Year 1/2

Year 1/2 Cluster News

Family photo (can include pets) 

Thank you for photos which have come in so far. Please take a photo to email or send a photo in when you get a moment so your child can have a photo to put on our family wall display for children to look at during the day. 

Home Inquiry 

We will be talking in class about how Christians make decisions. You could discuss these questions with your child. This will help your child to be prepared and to confidently join in class discussions:  

What choices do you make in everyday life? It might be what activities to do, who to play with, whether to watch tv or play sport. What and who do you think about when you are making those decisions?  

Mental Computation ideas 

Doubling numbers – pick a number and double it e.g. double 1=2, double 2 = 4, double 3=6. If your child can go further, keep doubling as far as you can e.g. double 5 = 10, double 10 = 20, double 20 = 40. 

More skip counting links: 

2s -https://youtu.be/GvTcpfSnOMQ?si=ApCVV2BCJDmlDg2f 

5s - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EemjeA2Djjw 

10s - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftati8iGQcs 

Reading library books or home books – We encourage approximately. 10-15 minutes each night.  

Premier’s Reading Challenge 

The Year 1/2 classes will complete the challenge as a class. 

Year 2 students can choose instead to have their own individual records to track the books they read independently. The list will be kept in Take Home Folders until finished and then handed to the library. Students are required to read eight books from the book list, found at https://premiersreadingchallenge.sa.edu.au/book-list/ and four free choice books. 

Learning for Week 5:   

Literacy:  

Reader’s Workshop mini lessons: each class will teach focus lessons according to the needs of the students e.g. choosing good fit books, sharing ideas with the class. Students read each day and during these times, teachers do testing or conferencing with individual students. We will start to assess individual students with reading heart or high frequency words. Following this, we will send a word list home for you to support your child by practicing the unknown words. 

Writer’s Workshop mini lessons: each class will teach focus lessons according to the needs of the students e.g. creating and using an editing checklist, what happens during a writing conference. 

Spelling  

Each week there is a focus ‘sound of the week’. Students are introduced to groups of words which use the spelling patterns and revise the alternative spellings of vowel sounds. 

The sound of the week is not intended to be a spelling list for you to teach your child at home. It is for you to be aware of what we are teaching at school and you are welcome to use the sound as a starting point for your child to share what they are learning. 

Grammar Focus: Sentences (Year 1), Speech Marks (Year 2) 

Mathematics: Students continue to inquire into number and place value. Year 1s: tens and ones, Year 2s: hundreds, tens and ones. The focus will be sequencing numbers and number lines. 

Unit of Inquiry: Who We Are 

Central Idea: Choices we make affect our health and wellbeing 

Line of Inquiry 1: a healthy lifestyle 

Line of Inquiry 2: our choices impact the health of ourselves and others 

Line of Inquiry 3: improving health and wellbeing 

This week, students use Kimochis to explore feelings associated with the choices they make. Kimochi means “feeling” in Japanese and this is being connected with their learning in Japanese lessons. The Kimochis® curriculum is a social-emotional learning and character education program taught at GGLPS from Foundation. 

Christian Studies: Christian Beliefs 

Christians explore and outline ways Christians make decisions about how to live. 

What Christians believe is important when making decisions. 

Using simple decision making procedures and the possible consequences of our choices. 

Reminders 

Each day students need to bring the following. Please label everything.  

hats 

Take Home Bags which are also for Library borrowing. 

water bottles 

a fruit snack 

recess 

lunch – ‘nude’ food, leave chocolates or lollies for home 

wear sunscreen 

Library Borrowing  

Lessons are on Wednesdays for Year 1/2Z and Thursdays for Year 1/2AK. If your child’s books are in their Take Home Folder on Library day, they will be returned. If your child wants to keep them for another week, please leave them at home. 

Volunteers 

During the year we have excursions, a Year 1 Sleepover and a Year 2 Camp. If you are interested in volunteering, there a few things you will need to have up to date to be able to come along or to help in the classroom.  

Working With Children Check (WWCC)  

Responding to Abuse, Harm and Neglect training (RRHAN-EC)  

Valuing Safe Communities (VSC) training 

https://www.goldengrove.sa.edu.au/parent-portal/volunteering/  

May God bless your week, 

Melanie and Ellen  

Melanie Arnold arnold.melanie@goldengrove.sa.edu.au 

Tim Kriewaldt kriewaldt.tim@goldengrove.sa.edu.au 

Ellen Zimmer zimmer.ellen@goldengrove.sa.edu.au