Reception

KAY BOXALL

Reception Coordinator

2015 has been a very exciting year for Reception as we moved into an amazing new building full of wonderful facilities. Throughout Term One the excitement was building as the Cribb extension neared completion. During the Easter holidays the staff worked very hard to ensure that the new classrooms were ready for the boys to start Term Two. From day one the boys discovered many of the new spaces both inside and out and adapted very quickly to their new space, as young children do. The new facilities have enabled us to design many collaborative sessions with our neighbouring Reception classes. There are so many opportunities to be creative in our approach to teaching young children. Our new environment has meant we have thought about different approaches to many of the subject areas in the Australian Curriculum. The boys have realised that learning can take place in areas outside the classroom as well as inside.

Life in Reception is quite different to Preschool, but the boys took it in their stride and faced various challenges with a smile. Having such a large area to play in was initially a bit daunting for some, but with time they loved interacting with the Year 1 boys and making their own choices of games to play. They have enjoyed a variety of activities at different times of the year, including playing soccer and rugby, looking for bugs, climbing the spider gym, using the gross motor equipment and building forts from sticks found in the rainforest.

At the beginning of the year some boys were not quite able to write their name. Now the boys are writing sentences and stories. Each boy is on an individual journey and this is reflected in the adjustments that the skilful teachers make to the program to enable all boys to access the curriculum. The students are now very independent in their use of the THRASS chart and they are able to analyse their spelling words using the MASUTA Model.

In Maths the boys are now able to calculate addition and subtraction facts independently. They are counting in a variety of ways and love doing number work with the One Hundred Board. We now have enough computers in our classroom for the boys to use during our Maths and Literacy group times. Each week the students have also enjoyed going to the Computer Lab to hone their IT skills.

We work around a different theme each term. During Term One term we explored a variety of Nursery Rhymes to help us in Literacy. We did this in our English time, but also carried it over into Art. With the help of their parents the boys then learnt a rhyme at home. We celebrated our learning at the end of Term One on Nursery Rhyme Day. The boys dressed up as their Nursery Rhyme character and recited their rhyme to their family members. After the presentation we had a delicious morning tea with our families. This was a wonderful morning and quite an achievement for a five-year-old. Mrs Terri-Lee Hurd and Mrs Wallace helped the boys to further develop their metalinguistic skills during our weekly sessions throughout Semester One.

In Term Two our Science focus was Living Things. We learnt a lot about animals and plants and all the things they need to stay alive. At the end of the term Barnyard Babies came to visit us. So the boys put on their farm clothes and learnt some important information about caring for and handling animals. They were able to pat and brush the animals too. This caused quite a lot of excitement for the animals and the boys.

We studied Geography too and found out how to use Google Earth so we could find out about our neighbourhood and school. We learnt about maps and even made our own map of our playground. We love using the Internet in many of our subjects.

Transport is always a very exciting topic for boys and we had fun exploring many different types. Thinking about different modes of transport was useful for us as our Science topic was “How things move”. We read books on the subject of transport and constructed our own forms of transport.

Another exciting thing happened in Term Three. We met Mr Locket and found out he would be teaching us Lego Robotics. This meant that each week we learnt a new building skill. We can now construct towers, cranes and pyramids using Lego blocks. The boys are looking forward to continuing this in Year 1. These lessons really engage the students and challenge many of them to build in a new way. Celebrations are always very special and the boys had fun creating and making their own gifts in class for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, but we were also able to buy them a great gift from the stalls organised by the Friends of Prep. There were so many amazing gifts so some hard decision-making was in order to make the best choice. Mums were lucky that they could attend an entertaining morning tea, and we spoilt the dads with breakfast at school with their sons. In the classrooms we showed dads, grandfathers and uncles the games and activities that we participate in during our school day. We then went for a delicious breakfast which Friends of Prep organised for us. We learnt about family trees in History and we looked at different types of families and the different ways in which they celebrate their special days.

PE has been fantastic this year, with such great variation in the program. This has given the boys a wonderful opportunity to practise and improve

their gross motor skills. They participated in swimming, gymnastics and really impressed their parents with running, jumping and throwing at Sports Day. The boys really enjoyed the program that was put together by Mrs Goudy and Mr Melia.

A highlight of the year was the picnic with St Hilda’s. It was our turn to host the event this year. The boys set about writing their invitations and planning the day. You could feel the excitement in the air when the morning of the picnic finally arrived. The girls and their teachers were very impressed with our new classrooms and outdoor spaces. All the children quickly started to interact with each other and the playground came alive. It was wonderful to see all the new spaces transformed into a hive of industrious activity. What a fun morning we had with our sister school. Crazy Hat Day was also in the calendar. This has become a fun event and a great way to remember Father Phil. There were some very creative ideas and the boys loved being involved in this dressup day. As we close on another successful year in Reception it is good to reflect on how far so many boys have travelled in their first year of school. They have not only involved themselves in all activities within the classroom, but have also made the most of the opportunities to play a variety of sports in the afternoons. It has been awesome to have the parent support too, which allows us to do so many more activities on a daily basis, and for the parents, they have a new appreciation of how hard their young children work at school. Busy boys are happy boys and this is certainly the case as you see their smiles as they shake the teachers’ hands at the end of the day and then greet their mums, dads and carers. We wish them all well for Year 1 and we look forward to seeing them out in the playground at break time.

As a teacher I am always amazed by the young boys we teach in Reception. It is an absolute honour to be part of this program and work with such a dedicated team of teachers.

RECEPTION B

SEATED ROW: L. GILBERTSON, H. ROBINSON, S. SKUBRIS, C. SIBLEY, A. NORTON, M. MURPHY, M. ILLES, H. FOGARTY, O. REARDON SECOND ROW: X. HAMADI, E. SNELL, T. YOO, F. SALMON, N. HALL, S. RAY, I. RAMSDEN, H. CREAM TEACHERS: MS K. BOYD (TEACHING ASSISTANT), MS K. BOXALL

RECEPTION G

SEATED ROW: J. STREET, J. SCOTT, A. DOAN, C. SNELLING, O. DALGAIRNS, J. GLASS, O. MAZEY, R. FRENKLAH, A. ROSS SECOND ROW: E. STEADMAN, R. MARKEY, C. PACE, A. ARORA, Q. ALLEN, A. GILMOUR, T. PICKETT, J. HILL TEACHERS: MS E. HUTCHISON (TEACHING ASSISTANT), MISS C. GITTINS

RECEPTION L

SEATED ROW: J. POWER, J. TWEMLOW, A. SIA, S. CHAPMAN, C. DIAZ, A. BATES, J. DONOVAN SECOND ROW: D. JACKES, E. DAN, J. FULLER, J. FU, B. WEBSTER, R. KOMATSU THIRD ROW: R. COWAN, H. LEEDING, J. SCOTT, O. GOOCH, L. SUPPLE TEACHERS: MRS H. DUNBIER (TEACHING ASSISTANT), MS K. LESKO

RECEPTION W

SEATED ROW: W. HAWES, B. DOUGLAS, C. LAMILLA-BONIFACE, S. O’REILLY, Z. HAMID, Z. MARLAND, C. BROWN SECOND ROW: L. LUTHERUS, J. UCCELLINI, N. PARKER, K. WATERS, G. KAKAVAS, W. WALFORD, H. KITCHIN ABSENT: S. LYKISSAS TEACHERS: MS H. NIXON (TEACHING ASSISTANT), MRS J. WILSON