Prep A Rachel Dowe

Prep B Lilly Stevens

Prep C Sarah Thwaites

Prep D Gladys Yun

Prep E Paige Frazer (M-W) and Sarah Connors (Th-F)

Prep F Yolanda Andrews (M-W) and Mollie McMahon (Th-F)

Prep Curriculum Overview 2025

Hello Families and Students, 

Welcome to Prep at North Melbourne PS!

Congratulations to all our families and students on a positive transition into school life. The first few days of our learning journey have been exciting, with students learning about classroom routines and making lots of new friends. The teachers are feeling very proud of the students’ achievements thus far and are looking forward to an exciting year ahead. 

Here are some ideas to continue what has been a positive and smooth transition:

• Encourage independence by asking your child to complete the school routines e.g. carry their own school bag, walk into the school building independently.
• Promote a sense of responsibility by asking your child to do small jobs at home e.g. set the table for dinner or make their bed. 
• Involve your child in conversation e.g. asking questions about their day at school and looking at Seesaw together to promote discussion.
• Encourage your child to share their feelings and wonderings about school.
• Encourage a love of reading. Read every day and talk to your child about the books you are reading. The books you choose to read do not have to be Home Reading books – reading anything is wonderful.
• Visit your child’s classroom to see their learning environment.
• Pack lunch boxes together.
• Share positive stories about your school memories.
• Introduce yourself to other Prep families and organise catch-ups for the children to get to know each other. 

Please find a yearly overview of our learning areas below:

READING

In Prep, the first session of the day is Reading, with a strong focus on letter sounds and recognition. Students will also be learning the routine of guided reading and developing the foundational skills required for independent reading within their first 20 days of school.

Students will be exposed to modelled reading, where the teacher reads aloud and demonstrates skilled reading behaviours such as making predictions and recognising letters as well as the sounds they make. Children will also be encouraged to be active participants in shared reading experiences by sharing their thoughts about characters and events in the texts. Explicit teaching will also be given to concepts of print, for example, identifying text features.

After whole-class reading, students will work in small groups. As we move throughout the term, each group will work with their teacher for their guided reading session once a week. During these small group sessions, students will be taught fundamental reading skills to become independent readers. It is during this time that teachers will help students work towards their reading goal and reflect on the comprehension and decoding strategies they are already using.

Running parallel to the guided reading group will be a Nessy group and independent groups focusing on the whole class learning goal. Nessy is a school-wide online learning program which supports students to further develop core reading concepts in a fun and engaging way.

Take-home readers will be sent home daily and we encourage you to enjoy this time with your child. At this stage of the year we do not expect your child to be able to independently read the texts to you. Instead, examine the books together, identifying the front cover, reading from left to right, identifying some letters they may know etc. You are also welcome to share other books with your child that are of interest to them. Please ensure that your child brings their take-home readers back to school the next day to take a new book home. In addition to this, each class will have one Library session per week, where they will be able to borrow two books each. Red library bags have been distributed and please remind your child to bring their books back to school each week to ensure they can borrow another two during their session.

Throughout the year, students will learn comprehension strategies to enable them to gain a deeper understanding of the texts they are reading. They will be guided through making predictions based on prior knowledge and picture clues, as well as visualising elements of a text by creating simple drawings or explanations. The students will make connections to texts and their own experiences, and to other texts, justifying their connections through discussion and drawings. Sequencing texts will be explicitly taught, with students retelling several events from a simple story. Questioning will also be a focus and students will learn the difference between literal and inferential questions. They will also learn to identify the main ideas from a text and the author’s message.

WRITING

For the first 20 days of school, we will be establishing the routines of the Writer’s Workshop. The Writer’s Workshop is designed to build student independence and confidence in writing. The idea behind the workshop is that every student is a working author and the teacher acts as a coach to help every student explore their craft.

In Prep, the teacher and students will ‘unpack’ a writing prompt or ‘seed’ together with a focus on developing appropriate language and vocabulary. Students will then be writing independently while a writing conference takes place with a small group. Every student will have a conference throughout the week.

Whole-class introductions will be short and tightly focused. Students will learn, through modelled tasks, how to draw with detail and begin to make writing attempts about their experiences.  We will also teach students letter sounds in written and spoken form. Activities will be planned to give students the opportunity to explore these sounds in both letter and word form.

Students will also participate in fine motor activities where they will gain confidence as they learn the mechanics of writing such as correct pencil grip, good writing posture and letter formation.

MATHS

Our Prep students will learn that there are different parts to the Maths lesson and that classrooms have different materials to help them with their learning.

Students will begin the year with a focus on numbers, collecting an amount and comparing collections and counting. Students will also sort and classify objects based on different attributes. Prep students will connect number names (e.g. three) with a numerical value and an amount. They will initially explore numbers up to 10 including zero and then beyond, ensuring that they can accurately count out the correct number of manipulatives. As their understanding of numbers develops throughout the year, they will begin to compare numbers and explain their reasoning using words such as more, less or the same. Students will also become confident when sorting a group of items and explaining how their items have been sorted.

We will explore the days of the week, months of the year and familiar times, such as play time and home time. Prep students will describe the position of objects e.g. beside, in front of and behind. There will be opportunities for students to follow and give directions using simple words, statements and gestures.

Students will explore partitioning by looking at all the different ways you can make the numbers 4 through 10. They will learn to read, write and order numbers up to 20 and beyond as well as practice counting forward and backwards. Students will learn to measure objects using informal measurement skills such as using their hand to measure objects. They will be introduced to addition and subtraction skills using practical situations including using money to strengthen these skills.

Students will learn to sort, name and create familiar shapes and recognize these shapes in their environment. Multiplicative thinking will be taught through repeated addition, counting and worded stories whilst division will be introduced through practical situations involving sharing. Students will be introduced to skip counting by 10s as well as represent, name, record and order 2-digit numbers. Students will be introduced to the concept of halves as well as practice their skip counting skills.

During independent learning times, concrete materials such as counters and blocks will be available to support learning. At the end of the Maths lesson, students will return to the carpet to share and reflect on their learning.

WELLBEING

In Wellbeing, Preps will be settling into school routines and getting to know their peers. We will also be following the Respectful Relationships program. This program is a statewide initiative that aims to develop students’ social, emotional and relationship skills by embedding a culture of respect and promoting emotional resilience from the early years upwards. More information about the program can be found here.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher via Compass.

Thank you, 

The Prep Team