Year 1 News

From Karen, Year 1 teacher

Show and Don't Tell 

Students are learning to make their writing more engaging by using similes and ‘show don’t tell’. We read mentor texts such as ‘Ella and the Ocean’, ‘My Dog is as Smelly as a Dirty Old Sock’ to understand how to use these figurative devices in writing. 

Each class  collaboratively put together a ‘show don’t tell’ wall, which acts as a bank of different ways to describe emotions without literally telling the audiences the emotions of the characters. Students had lots of fun writing creatively, and did an exceptional job in using these figurative devices. 

Teddy Rulers

We have started our measurement unit by looking at lengths with informal units. We talked about the importance of measuring from end-to-end, and there shouldn’t be gaps and overlaps when we are measuring. Students used a variety of materials in the classroom, such as teddies, counters, paper clips and Unifix blocks to measure the length of different items. 

We also talked about how carrying a lot of counters or teddies can be inefficient sometimes, especially when measuring lengthier things. So we made a 12 teddies ruler, and it was much easier to measure with the ruler, then add up how many teddies could the item be equivalent to.