Reading: 

For our fairy tale unit, students have been diving into literary investigations of favourite fairy tales. Last week, students read Little Red Riding hood and unpacked the story features through retelling, characters, setting, problem/solution and beginning, middle and end. This week, students explored the same features but with the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk. Students also got to attend a live performance of fairy tales from the Flying Bookworm Theatre Company which was so such a great experience for the preps!

Writing: 

The creativity and confidence from students during writing has been amazing! Students have begun extending their ideas through the conjunction 'because'. Students use this conjunction to explain the characters actions, the setting and events in the story. Preps are also using adjectives (or as we call them 'what like' words) to describe the characters and settings in our favourite fairy tales. 

Directed Discovery  WEEKS 6-7

At ACPS, Directed Discovery gives students a platform to learn through play, experimenting with their ideas, engaging in social play, and following their curiosity. Teachers guide and question when needed, supporting oral language development while helping students grow as curious thinkers, collaborators, contributors, questioners, self-managers, and researchers.

This fortnight, students are in the creating stage of their projects. They are demonstrating teamwork and collaborating to build on what they gathered during their investigations, using creativity to bring their ideas to life. 

As Vygotsky reminds us, play is not merely a repetition of a child’s experiences but a creative transformation of the impressions they have gathered.

NUMERACY WEEKS 6-7

This fortnight in numeracy students have been practising addition strategies. One of the lessons focused on number bonds, where students explored how two parts can come together to make a whole and how a whole can be broken into two parts. They used concrete materials and tens frames to represent addition stories, using language like “First I have… then I add… now I have altogether…” to explain their thinking. Students also practised counting on from the largest number in a problem to find the total, and used the part-part-whole model to organise their collections and explain their answers.

Alongside addition, students explored data and how information can be collected, organised, and compared. They gathered real world data, such as the types of vehicles passing our school gates or the colours of shoes in the classroom, and represented their results using drawings, tallies, and graphs. Students then practised interpreting the data using language like most, least, and equal. For example, they noticed “More cars passed than buses". Comparing their results with another class encouraged them to think about why outcomes might differ depending on time or context. These activities helped students see how maths connects to the real world. 

Reading: 

We've started a brand literacy new unit this term being 'Fairy Tales'. Students spent week 4 being immersed into the text features of narratives being characters, setting, problem/solutions and describing the fairy tales's beginning, middle and end. This week, preps have focused on the text '3 little pigs' and used their knowledge of narratives to become experts on the story. 

Writing: 

Students were very creative this fortnight especially when unpacking the '3 little pigs'. Students completed writing tasks like designing a "wolf-proof" setting, unpacking the internal traits of characters, identifying their favourite parts of the story and sequencing the books beginning, middle and end. Tune in for the next few weeks where we will look at the fairytales 'Little Red Riding Hood' and 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. 

DIRECTED DISCOVERY WEEKS 4-5

This term, students have been exploring their own interests through play and turning these into exciting inquiry projects. Each child chose a topic they were curious about and then joined with classmates who had similar interests. Together, they discussed ideas and developed thoughtful questions to guide their learning.

With their questions ready, students used technology to research and find answers. They learned how to safely search on Google and watch videos that connected to their topics. For example, our “fighter jet group” investigated how jets fly and what makes them unique.

Along the way, students have been building important skills such as working collaboratively, asking meaningful questions, and using technology safely and responsibly. It has been wonderful to see their curiosity, teamwork, and problem-solving shine through this inquiry journey!

NUMERACY WEEKS 4-5

This fortnight in numeracy has seen students practising their counting forwards and backwards from different starting points. They used dice to determine how far we had to count and use number lines to track out counting forwards and backwards. Students are also working on identifying numbers that come before and after. This is an important skill and would be great to practise at home, so feel free to this with your child.

Students also explored the concept of preposition and using appropriate language to describe the location of an object when compared to another. We used unifix blocks to explain the different locations, like

• in front

• above

• next to

• behind

• below 

• in between 

Students played 'battleships' with a partner. Here we had to give instructions to our partner so that they could move through the obstacle, avoiding the monsters, and arrive safely to the base. It was fantasitc to hear students using the vocabulary to help thier partner through the obstacle course.

NUMERACY WEEKS 1-3

A big focus at the beginning of this term has been ordinal numbers. Students have been counting forwards and backwards from different starting points. Students were immersed in activities that involved ordinal numbers like having a race, playing card games and ordering objects. Counting collections has continued this term where students are also being challenged to identify the numbers before and after their total. 

Students have also been busy exploring shapes and counting through a range of engaging activities. They learned to identify open and closed shapes, curved and straight lines, and explored the number of sides and corners using real pictures and materials like playdough and shape cut outs. They practiced spotting the odd shape out in groups and compared shapes such as squares and rectangles to notice similarities and differences. Alongside this, students developed their counting skills and understanding of positional language by describing race positions using terms like first, second, and third, and manipulating toys to match ordinal positions. They used their shape knowledge creatively by designing pictures with the shapes they had learned. It’s been wonderful to see their confidence and curiosity grow through these activities.

DIRECTED DISCOVERY WEEKS 1-3

Directed Discovery has had a fantastic start this term!
Students have been busy exploring new materials and using their imaginations to play and create as they begin their learning journey.

They started by reflecting on what they did during the holidays and have been asking questions, working together, and discovering more about things that interest them — including animals, places, jobs, and our community. They are now off on an exciting journey of exploring and investigating the world around them!

We’ve also been very proud of how responsible they’ve been — sharing, using toys safely, and helping clean up the classroom. Well done, everyone!