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Sunday, 31 May 2015

Prep Assembly this Friday!

Just a reminder that the Prep Neighbourhood will be sharing their learning from our inquiry at assembly this Friday. Assembly is in the gym at 3:00pm to 3:25pm. We hope you can make it!

Wednesday, 27 May 2015

Celebrating the learning

 
Here are some children sharing their work from Learning Agreement with the Neighbourhood this morning.
 
Well done on a fantastic effort!
 


Call out for recycled materials!

Dear Parents, as the neighbourhood is preparing the three different spaces for three different monsters to live in comfortably during the holidays, we are steadily designing and working towards constructing cubbies, toys, food and other materials the monsters will need. This will require some recycled materials and eventually some keen parent helpers. We will be putting up a list of recycled items that we need on the parent notice board tomorrow (Newspaper is always handy). Meanwhile, if parents are interested in working with a small group of children to cook with, plant seedlings with or create a cardboard cubby this would be a great experience that would enhance the inquiry learning in the upcoming weeks. If you are interested or want to know more you can speak to Hilary, Maddy or Elizabeth any time. Thank you again to parents who have been helping out in the neighbourhood so far, we have all enjoyed your presence and support. The Prep team.

Happenings in Learning Agreement!

Learning Agreement this week has been targeted at the monster inquiry. Each inquiry group is planning and preparing for when the monsters visit during the holidays.


Tuesday, 26 May 2015

Late/Early Slips

Dear Prep Families,

Just a gentle reminder that if your child arrives at school after 9am, you must get a late slip from the office and hand it to your child's homegroup teacher.

Also if you are picking up your child from school early, you must hand the early slip to your child's homegroup teacher before picking up your child.

Thanks,
The Prep Team

Monday, 25 May 2015

Week 7 Learning Focus

Here are this weeks learning focuses so that you can support your child at home:

Maths
  • Language of measurement - comparison of length and mass
  • Doubling - lead to skip counting
  • Simple addition strategies
  • Writing number words

Writing
  • Sentence structure. (Capital at beginning, separating words with two finger space and full stop at the end).
  • Fire safety book - for their inquiry monster to use over the holidays.
  • Learning agreement reflection - with attention to their writing goals and sentence structure workshop
  • Recount of fire brigade visit.


Reading
  • Strategies for reading: Using illustration, following the repetition, getting your knowledge ready, using the initial sound and making predictions.
  • Guided reading: Small group reading with teacher.
  • Word Hunt: searching for words with the same letter patterns in books eg- 'th' 'sh' 'ch'

Inquiry:
  • Determining project groups with a particular focus for their inquiry group. Working collaboratively with their group to create what the monster requires of the holidays.
  • Wellbeing focus - Teaching their monster 'How to make new friends in the Neighbourhood'. It can be tricky joining in with new people at lunchtime and recess.

Thanks,
The Prep Team

Comfort Group Lanterns

During Learning Agreement today, the comfort group made lanterns with Jane. We decided to make lanterns, because we discovered that the Comfort Monster is afraid of the dark! We used skewers, tape, baking paper and glue. The lanterns will be painted on Friday this week.
 

 A big thank you to Jane for volunteering!
 The Prep Team

Premiers Reading Challenge

If your child would like to participate in the Premiers Reading Challenge, ask your child's home group teacher for a form.

If you would like to find out more about it visit the link below:

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/events/prc/Pages/default.aspx?Redirect=1



Our 2nd Fire Brigade Visit

The Fire fighters from Carlton Fire Brigade returned for another visit today. They were with us for about 15 minutes and they were called to a fire and had to leave.

Luckily, the Preps were fantastic listeners and there was enough time to learn a few more things:
  • We revisited 'CRAWL DOWN LOW and GO GO GO!'
  • We learnt what to do if you crawl to a door and it feels hot - go to the window and call for help.
  • We learnt what to do if there is fire on your clothes 'STOP, DROP, COVER YOUR FACE and ROLL'
  • We saw what the fire fighters look like in their complete fire suit - in the dark they might look and sound like a scary monster. It is important not to be scared and to know that they are there to rescue you from the danger. 

The fire fighters came back after recess and we got to do the fun stuff - go in the fire truck and use the hose!

 
 

Week 7 Happenings

Monday
  • Fire Brigade visit
  • Reading, Writing and Maths workshops
Tuesday
  • Learning Agreement
  • Italian: Prep H and E
  • Physical Education: Prep M and H
  • Art: Prep E and M

 
Wednesday
  • Learning Agreement
  • Reading, Writing and Mathematics workshops
Thursday
  • Learning Agreement
  • Italian: Prep M
  • Physical education: Prep E
  • Art: Prep H 
 Friday 
  • Inquiry groups
  • Library
  • Singing
  • Assembly 3 - 3.30pm in the Gym (pick up from the Prep neighbourhood)

Thursday, 21 May 2015

Walk to school day

Tomorrow is Walk to School day.

Walk Safely to School Day (WSTSD) is an annual, national event when all Primary School children will be encouraged to walk and commute safely to school.

The objectives of WSTSD are:
  • To encourage parents and carers to walk to school with primary school age children and reinforce safe pedestrian behaviour.
  • To promote the health benefits of walking and help create regular walking habits at an early age.
  • To ensure that children up to 10 years old hold an adult's hand when crossing the road.
  • To help children develop the vital road-crossing skills they will need as they become mature pedestrians.
  • To reduce the car dependency habits that are being created at an early age and which will be difficult to change as children become adults.
  • To promote the use of Public Transport.
  • To reduce the level of air pollution created by motor vehicles.
  • To reduce the level of traffic congestion.

Wednesday, 20 May 2015

Fire Brigade visit

On Monday, the Preps were thrilled to have a visit from some fire fighters in our community.

They learnt about:
- Safe fires and unsafe fires
- Smoke alarms
- Crawl down low and go go go!
- Safe meeting places
- Calling 000

The Preps are all looking forward to their visit on Monday.

Image result for fire brigade

WALKATHON

Congratulations to all participants in the Walkathon.

A big thankyou to all parents who helped out.

The race is now on for the pizza party! Get your money in as soon as you can!

Image result for walking shoes Image result for pizza




Animation!

The children have begun to use the iPads for animating instructions for their monsters. The animations show step by step how to build a character with blocks. We have been very impressed how well the students communicate with each other to create a movie. Some have also been challenging themselves to take more than 50 photos!

Tuesday, 19 May 2015

Learning Agreement Happenings!

This week in our Learning Agreement time there has been a lot of activity!


Monday, 18 May 2015

Week 6 Learning Focus

Here are this weeks learning focuses so that you can support your child at home:

Maths
  • Odd and even numbers
  • Doubling a number
  • Number hunting - seeing numbers in books
  • Writing number words

Writing
  • Sentence structure. (Capital at beginning, separating words with two finger space and full stop at the end).
  • Describing a friend "A good friend is ____ and _______." 
  • Fire brigade recount
  • Introduction of writing goals


Reading
  • Strategies for reading: Using illustration, following the repetition, getting your knowledge ready, using the initial sound and making predictions.
  • Guided reading: Small group reading with teacher.
  • Shared reading experience followed by a Visible Thinking Routine - Colour Symbol Image 
  • Word Hunt: searching for words with the same letter patterns in books eg- 'oo' and 'ee'

Inquiry
  • Wellbeing focus - Teaching a monster 'How to be a good friend '. 

Thanks,
The Prep Team

Parent Helpers Needed.


Hello parents if you are able to help the children next week during Learning Agreement we would love to have you in the neighbourhood. Put your name down on our parent notice board and let your home group teacher know so we can discuss what you will be doing. Thank you!

Sunday, 17 May 2015

Week 6 Happenings

Monday
  • Fire Brigade visit
  • Learning Agreement Skill Workshops
Tuesday
  • Walkathon
 
Wednesday
  • Learning Agreement
Thursday
  • Learning Agreement
 Friday 
  • Inquiry groups
  • Singing
  • Assembly 3 - 3.30pm in the Gym (pick up from the Prep neighbourhood)

Thursday, 14 May 2015

Sand pit toys

 
Dear Parents
 
Our sandpit toy trucks and shovels are put away after recess each day.
 
A gentle reminder to please ensure that our sandpit toys are to be left in the Prep Neighbourhood courtyard and not used after 2.30pm. There have been a number of occasions that they are left out over night. The children love these toys and we wouldn't want any to be taken.
 
Many thanks,
The Prep Team

Walkathon!

Dear parents and carers, A reminder that next Tuesday, 19th May is our annual Walkathon. Please ensure that your child has appropriate footwear and attire for the day, in addition to a named water bottle. You are more than welcome to join the children on their laps. The Walkathon commences at 12.15pm, with a break at 1:00pm. Children will resume walking at 1.15pm and finish at 2:00pm. The picnic will commence at 2:00pm. Could all parents/carers who have offered their services to help with serving afternoon tea meet in the staffroom on Tuesday at 1.15. There you will sort the muffins and fruit into trays for each home group. If you have offered to bring a picnic rug can you please arrive by 1.50. Students in years 3-6 will have their picnic on the back oval, students in prep-2 on the mini oval. Fingers crossed for a lovely May day! Kind regards, Anne-Maree Seccull, Geoff Ratcliffe and Hannah Rother-Gelder

Monday, 11 May 2015

Monster Pizza!

The preps have been thinking about what food their inquiry Monsters would like to eat over the holidays and have started writing ingredients and procedural texts for Monster Pizzas! Below are some examples of the first pizzas to be written and made out of clay. After this the children then began to finalize their pizza recipe to accurately include how many of each ingredient on their pizza eg. 8 eyeballs!

Week 5 Learning Focus

These are this weeks learning focuses so that you can support your child at home:

Maths
Counting on: Challenging themselves to count on from a number that they don't normally count from. Representing an amount: Choosing ingredients for their monster pizza and listing number of each ingredient.

Writing
Question writing: Meaningful questions. What is the intent behind the question asking? Brainstorm of questioning words.
Letter writing: Draft and good copy of a letter to their inquiry monster.
Reflection writing: Learning Agreement. What experiences did they participate in? What are they the most proud of?

Reading
Strategies for reading: Using illustration, following the repetition, getting your knowledge ready, using the initial sound and making predictions.
Guided reading: Small group reading with teacher.
Word hunt: Counting how many times a particular high frequency word is read in a book. (eg - and, the)

Inquiry
How can we find out what the monster needs to make a comfortable space for them?

Thanks,
The Prep Team

Week 5 Happenings

Monday
  • Learning Agreement Skill Workshops
Tuesday
 
All Prep home groups have
  • Italian
  • PE/Sport
  • Visual Art
 
Wednesday
  • Learning Agreement
Thursday
  • Learning Agreement
  • Buddy Time
 Friday 
  • Inquiry groups
  • Singing
  • Assembly 3 - 3.30pm in the Gym (pick up from the Prep neighbourhood)

Monday, 4 May 2015

Week 4 Learning Focus

Dear prep families,

Here are this weeks learning focuses so that you can support your prep child at home:

Maths - Mapping. The students are beginning to use language to describe the position of things, for example left/right, next to, underneath. We have also been looking at simple maps with the aim of creating a space for our monster.

Writing and reading - The preps have been exploring the elements of a procedural text, for example a recipe or lego instructions. We will move towards creating instructions for the monster during his stay so that he can learn new things from the preps.

Inquiry - What will the monster need for his stay?

Thanks,
The Prep Team