Year -1/2 Unit

What an exciting couple of weeks the Year 1/2’s have had! In reading, the students have been looking for what the main idea of a non-fiction book is. Students use clues from the book such as the headings, sub-headings, pictures and topic sentences to help them as a reader, identify what the main idea is of the text (or for longer books what the pages main idea was). Students have also been learning the comprehension strategy of asking questions, before, during and after they read a book, to better understand what they have been reading. 

In Inquiry the students have been learning about forces (push and pull) through the use of toys and how they work. Last week students had a great time working in partnerships to create a parachute using a napkin, wool and little Lego figurine. Dropping them off of the playground students got to see their parachutes float down to the ground, seeing the force in motion. That gravity was pulling it down, and air resistance was slowing down its descent causing the parachute to float. 

This has been a great lead into the students writing. Students have continued to write their explanatory texts explaining how Parachutes are built and work. This week students have continued working on their writing process of writing the draft, revising their writing (trying to add more detail or choose a better word to help their audience better understand their writing), editing their writing and then publishing their finished product. 

In Maths the students have continued to learn about addition. They have continued to focus on doubles (6+6= 12) and near doubles (6+7=13) through the use of games. They have also learnt about the part, part whole method (breaking a number down into a smaller part). 

The Year 2’s also enjoyed partaking in the Brainstorming Production, where they, along with the Year 3’s and 4’s went and watched a wellbeing performance of ‘Sticks & Stones’. 

‘Sticks & Stones’ was a live educational theatre performance that promotes resilience, cyber safety and positive connections. The students were all very engaged with the performance. 

Next week the students are looking forward to partaking in the Toy Science excursion on Monday and we will be going on a Walking excursion to the Children’s Park on Tuesday (21st of May) to look at the play equipment and what forces are used to make them work. 

Year 1/2 Teachers

Debbie Thompsopn (12T)/Greer Arnold, Lyndsay Adamson (12A), 

Zoe Sutherland (12S)/Juliet Smith, Emma Beaumont (12B)/Greer Arnold, 

Katherine Richardson (12R)