In Reading in Term 1, students will be starting to learn the "beginning behaviours of reading" such as tracking their finger on the page, the difference between letters, words and sentences as well as developing their knowledge of sounds that make up words. 

In our "Beginning Behaviours of Reading Unit" students will explore a range of different books and texts where they engage in their learning through a hands on approach. 

Each day they will be learning new letters of the alphabet through the story "Milo Monkey's Birthday Surprise" and practise reading, writing, making and speaking the sounds of these letters.

All students will be given a set of "Magic Words" which are high frequency words in their reading. Learning these words helps with students fluency and comprehension when they are reading.

To practise these skills at home, you can read a range of different texts and encourage your child to point to words as you read together, turn the pages themselves, identify different letters, words and sentences and even practise finding some "Magic Words" from their reader. 

In Writing, students will start to learn the "beginning behaviours of writing" such as holding the pencil properly, make marks on paper and lines, as well as writing letters using the correct formation. 

During Writing Time, students will create and learn the "expectations of a writer", and practise during writing time the traits of a writer.
These can include:
- Sitting down properly at their table during work time
- Holding the pencil correctly
- Using their THRASS chart and letter chart to help with sound knowledge

Students will also have dedicated time to add to their Writers Notebook. **Please see the bottom of this page for an explanation of what this is.**

Furthermore, we will continue to use the THRASS chart to build an understanding of letter-sound knowledge. As well as exploring the spelling patterns of the "MAGIC Words" to assist their spelling and writing growth.

At home, you can help your child develop their writing by giving them time to practise holding a pencil each day. You can write down magic words, write letters of the alphabet or even practise copying sentences you write for them. You can also print pictures and find mementos from different adventures for their Writer's Notebook.

In Term 1, students will focus on developing their core understanding and foundation skills of numbers. We begin with small collections, examining 0 to 5 and then 5 to 10, and explore this through songs, stories and lots of ‘hands on’ materials (blocks, teddies, paddle pop sticks etc). 

It is imperative that our students have a solid and deep understanding of these smaller numbers (e.g knowing that ‘8’ can be made by 4 and 4, 6 and 2 etc) before they work with larger numbers, which will in turn allow them to have a more comprehensive skill set as mathmaticians! 

In Prep, we count, tally and record each day at school and work towards our ‘100 Days’. This process of counting, representing and comparing numbers each day is very tangible and the students get very excited as we work towards the milestone each and every day! 

This term in Mathematics, as well as our main focus on counting and number, we will also be exploring collecting and sorting simple data. Students will answer simple 'Yes/No' questions, collecting and recording their classes' responses.

This term the Preps will be exploring History! We will be using "Family" as the key topic for our learning. Students will share and who is in their family, discuss special traditions in their family and culture as well as compare different family structures in the classroom. This real life learning, gives students a chance to develop their knowledge of families both past and present and how families have changed over time.

Additionally, later on in the term we will be celebrating "Harmony Day!" Harmony Day a celebration of our cultural diversity – a day of cultural respect for everyone who calls Australia home. 

To begin Term 1, all Prep students will complete a 5 day program named CHAMPS (Creating Harmony at Mitcham Primary School) with many team building, fun and engaging activites that are aimed to connect our students to their peers and to learn the importance of our four school values; Kindess, Respect, Resilience and Love of Learning. 

Our Prep students will learn about 'Mitchcoins' which are special reward tokens that are distributed when we see our school values demonstrated by our students. Once earned by individual students, we then collect our total amount of Mitchcoins as a whole school which then provide us with rewards that we share! Rewards that we have shared as a school before have included additional play time, special event days (e.g Pyjama Day) and Movie Time! 

In Term 1, we have a focus on learning about the 'Zones of Regulation' (please see the information below) and are learning about all the different feelings and emotions that we can have! We will introduce Kimochis as a tool to talk about, and describe the range of different feelings and to develop positive coping skills!

This Term, the Prep students will be learning how to be safe online through the 'Cyber Safety Project' and access different platforms. 

For more information about the Cyber Safety Project click below:

https://cybersafetyproject.com.au/

In Term 3, our focus will be exploring and discussing the importance of using the S.T.O.P strategy to think about how we feel and what actions to take if we feel negative emotions online and the different platforms and about how we can all make good, smart choices online. 

At school, the students have been busy creating a cover for their very own "Writer's Notebook" and we would love your help!

What is a writer’s notebook?
Writers notebook is a tool for helping our students grow into lifelong writers. It is where students capture observations, reactions, ideas, questions, memories, quotes, sketches, lists, or snippets of language. It is a place to experiment, collect, and hold on to thinking.

How can you help?
We would love your assistance in helping your child to begin to create their writers notebook. Items such as pictures of family or holidays, tickets of experiences, special tokens (eg. A leaf from a favourite park) as well as any items small and flat enough to fit in a book are great for a writing ideas.

If you could please send in anything that would help your child brainstorm an idea for writing, that would be fantastic. We will send weekly reminders for items to go in their writers notebook as they will be an ongoing resource we use in our classroom.

As always, please reach out to your child’s teacher if you have any questions or need pictures printed.