Level 1: Connect
Nishtha Kapoor (1A), Lizzie Parmar (Mon, Tues, Wed) Rhiannon Harris-Tudor (Thurs, Fri) (1B) and Robyn Hall (1C)
Hello Lovely Level 1 Families
We hope you've all had another wonderful fortnight. Hopefully you enjoy our long weekend this weekend!
Our Level 1 students have had a top couple of weeks. They have been working very well in class, being respectful to one another, and producing some fabulous work. It's been lovely seeing our students all work and play so co-operatively together.
Please take note of our reminders below, particularly regarding the information about take home books and homework.
Thank you.
Reminders
Homework books were due today and will have been returned to your child this afternoon with a new homework sheet inside.
Homework is not mandatory. All activities within the homework grid are revision/consolidation of what we have been learning in class.
Students have two weeks to complete any activities and books are to be returned by the following Friday fortnight.
A new homework grid will be issued each fortnight.
Thanks for your support with your child's homework. We hope it's going well.
Please make sure your child brings their labelled hat for Term 1 and part of Term 2 (these can remain in their lockers for the term).
Kinect2Dance Arts Festival Program continues throughout the term each Friday.
Take home books will continued to be exchanged twice weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays. Plese ensure your child brings their take home books back to school on those days.
Please note: take home readers should be a'just right' book whereby students can practice reading with fluency, accuracy and expression. Please chat/ask questions about the book before, during and after reading.
We encourage students to enjoy a fresh fruit/vegetable snack at 10 am every day. We find this helps the students to stay energised and focussed.
Most importantly, now that students have had a chance to settle in, we ask that parents drop their child off at their classroom door rather than enter the classroom. We find that students tend to settle better if parents say their goodbyes at the door.
Of course, you are welcome to briefly chat with us before school outside the classroom and after school. Please note, we have scheduled meetings on Mon-Wed after school so we have limited time to meet on those afternoons.
If you have alternate/unique pick up arrangements for your child at the end of a day, please let your class teacher know via email or in person. This may include such scenarios as meeting your child in Miller Street or at a different meeting point.
Timetable Term 1
Literacy
The Next Fortnight
Students will be exploring the texts Edwina the Emu by Sheena Knowlesand Saltie Mumma by Sandra Kendell. In Reading, they will be inferring using clues from the text, as well as predicting and identifying rhyme, verbs, adjectives and nouns. For Writing, we will be mirroring the author's writing style with our own ideas and vocabulary. We will also be generating mini narratives based on our mentor texts.
Core Literacy
Our daily Core Literacy lessons include many English components including handwriting, dictation, card deck, making words with letters and their sounds, reading words and texts and comprehension.
It is also a time when we incorporate the student text book, Spelling Mastery, twice a week into our lessons to revise sounds, letter names and the reading and spelling of words.
Here's what we will be focusing on over the next two weeks:
Week 7: New phoneme- ng and -nk as in sang and pink
Heart Words- give, live, have
Morphology- Cat and Kite rule (see image)
Week 8: New phonemes- oi as in boil and oy as in boy
Heart Words- before, after, asked
Morphology- Suffixes as per last fortnight and doubling letters (see image below0
Every Thursday, students will bring home their levelled fluency reading sheet that they have been reading in class. It would be great if your child reads this text to you at home for further consolidation with fluency, expression and accuracy. Please note that there are comprehension question on the back of this sheet that can be revisted too. Thanks for your support with this.
Mathematics
Over the next fortnight in Grade 1 Mathematics, students will be developing their understanding of skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s up to 50. Using number charts and concrete materials, students will explore how organising objects into groups helps them count collections efficiently. There will be many opportunities to practise counting aloud by 2s, 5s and 10s to build fluency and confidence with the counting sequence. Students will also apply their skip counting knowledge to identify missing numbers in familiar number patterns. In addition, we will introduce counting on and counting back as strategies for addition and subtraction, forming the foundation for automatic recall of basic number facts. Students will also begin exploring addition and subtraction strategies such as the split strategy and near doubles to strengthen their number sense and mental computation skills.
Inquiry
This term in Inquiry, our focus is Changing Families, where students are exploring how all families are different and how aspects of daily life have changed over time. Over the next fortnight, students will describe how school was different in the past compared to today, developing their understanding of change over time. We will continue learning about the many different family structures that exist and discuss the difference between immediate family (such as parents and siblings) and extended family (including grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins). Students will demonstrate their understanding of changing families through class discussions and learning activities that highlight and celebrate the diversity of families in our community.
Cooking
Our Level 1 students had a wonderful time in the Kitchen/Garden Program working closely with Mr Marco to prepare a delicious vermicelli noodle salad. They carefully developed their fine motor skills by slicing vegetables into thin strips, practising how to hold and use knives safely, and moving responsibly around the kitchen. It was fantastic to see students confidently preparing fresh ingredients and then enjoying the fruits of their labour — most devoured generous serves of vegetables, with some even going back for thirds! Big smiles and full tummies all around. Well done, Level 1s!
Developmental Play
In Developmental Play, students have settled beautifully into the routine and are becoming more confident and independent in their play choices. A strong focus continues to be on sharing, taking turns, and building respectful interpersonal and social skills as students collaborate and problem-solve together. Activities on offer include the art and craft table, construction corner, Duplo, Vet Station, Teacher and Student role-play station, connectors, reading and writing area, train set, and Dinosaur World. These play experiences support creativity, communication, cooperation, and imaginative thinking while strengthening important social skills.
Visual Art
Please have a look in the Specialist Section of this newsletter for a fabuolous feature focus on Year 1 art!- Ms Van Etten
Warm Regards,
The Level 1 Team
Nishtha Kapoor, Lizzie Parmar, Rhiannon Harris-Tudor and Robyn Hall