Book Week

 Parade:

Dressed up as a character from a favourite book.

Our Gorgeous Red Group!

Enjoying the Parade

Winner of The Book Week Competition

Both Kindy Classes

Some of our Early Childhood Staff

Term 3 Week 5

 Week 5

We have already hit the middle of Term 3, and would like to congratulate students and families for a wonderful four weeks at school. Time flies when we are having so much fun!

Literacy

Phonics: This week the students are learning the phonic sound Ff and will be busy working on some Ff- Ff-Ff  Father’s Day surprises……ssssh!! Please don’t mention this to Dad!

Our home corner has transformed into a florist’s shop and the children are using their creativity to make flower arrangements and use the language and social skills required for customer service! Dramatic play is very important for children’s development and learning. They can try out roles from familiar family scenes and local community experiences. It enables children to develop their imagination and engage in experiences to make sense of the world they live in.

Sight words: Through the year, Kindy students have a list of 20 high frequency words, which are found in written texts and readers. Children are encouraged to recognise these words without having to ‘figure them out’. They are also referred to as sight words or look and say words. They are : I, am, a, look, mum, dad, is, it, at, in, can, the, we, like, here, see, go, will, to, this…..so far the students have learnt eleven.

This week’s sight word is ‘The’ e.g. Mum is at the school. The sun is hot. The students have enjoyed learning and reviewing these words while reading them in sentences. They have also been observing how to track words in a sentence, from left to right, when reading.  

Story retelling: We have recently been focusing on oral storytelling. This is a great skill to teach children. It gives them the opportunity to build on their oral language skills including speech, vocabulary and grammar. Storytelling encourages a love of reading and stirs a child’s imagination. Exposure to stories provides children with ideas to use when telling their own stories. 

Show and Tell: Our news-telling has been going very well and we have learnt some very interesting facts about various sea creatures.

Top Facts of the week: Dolphins have two ‘tummies’ !!

                                     A blue whale is longer than three buses in a line!

                                     The blue whale’s tongue can be as heavy as an elephant!

Book Week: This year the theme is ‘OLD WORLDS - NEW WORLDS - OTHER WORLDS’. There will be a Dress Up Parade to celebrate Book Week. Students are invited to dress in their favourite book character. This should be simple and done in consultation with your child. The parade will be held on Friday 20th August at 9:00 am. Students could also wear a sign to show what the character is and what book it is from, if not immediately obvious. Parents can attend, however, we ask all family members to support us in social distancing and abiding by current health and safety regulations.

Songs: In Kindy we often teach concepts through music and movement to make learning fun and enjoyable for the children. Learning is optimised when the curriculum is taught through a multi-sensory medium and keeps children motivated and engaged. All Kindy classes have learnt songs for letter sounds, letter formation and number formation. They would love to teach you these songs – just ask them! Keep in mind that we have covered the following sounds - Ss,Aa,Tt,Pp,Ii,Nn,Mm,Rr,Cc,Kk,Hh,Ee,Dd,Ll,Bb,Gg,Ff and numbers 1-15.

Numeracy

Students are focusing on the numbers in the ‘teens’ and will be reviewing numbers 1 to 15 over the next few weeks. We are practising how to accurately count objects and identify that the last number counted answers the question “How many?” We have learnt the maths strategy of counting on, doubling and now we are learning partitioning i.e. splitting a number into smaller units. e.g. 5 can be broken into 3 and 2 or 1 and 4.

The students have continued to amaze us with their progress.  Thank you to all parents for supporting your child at home with their learning. A few minutes each day can make a big difference in your child retaining the concepts taught at school. It is amazing to see all that the children have achieved in such a short space of time!

There are many events taking place at school and we are excitedly looking forward to the next five fantastic weeks in Term 3!

Term 3

 Week 4

We have had a wonderful start to Term 3. The children have been excited to return to school to see their friends and teachers. It has been lovely to see all their smiling faces. Each child has settled quickly into classroom routines and applying what they have learnt in Terms 1 and 2.

Back to School - Five little friends!

Literacy:

In Literacy, we have been reviewing all sounds covered last semester (S,A,T,P,I,N,M,R,C,K,H,E,D). Our new sounds this term are L, B, G, F, W, O and U. We will continue to practise identifying rhyming words and counting syllables in words using our bodies (head=1, shoulders=2, stomach=3, knees=4).

Working in the laundry home corner!

Sight word game.

News Telling:

The Kindy theme for Term 3 is “Commotion in the Ocean” and all learning areas will be integrated to link with this theme. We will be starting our news telling program, using the above topic. Children will bring in an object or picture about something connected to the ocean. We will be learning from each other, hence each child will share some information about their chosen item.

Reading:

We have started Guided Reading in Kindy. The children have been learning about the concept of print, now they will start learning to hold their own book and follow the text with their finger as we read together. Children will also begin to have these books sent home. Please spend some time with your child reading the book. There are questions on the right side of each page that can be used to support your child’s reading and comprehension skills. Please remember that children are not expected to read the book themselves yet, but encourage them to track the words with their pointer finger, as you read aloud and encourage them to join in as they are able. Talking about what is happening in the pictures and what might happen next are great ways of building your child’s understanding of what is being read. It is important that books are returned promptly on the due date to ensure they can be sent home to other students. If you have any questions, please speak to your class teacher.

Numeracy:

We will continue to build on number sense and will continue to work on understanding number lines. Children will find the missing number on a 1 to 10 number line. They have also been learning to identify the number that comes before and after. Children have been introduced to the concept of counting on. This week we will be counting objects into a bucket, e.g. 5 shells, and then count on 6, 7, as we add two more items. Our focus numbers are 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15.

Roll, count and fill your cup.

Pop-it numbers

Science: Experiment - making rain clouds

FMS: The rain didn't stop the Kindy kids from building on their kicking skills!

NAIDOC WEEK

Buddy Fun during NAIDOC week!

Science - Catapults

End of Term 2

 Week 11

As Term Two comes to an end, we would like to congratulate students and their families on a wonderful and very busy term. Please continue to support your child through home practise in the holidays. A few minutes each day can really make a big difference in supporting your child to retain the concepts taught at school this term.

Literacy:

Sounds learnt in Term 1 and Term 2

Ss, Aa, Tt, Pp, Ii, Nn, Mm, Rr, Cc, Kk, Hh, Ee and Dd. 

Holiday revision ideas:

·      Finding things that start with these initial sounds when at home or out and about. Eye Spy is a fun family game that’s great during a car trip. E.g. “I spy with my little eye something that starts with Ss”

·      Practising writing letters, with correct formation, using crayons, textas or paint

·      Reading books together – spotting letters they recognise in the text

·      Activity sheets will be sent home as a guide for parents to support their child’s learning.

Reading: 

The students have loved reading and discussing a range of books at school this term.  We have been learning about some of the parts of a book, such as the cover, title and author, and how to track the words left to right when reading.  We have used clues from the pictures to predict what might happen in the story.

We would like to encourage you to read to your child each day.  Local libraries are a great place to visit and borrow books from. Reading aloud has many benefits for your child’s overall learning and development.  Talk to your child about the story and ask them questions to develop their ability to understand the text.

When reading a book, you can:

·    Ask your child to predict what the story is going to be about by looking only at the cover.

·    Ask your child how a character is feeling and why.

·    Make connections between the book and your child’s experiences. For example, if the story is about a holiday, talk about a holiday that your child may have had and any similarities/differences compared to the text.

·      Expand your child’s vocabulary by talking about any unfamiliar words you read and what they mean.

·      Ask your child to tell you the story of their favourite book. Encourage them to turn the pages as they tell you what’s happening by looking at the pictures.

Numeracy:

In Week 11 we are revising the numbers 1 - 10. We will be practising how to accurately count objects and identify that the last number counted tells us how many. We are also learning to line the numbers up, in the right order, to make a number line.

Some simple activity sheets will be sent home to practise the concepts covered this semester.

Please work with your child to support them with the activities sent home and ask them to identify and order the numbers. Counting aloud and counting items in the house will also develop their number sense.

Fundamental Movement Skills:

In Kindy, we teach and practise a variety of gross motor skills. These skills provide a foundation for movement and support children’s ability to participate in a range of physical activities with skill and confidence. Young children love to move and these skills are easily practised through games and active outdoor play.

Have a happy and safe holiday break. We look forward to seeing everyone from Red Group back in Term 3 on Tuesday 20th July.

Sequencing Daily Routines

Sight Word Swat /Recognition

Sorting Letters & Pictures

Learning Letter Formations