TERM TWO

To all of our wonderful Glen Waverley Primary

School Families, we wish you a warm welcome

back, to another action packed term .

You will find a plethora of information in this issue

of our newsletter, as we aim to keep you involved

in, and informed about

your child’s learning

program.

this issue

Parent Helpers P.1

Weather In My World P.2

Prep Reading Roster P.2

Curriculum P. 3 & P. 5

Oral Language Room P.3

PMP P.4

Incursion P.6

Healthy Food Matters P.7

PMP Roster P.8

PARENT HELPERS

Thank you to the many parents, and oth-

er family members who offer their time

and expertise in support of our school

programs and curriculum. If you would

like to be more involved at school, please

be assured that you will be most wel-

come. You might think about supporting

the PMP program, or listening to children

read (I know the Grade One and Two

teachers would love to commence a

reading program similar to the one in

prep).

Glen Waverley Primary School Level 1 and 2 Newsletter (Grades Prep, One and Two)

TERM TWO, 2012

WEATHER IN OUR WORLD

This term our focus in Integrat-

ed Studies is a Science unit

called Weather In My World.

Through investigations, the

students will increase their

knowledge of how the charac-

teristics of weather affect their

daily lives.

Each day the weather affects

our work and leisure activities.

The weather influences our

decisions about what to wear

and the things we do.

Severe weather such as

droughts, floods and cyclones

have serious impact on com-

munities. Horticulture, farm-

ing, fishing and tourism are

highly dependent on weather.

The accurate prediction of

weather patterns and interpre-

tation of weather forecasts are

very important to our econo-

my and lifestyle. Daily discus-

sions in the classroom will fo-

cus on the weather, day , date

and seasons.

Through literature, both fic-

tion and non-fiction material,

poems and songs the students

will develop their vocabulary.

Students will create science

journals to record observa-

tions, draw tables and sym-

bols, write reports and re-

counts of experiments.

The sharing time homework

outlines several tasks based on

Weather in My World which

the students themselves

should prepare and present in

their own words.

Integrated Studies

PREP READING

ROSTER

Mo

nd

ay

Radhika Ravindran -

Akshala (0LG)

Shyani - Vishal (0LG)

Jodie - Shay (0LG)

Tuesd

ay

Saranga Waduge - Randiv (0JE)

Jenny Tsung - Esther (0JE)

Hetal Mistry - Trisha (0LG)

Dammi Dombepola - Dihein (0LG)

Wed

nesd

ay

Aemy Tan - Joelle (0LG)

Gayatri Bhat - Varun (0JE)

Lawanya Perera - Dinil (0JE)

Kim See - Ally (0JE)

Thu

rsday

Connie Lai - Karis (0LG)

Shashika Wickrame-singhe - Ramike (0LG)

Shazia Sayed - Ameen (0LG)

Friday

Chamini Mithawa - Yonal (0JE)

Prabha Basnayake - Daham & Dasuni

Deepthi Pathagama - Ryan (0LG)

CURRICULUM LEVEL TWO (GRADE 1 & 2) In the Term Two Literacy pro-

gram, Level Two students will

be studying blends in Spelling.

These include the blends ck, ik,

wr, and mb. They will also be

practicing their spelling from a

list of two hundred of the

most high frequency spelling

words. In the Reading pro-

gram, students will be looking

at non-fiction texts where they

will learn to identify the main

idea and details of these texts.

They will also learn how to se-

quence a text, read a table to

obtain information, and com-

pare and contrast various as-

pects of these texts.

In the Writing program, stu-

dents will establish Science

Journals that relate to our top-

ic on ‘Weather’. Students will

also consolidate their

knowledge in writing Recounts

and develop an understanding

of writing Procedural Texts and

Reports about their scientific

experiences at school. The stu-

dents will use the Oral Lan-

guage room every week to de-

velop their skills in speaking

and listening which will also be

practiced during the Share

Time activities this term.

Our Mathematics program for

the term encompasses a range

of topics. These include skip

counting, estimating and

measuring the length, area,

volume and capacity of ob-

jects, and solving simple addi-

tion, subtraction, multiplica-

tion and division problems us-

ing a range of strategies. Stu-

dents will also learn how to

use a calendar to identify

dates, and describe the fea-

tures of three-dimensional ob-

jects. Furthermore, students

will learn how to give and fol-

low directions to familiar loca-

tions, use money in their eve-

ORAL LANGUAGE

ROOM

Not just play time.

In the Early Years; Prep-2 there is a strong em-phasis on the develop-ment of Speaking and Listening skills. Re-search has shown that Oral Language has a di-rect impact on reading and writing. People learn language by lis-tening and then speak-ing first. They then use their Oral Language to read and write.

ryday lives and describe

the probability of familiar

events occurring at school.

Our Integrated topic for

the term is on ‘Weather’.

In this program, students

will describe what they

know about weather, learn

how to watch weather and

record observations, de-

velop an understanding of

weather terminology and

discover places to obtain

information about the

weather. We are looking

forward to an exciting

term of teaching and

learning!

Continued page 4 . . . . .

To improve the overall Literacy skills of our students and to support the teaching and learning of speaking and listening, we have set up an Oral Language Room where the children are able to experience a range of rich, organised language activities.

Some of the important language skills that students practise and are taught as part of the Oral Language Room include be-coming active listeners, asking good questions, learning appropriate social and formal talk, storytelling and articu-lation of words which include being able to pronounce words correctly.

Different activity stations are set up so that students can practice and develop their Speaking and Listening skills by participating in exciting and valuable ex-periences. In the Oral Language Room, we begin as a whole class, focusing on either speaking or listening for the week, then students move on to do focused ac-tivities that are set up in the room.

At the end of each lesson, children have the opportunity to share and perform their activities, then reflect on the skills they have gained.

Children love coming to the Oral Lan-guage Room each week, and gain so much valuable language skills as a re-

sult.

The Oral Language Room is located opposite the Prep Classrooms; par-ents are most welcome to come along and have a look or ask any fur-ther questions they may have.

This term Level One and Two students will be participating in the Perceptual Mo-tor Program (PMP.) PMP is a program that aims to enhance and develop stu-dent’s fundamental motor skills (fine and gross motor.)These are skills that are re-quired in many aspects of all children’s growth by developing skills in skipping, jumping, balancing and ball handling. Not only does this program promote phys-ical activity but it also provides students with experiences that encourage the use of language used in both the Literacy and Numeracy classroom.

It has been fantastic to receive a strong re-sponse from parents in regards to this pro-gram. However, with the amount of clas-ses this year, the Level One and Two teams still require parental assistance in order for the program to run smoothly. We are looking for more parent helpers on Wednesdays and Fridays. Ul-timately each class needs at least four helpers in order for the program to run effectively. The roster is on page 8, and if there are less than four names listed, and you can help out, please see your classroom teacher.

PMP Timetable is on Page 8

Oral Language Room -, continued from page 3.

PERCEPTIAL MOTOR PROGRAM

(PMP)

CURRICULUM PREP - LEVEL ONE Our prep students have quickly

settled back in to the school

routine, and parents will be

noticing explicit teaching of

letter sounds, high frequency

words and reading strategies.

A page will be pasted in to

your child’s homework book

each week, that outlines the

focus letter / sound, and

spelling words for the week.

Not all children have the same

spelling words, as we modify

these to suit each child’s learn-

ing program. The table on this

page gives you an outline of

the letters, sounds or concepts

we will focus on this term

In Numeracy / Mathematics,

we look at more than just

counting and number facts.

The Victorian Curriculum at

Level One (Prep), outlines four

important areas that we assess

continually and report on

twice a year. Those four areas

are -

TERM TWO

A Sound Focus.

Prep Children show us

their toes — Why?

- Because they start with

“Tt” of course !

1. Number

2. Space

3. Measurement, Chance

and Data

4. Working Mathematically

We base teaching and learning on research, particularly

school based data that tells us how our students perform

in each of these areas at all grade levels. We achieve out-

standing results, and to maintain these, it is really im-

portant that we focus more on problem solving and ques-

tions that include text as well as teaching counting and

number operations. For example;

“A teacher posed this problem: ‘Ten new children are coming to school. But we

haven’t been told how many are boys and how many are girls.’ Students were

asked to find and show possible combinations of boys and girls. They were asked

to record their findings in short ways. Concrete materials such as a pens were

available to students.” - taken from Victorian Essential Learning Standards Assess-

ment Maps.

Our curriculum focuses on the development of the whole

child, and you may hear phrases such as “attentive listen-

ing” or “personal best” as we continue to introduce our

school values. Students often think that performing a task

quickly is best, but we all know this is not the case. We

teach the value of hard work and taking pride in what you

produce. Children develop at different paces, but quickly

realise that if it is their personal best work, it will be re-

warded and validated as a great job.

Week One Pp

Week Two Mm

Week Three Ll

Week Four Ii

Week Five Nn

Week Six Revision

Week Seven Rr

Week Eight Hh

Week Nine Ee

Week Ten Bb

Week Eleven Plural Ss

Our Fearsome Leader !

The children love this photograph of

Mr Catalano!

This term the Prep, Year 1 and 2 children are studying the “Weather in Our World” and an exciting Science incursion by Hands On Science has been organised for Thursday, June 7th and Friday , June 8th . HOS (Hands-On Science) Science Teach-ing Specialists offer challenging and enjoyable experiments for students that encourage them to think.

The students will actively involved and encouraged to ob-serve, record, report and conclude from their observations and experiment results. The weather based activities are re-lated to everyday life and designed to develop the students' senses, scientific skills, understanding and vocabulary.

ICT

Did you know that our children are known as “Digital Natives” while their parents are known as “Digital Immigrants”? This is be-cause our children were born in an era where digital technology is commonplace, while for most of us, it is a skill we have had to ac-quire at some stage in our education.

The ease in which young students utilise the technology available to them at school can often be underestimated. When you see Prep children using PC’s, netbook, laptops, Ipads, easy speaks, cam-eras, webcams, interactive whiteboards, and a range of software, we realise how lucky we are to have these resources available at our school.

Visit some iconic weather sites with your child without leaving your home ! You might try;

Australian Government Bureau Of Meteorology http://www.bom.gov.au/

Melbourne Planetarium http://museumvictoria.com.au/planetarium/discoverycentre/

And don’t forget

Mathletics http://www.mathletics.com.au/

? Do you work in a field

that might link to our

unit on weather?

Parents are a wonder-

ful source of infor-

mation and if you have

expertise to offer,

please see you child’s

classroom teacher.

frozen water or milk, particularly in hot weather

Highly processed, sugary, fatty and salty foods should only make up a very small part of your child’s diet. Foods to limit in school lunches include:

processed meats such as salami and pressed chicken

chips, sweet biscuits, muesli and breakfast bars

fruit bars and fruit straps

cordials, juices containing sugar and soft drinks

You must let your child’s school prin-cipal know if your child is allergic to particular foods

Reference

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/aboutschool/childhealth/healthyeating.htm

Healthy Food Matters!

We have noticed the many students are regularly eating highly processed and sugary foods at recess and lunch time. It is very important that students eat nutri-tious fresh foods every day.

Healthy eating has a long-lasting and positive impact on a child’s growth, de-velopment and health.

Foods eaten by your child at school con-tribute greatly to their daily nutrient in-

take. These foods consid-erably influ-ence their eat-ing habits, growth pat-terns, energy, concentration levels and ability to

learn.

You have an important role to play in helping to ensure your child eats well and stays active.

Healthy school lunch ideas include:

sandwiches or pita bread with cheese, lean meat or salad

cheese slices, crackers with spread and fresh fruit

washed and cut-up raw veg-etables or fresh fruits

PMP ROSTER

Dates Wednesday Thursday Friday

Week 3 2nd May

Honey Kaur

Lawanya Perera

Erandi Dissanayake

Mirini Lang

3rd May

Rebecca Karamitzis

Mayura

Amura

Sanghee Kim

4th May

S. Singh

Sanghee Kim

Lawanya Perera

Radhika Ravindran

Week 4 9th May

Honey Kaur

Erandi Dissanayake

Kirti Prateek

Jenny Tsung

10th May

Rebecca Karamitzis

Amura

Sanghee Kim

Irene Lopez

11th May

Iris Chen

Sanghee Kim

Lawanya Perera

Dammi

Week 5 16th May

Honey Kaur

Erandi Dissanayake

Kirti Prateek

Mirini Lang

17th May

Sanghee Kim

Mayura

Amura

Jenny Tsung

18th May

Connie Cai

Sanghee Kim

Gayatri

Radhika Ravindran

Week 6 23rd May

Honey Kaur

Erandi Dissanayake

Mirini Lang

24th May

Irene Lopez

Mayura

Amura

Sanghee Kim

25th May

Gayatri

Sanghee Kim

Dammi

Week 7 30th May

Honey Kaur

Erandi Dissanayake

Mirini Lang

31st May

Rebecca Karamitzis

S. Sing

Sanghee Kim

Gayatri

1st June

Inoka

Sanghee Kim

Radhika Ravindran

Week 8 6th June

Honey Kaur

Erandi Dissanayake

Ruchi Arora

Mirini Lang

7th June

Rebecca Karamitzis

Ruchi Arora

Sanghee Kim

Gayatri

Extra-

Dimuthum

8th June

Gayatri

Sanghee Kim

Week 9 13th June

Honey Kaur

Erandi Dissanayake

Mirini Lang

14th June

Rebecca Karamitzis

Sanghee Kim

Amura

Gayatri

15th June

Sanghee Kim

Radhika Ravindran