In Prep this term, the youngest members of our student body have been exploring the integrated English and Geography topic, ‘The Places We Live in and Play’. They investigated and focused on
- What is a place?
- What makes a place special?
- How do we look after the special places we live in and play?
Students drew and described some of their personal favourite places as well as explored and identified some well-known significant local places including the Sydney Opera House, Bondi Beach, Centennial Park and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We discussed why these places are important, how they are used and by whom. We explored and compared maps of Centennial Park and Ascham School grounds, and identified some of the geographical features used. The girls made predictions about what various keys used on the maps represented, including cafés, toilets, ponds and activity areas such as horse riding, bike tracks and playgrounds. They then proudly applied some of this knowledge into their own mapping creations.
We also read some lovely fictional stories about special places and the girls responded by verbalising and drawing their ideas, as well as creating artworks such as a little Mouse House. We also took the opportunity to begin familiarising the girls with other parts of our amazing Ascham grounds. We enjoyed a morning tea picnic around near the tennis courts and a sunny outdoor play session on the School Oval. At the time, we were lucky enough to be visited by one of the resident possums walking along the fence to have a sticky beak at the girls!
In Mathematics, the girls have been exploring whole number, addition and subtraction, length and 2D shapes, through hands-on learning investigations and activities. The girls were able to apply their knowledge of geometric shapes through a variety of fun activities. We read a story Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh, and made our own 2D shape cat and mice.
Our shape pizzas were filled with lots of delicious 2D toppings including triangle pineapples, circle pepperoni and rectangle cheese.
To coincide with National Reconciliation Week, our Prep students learnt to draw geometric shapes and Indigenous symbols on a map of Australia to create their own First Nations-inspired artwork.
Watch our video, The Adventure Begins Here, about our new Prep playground:
