Year One
Grade One Excursion
A Wild Day at Werribee Open Range Zoo!
What an unforgettable adventure we had at Werribee Open Range Zoo! Our students were thrilled to explore the zoo and see animals up close in their natural-style habitats. There were plenty of smiles, excited voices and lots of curious questions throughout the day!
One of the biggest highlights was our Safari Adventure, where students loved spotting animals as we travelled through the open-range habitat. The elephants were another favourite, with everyone fascinated by their size, strength and gentle nature.
The lion enclosure certainly created some excitement! One very hungry-looking lion decided to come right up to the glass window for a closer look. Thankfully, the glass was firmly in place! It certainly made for a memorable moment and plenty of wide eyes!
And then came the meerkats! Watching them pop up, stand tall and look around had everyone captivated. They were definitely one of the cheekiest and most entertaining highlights of the day.
It was wonderful to see our students embracing the adventure, sharing their excitement with friends and learning through real-life experiences. A fantastic day of exploring, discovering and making memories together!
A huge thank you to all our wonderful parent helpers who came along to support us on our zoo adventure! Your time, enthusiasm and support helped make the day so special for our students. We truly appreciate you being there and helping us create such a fun and memorable experience!
Reading
In Reading we have been exploring the books of Eric Carle and various other authors thinking like readers who look closely at both the words and pictures.
Students have been learning to visualise and describe characters, using details from the text and illustrations to build a picture in their minds. We have also been exploring author choices and discussing why Eric Carle and other authors make particular decisions in their stories.
Students have considered questions such as:
Why does Eric Carle use animals as characters in his stories?
Why does he make his pictures look the way they do?
What choices has the author made that help us understand and enjoy the story?
Why are Eric Carle's books easy and enjoyable for us to read?
Through these discussions, students have been developing their ability to think deeply about an author's purpose, make connections between words and illustrations, and explain their ideas using evidence from the text.
It has been great to see students becoming more thoughtful and confident readers who understand that authors make deliberate choices to engage their readers and bring their stories to life.
Phonics
In phonics, students have been learning about the ‘ow’ sound and exploring how it can be heard and used in different words.
Students have been listening carefully for the ‘ow’ sound, identifying it in words and practising reading and spelling words that contain this sound. We have used a range of activities to help students hear, say, read and write the sound confidently.
Students have also been building their word knowledge by looking at words such as cow, how, owl, now, wow, down, yellow, brown and throw.
Through these activities, students have been strengthening their phonemic awareness, decoding and spelling skills, while developing greater confidence when reading and writing words containing the ‘ow’ sound.
Writing
In Writing, students have been developing their descriptive writing skills through our exploration of animals in Eric Carle's and other authors books.
Students have been learning how to write detailed descriptions of an animal by thinking about its appearance, type of animal, food and habitat. Together, we have collected interesting words and phrases to help us describe what an animal looks like, including its size, colour, shape, body coverings and special features.
We have also been learning about the five main animal groups:
MammalsReptilesFishBirdsAmphibians
Students have explored where different animals live and what they eat, using this knowledge to add more detail to their writing.
Through this learning, students are developing their ability to choose interesting describing words, organise information and write sentences that help the reader create a clear picture of the animal in their mind.
It has been amazing to see students becoming more confident writers and using their growing knowledge to add detail and purpose to their writing.
Maths
In Maths, students have been developing their understanding of equal groups and multiplication through hands-on activities, drawings and mathematical discussions.
Students have been learning to make and represent equal groups, such as two groups of five, by drawing circles and placing objects or numbers in each group. This has helped students see that multiplication is a way of describing equal groups.
We have introduced the × symbol and explored how multiplication connects to repeated addition. Students have been building their mathematical vocabulary and using language such as:
groups of, times, multiply, repeated addition, share and by
Teachers and students have worked collaboratively in creating an anchor chart to help them recognise and use this mathematical language when explaining their thinking.
Through this learning, students are developing the ability to represent, describe and explain equal groups, while making connections between pictures, repeated addition and multiplication.
Reminders
12th September Bunnings Sausage Sizzle Hoppers Crossing.
Hats are required in Term 4.