Year One

Dear Year One Community,

Just like that, there are only two weeks to go. Please read on to find out about what the Year Ones have been up to lately!!

Book Week

In Week 6, the Year Ones celebrated Book Week with a fantastic book parade! Students were extremely excited and their costumes looked amazing. Students dressed up as their favourite characters from a book of their choosing and classes paraded around the Year One area. There were many laughs and good times had, as well as some wacky dancing from some of our teachers - especially one dressed as a giant dinosaur!  We are already looking forward to the next Book Parade.

Reading

In Reading, students have been looking at Synthesising. Synthesising is when you discuss how your thinking changes as you read a text. As we have been looking at Non-Fiction texts that are linked to our current Unit of Inquiry, students started by thinking about what they already knew about certain animals, before reading the texts and then comparing that to what they learned while reading. We have also continued with our Phonics work and have been exploring what sound 'o' and 'o' make when they are put together - 'oo' as in 'took'. Students had to match words that had the 'oo' sound in them and search for words containing the 'oo' sound in texts they were reading.

Writing

In Writing, we have been exploring persuasive texts. Students have learned about what 'persuade' means and what an 'opinion' is. We then had a go at coming up with 'reasons' to support our 'opinions' about the controversial topic, Which is the better pet - Cats or Dogs? Debate was fierce and we are still yet to come to a consensus, despite convincing arguments from both sides. Students were challenged to try and come up with reasons for both sides of their argument and did a great job!

Maths

During Maths, students have been learning about how to correctly measure the mass, length, and capacity of objects using informal units. Informal units are things like blocks, icy pole sticks, and rice, and students must learn to measure using these before moving on to formal units like metres and centimetres. This is a very hands-on topic and students had a lot of fun comparing and ordering objects based on their mass, length, or capacity. 

Inquiry

In Inquiry, we have just started our next unit, Sharing the Planet. The Central Idea of this unit is 'Living things adapt to their environment' and it is based on how animals adapt to be able to survive in the environment they live in. Students participated in a 'Provocation Day', where they rotated through four environments and learned about the features of these environments and the animals that live in them. After the 'Provocation', students then had the chance to record their 'Wonderings' - what they wondered/wanted to find out about during this Unit of Inquiry. 

Reminders:

• Students are expected to bring their satchel to school every day filled with their take-home reading books, diary, and homework book.
• Students are expected to bring their iPad to school every day fully charged. 
• Late arrivals (8:40 am onwards) require a late pass from the office.
• If your child is absent, please ensure the reason is entered on XUNO; if you need support with this please reach out to the office staff or your classroom teacher.
• Students should be completing nightly reading and spelling as part of their Year One Homework Expectations. Please refer to SchoolBox for the updates. Homework is due every Friday. Students receive their spelling words in their homework books every Monday and will be tested every Friday.
• In Week 10 we have our Animal Land excursions, please speak to your child's classroom teacher if you have any questions. 

Thank you for your continued support in your child’s learning journey!

Kind regards, 

The Year One Team.