Week Five

We have already hit the middle of Term 3, and we would like to congratulate the children and families for a wonderful four weeks at school. The children have continued to amaze us with their progress. Please continue to support your child through home practice. A few minutes each day can really make a big difference in supporting your child to retain the concepts taught at school. 

Literacy 

Phonics: This week the children have been learning the phonic sound Ff as in Fish starts with Ff, Ff, Ff – Football starts with Ff, Ff, Ff – Fire starts with Ff, Ff, Ff.   

Don’t mention this to dad, but we will also be busy working on some Ff-Ff-Ff Father’s Day surprises……ssssh!! 

Our home corner has been transformed into a florist’s shop and the children will use their creativity to make flower arrangements and use the language and social skills required for customer service!  

Dramatic play is very important for children’s development and learning. They can try out roles from familiar family scenes and local community experiences. It enables children to develop their imagination and engage in experiences to make sense of the world they live in. 

Links to the Early Years Learning Framework: 

(4.4:2 Staff promote each child’s ability to develop and maintain relationships.)  

1:1 Children feel safe, secure and supported. 

2:3 Children become aware of fairness. 

3:1 Children become strong in their social and emotional well being 

4:1 Children develop dispositions for learning, such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity and commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity. 

5:1 Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes. 

Sight words 

Through the year, Kindy students have a list of 20 high frequency words, which are found in written texts and readers. Children are encouraged to recognise these words without having to ‘figure them out’. They are sometimes referred to as sight words or look and say words. 

This week’s sight word is ‘The’ e.g. Mum is at the school. The sun is hot. 

The children have enjoyed learning and reviewing these words while reading them in sentences. They have also been observing how to track words in a sentence, from left to right, when reading. The children have also been using clues from pictures to predict what some words might be. 

Numeracy 

The children are focusing on the numbers in the teens and this week the number is 15. We will be practising how to accurately count objects and identify that the last number counted answers the question “How many?”. We are also learning to place numbers in the right order, to make a number line.  

Book Week

This year the theme is ‘CURIOUS CREATURES – WILD MINDS’. In order to celebrate Book Week. Children are invited to dress in their favourite book character. This should be simple and done in consultation with your child. This year due to COVID restrictions, we will be conducting two book week parades. 

Red Group, on the bike track in front of the Kindy classrooms. The parade will be held on Tuesday 25 August. 

Blue Group, with K-1 children for the school parade. The parade will be held on Thursday 27 August. 

If possible, children could wear/hold a sign to show what the character is and what book it is from, if not immediately obvious. Parents are invited to attend, however, we ask all family members to support us in social distancing and abiding by current health and safety regulations. 

Sports practice

We have been having a great time learning and practising many new team games for our tabloid sports which will be held on Wednesday 2^nd September. Please watch this space for further information. 

 

Show and Tell

Our news telling has been going very well and we have learnt some very interesting facts about various sea creatures. 

 

National Quality Standard 

Introduction

The National Quality Standard (NQS) has been formulated by the Australian government. It is used to guide all staff working with children in the early childhood sector.  

The K-2 team at Wattle Grove Primary School have been exploring and reflecting upon the NQS throughout the year.  

If you would like to find out more information about the NQS, please have a look at the website:   

https://www.acecqa.gov.au/nqf/national-quality-standard 

 

Quality Area 2: Children’s Health and Safety    

All staff promote and implement effective hygiene practices at Wattle Grove Primary School.  

In each of the classrooms, hygiene posters are referred to by teachers and children to ensure good hygiene practices are maintained.  

 

Some of these hygiene practices include:    

Children washing hands with soap and water when hands are visibly dirty. 

Children washing hands with soap and water before and after eating. 

Children washing hands after going to the toilet.  

Children coughing and sneezing with a tissue or bent elbow, disposing of used tissues immediately and washing hands. 

 

Here is a Handwashing Song by the Wiggles that reinforces the importance of handwashing for children.   

Have a lovely week.