Welcome to Year 1, 2013
Term Letter Print Version | How to communicate with your child's teacher
Term Letter, Term 2, 2013
Dear Families
The purpose of this letter is to let parents know of our curriculum focus for Term 2 and some important dates for Year 1. Mrs Buttigieg has enjoyed her first week back from maternity leave and the children thoroughly enjoyed their time with her.
Religious Education & History
Life in the Times of Jesus
Children will be exploring what life was like during the times that Jesus lived and comparing the differences and similarities to their lives today. This will include housing, food, transport, school and past-times. Students will also work with their grandparents to see how life was different for them in regards to their past-times.
Pentecost
Students will explore what Pentecost is in the Church and how we celebrate Pentecost today and what it reminds us of.
Mary – Mary in Scripture
Students will investigate how is Mary portrayed in the Bible? How can we be more like Mary? What are the prayers we pray that have a Mary focus?
ANZAC Day
What is it? What are the symbols? Who are those in our community that serve our country?
English
Writing and Shaping
Spelling
Using Sound Waves as a base for building and consolidating students phonological awareness. In particular o (a), g, gg, u (o), h, j, ai, ay, a_e, l, ll, ee, e, ea, m, mm, i_e, and y.
Handwriting
Students will continue to focus on forming strokes using the Casey the Caterpillar Program.
Writing
Student will continue to develop their recount writing skills as well as developing their awareness of sentence structure, nouns, verbs, adjectives, full stops and capital letters. Students will also explore how authors develop characters and the purpose of how they are drawn as well as depicted within a variety of familiar texts.
Reading and Viewing
Guided Reading
Students will further enhance their reading skills in guided reading focusing on developing their phonological awareness, comprehension, predicting, reading on, self correcting, using pictures to support reading new words and using sentence structure. Students will also participate in an Early Intervention Program based on the assessment results in 2012 and Term 1 2013. There will be 1 teacher and 3 school officers working with specific phonological awareness skills, comprehension skills, handwriting, rhyming, syllables, words identification and letter/sound identification.
Listening and Speaking
Each fortnight students will orally share information and ideas with their peers by preparing their Morning News at home.
Mathematics
Number
Recognising, writing making quantities up to 100, Addition (single and two digit) – formal equations, turnaround, subtraction, connections between subtraction and addition.
Pattern
Number pattern – counting in 1, 2, 5 and 10. Using objects to represent group counting.
Measurement
Volume – how much can it hold. Investigation on Volume – The Biggest Drink.
Shape
2 dimensional shape revision and introduction to 3 dimensional shapes.
Statistics and Probability
Revision of tables and tallies.
Health and PE
We continue to develop our ball skills and the skills required for team play through the sport of basketball. Students participate in a variety of drill-based activities to learn the basic skills of basketball. These include dribbling, throwing and of course shooting and then play some modified games. We then move into our athletics preparation developing the techniques required to participate in the school’s athletics carnival held during term three. This includes a variety of ball games, shot put and long jump to name a few.
The Arts
Music
Year One students will be learning ta (one sound on a beat) and te-te (two sounds on a beat). They will read, write and perform these in variety of ways. Melodic development will continue with a focus on pitch accuracy and preparation for soh and mi.
Dance
Students will participate in structured dance classes with Miss Nicole each Thursday.
Homework
Year One students will continue with 15 minutes of homework a night. Students will focus on take home readers and sight words. Students who have complete the Magic 200 Sight Words will move onto an extension list of Sight Words and then Spelling words.
Other relevant information
- Library –Friday
- Dance –Thursday
- Sport - Wednesday
Morning News
Children will be able to offer morning news to their peers each fortnight on the odd weeks. This will be noted on the class calendar in the Sunday column along with the topic for that week. Students’ days will not change. If unsure, please check the note in the communication book or on the wall at the blue floor mats.
Sight Words
When students are ready to be tested on their sight words – please send them into school and place their sight word book in the magazine holder next to the communication book box. Sight Words will be tested on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday a sa number of occasions/opportunities have been planned each during literacy time for students to be tested on their sight words, if ready.
Wanted
We would gratefully appreciate it if parents could send in any old magazines and food catalogues for class activities. They can be placed on the oven and we will sort out into the appropriate boxes.
Morning Routine:
The following steps are what we require the students to independently complete each morning:
- Unpack communication book and place in the box under the clock,
- Place snack in snack boxes and lunchbox in fridge,
- Place drink bottle in the blue box next to fridge,
- Put sight word book in sight word box next to communication book box (if being tested).
- Place any notes for the front office on the Teacher’s black chair in front of floor mats (this is so they are checked and placed in blue admin folders).
- Place blue communication folder in shelves under the communication book box.
- Finally, put school bag (upright) on the Year One bag rack out of the classroom.
Naturally, it is acknowledged that some students may require support in moving towards independence with the morning routine. We will work together in managing this.
Dates to Remember
May
- Friday 3rd – P & F Trivia Night
- Friday 10th – Mothers Day Stall
- Friday 10th – Year One Prayer Assembly
- Monday 13th Lunch Day
- Wednesday 15th Active Travel Big Breakfast
- Friday 17th Wild West Disco
- Monday 20-25th – Under 8s Week
- Monday 20 – Excursion to Beach – (This has changed from our previous newsletter)
- Thursday 23rd - Police Visit
- Wednesday 29th – OLD Cross Country
- Friday 31st – Bunnings Sausage Sizzle
June
- Tuesday 4th – World Environmental Day
- Monday 10th – Queensland Day
- Thursday 13th – Lunch Day
- Friday 21st June – Final Day of Term 2
Kind Regards,
Katherine Cole and Erin Buttigieg Patrick Davis
Class Teachers Principal