Grade 1

Reading 

Students focused on the decoding strategy of Chunky Monkey these last two weeks. Students were taught how they can chunk unknown words to read them. This included chunking by sounds (TH/E/M and SH/OU/T) and chunking words within words (THEM/SELF and DOG/HOUSE). Students practised this in independent and partner reading. 

In Week 3 students were working on their fluency when reading. Students learnt how to read punctuation in a text, for example; we pause at fullstops, short pause at commas, raise voice with sentences that have exclamation marks and change pitch of voice at question marks. This skill has helped increase the students confidence when reading aloud to others and students are beginning to experiment with expression. In week 4 students are beginning to explore the concepts of print for fiction and non-fiction texts and how they are alike and differ.

Writing

In writing the last 2 weeks, students have continued to work on procedural texts. Students now have a strong understanding of text structure (Title, Aim, Materials and Steps) and what the purpose of procedural texts are. 

Students read Wombat Soup, and reinvented the story by making their own procedure of Wombat Soup using items they found around the school. This week students also created slime and wrote a procedure on how to make it. 

It has been great to see the students enjoy this topic, the growth in their understanding and writing ability has been incredible! 

Integrated

We have continued to delve into our History topic that includes comparing items from the past to now. Students have explored the different types of transportation and ways people communicate! 

Maths

During Week 3 students were introduced to the topic of Length. Students began the week revisiting vocabulary such as; taller, shorter, longer, near and far. They completed hands-on activities such as; comparing items in the Learning Community and making paper planes and flying them in a competition to see who was the furthest and who was the nearest. To conclude the week, students were introduced to informal measurement, they used items such as unifix and paper clips to measure familiar objects. 

In Week 4 we had a focus on 3D shapes and their properties (edges, vertices and faces), students participated in a range of games and hunts with their peers to solidify their understanding of 3D shapes and identify them in the world around us.