PRIMARY CLASSROOM NEWS

FOUNDATION

Dear Foundation Parents,

Welcome back to Term two! The Foundation students returned to school well rested and eager to learn. They have settled back into their school routine and have already been up to some exciting things.

So far, one of the highlights this Term was meeting our Year 6 buddies. Each Friday our Foundation students are visited by their buddies and spend time getting to know each other, as well as engaging in activities together.

Another highlight was preparing our Mother’s Day gifts. The students thoroughly enjoyed decorating their frame and personalising cards for their special person.

In English, we have continued to learn the letters of the alphabet, including the sounds they make, as well as words that begin with each sound. This term saw the introduction of “special friends” also known as “digraphs”. Special friends are two letters that make one sound when together; For example, “sh, th and ch”. When reading with your child, encourage them to identify familiar sounds or special friends they notice in words. Images in books provide great prompts to help work out tricky words.

Don’t forget to sign off on your child’s home reading in their yellow journal, as well as ensuring the completion of their Reading Eggspress tasks each week.

In Mathematics, the students began the Term learning about the numbers to twenty. Teen numbers are always exciting; when we turn thirteen, we become a teenager. Some students find the difference between ‘teen’ and ‘ty’ a little confusing; make sure that your child is pronouncing the difference between numbers such as ‘thirteen’ and ‘thirty’ correctly. The students have also begun to notice patterns in the way that these numbers are written: one one (11), one two (12), one three (13), one four (14), one five (15) and so on. The students are also becoming familiar with the idea that numbers are organised into groups of ten. They are noticing that fifteen is made of one group of ten and five more.

Fractions have been introduced with an emphasis on halves. Your child should be able to explain that creating halves means making two pieces or groups. The pieces or groups should be the same size or equal. Half can be written as a word, half or number, ½. Look for ways that your child can notice halves at home. Can you read half a book, cut a sandwich in half, eat half a pizza?

Currently the students are exploring the measurement of length. They are using words to compare length. The green caterpillar is longer than the red caterpillar. The yellow caterpillar is the longest. Can your child put objects in order from the shortest to the longest? Can they use sentences to describe the relative lengths of the objects?

For our Integrated Studies unit ‘People Live in Places’, students have been learning the concept of ‘place’. We looked at what a place is, such as Parks, Shopping Centres, Hospitals etc. what these places are used for, what makes them special and how we can look after them. During our Inquiry sessions, students had the opportunity to walk around the school and take photographs using iPads of different ‘places’ at our school and how we can take care of them. The students have really enjoyed learning about places, especially those that are important to them, such as their classroom, their home, the Library, the park and play centres.

For those celebrating, we hope you had a happy, peaceful and blessed Eid.