Week Eleven

As Term Two comes to an end, we would like to congratulate children and their families on a wonderful and very busy term. Please continue to support your child through home practise in the holidays. A few minutes each day can really make a big difference in supporting your child to retain the concepts taught at school this term.

Literacy

Sounds learnt in Term 1 and Term 2

Ss, Aa, Tt, Pp, Ii, Nn, Mm, Rr, Cc, Kk, Hh, Ee and Dd. 

Holiday Revision Ideas

·      Finding things that start with these initial sounds when at home or out and about. Eye Spy is a fun family game that’s great during a car trip. E.g. “I spy with my little eye something that starts with Ss”

·      Practising writing letters, with correct formation, using crayons, textas or paint

·      Reading books together – spotting letters they recognise in the text

Reading

The children have loved reading and discussing a range of books at school this term.  We have been learning about some of the parts of a book, such as the cover, title and author, and how to track the words left to right when reading.  We have used clues from the pictures to predict what might happen in the story.

We would like to encourage you to read to your child each day.  Local libraries are a great place to visit and borrow books from. Reading aloud has many benefits for your child’s overall learning and development.  Talk to your child about the story and ask them questions to develop their ability to understand the text.

When reading a book, you can:

·   Ask your child to predict what the story is going to be about by looking only at the cover.

·   Ask your child how a character is feeling and why.

·  Make connections between the book and your child’s experiences. For example, if the story is about a holiday, talk about a holiday that your child may have had and any similarities/differences compared to the text.

·  Expand your child’s vocabulary by talking about any unfamiliar words you read and what they mean.

·   Ask your child to tell you the story of their favourite book. Encourage them to turn the pages as they tell you what’s happening by looking at the pictures.

Numeracy

In Week 11 we are revising the numbers 1 - 10. We will be practising how to accurately count objects and identify that the last number counted tells us how many. We are also learning to line the numbers up, in the right order, to make a number line.

Fundamental Movement Skills

In Kindy, we teach and practise a variety of gross motor skills. These skills provide a foundation for movement and support children’s ability to participate in a range of physical activities with skill and confidence. Young children love to move and these skills are easily practised through games and active outdoor play.

Have a happy and safe holiday break. We look forward to seeing everyone again in Term 3.

Week Eight and Nine

A big thank you to those parents who have already returned their West Oz Wildlife permission slips and payments. If you have not returned them yet, you have until 18 June.

Literacy

Rhyme - Over the past few weeks the students 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 students 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!

Syllables - Counting syllables is a pre-reading skill and helps the process of decoding. The Kindy children have been working on counting syllables and would enjoy showing off their skills. We are counting syllables in words using our bodies (head=1, shoulders=2, stomach=3, knees=4). Try asking how many syllables are in a word of your choice and discover how clever they are! Below are some examples of syllables:

One syllable words: tree, fun, kite.

Two syllable words: hel/lo, run/ning, par/ty.

Three syllable words: el/e/phant, fan/tas/tic.

Four syllable words: al/li/ga/tor, hel/i/cop/ter.

Sounds- Over the next two weeks we will be focusing on initial letter sounds:

Ee as in Elephant starts with Ee, Ee, Ee

Dd as in dinosaur starts with Dd, Dd, Dd  

Sight Words - We learn to recognise sight words as quickly as we see them. We then can put these words into sentences. The sight words we are revising are:

look, at, Mum, I, can, am, a, Dad.  

Numeracy

The children are learning to identify and write numbers 1-10. Say a number between 1-10, then ask your child to count on from this number. We are also learning to count and order numbers to 10 in the correct order and use one to one correspondence. We are starting to recognise dots on the dice without counting. 

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.

Cooler Weather

With the weather getting cooler please remember to label your children's jackets and jumpers. A reminder all jackets, jumpers, leggings, stockings and long sleeved undershirts all must be in school colours. Only school coloured hair garments to be worn and a quick reminder that excessive jewellery and nail polish are not permitted.

As always, please contact me if you have any questions or concerns. We look forward to the final few weeks of Term 2!