Hi All,
Here is a snapshot of what has been happening in the Prep Neighbourhood during workshop time
Numeracy Workshops
In Prep we have been focusing on developing our subsisting (Subsisting is the ability to ‘see’ a small amount of objects and know how many there are without counting) skills along with the development of our number sense (name to numeral and to quantity). This is developed through the use of dice games and flash cards. We have been playing these games with partners and individually. These games help us develop new skills and strength skills that we already have. During one of our many games, we discovered that there are multiple ways to make the number 10. To share our discoveries with each other we wrote our findings on the “floor board” in the performance space. We are investigating where we can find numbers in our world.
Here are some examples –
Hattie – In our classroom
Marlo – at the hospital
Anna – on tickets, on movie tickets
Nathfia – On the whiteboard
Claudia I – you see numbers on the houses so you know where they are
Loup- How old you are
Emma – On post boxes
Esme – On clocks
Alex L – On phone numbers
Kiko – On money there are numbers
Ben – Basketball – on the t-shirt my brother’s number is 4 and Gabe’s is 13
Camile – On race cars
Lola W – on houses
Lola V – On your phone
Along with our weekly numeracy workshops we have been enjoying estimating and counting the uni-fix that are in the tub each day. This game gives the children the opportunity to develop important maths skills and provide a meaningful daily counting experience.
Shared Reading and Big Book
To support the children in their development of reading skills we have been running weekly ‘Big Book’ reading workshops (along with the daily reading of a range of picture books). In these workshops the text is enlarged to enable the group of children to easily see the words and follow along as the teacher reads and there are often times where children join in and read too.
Each Big Book is selected in relation to our letter study focus and children are encouraged to search within the text for words starting with that letter. Each session we also focus on high frequency words (e.g. the, and, I) and talk about simple grammatical cues such as full stops and capital letters. The children are also encouraged to notice the repetitive nature of these texts and love spotting the the word that changes on each page. As we read we talk about specific traits associated with narrative texts including the characters and the general structure (e.g. that there is always a problem and a solution). Prior to reading the children may make predictions about what might happen and we always summarise the story together after reading.
Children are also encouraged to make connections to their reading at home during these workshops.
So far in our letter study we have looked at b, d, h and t and next week will move on to m and n. It has been wonderful to hear that many children have been looking for words with our focus letters in them at home and having a go at recording them- this is a fantastic way to support your child!
Writing Workshops
During our writing workshops we have begun to explore the meaning, purpose and significance of writing in our world and our Prep Neighbourhood.
We began by asking the children ‘Where do you see writing in the world?’ We then explored this idea through drawings.
Milo– On the screen, here!
Meron– On a book.
Dylan– At school, on paper on tables.
Alina– When you (Nellie) write something down.
Ravi– on t-shirts.
Maaike – Sometimes on the doors to schools.
Meron– On signs on the road.
Dylan– On maps.
Alex S– On tags on your clothes.
Anna– I see writing on signs, on the walls in our classrooms.
Marlo– On buildings as graffiti.
Archer– On the books. On my shoe.
Emma– In a café or restaurant.
Loup– A menu.
Chloe– On parcels and boxes.
CJ– When we write people’s names.
Siri– In books
Mia– On signs. Highway signs.
Lola– Posters at the school bazaar.
Hannah– On pictures.
Elias– On poles so you know what street it’s called!
Mira – Envelopes
We then asked the children ‘When and where do we need writing in our Prep Neighbourhood?’ We are wanting to capitalize on the authentic writing moments beginning to take place in our neighbourhood every day.
We further provoked this natural connection to authentic writing by providing a connection to the inquiry into Kindness taking place in our neighbourhood and art works being created in the Art Studio with the chance to write and create ‘Kindness Posters’.