The Launceston Preparatory School - Newsletter 11 April 2024

Have you heard of the term subitising? - Prep and Group 1

Have you heard of the term subitising?

Subitising is the ability to instantly recognize a number of objects without counting them. Some students may already be subitising small numbers if they are familiar with dice, or play dice games, or know finger patterns to 5. If students can say the number of items quickly, they are subitising vs counting the objects and then saying the number.

There are two types of subitising, perceptual and conceptual. We can only really subitise numbers to around 5 easily which is perceptual subitising.

Conceptual subitising is when we start to see the small numbers inside of bigger ones and relate them to each other. For example, if you are looking at six on a die, you may see 3 and 3, or 3 groups of 2.

Subitising on surface level may seem like a skill that students might only need in isolation or in the younger grades, but that is not the case at all! It helps students develop sophisticated counting strategies beyond counting by ones and helps students relate numbers to one another or compose and decompose numbers. For example, they will start to learn that 5 is the same as 3 and 2, 4 and 1, 5 and 0 etc., supporting their understanding of beginning addition and subtraction concepts.

In Prep/One Maths we practise this skill regularly, some of the ways in incorporate it are:

• Dice games
• Using ten frames
• Finger patterns
• Dot plates
• Card games
• Using dominoes.

The ability to subitise is a very important part of developing a strong mathematical foundation and understanding of number. At The LPS we know the importance of providing a wide variety of concrete materials and exciting hands-on activities to help our students truly understand and feel confident with mathematical processes.

Miss Nicole England

Early Learning

The children have experimented with representing texts in a range of different ways. They have been focusing on the story, “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” and have participated in roleplay, obstacle courses, mask making, making their own binoculars, singing and imaginative play as they respond to the picture book.

Alice Batten

Prep and Group 1

This week had Prep and Group One students enjoying some peer reading in the autumn sunshine. Our Prep students are so excited that all the work to learn letters and the sounds they make is finally paying off and they can READ!

It wasn’t day one of Prep as many had hoped, but we are there!  The Group One students are the most beautiful mentors.

Kind and encouraging. They are reading their own much more difficult texts, showing the Preps how far they can go.

A brilliant day in the sun.

Kellie Cook

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 12

Next

Groups 2 & 3

We had our final Parent Reading session on Tuesday.  The children have thoroughly enjoyed it when their parents have been able to make time to read with them at school and chat to their friends and teachers.  There will be no Parent Reading in Term 2, however, we will have other ways in which parents might like to get involved.  More information will be sent home next term.

The children have been showing great progress in Mathematics.  We have done a lot of work on learning different strategies that they can use for mental computation.  We have recently learnt the number line 'Jump' strategy, addition with regrouping techniques, and adding tens and ones.  Each strategy has pros and cons; it is about finding what works best for us.   We always have lots of counters, number lines, MAB Blocks, our fingers, and 100s charts available to help us, so that we are well supported regardless of what stage we are at in our learning. 

Mrs Thyne and Mrs Freeland hope that all the group 2/3s have a wonderful holiday.  They have all worked so hard and are showing wonderful progress in the classroom, and in the yard.  Rest up and we look forward to a wonderful Term 2, with Getting There as our theme. 

Melissa Freeland and Harriet Thyne 😊

Senior Drama

The Seniors have worked hard in Drama this term to create puppets, develop storyboards and produce videos all about the impact humans can have on our oceans. Check out some of their videos below.

A big thanks to the team at Autin Dance Theatre for their resources and interest in our learning!

Mel Andrews

Principal's Award - Connor Baillie

The Principal's Award was awarded to Connor Baillie (Group 6) for consistently showing a desire to better the school experience for all members of The Launceston Preparatory School community. An emerging leader through action, you have shown humility, positivity and a diligence in all of your endeavours throughout Term 1.

Congratulations Connor!

Timothy Bristow

Socratic Seminar-Groups 2 & 3

In Philosophy, we consider some very big issues, perhaps none more so than this week when we explored the concepts of “right” and “wrong”.

We began with a situation in this term’s shared novel where the main character wanted to cut the hoses of the abalone divers who came to fish illegally in Longboat Bay. We discussed whether this would be the “right” thing to do or not, and why. Students then considered the following questions:

• How do we know what is the “right” thing to do?
• What can we do if we are not sure whether something is right or wrong?
• How might we feel if we have done the “wrong” thing?
• What can we do about this?
• What should we do if we see someone else doing something we believe to be wrong?

We also discussed the differences between “dobbing” and getting help with a problem, a very important issue facing students in their everyday lives.

Leonie McNair

Socratic Seminar - Groups 4-6

We began our Socratic seminars this week by considering the many challenges faced by the main character in our shared novel, Blue Fin, by Colin Thiele. He is having to cope alone onboard a fishing boat that has been wrecked at sea by a waterspout, with a father who is seriously injured and unable to assist.

Students then brainstormed the qualities needed to cope in this situation. They included patience, perseverance, logic, courage, calmness, optimism, kindness, mental strength and determination. We discussed whether such qualities are inherent or brought out by experience.

The students then had to show courage and trust in the group by sharing self-assessments of their own qualities, analysing which characteristics they possessed and did not have.

Finally, students were asked to privately consider which quality they would like to have and how they might acquire it.

Our final Philosophy sessions for the term showed how much the students had matured over this term and the value of our Philosophy sessions. Thank you, everyone, for being so brave and honest in your contributions.

Leonie McNair

Prep and Group 1 - Digital Technology

The Prep and Year 1 classes have enjoyed a term full of digital learning. We have focused our learning on iPad devices, and learnt about the following websites and apps:

• Safari - we learnt how apps are used to access the internet
• Kiddle -we used the child-friendly version of Google to research facts about oceans
• Kahoot - we have enjoyed playing some Literacy and Mathematics quizzes using Kahoot
• Scratch Junior - the students loved their first lesson on Scratch Junior for the year, coding characters to move around a screen in an animation style application

We have also discussed the importance of caution whilst using digital devices and the internet, and how important it is to check with trusted adults whether it is appropriate and safe to use certain devices and websites.

Next term we look forward to using robots to learn about code, and learning about how to use laptop computers.

Well done, tech whizzes!

Billy Green

DEEP -Keep Calm and Cook

This term in 'Keep Calm and Cook' our students have wound their way through a tranquil journey of mindfulness practice, zentangling and of course cooking. Each student has created two zentangle patterns, one with colour and one just black and white. Zentangling truly does help your mind untangle. 

Students weekly journal entries have lengthened from a quick note or two to truly digging deep in the past week and reflecting on the lows and highs. Whilst cooking hasn't been our sole focus the students have diligently followed recipes while baking scones and blueberry muffins and shown artistic flare decorating cupcakes this week. 

Thank you to all of the 'Keep Calm and Cook' Term 1 students for your open-minded approach to our studies.

Also a big thank you to the Holloway family for the blueberries. 

Tammy Goss Edmunds

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 10

Next

Sport Reports

Tennis

The LPS tennis team played at Tennis World. It was hot and sunny. We need to work on our backhands and not doing volleys. We had good sportsmanship. Well done to George and Lyla for their improvement - Max B and Hedley A.

Cricket

The LPS mixed cricket team played Launceston Grammar at NTCA. On Friday we played Launceston Grammar, the score was 111, 55 their favour. It was a very fun game. Special mention to Stella for getting a one handed catch and to Archie and Audrey for going on the other team - Alice W & Ollie F. 

Speedball

The LPS Girls’ speedball team played Launceston Christian School at Scotch Oakburn Park. The scores were 3, 7 their favour. The conditions were sunny and it was a great game. Special mention to Olive and Susie for great footwork and to Belle, Olive and Tilly for scoring goals - Milly A

 The LPS Boys’ speedball team played Scotch Oakburn at Scotch Oakburn Park. The team was tough with the score 12, 9 our favour. Special mention to Toby for a great catch and Oliver for scoring 5 goals - Jack G                                . 

Prep Girls Soccer Team - Dragons

School Photos 23rd May 2024

Please see below the details for ordering school photos this year. If you choose to have a family/siblings photo taken, can you please just email the office so it can be recorded. This will eliminate any confusion and the risk of photos being missed on the day.

Term 2

Term 2 will commence on Tuesday 30th April 2024 and will conclude on Friday 28th June 2024. The term dates for 2024 has now been added to the side bar of the newsletter as a permanent feature for your reference.

Second Hand Uniform Shop

Were you aware we have a 2nd hand uniform shop here at The LPS ? Currently it is overflowing with donations so we have decided to open it up to our school community from Tuesday 16th April - Friday 19th April (1st week of school holidays) between 9.30am - 12pm. All clothing is only $5.00 per item so if you are in need of a few extra uniform items, please pop in and grab yourself a bargain.

Office Hours

The School office will operate during the school holidays between 9am and 1pm should you need to contact us.