Prep at L.P.S. 2009

This year we implemented a new theme for Term 2: Belonging to a Community.

The children gained…

• An understanding of their role within the school community
• An appreciation  of their place in the community of Leopold
• Knowledge of important features in the Leopold community

Some of the major activities completed during the term included:

• Mapping where students live in Leopold to establish who lived close to school, near the shops etc.
• Brainstorming all the shops, services and other features of Leopold
• Setting up a class play shop in which children completed role play activities.
• A unit about money where children learnt to recognise all Australian coins and notes and to begin adding basic totals of money.
• Our Dynamic Assessment Task (a culmination of the Term’s work) was a Shopping Extravaganza Day where children completed activities relating to money, constructed a cash register and walked down to Godfather’s Pizza restaurant to enjoy a pizza lunch.

Our other exciting event in Term 2 was the excursion to the Queen Victoria Market. Children loved the experience of wandering around the market stalls in small groups led by teachers and parent helpers. We purchased fruit, looked at all the market goods, enjoyed the sights and smells of the fresh food pavilion and enjoyed a picnic lunch. A great day was had by all!

These pictures show just a few of the sights of the Queen Victoria Market.

Term 1 is an essential time of the Prep year. It is when students learn the rules and routines of school, start to interact with the other students in the grade and begin to develop a fulfilling relationship with their classroom teacher.

Each term students have an overall thematic topic. The Prep topic for Term 1 is “All About Me”. The Leap Into Leopold program, which is featured in another post on this Blog, compliments our Term 1 topic beautifully.

The aims of the “All About Me” topic are:

• Students learn about themselves and their place within the L.P.S school community.
• Students identify similarites/differences amongst people.
• Students learn about each other and get to know their classmates.
• Students participate in discussions about their lives, focussing on families, interests, life experiences etc.

Most importantly, we find that this valuable thematic topic helps to build relationships between students and with their teacher in each class.

Through organised developmental play sessions, discussions relating to children’s individual lives and worthwhile learning activities, L.P.S Prep students develop a love for learning. Our Term 1 curriculum sets all students up in the best possible way for their exciting educational journey!

What is Leap Into Leopold?

At Leopold Primary School we are committed to establishing a safe and fun learning environment where students and staff show mutual respect and everyone is valued for who they are.

Leap into Leopold is a whole-school community building program that Leopold Primary School operates for the first few weeks of the school year. It involves classroom activities and whole school events. The program has been running for the past 3 years at our school.

What are the aims of the program?

The Leap into Leopold program aims to        

• build a sense of community and help students get to know their new classmates and teacher        
• familiarise students and families with the You Can Do It program and foundations        
• teach children about friendship, feelings and problem solving        
• build an awareness of the rights and responsibilities of individuals and the school community        
• foster home-school relationships early in the school year

 Classroom activities that took place this year

Leopold Primary School’s Leap into Leopold team created folders for all teachers with fun and exciting activities designed to help students learn about Getting Along, Feelings, Rights and Responsibilities, Friendship and Problem Solving. These lesson ideas provided the basis for the curriculum for each grade for the first few weeks of the school year.

Some highlights of the 2008 Leap Into Leopold Program

• Mult-Age Day  – Students were divided into multi-aged groups and completed a variety of fun and interactive community building activities around the school.

• Shrove Tuesday Pancake Breakfast – Students donated a gold coin for a delicious pancake.

• L.P.S Day – Students and staff put their creativity to the test to celebrate the spirit of our school when they dressed up as something beginning with L, P or S.

• Class Jigsaw – Every grade made a terrific jigsaw puzzle which were all revealed at a special assembly.

• You Can Do It Day – To celebrate the foundations of the YCDI program, students participated in activities relating to Getting Along, Organisation, Confidence, Persistence and Resilience.

• Guess the Teacher Competition - A fun photo display of objects that “identified” different staff members was displayed for children to guess who exactly was represented.

• Live performances – The visiting performers focussed on important social aspects, including positive conflict resolution, bullying and cultural diversity.

• Whole School Bush Dance and Picnic – Visiting bush dancing specialists taught the children some classic bush dances. Children performed the dances with their families at a special whole school event, culminating in a bbq picnic.

• Leap Into Leopold will be happening again in 2009 to help you and your child get involved in the L.P.S community.

 At Leopold Primary School we offer a diverse and engaging curriculum. In the classroom, we largely focus on developing and extending your child’s literacy and numeracy knowledge, building important social and life skills and promoting an individualised learning environment for all students to best cater for their educational development.

Our students also participate in other activities outside the classroom. At L.P.S we have outstanding facilities for our specialist subjects. Prep students are involved in:

• Art classes, where they explore their creativity using many different art mediums
• Information Technology sessions in a fully equipped computer lab, where they learn many new skills, preparing them for the technological age we live in today
• Physical Education lessons in the renowned LINC which focus on developing students’ fitness skills.
• Library borrowing times, which help promote a love and appreciation of books and reading.

Our Preps love going off to these different subjects to develop their skills and demonstrate their individual talents.

We  have 5 wonderful Prep classrooms.

Features of the rooms are:

• Space, space, space! Our classrooms are large and allow the Prep teachers to arrange the furniture and resources in order to maximise student learning.
• Computers are set up in every classroom with many terrific educational programs, focussing on enhancing our Literacy and Numeracy programs.
• We have lots of hands-on literacy and numeracy resources that are used during classroom activities to engage children when learning key concepts.
• Children’s work is always displayed to make the Prep rooms bright and inviting. It also gives the students some ownership of the room.
• We give children real life experiences in our classrooms, and set up areas of the room for children to demonstrate their skills. For example, a class shop is set up during our “Community” theme.

This Blog is designed to help you prepare your child for their Prep year at Leopold Primary School. Please check it out regularly to be informed about upcoming transition events and important information for you and your child. The tabs above will give you some info about our school and key dates for 2009 Prep students. Please feel free to leave a comment about our Blog!