YEAR 1

Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Primary School provides a range of holistic learning experiences to enable students to:

• Participate in the life and mission of the school.
• Deepen their knowledge and engagement with the Catholic faith and tradition.
• Build capacity to continuously reason, reflectively, logically and critically.
• Embrace interdependence of human existence as global citizens, who are responsible to and for themselves and others.
• Engage in learning in a multitude of ways, through personalised and self-paced learning.

Religious Education

Our Religious Education units for Term 4 include: 

1.6 Love One Another: This unit focuses on the concept of relationships. It begins with the children’s experience of friendship and broadens to the Christian way of relating to others. It then focuses on forgiveness and gratitude in relationships. 

1.8 Advent and Christmas: This unit focuses on the seasons of Advent and Christmas. The children are told two Advent stories: The  Annunciation and The Visitation. Throughout these stories, the themes of hope and joyful expectation are introducted. Matthew’s infancy narrative is the source of the Christmas stories told: The Wise Men and The Holy Family’s Flight into Egypt. Children can ponder the mystery of this wondrous birth and the plight of the Holy Family. 

English

In this unit, the children will be engaged in modelled and shared reading and explicit grammatical features will be taught. 

We will also  continue to focus on writing well-structured sentences using correct  punctuation, conjunctions, alliteration, verbs, adverbs and adjectives.  

We will be looking specifically at the following texts, ‘The Brave Bear’  by Nick Bland, ‘The Very Noisy Bear’ by Nick Bland and ‘We’re all  Wonders’ by R. J. Palacio.

Students learn authentically  when they: 

• engage in work that is rigorous and challenging. 

• engage critically with the material being learned - both as individuals and in

collaboration. 

• make connections between the material being learned and their own lives and  

experiences. 

• share what they have learned with others. 

• exercise choice as they pursue their own passions and interests. 

• believe that they are capable learners and have high expectations of themselves. 

• apply knowledge and skills creatively in a range of activities. 

Reading: We will continue to engage in guided reading activities aimed at developing both literal and inferential comprehension and oral reading skills. Each night the children will bring home a reader that is at an ‘easy’ level to share with you at home. Have your child retell events as well as pose and answer a range of questions related to the text. We want this special time to be fun and easy, so success is experienced. The children will work in their reading groups at school on a more complex level of reading so that the correct modeling of reading strategies can be taught. 

Speaking and Listening: This component of the English program will be directly linked to reading and writing activities occurring in the classroom. The children will present oral presentations and will also participate in a variety of structured activities that require them to listen and talk with their peers in small groups. 

Handwriting: The children will continue to work on correct pencil grip,  posture and correct letter formation and direction. 

Spelling: Words and activities for Term 4 are based on the  ‘Soundwaves’ program. 

You can assist your child at home by completing the optional English activities found in your child’s reading folder. 

Mathematics

The children will continue to develop their skills in volume and capacity, addition and subtraction, money multiplication and division. The children will work on differentiated activities in groups within their own class. 

At home you can assist your child by: 

• practicing counting in patterns: twos, fives and tens both forwards and backward on and off the decade. 

• using Mathematics in everyday situations. 

• participating in optional Mathematics activities that can be found in your child's reading folder.

Science and Technology

This term, the students will be completing a unit called ‘Watch it grow’.  This unit is an ideal way to link science with literacy in the classroom. It provides opportunities for students to explore the growth of a range of living things and explore the processes of growth and change,  reproduction and death that apply to all plants and animals. Through hands-on activities and investigations, students will compare the growth of living things under different conditions. 

Mandarin

The students will continue their weekly mandarin lessons via zoom. Students will continue to use spoken Chinese to communicate with teachers and peers. During our Mandarin lessons, students participate in structured and routine interactions, such as using learned sounds, formulaic phrases, and verbal and non-verbal responses.

History

Students will continue exploring the concept of ‘Past and Present  Family Life’. Students will use their understandings acquired from the  unit to engage in an inquiry task where students will make meaning by  creating a product to showcase their knowledge of ‘Past and Present  Family Life.’

Creative Arts

The Visual Arts program Students will explore and discuss  Impressionism, Monet and Van Gogh’s painting style, and how to use warm and cool colours. The Music Program will be taught in class by the classroom teachers. They will also be exploring musical concepts through movement, singing and percussion with a variety of songs.  

Personal Development, Health and Physical Education

The Year 1 Games and Sports Unit is aimed at providing opportunities for students to develop their fundamental movement skills and build confidence in group games. Students will practice and apply these skills during games to build teamwork, cooperative skills, strategy and resilience. During Week 5, the children will be participating in a swimming program at Caringbah Leisure Centre. We will require some parent helpers for additional help with walking the children over to the pool. 

Homework 

Students are to be: 

• Reading a book each night - Reading logs are checked each morning
• Completing their spelling words and sentences in their homework books - Homework books are due each Friday
• Talking and listening - Please refer to the handout in your child's homework book for more information regarding this. 

We look forward to working with you and your child this term. If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher via a note or by email. 

Ms Liz O'Brien and Mrs Drazena Prsa (1White)

Mrs Nicole Pyne (1Gold)

Miss Jae Withers (1Blue)

Important Dates for Year 1

Sport Day

1Blue – Tuesdays

1Gold – Mondays and  Fridays

1White  – Thursdays and Fridays 

Library 

1Blue – Fridays

1Gold – Fridays

1White –  Fridays

School Term - Tuesday 11 October 2022 - Wednesday 14 December 2022

Your parent calendar is available at this link