Semester 1, 2023
NATALIE |
SARAH |
TESS |
Curriculum
The Victorian Curriculum F–10 sets out what every student at MPPS and all Victorian schools should learn during their first eleven years of schooling. The curriculum is the basis of all our MPPS planning documents and guides our teaching at MPPS, as well as forming a common set of knowledge and skills required by students for life-long learning, social development and active and informed citizenship. Further to this the Victorian Curriculum F–10 incorporates the Australian Curriculum and reflects Victorian priorities and standards.
Further information is available http://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/
Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) is a comprehensive approach to the primary prevention of violence against women and children. As a school we are dedicated to promoting and modeling respect, positive attitudes and behaviours with the aim of teaching our children how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence. The whole school approach to RRRR goes beyond curriculum, recognising that to drive real change, classroom learning needs to be reinforced by what is modelled within the school community.
Further information is available http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/Pages/respectfulrelationships.aspx
Further information is available http://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/
Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) is a comprehensive approach to the primary prevention of violence against women and children. As a school we are dedicated to promoting and modeling respect, positive attitudes and behaviours with the aim of teaching our children how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence. The whole school approach to RRRR goes beyond curriculum, recognising that to drive real change, classroom learning needs to be reinforced by what is modelled within the school community.
Further information is available http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/Pages/respectfulrelationships.aspx
Preparing for the First Week of Prep 2023 |
Please see the attached documents to support your child's learning and transition into prep at MPPS.
First Day of Prep
First Day of Prep
| prep_first_day_2023.pdf |
First Week of Prep
| prep_first_week_2023.pdf |
Tips for Parents
| tips-for-parents_starting-prep.pdf |
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Preparing for a Day at School
Each day at school your child will need a:
- MPPS school bag named, it also helps to have a familiar tag on the outside of the bag. This helps your child to identify his/her bag
- labelled lunch box (students will only require a snack and additional fresh fruit or vegetables to eat during ‘brain food’ time on this day)
- labelled water bottle
- labelled spare clothes (spare set of underwear, socks, MPPS pants/shorts and t-shirt to be left in school bag for an emergency such as toilet accident, slips or spills).
- labelled MPPS hat and jacket
- labelled MPPS blue reading bag
- pair of comfortable all black shoes
| i_can_pack_my_school_bag_checklist.pdf |
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A Positive Start to School
Starting school is an exciting time for students and families. Some activities that you can do to help your child get ready for school are listed below.
Support and encourage your child to:
“Children’s learning is ongoing and each child will progress towards the outcomes in different and equally meaningful ways. Learning is not always predictable and linear. Educators plan with each child and the outcomes in mind.” (Early Years Learning Framework, p.19)
With this in mind we encourage families to use this reference as a source of information rather than as a prescriptive checklist to determine school readiness.
If you have questions /concerns about your child’s school readiness, speak to your child’s kindergarten teachers/educators. We work closely with kinder and child care settings.
Support and encourage your child to:
- cooperate with peers and make friendships in free play situations
- participate in group games and experiences, and ask to join in a game
- develop self-help and self-care skills (independent toileting, dressing, eating, cleaning up after themselves, hand washing, being responsible for and using own belongings)
- follow a routine (for example, eating lunch at a set time, read a story before playing, etc.)
- listen to stories regularly and use books as a pleasurable daily shared activity
- appropriately use tools such as use pencils, crayons, scissors and glue unassisted
- talk positively about starting school and enjoy your child’s excitement
- use equipment such as a climbing apparatus, sandpit toys and balls
- unpack their lunchbox, unwrap food and use a drink bottle
- open/close and carry their school bag
- express needs and wants appropriately and remind them to ‘use their words’
- separate from carers / primary caregivers
- take turns in a game / activity and share toys and equipment
- follow directions and understand some rules in a game
- cope with transitions between routines and experiences, for example packing up and starting a new routine/task
- use language (verbal or non-verbal) to ask questions and communicate their thoughts and ideas
- listen to others and wait their turn to speak by saying ‘excuse me’ or putting up their hand
- try different ways of doing things, solve problems and ask for help
- practise the things they will need to do to get ready for school (for example putting things in their bag, remembering to pack a hat and jacket)
- use and explore language often – ask your child questions, assist them to name and label items in different environments (for example the home, the park or the library)
- sit with a group and remain focused on an activity for an extended period of time
- self-regulate emotional responses when they need to do something they don’t like (for example, packing up)
- recognise and write their name
- develop their fine motor skills (such as play dough, Lego, threading beads, cutting paper, undoing buttons and zips, drawing with different tools and finger plays and rhymes)
- experience drawing, scribbling and making marks on paper
- notice signs, symbols, letters and words that they see in the environment
- join-in with familiar songs, rhymes and jingles
- tell stories about events in their lives
- talk about favourite stories and describe some of the characters or things that happen in books
- hold a book the right way up and trace their finger from top left to bottom right as they pretend to read
- talk about their age and recognise some numbers
- count a group of objects up to 5
- name common shapes and colours
- help adults with everyday maths experiences such as cooking and shopping
- describe the weather
“Children’s learning is ongoing and each child will progress towards the outcomes in different and equally meaningful ways. Learning is not always predictable and linear. Educators plan with each child and the outcomes in mind.” (Early Years Learning Framework, p.19)
With this in mind we encourage families to use this reference as a source of information rather than as a prescriptive checklist to determine school readiness.
If you have questions /concerns about your child’s school readiness, speak to your child’s kindergarten teachers/educators. We work closely with kinder and child care settings.
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Dropping Off Children
At school we are learning to be independent.
We can:
- carry our own school bags;
- put our belongings away;
- put our lunch orders in the tub;
wave a cheerful goodbye; and
- walk into our Learning Community by ourselves.
We kindly ask for your support in helping your children settle quickly into their daily routine.
We can:
- carry our own school bags;
- put our belongings away;
- put our lunch orders in the tub;
wave a cheerful goodbye; and
- walk into our Learning Community by ourselves.
We kindly ask for your support in helping your children settle quickly into their daily routine.
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Labelling your Child's Belongings
Please label all lunchboxes, containers, drink bottles and school uniform items so they are easily identifiable.
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Brain Food
Students eat brain food twice a day. Brain food consists of fresh fruit or vegetables, but no processed foods. Students are encouraged to eat brain-healthy foods that help maintain energy for learning and higher level brain function.
Healthy brain-food options can include:
- vegetable sticks (carrots, celery, capsicum, snow peas, beans)
- sliced or whole fruit (bananas, apples, pears, oranges, berries, melon, grapes)
- corn on the cob
- cherry tomatoes
- freshly mashed avocado dip
- peas
Healthy brain-food options can include:
- vegetable sticks (carrots, celery, capsicum, snow peas, beans)
- sliced or whole fruit (bananas, apples, pears, oranges, berries, melon, grapes)
- corn on the cob
- cherry tomatoes
- freshly mashed avocado dip
- peas
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HOME LEARNING
Supporting your Child at Home
At MPPS we recognise the integral role that parents/ guardians play as partners in their child’s education. Together, we have the shared goal of maximising learning and wellbeing outcomes for students.
| literacyandnumeracytipstohelpyourchild_final.pdf |
Reading
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We encourage parents/guardians to read to their child every day. This only has to be for 15 minutes a day with the aim of assisting your child to recognise familiar letters or frequently used words learnt in class.
Please refer to pages 2-4 of your child’s Home Reading Journal which provides you with useful information on how to use the journal with your child.
When reading with your child you may like to follow these steps in supporting them:
Remember:
- Never cover the pictures up. Using the pictures as clues is an important strategy for children to learn.
- Some words can’t be read by sounding them out, so do not focus too much on this with your child.
- Talk with your child about the difference between words, pictures and letters.
- Don’t focus on the mistakes... celebrate the successes!
Reading with your child should be an enjoyable and stress free experience. If you have any questions or concerns, please speak to your child’s teachers about how to better support your child at home.
Please refer to pages 2-4 of your child’s Home Reading Journal which provides you with useful information on how to use the journal with your child.
When reading with your child you may like to follow these steps in supporting them:
- Look through the book and create a story together which matches the pictures
- Read the story to your child
- Help your child to point to each word as it is read aloud by an adult
- Ask your child to identify letters/words they know
- Discuss the story with your child. What was their favourite part? What happened 1st, 2nd, etc. What do you think might happen next?
Remember:
- Never cover the pictures up. Using the pictures as clues is an important strategy for children to learn.
- Some words can’t be read by sounding them out, so do not focus too much on this with your child.
- Talk with your child about the difference between words, pictures and letters.
- Don’t focus on the mistakes... celebrate the successes!
Reading with your child should be an enjoyable and stress free experience. If you have any questions or concerns, please speak to your child’s teachers about how to better support your child at home.
Reading Eggs
Reading Eggs makes learning to read motivating and engaging for students, with interactive games, songs and activities. To further support your child’s reading, students will be provided with their own username and password to explore the online program at home. Students will receive individual log in details during Term 1. For more information, visit https://readingeggs.com.au/
Mathletics
Mathletics is designed to provide students with an engaging and interactive learning experience. Games and activities support the Victorian Mathematics Curriculum. To further support your child’s mathematics skills, students will be provided with their own username and password to use the online program at home. Students will receive individual log in details during Term 1.For more information, visit http://au.mathletics.com/primary
Sound Waves
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Sound waves encourages students to develop their knowledge of letters and sounds, with interactive games, songs and activities. To further support your child’s learning, students will be provided with a prep username and password to explore the online program at home. Students will receive an access code during Term 1. For more information, visit https://online.fireflyeducation.com.au/services/student_login
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Google Classroom
To further support students’ learning at school, she/he will have access to home learning activities via Google Classroom, to practise with you. Your child/ren will be working on these important Literacy and Mathematics skills throughout the year. Activities will be added throughout each term.
Please note that these tasks are not compulsory but we still require an adult to read a book with students every day.
For additional information, please download and read the document below, 'Google Classroom PLC Home Learning Notice'. (Coming soon).
Please note that these tasks are not compulsory but we still require an adult to read a book with students every day.
For additional information, please download and read the document below, 'Google Classroom PLC Home Learning Notice'. (Coming soon).
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Developing Hand and Finger Strength and a Pencil Grip
Hand and finger strength is important as it is required for many everyday activities such as holding a pencil, drawing and writing.
To further support your child's learning at school, download the documents below for activity ideas and helpful strategies to develop your child's hand and finger strength and pencil grip.
To further support your child's learning at school, download the documents below for activity ideas and helpful strategies to develop your child's hand and finger strength and pencil grip.
| hand___finger_strength.pdf |
| pencil_grip.pdf |
| prewriting.pdf |
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Class Dojo
To help us create a positive culture in our Learning Community, we use Class Dojo to acknowledge positive behaviours that display our CARE values. Teachers can encourage students to display skills or values using Class-Dojo as an incentive — whether it's working hard, being kind, helping others. This is done by awarding points that are displayed electronically in the Learning Community or Specialist class. Using Class Dojo can help student’s emotional literacy grow as they have the opportunity to receive immediate, regular and positive feedback in a fun visual way.
Term 2 Timetable 2023
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
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PLC 2 (pink group) Performing Arts PLC 3 (orange group) Visual Arts All Prep students Swimming Program & Library |
All Prep students Japanese & PMP |
PLC 1 (green group) Performing Arts PLC 2 (pink group) Visual Arts |
PLC 1 (green group) Visual Art PLC 3 (orange group) Performing Arts Buddy |
Prep Curriculum Snapshot
Semester 1
English
Students are being supported to -
- develop their phonemic awareness, and to use their letter-sound knowledge in order to begin to read simple texts;
- develop their concepts about print, such as we read from left to right and top to bottom;
- identify and compare letters, words and sentences;
- use strategies while reading such as looking at the picture, pointing to the words and looking at the first sound in words;
- discuss what is happening in a story, such as who are the characters and what are their thoughts and feelings;
- retell the events in a story;
- write their own name;
- use their developing knowledge of letters, sounds and words to write about familiar events;
- develop vocabulary through shared experiences;
Students are taking part in various language experiences in order to develop their vocabulary and their speaking and listening skills.
Sound Waves
Sound Waves is a word study program designed to develop reading, spelling and writing skills through phonemic awareness. This is essentially a knowledge and understanding of sounds and sound patterns of our language. Our students will be working through their student activity books each week to study a different sound and the different letter patterns used to represent that sound.
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Cued Articulation & Sound Waves
In PLC we use a combination of hand movements and songs/jingles as a way of teaching individual sounds. This strategy is known as Cued Articulation. Cued Articulation is a set of hand cues for teaching the individual sounds in a word. The hand movements are logical – each hand movement represents one sound and the cue gives clues as to how and where the sound is produced. It is not a sign language where the whole word is signed.
Cued articulation is integrated into our Sound Waves program which encourages children to note individual sounds in words, linking those sounds with the letters that spell them, and provides a consistent approach to spelling across the whole school. It acknowledges that individual sounds can be represented more than one way in written form.
For example:
/b/ sound
Song: Bounce balloons /b/, /b/, /b/
/s/ sound
Song: Seals swim /s/, /s/, /s/
Cued articulation is integrated into our Sound Waves program which encourages children to note individual sounds in words, linking those sounds with the letters that spell them, and provides a consistent approach to spelling across the whole school. It acknowledges that individual sounds can be represented more than one way in written form.
For example:
/b/ sound
Song: Bounce balloons /b/, /b/, /b/
/s/ sound
Song: Seals swim /s/, /s/, /s/
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Mathematics
Students are being supported to:
- develop an understanding of numbers from 0 – 20 by using a variety of models and materials;
- count, compare and order collections and objects up to 20 and beyond;
- develop efficient counting strategies in order to count small collections, make comparisons between sets and match numbers to sets;
- recognise small collections of objects without counting;
- learn to write and order numbers and collections from smallest to largest;
- use direct and indirect comparisons to decide which holds more/less using every day language;
- sort, describe and name familiar two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes / objects in the environment;
- sort and classify familiar objects and explain the basis for these classifications, and copy, continue and create patterns with objects and drawings;
- follow a short sequence of instructions;
- represent practical situations to model sharing;
- become familiar with the days of the week and connect days to familiar events, actions and routines;
- represent simple, everyday financial situations involving money;
- develop an understanding of numbers from 0 – 20 by using a variety of models and materials;
- count, compare and order collections and objects up to 20 and beyond;
- develop efficient counting strategies in order to count small collections, make comparisons between sets and match numbers to sets;
- recognise small collections of objects without counting;
- learn to write and order numbers and collections from smallest to largest;
- use direct and indirect comparisons to decide which holds more/less using every day language;
- sort, describe and name familiar two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes / objects in the environment;
- sort and classify familiar objects and explain the basis for these classifications, and copy, continue and create patterns with objects and drawings;
- follow a short sequence of instructions;
- represent practical situations to model sharing;
- become familiar with the days of the week and connect days to familiar events, actions and routines;
- represent simple, everyday financial situations involving money;
Integrated Studies (MAPPEN)
Term 2
MAPPEN Foundation Sustainability Unit - Our Sustainable World
Overview
Students will learn actions that they can take to help sustain the environment. They will learn when different fruits grow where they live and grow their own vegetables. Students will learn the difference between good rubbish and bad rubbish and consider sustainable ways that they can stay warm in winter and stay cool in summer.
Rationale
By understanding the conditions required for sustaining the environment we will be better able to care for the world around us.
Investigation Into
•The conditions required to sustain living things.
•How changing seasons impact on living things.
•Sustainable actions to care for the environment.
Essential Questions
•What are the basic needs of living things?
•What impact do the changing seasons have on living things?
•How can we sustain the environment?
Future Action
Students will discriminate between good and bad rubbish to reduce waste in their homes and at school. They will consider sustainable ways to stay warm in winter and to stay cool in summer. Students will also develop an interest in growing their own food.
MAPPEN Foundation Sustainability Unit - Our Sustainable World
Overview
Students will learn actions that they can take to help sustain the environment. They will learn when different fruits grow where they live and grow their own vegetables. Students will learn the difference between good rubbish and bad rubbish and consider sustainable ways that they can stay warm in winter and stay cool in summer.
Rationale
By understanding the conditions required for sustaining the environment we will be better able to care for the world around us.
Investigation Into
•The conditions required to sustain living things.
•How changing seasons impact on living things.
•Sustainable actions to care for the environment.
Essential Questions
•What are the basic needs of living things?
•What impact do the changing seasons have on living things?
•How can we sustain the environment?
Future Action
Students will discriminate between good and bad rubbish to reduce waste in their homes and at school. They will consider sustainable ways to stay warm in winter and to stay cool in summer. Students will also develop an interest in growing their own food.
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Personal and Social Capability - Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships
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In Foundation, this curriculum focuses on supporting students to interact and play constructively with others and to establish friendships with peers.
Students will be supported to:
Students will be supported to:
- develop a vocabulary to describe the emotions they experience when interacting with others
- develop an understanding that individuals are unique but also have characteristics in common
- establish and name the skills required to work in groups
- recognise and identify their own emotions
- describe situations that may evoke these emotions
- identify and describe personal strengths
- identify to ways to care for others
- discuss ways in which they can take responsibility for their actions
- practise techniques to cope with feelings of fear and anger
- listen to others ideas and recognise that others may see things differently
- recognise there are many ways to solve conflict
- identify situations that feel safe and unsafe
- practise seeking help from adults and peers
- develop a appreciation of difference
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Perceptual Motor Program (PMP)
Buddies |
PMP is a program where small groups of children rotate through a number of ‘stations’ taking part in activities designed to develop balance, co-ordination, space, body awareness and fitness.
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Our Buddies Program will begin in Semester 2, 2023. It is held once a week and involves students in Year 6 and Prep.
Each prep child is paired with a grade 6 child and they participate in a range of activities such as sport activities, outdoor games, craft activities and using technology.
The aims of the Buddies Program are to:
Each prep child is paired with a grade 6 child and they participate in a range of activities such as sport activities, outdoor games, craft activities and using technology.
The aims of the Buddies Program are to:
- Ease the transition into primary school for the prep children by providing them with a safe, reliable and positive buddy
- Develop leadership skills amongst the Year 6 students
- Foster a strong sense of school spirit across the school
- Enhance the school culture of looking after and caring for others around us