1. Welcome to Prep Helping at school Home readers Numeracy at home
Prep Team
Abbie, Hannah & Luciana

2. Helping in the classroom
Listening to students read throughout the morning
Sharpening pencils
Library returning & borrowing
Maintaining our gardens and sweeping the courtyards
Maintaining the Library books in alphabetical order
Filing students’ work
Helping out with community walks
Assisting with cooking
Sharing your profession with the students during the job unit
Help with walking to swimming
We do ask that if you are helping in the classroom that you respect the privacy of our students by not discussing what they have told you or their progress with others . If you have concerns please discuss it with one of the teachers.
Unfortunately we are unable to accommodate younger siblings in the classroom or during excursions.
Working with children's check

3. Getting involved around the school
Some of the ways to get involved!
School Council
Buildings and Grounds Committee
Parents’ Club
Family Cooking
Human Powered Vehicle
Working bees
Future Makers and the Merri Creek Project
The Parents’ Club holds monthly meetings Everyone at MPS is welcome to attend and contribute ideas and hear about what is happening at MPS.
Some of the ways to help out through the Parents’ Club:
BBQs
School Fete
Trivia Night
Breakfasts
Keep an eye out in the newsletter for more information

4. Home readers Readers will go home towards the end of term 1.
We set reading levels based on ongoing testing.
The books that go home are not meant to be hard. We send books home to help students with their fluency, comprehension and to share an enjoyment of reading with their families.
In class we will challenge students with harder texts and play games that introduce sight words.
It’s best not to compare your child's reading to their siblings or classmates. Each student will develop their reading at a different rate.
Home Readers should not replace reading to your child.

5. Remember children will learn these skills gradually at their own pace
Reading Concepts
Concepts about Print: “I understand the conventions and processes of reading”
Text direction
Identify the parts of a book
Identify and distinguish between a letter, a word and a sentence
Understand the use of basic punctuation
Comprehension skills: "I understand, remember and can make connections with what I read"
Retell a story
Understand the message of a story/ make a connection to the story
Predict what might happen
Work out the meaning of unknown words
Remember children will learn these skills gradually at their own pace

6. Supporting a child to learn to (love to) read
PICTURE: "Have a look at the picture... What is the dog doing?"
FIRST LETTER: "What's the first sound? That's right... 'The dog is d...d....digging!"
TEXT PATTERN: "It's just like the other pages; look... 'This dog is sitting... This dog is running...'. So what does this page say?"
SIGHT WORDS. Not all English words can be sounded out. So look for common words that repeat in the book, make a game of finding them together as your child reads to you.
This dog is digging.

7. Hearing Students Read in the Classroom
Things to remember
How it works
Learning to read and write can be a lot harder for some students than others, for a wide variety of reasons, including prior experience with reading and writing, maturity, attention span, eyesight,fine motor control and learning styles.
Each student will be at a different level so make sure you encourage them to use different strategies, including, looking at the picture, first letter, text patterns and letter names and sounds.
We celebrate mistakes in the classroom because it means students are giving something a go.
Support your children and others in the class with a bit of simple praise!
A calendar will be placed on the notice board so parents/family members can sign up.
Sign in at the office and show them your Working with Childrens check.
Before the morning bell please check in with one of the teachers so that they can arrange who you will be working with that day.
We will get students to change their home reader books and then we will give you the pile of book bags. Once one child finishes reading they will call the next child's name on the pile.
Read one on one with students.

8. Numeracy at Home Ideas for home
Games using numbered cards or dice to help with number sense and subitising.
Ordering and classifying by number, length, size, type and identifying the common link between them.
Comparing and predicting.
Identifying numbers in the environment, and their purpose.
Making collections to match numerals.
Following and identifying sequences and patterns are the first steps to coding.

9. More ideas!
Look out for a Numeracy at Home information evening in Term 2
Everyday Maths Animations
Number Doctors Instagram
How to build your child's numeracy skills from birth to year 2