Around the Classrooms

Grade 1/2G

The students in Year 1/2G have had a busy and exciting Term One!

Literacy:

Year 1

Our first Literacy cycle has been focusing on revising previously learnt letter-sound relationships and strengthening students’ ability to blend and segment syllables within words. Students have practised identifying and creating simple and compound sentences, while continuing to build their vocabulary by exploring the meaning of unfamiliar words. They have also investigated words with short vowel sounds and generated lists of rhyming words (E.g. Mug, rug, pug, dug, tug).

In Writing, students have utilised Ochre Literacy as a key resource to support their learning. Throughout the term, they have engaged in focus texts including: A Year on Our Farm and Ask Aunty. These texts have provided rich opportunities for students to develop their writing skills, explore a range of text types, and strengthen their understanding of language features.

Year 2

The Year 2 focus has included three key areas: Spelling, Comprehension and Grammar. In Spelling, students have been introduced to a range of digraphs, including ‘ay’ as in play and ‘ee/ea’ as in tree and leaf to support their reading and writing development. During comprehension lessons, students have explored different text types, including imaginative and informative texts and learnt how to understand and interpret their features. In Grammar, students have been developing their understanding of nouns with opportunities to identify and use them correctly within a variety of sentences. 

During our Writing sessions we have been using Ochre resources to support the students' learning. Our texts have included ‘Under the Southern Cross’ and ‘The First Scientists’. The students have used these texts to follow a format to write an information report.

Mathematics

The students started off the term focusing on  Data and practising using tally marks to record responses to a given question and identify categories. The class then moved onto Place Value and represented two digit numbers using bundles and three digit numbers using Base 10 materials. The final unit of the term has been Addition and Subtraction and the class has been learning the symbols for addition, subtraction and “is equal to”. They have been exploring adding and subtracting using tens frames and number lines and to partition numbers in 2, 3 and 4 different ways.

Inquiry

During Inquiry this term, students have been identifying their personal strengths and what they are good at. Some identified strengths were being “brave”, “friendly”, “helpful” and “kind”. We have been focusing on a range of emotions including “happy”, “sad”, “angry”, “scared”, “excited” and “nervous”. Students were introduced to a Feelings Thermometer where they rated how they were feeling on a scale from 1 - 5, with 1 being calm and 5 being angry. They investigated ways in which they could manage big emotions to assist them in making good choices and maintain healthy relationships with their friends and peers. Students learnt about Cultural Diversity and celebrated these differences that make us all so special and unique last Friday during Harmony Day.

Religion

The focus this term has been on prayer and the various reasons that people pray. The students shared special areas where they pray in their home. They have written Lenten Promises where they have focused on the Lenten themes of: Fasting, Almsgiving and Prayer. Some of the choices related to Fasting were to fast from playing computer games and spend more time playing with siblings or to fast from eating junk food and to eat more fruit and vegetables. Last week for St Patrick’s Day, the class reflected on the well known Saint Patrick and how they can walk like Saint Patrick when they forgive, help others and include a friend in a game. This week they have started rehearsing for their Year 1/2 Liturgy: The Garden of Gethsemane.

PBL

This term our PBL focus has been on Respect. Topics that have been addressed and explicitly taught during our PBL lessons have included: Whole Body Listening, Following staff directions, Keeping Hands, Feet and Body to Ourselves, Taking care of property and School Grounds and Listening to the Speaker. We have held weekly class meetings where students can nominate and encourage their peers as well as address any issues in a respectful manner. Our PBL Leaders have taken our reflections to the Student Voice Meetings and provided positive feedback and noted situations where students would like to see changes made. 

Thank you, families, for your kind support this term!

Have a lovely holiday and Take Care,

Rachel Gurvich

Year 1/2G Teacher