From the 1/2 Classrooms

Thank you so much for supporting your children to start the new school year so well. We are certain there were many nervous moments last week, but the students in Grade 1 and 2 have settled in very well. They are beginning to form new friendships as well as rekindle old friendships in and across the grades.

The first two weeks of the school year are about settling everyone into their new grade. We are all getting to know each other, and as teachers we are establishing classroom routines and behaviour expectations, so that the year ahead of personal growth and learning for each child is maximised.

We have also been counting in maths!! Students are counting by ones, twos, fives and tens up to and at times, over 100!! 

Each class and student is working at their own pace and whilst some students are working hard to recall  the number that comes after 49 when counting by ones, others are thinking about interesting counting patterns and challenging peers to count by threes from 23! 

In Grade 1, students are learning to develop confidence with number sequences to and from 100 by ones from any starting point. They will also learn to skip count by twos, fives and tens starting from zero. 

In Grade 2, students are learning to investigate number sequences, initially those increasing and decreasing by twos, threes, fives and ten from any starting point, then moving to other sequences.

Learning to skip count is important for students in developing knowledge and confidence in knowing and recalling their multiplication tables when they are older. 

In the classroom we are using many different strategies to develop student confidence and capability. We have been -

• playing buzz and practising our counting as a whole class,
• popcorn counting in pairs,
• writing down skip counting patterns on whiteboards
• writing numbers sequentially on a blank numbers chart
• highlighting skip patterns on a number chart
• playing Jack Hartmann videos to hear, say and dance to the number patterns.

All classes have been concentrating on counting forwards, but we also need to learn to count and see number patterns going backwards. This will happen when students demonstrate greater confidence going forwards. 

We can all count backwards (down) from 10 by ones, especially when a rocket is about to blast off!! But counting backwards from 57 fluently, and thinking about the numbers that come before it, is a tricky task. 

If you'd like to have some fun and play some games with your child to help them learn, you can "popcorn count" with them, play Jack Hartmann videos (links below) or even just count together walking to the park or school.

At times when counting aloud in the classroom, it is very noisy!  But students are having fun, they are supporting each other and learning the skip counting patterns together. 

Prepared by the Grade 1/2 teachers