Ulysses Community Report

Dear Parents and Guardians,

The Ulysses community teachers would like to congratulate all of the students on a wonderful start to Term 1. Everyone has settled into the community positively and we have established great routines and expectations, while working in our mentor groups.

A special thank you to all of the families who have supported the students in their transition to a new school year. We look forward to sharing our learning with you all this year.

Our Learning 

Reading  

In Reading, the Grade 2’s have established their reading routines. Students are aware of what Independent Reading looks like and have been using their Independent reading time effectively.

Each student has set up a blue box which includes fiction, non-fiction and books of their choice to support their Independent reading. Students have also spent time learning how to choose ‘Just Right’ books.

Students have also been learning to identify the features of fiction and non-fiction texts, and their purpose. We have explored different types of fiction texts and different types of non-fiction texts. We have also been learning to create interest in books for others by writing book reviews. Students are currently learning to identify the structure of a recount and make text-to-self, and text-to-text connections.

Writing 

In Writing, we focused on recounts. Students began by exploring the structure of a recount and then worked towards writing a recount in order. First, we wrote recounts about the events and experiences that we all enjoyed over the holidays. Then we explored different texts to write recounts about the events that happened in the stories we read. Students also participated in various activities such as guided drawing, playing on the playground, with sports equipment, playing card games, playing with play dough and blocks etc. Afterwards, they created a plan and wrote a draft recount of the different activities they partook in, followed by editing and publishing their work. 

Numeracy

In Numeracy, students have been working on developing their understanding of how to be a good mathematician. They were engaged in setting up expectations for using maths resources in our community. Students were given opportunities to familiarise themselves with a daily schedule and calendar. They enjoyed creating their own daily schedule and discussing the calendar every morning. Students have also been learning to explore and create forward and backward number patterns. They used skip counting by 2s, 3’s, 5’s or 10’s to create their own number patterns. Students were able to skip count forward and backwards starting from different numbers to identify and create different number patterns. They were encouraged to share their strategies and thinking with their peers.

Inquiry

We have begun our inquiry unit by investigating our families. Students created a family house (as pictured) out of cardboard and paddle pop sticks or paper. They drew and labelled who lives in their house with them. Students also created a family tree and discussed how our families are similar and different. From their learning, students can identify the people in the family, share different qualities about the family and identify what makes families different. Students have begun looking at how families have changed over time.

Social Emotional Learning 

 In SEL, students learnt about different communities and recognised how we all fit together in our community. They created a puzzle display to share their understanding of the differences and what makes them unique.

Students have also been exploring the zones of regulation. Students were able to identify what zone they were in, the changes to their bodies when they were in different zones and what strategies they could use to self-regulate. 

Victorian Curriculum

Below is the link to the Victorian Curriculum if you would like to take a look at what we cover throughout the year. 

https://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/level2 

Friendly Reminders

• Doors open at 8:50am and dismissal is at 3:20pm.
• Ensure your child’s belongings are clearly labelled. This includes clothing, drink bottles, hats and lunchboxes (lids too).
• Please ensure that your child is reading their home reader for 15 minutes every night and that their reading log is filled in and signed by a parent/guardian.
• We strongly encourage students to bring along some brain food (fruit and vegetables) that they may eat in class. It is important that this is included as an additional snack in their lunchbox.

Best wishes,

The year 2 Ulysses Community Teachers

Britt, Belinda, Scott, Amanjot, Dafina, Amandeep and Natalia.