Week 7 & 8
The children are improving their fine motor skills particularly
with hand preference, pencil grip and pressure. We are teaching pencil grip
with Polly Pilot and Peter Pilot flying our pencil plane. They have also
started to use scissors at school and are learning how to cut using the rhyme
“Open shut them, open shut them, give a little snip. Open shut them, open shut
them, go along the track.” Cutting is quite a complex task for a child and
takes time and practice to learn how to use scissors correctly. To ensure
proper scissor grip, have them slide their first two fingers into the long,
oval shaped handle and their thumb into the round one. Children need to be
given opportunities both at home and school to learn this skill …. practice
really does make perfect!
Hand Washing-
To assist the children in implementing healthy habits and in line
with NQS all children must wash their hands before eating, as well as after
toileting, coughing, sneezing or blowing noses. In addition to this, we
encourage you and your child to wash hands upon arrival to school.
Sustainability and Recycling-
In conjunction with our school commitment to sustainability,
we have recycling drop points available to all families. The items that can be
brought into school to be recycled include batteries, plastic lids, dried-up
plastic pens and markers. Please drop these items in class. In addition to this, Room 9 has taken on the
exciting job of managing the school worm farms. Food scraps will be gathered
after eating and fed to the worms.
Kindy Literacy-
This week we will be revising the initial letter
sounds Aa, Ss and Tt, for example, Ant starts with a, Sun starts with s, and
Tiger starts with t. We will continue to focus on name recognition and what
sound our name starts with.
Pre-primary Literacy –
Week 7- we are revising the letters n,
k, e, v. We are working on saying the sounds and blending them
together to read simple words like net, van, set. The sight words we are
reading are; an, has as. We
are also reviewing all golden words.
Week 8- Our focus letters this week are p,j,z,w. The
students are also working on blending sounds together to read short words (cvc
words) eg leg, pig, wet.
Syllables- All students have been
engaged in a number of hands on syllable
activities. The ability to correctly break a word down into
syllable chunks helps readers decode large or unfamiliar words. Breaking words
into syllables can also help students with their spelling. Revise this skill at
home with your child by saying words and asking your child to tell you how many
syllables the word has. I.e. car/rot=2 syllables, pear= 1 syllable, ba/na/na= 3 syllables.
Kindy Numeracy-
This week we will focus on the number four. The
students will continue focusing on the collection of dots on a dice, without
counting. They will also practise to orally count in order starting at one.
Pre-primary Numeracy-
Week 7- In Numeracy, the students continue to review
numbers 1-10. Children are required to read and write these numbers as well as
identify numbers that come before or after a given number. Our focus number
is 13.
Week 8- Numero- the students will gradually be
introduced to the fun maths game Numero. This game assists learning of mental
maths strategies.
Our focus number for this week is 14.
Kindy’s Home Folders-
Each child is taking home a folder with letters for children to use at home to
reinforce learning that has been taught in class. Each child is required to
practice these concepts at home regularly for a short time each day and return
them to school weekly (Blue- Monday’s/Red- Tuesday’s). The teacher will then
review them and add more letters to the bag. Please leave them in there, so we
know which letters they are continuing to practise.
Pre-primary’s Home Folders-
Each child is taking home a folder sight words for children to use
at home to reinforce learning that has been taught in class. The teacher will
then review them and add more sight words. Some children have also been given a
few tricky letters to practise. The sight word strip books can stay at home for
reading. In addition to these this week, the children will be taking home a
home reader. Each child is required to practice these concepts at home
regularly for a short time each day and return them to school weekly (Girls- Wednesday’s/Boys-
Thursday’s).
Pre-primary On Entry testing-
All testing is now complete. You will receive the results of
this assessment during parent interviews in Week 10.
Websites-
We have had a number
of parents asking for recommended educational websites. The following is a
small selection that you may wish to view. The important thing to remember when
engaging your child in any online game or app, is to sit with your child and participate
with them. Use such resources as a learning opportunity.
Better Beginnings
Better Beginnings and the State Library of Western Australia
provide access to a number of great online resources for kids.
These are free with your local WA public library card or
State Library card!
Starfall
Some free games for letter sounds and simple texts to read.
Some areas require a subscription.
ICT Games
Free literacy and numeracy games. Also available apps that
can be purchased.
