Week 3 Learning Focus

Dear Prep Families,

Here is an outline of what the preps have been learning about this week:

Maths
'Ten New Preps' challenge (if there were ten new preps coming to the school, how many might be boys and how many might be girls?) Making 10 with two numbers (number facts, eg, 6 and 4 make 10).

Inquiry
How can we make a special space for our inquiry monster? (Comfort monster, nature monster, building monster)

Writing
Letter writing: the students wrote a letter to their inquiry monster asking them questions about what they would like when they stay with us.
Feelings about circus - writing the sentence 'I am feeling _____ about circus tonight.'

Reading
Story sequencing: ordering the events in a story.
Shared reading experiences and discussion of useful strategies for reading such as using the initial sound, getting your knowledge ready, making predictions and repetition.

Thanks,
The Prep Team

Crazy circus hair

Some lovely parents have offered to provide Preps with colourful hairspray. It will be from 6.20 in the year 5/6 neighbourhood (portable located near the oval)

If you would like to assist with this, please provide one can and add your name to the sign up sheet on the parent notice board.

Not long now til opening night! We are looking forward to the show.

The Prep team

P.S. A brief reminder about the circus night details:
Tuesday night: Prep M and Prep H
Wednesday night: Prep E

Preps are to wear all black and shoes that they can easily take on and off themselves (they will not be wearing them on stage and will need to be stored by teachers)

If you do not wish to participate in the crazy hair, the drop off time is 6:30 at the 5/6 portables which are on the opposite side of the oval to the gym.

We got mail!

During Inquiry time today, some excited Preps visited Julie in the office to receive a mysterious letter. The letters were addressed to the three inquiry groups. The children discussed what they thought the monster might look like and recorded it in their writing books. All three monsters mentioned something in particular which had us all intrigued....

I'm looking for a special space to stay in during the school holidays....

Circus Tickets

Dear Parents/Carers,

Circus tickets for next week will be sent home today based on the ticket request form that was sent out a week ago. A special thank you to Marni, Tase, Eleonora and Flynn in Prep for their delightful ticket designs. Anyone who doesn't receive tickets today can see Julie in the office on Monday or Tuesday.

Numbers to the Tuesday performance, in particular, are extremely high, so we ask that anyone attending this performance night is a parent, grandparent or sibling. Children must not take seats until all adults are seated and any PHPS children who are not performing will need to be seated on the floor at the front of the gymnasium. All teachers will be actively supervising their home groups so supervision of children not performing needs to be met by parents please.

All performers must be dressed in black and they are encouraged to wear light footwear as these need to be stored by each home group teacher (logistically challenging!)

All performers need to be at school by 6:30 pm. I will email  information on drop off and pick up places for your child on Monday.

We encourage parents to be seated by 6.45pm to enjoy the pre-show entertainment.

Regards
Kerri Gibson

Scooters and bikes

All scooters and bikes at school need to be locked up in the bike storage area during the day.

Thankyou kindly
 

Census Permission Form

This afternoon, a form was sent home regarding the Australian Early Development Census. If you do not consent to your child taking part, return this form to the office as soon as possible.

Many thanks,

The Prep Team

Week 2 Happenings

Monday

•  Circus Skills Workshop

Tuesday

• Learning Agreement
• Italian – Prep H/Prep E
• PE/Sport – Prep M/ Prep H

  Visual Art – Prep E/ Prep M

Wednesday

• Learning Agreement

Thursday

• Learning Agreement
• Buddy Time
• Italian- Prep M
• PE- Prep E
• Visual Art- Prep H

 Friday 

• Inquiry groups
• Visit the School Library (max. of 2 books borrowed per child)
• Help your child to change their take home book from the Junior school library.
• Assembly 3 - 3.30pm in the Gym (pick up from the Prep neighbourhood)

Assembly pick up

Please note that from Friday (24^th April) prep students will return to their neighbourhood after assembly.

 

Please collect your child from the neighbourhood at 3:30pm. 

Buddy Time

The Preps have continued to enjoy Buddy time on a Thursday afternoon.

We had 4 focuses for this week:

1. Developing their ICT skills on the laptops
2. Reading stories together
3. Practicing circus skills; Year 5 buddies helped give the Preps some tips to improve performance of skill.
4. Creating a story together using the comic strip format.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learning Agreement Week 1

An update what the children have been up to during Learning Agreement time.


In the Learning Commons:

• Children have been drawing and labelling the features of their favourite animals. There is shelf of animal books to search for information.
•  Handwriting practice - upper and lower case
• Word making using magnetic letters (and word ends that we haveat, ay, it, ot, ow)
• Create a habitat for an animal - children need to think about what the animal they have chose needs for survival. 

In the Art Studio,

• Monster character painting
• Giant collaborative monster drawing
• Monster comic strip drawing and writing 

 In the Maths/Performance space:

• Practising writing their numbers on the whiteboard
• Counting collections of up to 20 monsters
• Matching collections of things to the correct numeral
• Exploring shape using tangram puzzles
• They also had the opportunity to learn a Turkish song with Adam L's mum Aysen

At the end of Learning Agreement, there has been a celebration of all the fantastic learning. We meet as a Neighbourhood in the Maths/Performance space and project photos onto the screen. This week, some children were chosen to present their fantastic pieces of work to the neighbourhood.

Monster Goals

This week we are sending home monster goals. These are goals that we have noticed that your child would benefit from practicing at home (or it may be a goal that your child has chosen for themselves).

We will be sending a goal home each week and our resident artist Hilary will endeavour to make a new monster each time (to keep things interesting).

You may like to display this somewhere in the house so that you can refer them to it and also to celebrate achievement.

You will find these goals slipped inside their Readers' Notebook pouch on a Friday. 

Inquiry Workshop - Habitat

What is strange about this picture?

• Polar bears are meant to be in cold places
• Polar bears have no camouflage in the desert
• Polar bears would be too hot in the desert with their fur coat
• No fish in the desert for them to eat
• They can't survive in the desert.
• No water to drink, no water for their food (fish) to swim in.
• Too sandy there, they live where it is very cold with ice and snow

The Preps participated in a workshop with a focus on habitat. We discussed why the picture of the polar bear was strange and recorded our ideas. We then listed the reasons that the Polar Bear is suited to its habitat; the Arctic Circle.

The children worked in pairs to design a habitat for a particular animal.

Exploring Shape

This week in maths, the preps have been exploring shape. First, we used the tangram puzzles to make pictures out of shapes and designed a shape monster. We then went outside to find shapes in our environment or make some in the sandpit, for example, the roof of the playground is a triangle.

Teddy bears' picnic

The last day of Term 1 was filled with excitement as we prepared for the Teddy Bears' picnic. Thank goodness it didn't end up raining and we could continue as planned!

Thank you to all the family and friends of the Prep Neighbourhood who helped make the Teddy Bears Picnic such a special day.

Week 1 Happenings

Monday

•  Circus Skills Workshop

Tuesday

• Learning Agreement
• Italian – Prep H/Prep E
• PE/Sport – Prep M/ Prep H

  Visual Art – Prep E/ Prep M

Wednesday

• Learning Agreement

Thursday

• Learning Agreement
• Buddy Time
• Italian- Prep M
• PE- Prep E
• Visual Art- Prep H

 Friday 

• Inquiry groups
• Visit the School Library (max. of 2 books borrowed per child)
• Help your child to change their take home book from the Junior school library.
• Assembly 3 - 3.30pm in the Gym

ACTION REQUIRED: Circus Forms

Please fill in the circus performance attendance form and return to your child's home group teacher as soon as possible.

Many thanks,
The Prep Team