Year 1 News
Year One
We would like to congratulate the Year 1 students for the positive manner in which they have started the school year, allowing for a seamless transition from Prep to Year 1.
It has been an exciting, jam packed first two weeks of Year 1 for our students, with celebrations including ‘Be You Day’ and ‘E-smart Week’.
‘Be You Day’ was a whole school wellbeing celebration, with a focus this term on exploring what it means to be a great mate. The Year 1 students completed activities including ‘Friendly and unfriendly behaviours’, ‘What I want in a friend’, ‘How can I be a good friend?’ and ‘People I Can Trust’. The celebration allowed for wholesome, in-depth conversations about what it means to be a great mate, which tied in beautifully with our Unit of Inquiry’s Central Idea, “The decisions people make influence their relationships with each other”. Unfortunately due to inclement weather, our ‘Be You Day’ assembly was held over the PA system instead of under Sherril’s shed. Congratulations to Zac N (1C) and Bessie C (1D) who presented on behalf of the Year 1 cohort.
During ‘E-smart Week’ the Year 1 students explored how to stay safe on the Internet. The week culminated in our first whole school assembly for the year, where Piper S (1A) and Abby L (1B) presented their posters and gave a brief overview of what they had learnt over the week.
The Daily 5 – CAFÉ
“Daily 5 is a literacy framework that instils behaviours of independence, creates a classroom of highly engaged readers, writers and learners, and provides teachers with time and structure to meet diverse student needs”.
Last week we successfully launched ‘Read to Self’ as part of CAFÉ’s ‘Daily 5’. The Year 1 students discussed ‘3 Ways to Read a Book’.
- Read the pictures
- Read the words
- Retell the story
The students were then introduced to the “I PICK” method for choosing a good-fit book and created an ‘I PICK’ bookmark as a daily reminder. With the “I PICK” method, students were able to select appropriate reading material to store in their personal book box, stored in our classrooms. Please ask your children about the ‘I PICK’ method.
I choose a book
Purpose
Interest
Comprehend
Know the words
Through the systematic, explicit teaching of ‘Read To Self’ students develop independent reading skills and build stamina for the task. Pictured are our students who have already begun building their reading stamina.
Magic Words/Letters & Sounds
The Year 1 students are now in the groove of our morning routine. Every morning the students start the school day by watching and reciting Magic Words, as well as the 26 letters of the alphabet and their corresponding sounds. We also sing songs that encourage vowel recognition.
The Magic 100 Words make up half of all the words in reading and writing. Magic Word knowledge is integral to success in reading and writing and we encourage your children to incorporate learning these words as part of their daily home reading routine. Learning the Magic Words rapidly improves reading, increases fluency, develops comprehension and enhances spelling and writing.