Year 1 News 

Reading

This week during Reading, students have been learning about inferring, using clues from a story or video, along with what they already know, to understand how a character might be feeling or what might happen next. To introduce this concept, students watched the short film Partly Cloudy. Together, they paused the video at key moments to discuss how the characters might be feeling and what evidence helped them decide that. For example, students looked closely at the bird and the cloud, using facial expressions and actions to make their inferences. Students then recorded their ideas by matching emotions with clues from the scene. The students visited many different texts during the week and continued focusing on the comprehension skill of inferring which is an important skill to help students analyse texts. 

1B students busy at work spelling new words during phonics

Writing

This term, the Year 1 cohort has been focusing on developing strong writing foundations through learning about capital letters, full stops, and handwriting. Students have explored when and why they use capital letters, for the beginning of a sentence, for names, and for places and how full stops show the end of a complete idea. Using anchor charts, discussions, and hands-on writing activities, students practised recognising and applying these punctuation rules in their own writing.

As part of our handwriting and dictation lessons, students listened carefully to sentences such as “Jay thinks it is a great day to play” and “If I eat lots of sweets, my teeth will rot.” They practised writing these sentences neatly, using finger spaces, capital letters, and correct punctuation. 

Afterwards, students checked their work against the model sentence, editing in a different colour to show their corrections.

Through these lessons, students have been developing both their listening and transcription skills, as well as building confidence in writing clear, well-punctuated sentences.

Maths 

Last fortnight in Mathematics, Year 1 students have been learning to recognise and sort common 2D and 3D objects through a variety of structured activities including drawing their own “shape monster” characters using only 2D shapes, participating in shape bingo, recognising shape patterns, drawing their own 2D shape patterns, and building 3D object patterns using maths blocks. Students have also had opportunities to explore the properties and features of 3D objects using the Mathseed program.

Students are consolidating prior knowledge of place value by going through a recap of partitioning. They practised reading numbers, recording numbers, and making numbers using various concrete materials. This included representing two-digit numbers using tens frames, creating bundles to represent tens and ones, and representing two-digit numbers using a place value chart.

Inquiry

Last fortnight in Inquiry, Year 1 students consolidated their understanding of living things and habitats by drawing pictures to share their understanding. Students focused on making sure they included the basic needs these living things require to survive. Year 1 students then learnt about Caring for Country, focusing on the perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, reflecting the importance of Country and living things in natural environments. Students drew living things that are important to them and identified ways they can help care for the world around them. 

Social and Emotional Learning

Last fortnight in Social and Emotional Learning, Year 1 students learnt about kindness and how their actions affect others. They reflected on how it feels when someone helps or ignores them, learning that small acts of kindness can make a big difference in positively affecting the emotions of others. Students practised ways to show kindness in everyday situations both in and outside of the classroom. 

This week, students learnt about their swimming expectations ahead of their swimming lessons commencing this term. Year 1 students brainstormed a list of swimming expectations as a class, and discussed the importance of following expectations and displaying school values to keep themselves and others safe while they are at the swimming pool. They practised role playing what this looks like before creating a poster to show how they plan to reflect our school values at swimming lessons.

Special Event - Swimming 

Swimming is an essential life skill that promotes water safety, physical fitness, and overall wellbeing. Our Year 1 students have been participating in structured swimming lessons designed to help them develop fundamental swimming techniques, coordination, and endurance, while also building confidence in and around the water.

Through these lessons, students are learning the importance of resilience, discipline, and goal-setting as they practise and refine their skills. Beyond the physical benefits, swimming has also encouraged teamwork and cooperation, as students support one another, follow instructions, and celebrate each other’s progress. This program provides a fantastic opportunity for our students to strengthen their lifelong water safety skills while enjoying time in the pool.