Prep - Year 2 Subjects

Mathematics

In Maths, the curriculum is broken into 5 strands. They are Number, Algebra, Measurement, Space & Statistics.  

Number: In Prep, students build their fundamental number knowledge. They learn to subitise small collections of objects and pictures to set them up for success with addition and subtraction later in their schooling. They learn counting strategies to count a collection to 20 using one to one correspondence for accuracy, connect these quantities with numerals, order numbers to 20, and begin to identify one more and one less than a number within 20. Students represent and model every day situations using addition and subtraction to numbers within 20, using materials and drawings. They represent everyday situations that involve sharing and equal grouping. 

Algebra: In Algebra, students recognise, copy and create simple repeating patterns that are represented in different ways. 

Measurement: In Measurement, students use direct comparisons to compare length, mass or capacity of objects. They learn the days of the week and months of the year and sequence these in order. In prep, students tell and make time to the hour, and build conceptual understanding of the length of time by connecting the hours of the day to familiar routines. 

Space: Students learn the names of various two dimensional shapes, recognise common three dimensional objects and the names of the face of each object. They learn to describe the position and location of themselves and objects in relation to other people and objects within a familar space. 

Statistics: In Statistics, students sort data using objects and images, in response to questions with two outcomes. 

English

In English, students build the fundamental skills needed for Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening. Students participate in daily explicit Phonics instruction. We teach phonics using a linguistic phonics program called Sounds Write. This systematic program teaches students how to read and spell by focusing on the relationship between sounds and letters. Students are taught to apply the strategies of blending, segmenting and phoneme manipulation to become fluent readers and spellers. 

In Reading lessons students develop reading behaviours, such as tracking with their finger, reading from left to right and top to bottom and identifying the different features of a book (front and back cover, title, author, spine and blurb). They also learn about words and sentences and identify these in a range of texts. Students use sounds to read CVC words in decodable texts. They are exposed to a range of fiction and nonfiction texts while developing the comprehension strategies of summarising, questioning, making connections, predicting and visualising. 

In Writing, students focus on listening to the sounds in words when trying to spell, forming their letters correctly on the solid line and using the word wall to support when they are unsure of how to spell high frequency words. Students write about familiar events and explore the features of sentences, such as beginning with a capital letter, leaving spaces between words and ending with a full stop. 

In Speaking and Listening, students focus on developing their listening skills by listening to the ideas of others and responding to texts. They also develop phonological awareness skills by identifying syllables within words, generating rhyming words, identifying the initial and end sounds in spoken words and manipulating sounds within words. They practise communicating clearly both in social and academic settings, using the appropriate voice level, speaking clearly and demonstrating active listening skills.

Humanities

In foundation, students engage in getting to know their classmates, teachers and places within the school. Within the 'Families' unit students share the various roles and responsibilities within their family and how this can be different from one family to another. Students explore their family heritage as part of the History unit and spend time sequencing important events in their own lives. In the Geography unit, students explore places in our local community. They identify the different roles of people within our community and explore the location of the different services available within the Caroline Springs Community.

Students explore different types of toys and how they work. For example we can push, pull, spin and slide toys. They investigate what materials toys are made of; such as metal, plastic, glass and fabric. Students make a design brief and select the materials that are appropriate for their toys. They are provided with feedback from their peers and explain what they like and what they need to improve on. Students explore the different amenities and facilities that are found in the local community. They use the knowledge of the local community to design and construct their own town. They select materials and resources that are environmentally friendly to create their town. Students provide their peers with feedback on what they liked about the town as well as what could be improved. 

Health

Throughout the year, students learn about their school environment, classroom expectations and routines. They explore different emotions to understand their feelings and tools to regulate these emotions, using the Zones of Regulation program. Students learn how to solve problems inside and outside of the classroom using different strategies from the Wheel of Choice. Students use the classroom Behaviour Matrix from our School Wide Positive Behaviour initiative to support their understanding of our school values of Respect, Responsibility, Honesty and Acceptance. 

The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships program covers the topics of Emotional Literacy, Personal and Cultural Strengths, Positive Coping and Problem Solving throughout semester one. In Foundation, the Semester 1 Health curriculum focuses on enabling students to interact and play constructively with others and to establish friendships with peers. Students develop a vocabulary to describe the emotions they experience when interacting with others. Students begin to develop an understanding that individuals are unique but also have characteristics in common. The curriculum provides opportunity for students to begin establishing and naming the skills required to work in groups. In semester 2, students will describe ethical concepts and develop a basic vocabulary about ethical problems. They learn about cultures in their immediate world, focusing on what is different or similar to their own culture. 

Auslan

In Prep, students learn what Auslan (Australian Sign Language) is and why it is needed. They learn how to sign everyday signs and school signs. Students also learn how to sign feelings, greetings, colours, the alphabet and numbers. The Auslan lessons are taught in conjunction with other curriculum areas to transfer knowledge across subject areas.

Science

In Foundation, students are immersed in various experiences and activities where they were able to use their sense of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. They learn about the weather around them and the various weather patterns observed in each of the seasons. Students identify how the weather directly impacts their personal lives, such as influencing the type of clothing they wear or activities they undertake. Students learn to record their observations in a variety of formats, including drawing and making three dimensional models. 

They learn about living things and their needs for survival, such as water, food, and air. With teacher assistance, students classify living and non-living things using a set of criteria. Students explore and compare the way objects move, including how toys roll, bounce or spin. They identify objects made from different materials and describe them on the basis of their observable features, such as plastic is hard and fabric is soft.

PE

In Prep the students learnt to respond to and follow simple instructions such as stopping on the whistle, playing within a boundary, and practised fundamental movement skills. They then learnt how to perform a soccer kick towards a target. Ball handling was then introduced including performing an underarm throw and catching a vary of equipment including beanbags, tennis balls and scarves. Students then had an introduction to gymnastics by learning basic shapes. This then progressed to a two hand and forehand strike using equipment such as tennis and badminton racquets. Students finished the year off working on their balance, coordination and movement by carrying out our obstacle course unit. This enabled students to develop their jumping, leaping and landing skills. 

Visual Arts

This year in Visual Arts, Prep students will be introduced to fundamental art processes and basic elements such as line, shape, and colour. Through a variety of activities including painting, drawing, cutting, and pasting, students will have opportunities to develop their fine motor skills.

In Term One, students will explore colour theory and develop their ability to recognise and identify different colours. Using stories such as Elmer the Elephant and The Rainbow Fish, students will engage with vibrant colour palettes and learn how colours can convey mood and meaning in art.

In Term Two, students will focus on developing a sense of self-identity by learning about different portrait styles. They will explore techniques such as drawing and collage to create their own portraits. Additionally, students will engage in discussions about shapes and use art to explore the places they live and belong to.

In Term Three, students will be introduced to the work of Spanish artist Joan Miró and learn about surrealism. They will create artwork inspired by Miró’s unique style, with a focus on collage techniques and the primary colours of red, blue, and yellow.

Finally, in Term Four, students will be introduced to an Indigenous Dreamtime story, Bunjil the Eagle, to foster an appreciation for Aboriginal culture. This will provide students with an opportunity to reflect on cultural stories and representations in art. Encouraging creativity and imagination, students will represent Bunjil’s features by creating textured feathers using paper and collage techniques, while further developing their drawing and painting skills.

Mathematics

In Maths, the curriculum is broken into 5 strands. They are Number, Algebra, Measurement, Space & Statistics.  

Number: In Year 1, students learn to read, represent and order numbers to 120 using materials, number lines and on number charts. They partition one and two digit numbers and begin to develop mental strategies to add and subtract numbers to 20. Students are exposed to real life situations involving equal sharing, and model these situations with diagrams and materials. In Year 1, students are intorduced to money and the Australian coins. They learn the value of these coins and use their value to help order them from least to most value. In year 1, fractions is introduced into the curriculum and students model one half of real life objects, shapes and collections of items. 

Algebra: Students identify, create and continue simple repeating patterns involving shapes, objects and Australian coins and identify the core of the pattern. They develop confidence to skip count by two, five and ten to prepare them for multiplication which is introduced in Year 2. 

Measurement: In Year 1, students measure length using informal units recognising that units need to be uniform from end to end. They use direct comparisons to order the length, mass and capacity of objects. In Year 1, students learn to tell and make time to the half hour and use the language of 'half past' to describe the time. They gain familiarity with using calendars to determine the date, and describe duration of events and sequences using years, months, weeks, days and hours. 

Space: In Space, students make and classify two dimensional shapes and three dimensional objects, and identify these shapes in the environment. In location, students learn to give and follow directions and describe the position of objects in the environment. 

Statistics: In Statistics, students learn to acquire data through the use of questioning and gathering tally marks. They represent, interpret and compare their data using one to one displays. 

English

In English, students develop their Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening skills. Students participate in daily explicit Phonics instruction. We teach phonics using a linguistic phonics program called Sounds Write. This systematic program teaches students how to read and spell by focusing on the relationship between sounds and letters. Students explore a range of different sounds and spellings such as long and short vowels and digraphs. They are taught to apply the strategies of blending, segmenting and phoneme manipulation to become fluent readers and spellers. 

Additionally, students explore concepts about print throughout reading lessons, identifying titles, page headings and subheadings, content pages, page numbers and the difference between fiction and nonfiction texts. Students develop their comprehension skills by making meaningful predictions of what they think will happen next in fiction and nonfiction texts and asking questions to develop their understanding. They also retell the parts of a story and make connections to what they read to build literal and inferred meaning about key events, ideas and information. 

In Writing, students write procedures, narrative texts and persuasive texts. Students develop the ability to use full stops and capital letters correctly. 

In Speaking and Listening, students continue to work on communicating clearly and demonstrate active listening skills through asking questions and giving comments and feedback. They participate in multiple presentations to share their ideas and thoughts with their peers.

Humanities

In Year 1, students develop a greater understanding of themselves, their immediate and extended family. They identify who is in their family and how their family has changed over time. Students explore the difference between the past, present and future. They also identify significant milestones that have happened in their life. Student explore how people are connected to different places around the world and why these places are important to them. They investigate different ways of caring for the significant place that is important to them. Students discuss the location of their city, state and country and described the key features of each state and territory in Australia. In the Design and Technology unit 'Creekside Inventors', students explore a variety of inventors and inventions, materials and tools that are often used in design. They are taught how to use critical and creative thinking strategies to improve an existing invention. Students are introduced to how different cultural groups, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, describe weather and seasons.

Health

Throughout the year, students learn about their school environment, classroom expectations and routines. They explore different emotions to understand their feelings and tools to regulate these emotions, using the Zones of Regulation program. Students learn how to solve problems inside and outside of the classroom using different strategies from the Wheel of Choice. Students use the classroom Behaviour Matrix from our School Wide Positive Behaviour initiative to support their understanding of our school values of Respect, Responsibility, Honesty and Acceptance. The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships program covers the topics of Emotional Literacy, Personal and Cultural Strengths, Positive Coping and Problem Solving throughout semester one. 

The Year 1 Health curriculum will continue to expand students vocabulary around different emotions and when and how to express their different feelings. They will use basic skills to contribute to group tasks and recognise appropriate and inappropriate ways to solve conflict. They will describe physical and social changes that occur as children grow older and discuss how family and community acknowledge these changes. They will also explore natural and built environments in the local community where physical activity can take place.  

In semester 2, students will describe ethical concepts and develop a basic vocabulary about ethical problems.  Students explore the meaning of right and wrong or good and bad. They learn about cultures in their immediate world, focusing on their family, home, school and friends including things such as food, clothing, housing, language and celebrations.

Auslan

In Year 1, students continue to learn what Auslan (Australian Sign Language) is and why it is used as a form of communication. They learn to identify their dominant hand when signing. Students learn how to sign shops, food, greetings, transport, objects found in the home, medical services, indoor appliances and common food we would enjoy at a picnic. 

This learning is introduced through explicit sign teaching videos and group practice. Learning Auslan involves both expressive (signing) and receptive understanding skills (reading back what others sign).

Science

Students in Year 1 investigate environmental factors that impact upon human beings, animals, plants, and landscapes. They learn how different landscapes can be divided into categories called Natural, Constructed, and Managed. They investigate the similarities and differences between landscapes and explore the factors that can affect living things, such as changes to climate and human activity. Students investigate how light and sound are produced by a variety of sources. They discuss the importance of using their senses, such as their eyes and ears, to detect light and sound. 

Students design and construct their own string telephones and musical instruments using recycled materials to reinforce and demonstrate their understanding of how sound is created. Students also represent their learning and observations through drawing and/or writing. Students learn about physical changes. They investigate how paper can be physically changed, such as by cutting and drawing on it. They demonstrate their ability to make physical changes to different objects by building structures, melting chocolate, and stretching lollies. They explore the various habitats that animals call home, and discovere how animals needs are met in their particular habitats. Students describe how animal body parts help them to survive in their natural habitat.

PE

In Year 1 students continued to build on their fundamental movement skills of sprinting, leaping, jumping, and landing safely. They then practised the soccer kick, using both the instep of their foot to pass and the top of their foot to lift the ball. In Term 2 continued to practice their ability to perform an underarm throw accurately towards a target, while playing minor games. Students were reintroduced to gymnastics by performing shapes. Students then worked on two handed striking and were introduced to basketball working on dribbling. Students finished the year by working on their forehand strike as well as developing their speed, agility and quickness. 

Visual Arts

This year in Visual Arts, Year One students will explore key art elements including line, shape, colour, form, and texture. Throughout the year, they will build on their foundational skills while engaging in a variety of creative processes.

In Term One, students will be introduced to colour theory, learning how to mix primary colours to create secondary colours. Students will create vibrant and colourful artworks, inspired by the colours of the rainbow, exploring how colour can be used to express emotion and energy in their art. Students  will also explore warm and cool colours, discovering how artists use these contrasts to create mood and visual impact. This learning will culminate in an artwork inspired by surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, encouraging imaginative thinking and creative expression.

In Term Two, the focus will shift to form and texture, as students explore 3D artmaking. Using the Indigenous Dreamtime story How the Birds Got Their Colours as inspiration, students will design and create their own bird sculptures. They will be introduced to basic papier mâché techniques and encouraged to use a variety of materials—such as feathers and modelling clay—to personalise their creations and develop their own artistic voice.

In Term Three, students will explore urban landscapes through the vibrant and playful style of artist James Rizzi. They will create cartoon cityscapes using a combination of lines, shapes, expressive faces, and bold colours. As part of this unit, students will also learn about complementary colours and how to use them effectively to enhance visual interest in their artworks.

In Term Four, students will experiment with a range of paper construction techniques, learning how to manipulate paper by bending, folding, twisting, weaving, and layering to create texture and form. These hands-on activities will further strengthen their fine motor skills and creative problem-solving abilities.

Mathematics

In Maths, the curriculum is broken into 5 strands. They are Number, Algebra, Measurement, Space & Statistics.  

Number: In Year 2, students develop their ability to read, represent, partition, order and rename numbers up to 1000. They build mental strategies to add an subtract numbers, and are exposed to a variety of developmentally appropriate written strategies for addition and subtraction. In year 2, children are exposed to the operations of multiplication and division for the first time. They solve multiplication problems using equal grouping, and arrays and calculate totals of these strategies using skip counting and repeated addition. In fractions, students learn about the concept of one half, and perform repeated halving to learn about quarters and eighths, 

Algebra: In Algebra, students recognise and describe patterns using shapes, objects and numbers and identify the rule. In Year 2, students are working towards developing fluency with addition and subtraction facts to 20, and multiplication and division facts of 2.  

Measurement: In Year 2, students begin to make connections between formal and informal units of measurement. They read time to the half and quarter hours, and demonstrate proficiency with reading and using calendars to determine the date and the number of days between events. Students also begin to make real life connections between fractions and measurement, and represent halves, quarters and eighths in relation to real life objects and events. 

Space: In Space, they identify the features and characterisitics of three dimensional objects and refer to these characteristics using vocabulary such as 'straight', 'parallel', 'curved' and 'opposite'. Students also begin to interpret maps and experiment with transformations of shapes and objects.

Statistics: In Statistics, students gather and represent categorical data in the form of lists, tables and simple pictographs. 

English

In English, students learn strategies to help them read, write and communicate effectively with chosen audiences. Students participate in daily explicit Phonics instruction. We teach phonics using a linguistic phonics program called Sounds Write. This systematic program teaches students how to read and spell by focusing on the relationship between sounds and letters. Students explore a range of different sounds and spellings such as long and short vowels and digraphs. They are taught to apply the strategies of blending, segmenting and phoneme manipulation to become fluent readers and spellers. In Reading, students explore a range of features in fiction and non-fiction texts, such as chapters, contents pages and visual aids. 

Students develop comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning. This includes making predictions, making connections, visualising and asking questions. 

In Writing, students learn to spell high frequency words in meaningful contexts and apply them to writing tasks. Students also learn about the conventions in writing to support them with creating grammatically correct sentences. They include capital letters for a range of proper nouns, experiment with exclamation marks and question marks, and apply these skills to writing pieces for a range of purposes using different prompts to generate interesting ideas. 

Students learn how to use powerful persuasive vocabulary to persuade an audience through their writing. In Speaking and Listening they develop their ability to follow multi step instructions and display attentive body language during instruction. Students practise initiating discussions with their peers across different subject areas.

Humanities

In Year 2, students explore the 'Past and Present' by learning about the history of significant Australians linked to the college's four house colours. They compare how technology and family life has changed over time. 

Students investigate the topic of Sustainability. In this unit, they explore how to make their home and school more sustainable, as well as the importance of the three R's- Reduce, Reuse and Recycle to minimise waste. Students develop their understanding of how humans use plants and animals as a resource and how to prepare healthy food for eating. 

Students look at designing solutions to improve areas of the school, such as reviewing the canteen menu to include healthier options. 

They discuss the location of their city, state and country and describe the key features of each state and territory in Australia. Students locate the major geographical divisions of Earth such as the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and the equator on a globe. They learn about the seven continents, familiar countries within them and the oceans of the world. In the Design and Technology unit 'Creekside Inventors', students explore a variety of inventors and inventions, materials and tools often used in design and critical and creative thinking strategies to improve an existing invention. Students explore how to be safe online through their cyber safety unit. 

Health

Throughout the year, students learn about their school environment, classroom expectations and routines. They explore different emotions to understand their feelings and tools to regulate these emotions, using the Zones of Regulation program. Students learn how to solve problems inside and outside of the classroom using different strategies from the Wheel of Choice. Students use the classroom Behaviour Matrix from our School Wide Positive Behaviour initiative to support their understanding of our school values of Respect, Responsibility, Honesty and Acceptance. The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships program covers the topics of Emotional Literacy, Personal and Cultural Strengths, Positive Coping and Problem Solving throughout semester one. 

In Year 2 the semester 1 Health curriculum explores students personal strengths and how these strengths are useful in school and family life. Students describe ways of making and keeping friends and how actions or words can help or hurt others. They investigate how trying new things can help identify strategies when faced with challenging situations. They further build on personal strengths by identifying strengths and achievements of others and how these contribute to personal identities. Students will recognise situations and opportunities to promote their own health, safety and wellbeing. They will examine health messages and they relate to health decisions and behaviours.  

In semester 2, students will describe ethical concepts and develop a basic vocabulary about ethical problems. Students explore acts that are considered as right or wrong and the reasons why they are considered so. They learn about cultures in their immediate world, focusing on their family, home, school and friends including things such as food, clothing, housing, language and celebrations. They describe their experience of intercultural encounters in which they have been involved. 

Auslan

In Year 2, students continue to learn to sign using their dominant hand.They learn the signs for their morning routine, what they did on the holidays and how to ask others what they did, countries and what you can sign if you are lost in the city. They also practise signs for takeaway foods, restaurants, elements in nature, planning a holiday, school items, times of the day, opposites, going to the beach and what grandpa could do during a visit. Students also revise the Auslan (Australian Sign Language) alphabet, and learn the placement of signs on their body and how that placement changes the meaning of the sign. They also practise signing numbers from 1-20.

Science

Students in Year 2 develop an understanding of what a natural resource is and investigate how we use natural resources around our home and school. They explore the water cycle and make predictions as to what might happen to humans if we could no longer access a natural resource. They investigate the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling resources. Students predict the outcomes of investigations, and record and compare their observations with their predictions. 

Students learn about simple forces. They identify objects that can be pushed and pulled, and explore the force of gravity. Students conduct investigations to establish which objects sink and float. They conduct experiments to investigate and define friction and its effect on moving objects. Students discover how different common substances can be combined to form mixtures and investigate some ways in which mixtures can be separated. They also explore how living things grow, change and have offspring similar to themselves. Students order and label the different life stages in animals such as insects, amphibians and mammals. They describe their own personal growth and the changes that occur to humans from birth to adulthood.  

PE

In Year 2 students participated in a range of modified team games and learnt how to work within small groups. They refined their overarm throwing technique by experimenting with different angles of release to increase the distance of their throw. Students also learnt how to prepare for and strike through the middle of the ball when kicking a soccer or football. In Term 3 they focused on developing their two-handed strike using softball bats to strike a ball from the tee and followed on from last year working on their dribbling skills in basketball. To end the year, they continued to progress their forehand strike and completed another speed, agility and quickness unit.  

Visual Arts

This year in Visual Arts, Year Two students will embark on a creative journey, starting with African-inspired masks in Term One. They will explore lines, shapes, and patterns, investigating the concept of symmetry as they create balanced designs on papier mâché masks, which will be prepared using coloured tissue paper and PVA glue.

In Term Two, the focus will shift to the art element of colour value. Students will experiment with acrylic paint, learning how to create tints by adding white and shades by adding black to base colours. This hands-on experience will help them gain a deeper understanding of how artists use colour to create contrast, depth, and visual interest.

Term Three will see students expanding their design skills by creating ceramic cupcakes inspired by Wayne Thiebaud's artwork. Using clay, they will craft three-dimensional sculptures, practicing basic hand-building techniques such as pinch pots and methods for attaching clay. After firing in the kiln, students will paint and decorate their ceramic cupcakes, bringing their colourful and imaginative creations to life.

For their final project in Term Four, students will explore Aboriginal art and design an Australian animal mobile. Alongside this, they will engage in artistic strategies aimed at fostering mindfulness and concentration, enhancing both their focus and creativity as they complete their final pieces of the year.