‘Doubles Facts’ quizzes (students will let you know which doubles facts they are ready for). Start with doubles facts to 10. Use household objects to model the doubles if they find it difficult!
Investigations Creations
Following our short community walk in Week One, students identified people and things in our community & considered why they are important. Working individually or in small groups, they received a ‘building license’ once they had planned how to show their learning and set to work on their creations. After a gallery walk to share the learning it went on display and can be viewed in the prep room.
Makenzie and her group modelled a dancer & created an animation using their model.
Aaliyah modelled a car, so important in helping people to get about.
Natalia & her group created a mini-IGA, essential for providing healthy food for people.
Madi K & Toby fashioned a magpie with it’s own tree in which to sit!
Here is a snapshot of the learning taking place in Term 4 Week 3:
Last week was very full and exciting! Check out the video below for a quick look at some of the learning undertaken by students.
Our trip to Scienceworks went very smoothly and gave us all food for thought! Thank you to our two parent helpers for the day, Jess and Jeremy. Photos of the day will be posted soon.
Noticeboard…
Learning tips…
Here are some ideas you might like to try at home based on our learning last week:
Maths:
practise skip counting together (start with 10s and 5s and move on to 2s if your child would like to)
talk together about the coins and notes you use when handling money during your daily activities
practise mentally ‘counting on’ by 1, 2 and 3 from a bigger number (for example: ‘5 and 2 more is….?’ or ’22 and 1 more is…?’
play ‘What is the number before/after?’ games
encourage your child to draw a number story and tell you about it (for example: ‘there were 4 snails and 3 more came along, then there were 7 snails altogether’)
Reading:
encourage your child to listen and look for interesting words and ask about their meanings during story time, conversations and when watching television
Writing:
encourage your children to write about things that interest them when at home (for example: shopping lists; household job roster; reader into the diary; Magic Words; experiences like play dates, weekend activities and exciting things at school they want to share with you)
Social wellbeing:
talk with your children about how we all experience different emotions throughout the day and strategies they can use to change the way they feel should they wish to do so
We have filled every corner of our first week back with wonderful learning! Here is a snapshot of Term Two, Week One.
Reading…
We read to learn while we learn to read!
Reading strategy for the week: ‘use the pictures’.
In Guided Reading groups, students used their strategy to understand a procedural book.
Students used pictures to tune in to interesting words before reading.
Some preps helped find out what might have been eating their teachers’ grass at home!
We connected to our learning about litter last term, to understand this book.
Bob Graham is our new focus author for the term. Like Dr Seuss, he trained as an artist before becoming an author.
Writing…
We started working in our new writing groups this week! Students wrote about their favourite holiday experience. Before writing they thought, drew a picture and said what they wanted to write. The skill of creating a simple oral sentence after thinking and drawing is a very important and celebrated part of the writing process for preps. They watched teachers use Magic Words, put spaces between words and use their phoneme fists and alphabet strips before writing. Each was supported according to their needs to assist students in attaining a sense of achievement and success. Here is some of their work.
Bailen went to the zoo.
Remy stayed home drawing.
Lachlan went to the tennis court.
Ruby visited at the hospital.
Fate played some video games.
Natalia went to the movies.
Isabelle went to the movies too!
Eli went to Sovereign Hill.
Makenzie went to the zoo.
Ella went to Super Tramp.
Ryder went to the circus.
Archie M went to Sea World.
Harry went to a cow show.
Chelsea went to an Easter egg hunt.
Maddox went motor bike riding.
Aaliyah went to the movies.
Maths…
Both numeracy groups focused on matching number names to numerals and numerals to quantities, according to individual student needs. We had lots of fun doing this, as you can see from the pictures below! We also spent one numeracy session outside as a whole group, playing movement based maths games designed around the above learning objective. We all agreed that we should do maths outside more often!
Number Bingo!
Number Bingo helps students match number names to numerals.
Number Post!
One partner ‘posted’ a laminated numeral…
…and the other partner ‘posted’ back the matching Numicon!
During home group after lunch, we incorporate learning about concepts of time.
Philosophy…
The whole class viewed this video as a stimulus, then broke into home groups for discussion.
Students in home groups briefly worked in small groups to formulate questions raised by the video, then voted as a whole group as to which question they would like to talk about. Some of their thinking is shown below.
Investigations…
Investigations will be a little bit different this term. We began our new inquiry focus this week. Have a look at the video below to find out more.
Well done preps! You have been great learners this week and settled back into your learning routines very well! The teachers are looking forward having fun learning with you this week!
