Kindergarten
Kindergarten is the first year of formal schooling for your child. It is an important year they will be introduced to literacy and numeracy and develop skills in all areas. Our whole school community will help your child adjust to school and help them to feel comfortable. When to start your child at school is an individual decision. You may want to discuss this with us or with your child's preschool teacher, carer or doctor.
Transition to school
A smooth transition to Kindergarten is what we would like for each and every child starting school. We have a transition to school program that will assist your child to get to know the school before they start Kindergarten. This is conducted in the last term of the year before they attend Kindergarten. Contact us to find out about our activities and how you can be involved.
Preparing for Kindergarten
You can help your child prepare for Kindergarten and be organised for the first day. Help them to recognize their name and belongings. Talk positively to your child about what happens on a typical day in Kindergarten classrooms. Visit our school to help your child feel more comfortable and become familiar with big school.
Best Start Kindergarten assessment
The Best Start assessment is a tool to help teachers assess your child's skills as they enter school. At Waniora an individual 20 minute interview will be arranged with a teacher who will sit with your child and assess your child's literacy and numeracy skills, so that they can develop an appropriate teaching program that caters for your child. Teachers are then able to develop teaching programs to cater for the students’ needs.
Curriculum
Kindergarten have many opportunities to join in a wide variety of activities. Students will be involved in activities that will cover all areas of English, Mathematics, Physical Education, Health and Personal Development, Science, Human society and its environment and Creative Arts. Technology is integrated into lessons where appropriate.
Reading and writing are introduced using an explicit teaching and learning model called L3.
Mathematics is learned through hands on activities and games.
We encourage and support all students to do their best and have a positive growth mindset.
Here is a list of events and days we have been involved in last year:
- Teddy Bears Picnic
- Kinder Dance Performance
- Aquarium Excursion
- 100 Days of Kinder Celebrations
- Grandparents Day
- Domino Challenge
- Gardening
- Healthy Harold
- Easter Fun Day
- NAIDOC Activities
- Indonesian
- Harmony Day
- Athletics Carnival
- Cross Country
- Cooking with Buddy Class
- Community of Schools Games Day
- Book Parade
- Indigenous Book Swap.
This is an example of programs Kindergarten students at Waniora may be involved in. We are looking forward to a great year of learning and growing.
Topics
This term we will be covering the following topics:
- Reading and Writing – Stories from the Dreamtime
- Speaking and Listening – News topics
- Phonemes – ‘ch’, ‘wh’, ‘th’, ‘sh’ and ‘x’, ‘qu’, ‘ng’ and ‘ck’
- Maths – Multiplication and Division (sharing a collection into groups and rows), Time (reading the time to the hour on analog and digital clocks), Fractions and Decimals (half an object and half of a collection), Position (describing where an object is using positional language) and Area (measuring and enclosed space)
- History – Stories of the past and how they are shared
- Science – ‘On the Move’ (Describing and experimenting with how objects move)
- Science - Scope IT (coding using laptops)
- PDHPE – Child Protection
- Creative Arts – Music.