Ulysses 

Welcome to Term 4! It's hard to believe we are in the final term of the school year. The students have shown tremendous growth in their learning, confidence, and independence. This term, we will continue to build on their skills across all areas of the curriculum while also preparing them for their transition into Year Two. We have an exciting term planned with engaging learning experiences in Reading, Writing, Mathematics, and Inquiry. We look forward to a wonderful final term together.

Reading

In Reading, students are engaging with a variety of mentor texts to strengthen their comprehension skills. The focus this term is on predicting, making connections, retelling, and questioning. These strategies support students in understanding and discussing texts more deeply, helping them become confident and thoughtful readers. In Phonics, our Grade One students have been busy building their reading and spelling skills through fun and engaging activities. We have been learning to blend and segment sounds to read and write new words, focusing on using our knowledge of letter-sound relationships to become more confident readers.

Writing

In this term's Writing, students are learning to create Acrostic Poems and Procedural Texts. Through acrostic poems, students are exploring descriptive vocabulary and expressing their ideas creatively. Later in the term, they will focus on procedural Writing, developing their ability to write clear, sequenced instructions that explain how to complete a task.

Maths

In Mathematics this term, students are developing their understanding of capacity and addition using the part–part–whole strategy. Through hands-on activities, they are exploring and comparing the capacity of different containers using informal and formal units of measurement. Students are also building their addition skills by recognising how numbers can be broken into parts and combined to make a whole. These experiences support a strong foundation for number fluency and problem-solving.

Social Emotional Learning

In this term in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), our Grade One students have been exploring empathy and understanding how others feel. We have been learning to recognise emotions in ourselves and others, and discuss ways to show kindness, care, and support when someone needs help. We have also talked about the importance of helping others and how small acts—like sharing, including others in play, or offering kind words—can make a big difference in someone's day. As part of our learning about relationships and understanding differences, students have been encouraged to compare similarities and differences between themselves and their classmates. This has helped them appreciate that everyone is unique and special in their own way.

Diwali 

We also celebrated Diwali, learning how people around the world share joy, light, and kindness through festivals. Students enjoyed exploring how different cultures express happiness and togetherness.

Inquiry

In Inquiry this term, students are learning about different cultures around the world. They are exploring how people express their culture through language, clothing, music, and art. To support their learning, students participated in various immersion centres, engaging in hands-on experiences that helped them appreciate and celebrate cultural diversity within our community and beyond.