Week Six

We are half-way through Term 2 and Monday the 1st of June is a Public holiday! Enjoy the long weekend together and maybe explore something special about WA, which the children can incorporate into their news telling.

We have had such a great week exploring the initial phonic sound ‘kicking’ Kk. It was a week of kites, kicking kangaroos, King’s crowns, Kids in the kitchen and more. Kk is a ‘tricky’ sound as it can be confused with Cc which has the same initial phonic sound. In Kindy, we use the words ‘curly’ and ‘kicking’ to help the children to distinguish between Cc and Kk.

News telling has had an enthusiastic start with the children bringing in great items and learning from each other about our wonderful country. Fantastic speaking and listening skills are developing. We would like to see the children develop the confidence to speak independently without assistance and prompting. Sharing news is a fun way to build oral language, gain confidence and assist with initial phonic sounds with links to words and vocabulary. Please plan simple sentences about your child’s object/picture and practise news telling before their rostered day.

Rhyme - Over the past few weeks the children have been exposed to rhyming. When two words sound the same at the end e.g.cat and hat end with at, they rhyme. Children may find rhyming difficult to grasp, so please explain it to them in their home language, if necessary. When children can hear the rhyming sounds in words, they demonstrate phonemic awareness, which is essential for early reading. To teach this skill, books, pictures and games can be used to demonstrate and reinforce rhyming techniques. Children also learn rhyming by listening to stories, poems and songs that are easy and fun to remember. Nonsense rhyming words are acceptable too!

Study Ladder Logins have also been sent home, and tasks have been set. Enjoy reviewing concepts already taught at school.

Next week we will be revising concepts covered over this semester. This will assist students to transfer and reinforce knowledge to their long-term memory.

The following are some skills you could revise at home. 

Initial phonic sounds Ss-Aa-Tt-Pp-Ii-Nn-Mm-Rr-Cc-Kk. 

Syllables i.e. counting parts in a word. 

Sight words I, am, a, look, Mum, can, at. 

Sequencing and retelling stories using a beginning, middle and end.

Numbers 1 to 10. 

Say a number between 1-10, then ask your child to count on from this number. 

Order numbers, count objects to match a numeral and identify dots on a dice.

Alphabet and number sheets will be sent home next week for students to use at home to reinforce their learning. These will replace the ‘brain boxes’ that were used earlier this year. Please keep these sheets in a safe place and use them as and when they are needed. It is important to remember that initial letter sounds are the focus and NOT letter names. Phonemic awareness is the foundation for early reading and in developing the skills for spelling and writing. If in doubt of the phonic sound, visit www.starfall.com.au

Have a lovely long weekend.

Week Five

Week 4 has been a fun-filled week full of crafts and activities that celebrate the Cc phonic sound. It has been great to see children settling back into our classroom routines, and we have enjoyed having all of our friends back at school this week!

In Literacy, we have been learning the initial letter sound Cc, for example cat starts with c, c, c. During the past week we have been reading the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar, making handprint crabs, using construction materials to build castles, and serving coffees and cakes in our new café! Children have also been practising how to use their bodies to count the syllables in words and have loved singing along to The Syllable Song.

In Numeracy, our number of the week was the number 9. Children have been practising how to write the number, recognise the number and count to 9. During the week, children made number caterpillars, fed 9 leaves to their caterpillar, and sang along to Dr Knickerbocker.

This week we will be looking at the initial letter sound Kk, for example king starts with k, k, k, and our number of the week will be the number 10. To reinforce the sound of the week and the number of the week, students will be making kites and will be counting 10 colourful tails to attach to their kites.

Over the next week, children will be sent home with a set of flashcards covering the sounds that we have learnt so far (Aa, Ss, Tt, Nn, Pp, Ii, Mm, Rr, Cc). These flashcards will be given to you on a sheet of paper and will just need to be cut out. We encourage you to use these flashcards to revise the sounds.

Rainbow Week and Week Four

It's hard to believe that we are already at the end of week 3! Rainbow week has been a busy and enjoyable week exploring the phonic sound Rr. It has been full of colour and fun.

During our literacy sessions we have been singing 'I can sing a rainbow', dancing like robots, making robots with different coloured shapes, making rockets to launch for science, sorting Rr pictures  and reading our sight words. To reinforce the sound of the week and speaking and listening skills we have also been 'shopping sounds' from Mrs Kealley's Supermarket.

During numeracy we have been learning AB patterns (for example, blue, orange, blue, orange or head, shoulders, head, shoulders) and creating these with beads and with our coloured dotters. Our focus number has been the number 8 and the children had fun counting 8 legs on to a spider. We have also been singing Incy Wincy Spider and learning the actions. 

Our afternoons have been full of science. We launched our rockets off our verandah and made rainbows with milk and food colours. 

We look forward to another busy week in Kindergarten next week. During week 4, we will be introducing the phonic Cc as in cat and caterpillar and introducing the number 9. To reinforce the phonic sound we will be reading The Hungry Caterpillar and exploring the beginning, middle and end during our shared reading sessions.

Over the next coming weeks, notes will go home for news telling which will begin in week 5. Study ladder logins will also be sent home in week 5, which will assist children with concepts we have taught at school. I have attached some photos of our classroom and activities. As always, if there are any queries please contact me. 

Week Three - Rainbow Week

Welcome to Term 2

For students working from home, weekly Work Packages for Term 2 are now available on the School Website https://www.wattlegroveps.wa.edu.au/ using the school website user name and passwords issued by email or at the Department of Education's Connect website https://connect.det.wa.edu.au using the Connect passwords issued by email. 

Happy Holidays

Constable Care Resources

Constable Care has released some primary school resources, including online learning videos related to COVID-19. 

WORK PACKAGES - Term 1, Week 10

Please find attached week 10 work packages.

WORK PACKAGES – Term 1, Week 9

The following Work Package has been created to assist children at home with their learning.

Please click on the picture below to access the weekly plan for Kindergarten. Please click on the blue text to access additional resources.

Week Eight

Literacy

This week students will be learning about the phonic sound Nn. Throughout the week we will be focusing on words that start with this sound. For example nest starts with n n n, nose starts with n n n, and night starts with n n n. This week students will have the opportunity create starry night skies using their fine motor skills and shiny star stickers. Students will continue to practise identifying the initial sound in their name and will also continue to practise writing their name.

Numeracy

Our number of the week is the number 5. Students will learn how to write the number 5 and recognise the number 5 in dot patterns (also known as subitising). We will also review numbers 1 to 4, focusing on recognising these numbers in the form of numerals, dot patterns, and collections of objects.

Health

Over the past few weeks we have been revising best hygiene practices with the children, as these are vital life skills that are of extreme importance during this time. These practices include coughing and sneezing into elbows, using correct hand washing procedures, and washing hands before meals, after playtimes and after using the toilet. We also remind you to please keep your child home if they are unwell, as staying home is the best way to allow your child to recover from sickness and prevent the spread of illness within the community.

If you have any questions or concerns, please speak to your class teacher.

Education Department Resources

The Education Department has a 'Learning at Home' site. The link below provides parents and students access to resources in each year level. 

https://www.education.wa.edu.au/learning-at-home

Photos

Week Seven

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!

Literacy

This week we will be revising the initial letter sounds Aa, Ss and  Tt, for example, Ant starts with a, a, a Sun starts with s, s, s. and Tiger starts with t, t, t. We will continue to focus on name recognition and what sound our name starts with.

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.

Brain Boxes

Each child is taking home an individualised ‘Brain Box’ which contains concepts 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. The teacher will then review them and either return the same, (if further practice is required) or change them for those who have fully grasped the concept. These boxes are school property and need to be taken care of and returned after a week.

Thank you for your continued support, we look forward to another busy and fun week in Kindergarten.

Week Six

Wow, the term is flying by and we are now heading into the second half of Term 1! The children are doing well with the new routines at school. They have come so far in these first few weeks and have started to work in teams and rotate through activities. Well done!

The students have been learning to identify their name and the sound it starts with e.g. Max starts with M, M, M. This week we are focusing on the initial letter sound Tt…. as in tap starts with t t t, tadpole starts with t t t, tissue starts with t t t and tiger starts with t t t. We will be painting a magic ‘Tt’ on white bread with milk and then toasting it to make the ‘Tt’ visible. There will also be a Teddy Bear’s tea party with tiny teddies, herbal raspberry tea and of course, our toasts! What a terrific celebration of the letter Tt!

This week we are reviewing Numbers 1 to 3 and focusing on dot patterns. This is known as subitising which means looking at dot patterns (on dice) and saying the number without counting. Initially we will be focusing on numbers 1, 2 and 3. Playing dice games, like Snakes and Ladders, is a good way for your child to practise this skill.

We have been exploring our five senses and incorporating each one into our learning. Using our senses helps us remember more and attach more meaning to experiences. On Thursday and Friday of this week we will be combining with the other Kindy classes and enjoying tabloid activities to reinforce our learning of the senses. There will be five rotational activities involving the sense of smell, taste, sight, touch and hearing. We are eagerly looking forward to getting to know the teachers and students in the other Kindy classes!

As mentioned at the Parent information session it is important to keep children at home if they are unwell. Sickness is a part of childhood, whether it’s a fever, sore throat, cough or just not feeling well. Infections can spread easily affecting other students, teachers, and family members. If your child is unwell please keep your child at home and arrange to see your doctor if necessary. Many illnesses can be stopped before they spread by reminding everyone to practise frequent handwashing, blowing noses into tissues, covering mouths when coughing or sneezing. Even the best hygiene practices can’t prevent the spread of illnesses. Sometimes staying home is the only way to benefit our kids, ourselves and our communities.

Looking forward to another wonderful week.

Photos Week Five

Bike Safety and Road Safety

Week Five

Hope you all had a wonderful long weekend. 

Literacy

Our letter of the week is the ‘S s’ phonic sound. Throughout the week we will practise the ‘S s’ sound by identifying words that start with this sound such as snake. To reinforce student’s learning of the ‘S s’ sound, we will have a ‘supermarket’ themed dramatic play area, create ‘spotty snakes’, and explore slime.

Numeracy

Our number of the week is the number 3. Students will learn how to write the number 3 and will have the opportunity to practise counting and identifying 3 items during activities such as the beanbag toss, number fishing, and the number soup game.

Science

The focus for science this term is our five senses. This week we will explore the senses of touch and sight. Students will be making glasses to discover the sense of sight, and feely bags and slime will be used to investigate the sense of touch.

Health (CHAT)

This term students have been learning about pedestrian safety. For example, knowing how to cross the road safely and understanding what various road signs and signals mean. To reinforce what students have learnt so far, this week we will be outside in our outdoor play area practicing how to cross the road safely using our road mats and signs.  

We will be placing a parent volunteer roster next to the door of our classroom in week 6. Parent volunteer times are from 8:45 until 10:30 (start of the day until recess) and we would absolutely love for any parents or other family members who may be able to spare a couple of hours of their morning to sign their name up on our parent roster. 

Photos