Grade 1

Reading

This fortnight, students have continued to develop their phonics, reading and spelling skills through exploring a range of sound patterns and word features. They have been learning to recognise and use the suffix ‘y’ to create adjectives and the suffix ‘ly’ to create adverbs.

Students have also revised a variety of spelling patterns, including ‘ow’ as in cow, ‘oi’ as in coin, ‘oy’ as in boy, ‘_y’ as in puppy, and ‘ey’ as in key. They have practised recognising these patterns in words and identifying them when reading paragraphs.

A key focus has been learning the /oy/ sound and understanding when to use the spellings ‘oy’ and ‘oi’. Students have been practising reading, writing and spelling words containing these sounds. We have also explored contractions, learning what they are, how they are formed from two words, and how to read and spell them correctly in writing. Students practised contractions such as didn’t, won’t and can’t in words and sentences.

Throughout our learning, students have continued to practise important tricky words, including thought, kind, find, only, great and their. They have applied their developing skills through engaging activities, word games, shared reading, paragraph reading and writing tasks, including texts such as Molly’s Old Teddy, Party Food, The Hungry Chicks and Blip the Android.

Writing

This fortnight in Writing, Grade 1 students have been learning how to write persuasive letters. They have been developing their ability to clearly state what they want and why, using polite language such as “please” and supporting their ideas with convincing reasons. Students have also been learning to structure their letters with a greeting, topic sentence, supporting details and a clear conclusion. They have then applied these skills to plan, write and improve their own persuasive letters.

Maths

Over the past fortnight in Maths, students have continued their learning about grouping and sharing. They have been practising grouping collections into arrays and describing them by talking about rows and columns. Through making arrays, students have realised that groups are easier to count, and they have been able to apply their knowledge of skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s to find the total of a collection. They have also explored the concept of making equal and unequal groups and had the opportunity to apply their knowledge to Australian money by grouping $1 coins into groups of 10 and then exchanging them for a $10 note. Students loved pretending to be bankers while consolidating their learning of grouping and sharing.

Home Learning

Reading:

Practise reading and spelling the tricky words: thought, kind, find, only, great and their.
Look for words with the spelling patterns ow, ou, y and ey when reading books at home.
Practise finding words with the /oy/ sound and discuss whether they are spelled ‘oi’ or ‘oy’.
Encourage your child to find and use adjectives ending in ‘y’ and adverbs ending in ‘ly’ in everyday sentences.
Look for contractions in books and discuss the two words that make each contraction.
Continue reading together each day and encourage your child to sound out unfamiliar words using their phonics knowledge.

Writing:

Practise using adjectives and precise verbs to add detail to sentences.
Practise using please to make polite requests and because to give a reason.
Write a persuasive sentence that clearly states what you want and why.
Practise writing a persuasive letter with a greeting, reasons and a conclusion.
Complete the weekly homework sheet.

Maths:

Find arrays around the home, at the park, anywhere! Describe them by stating how many rows and columns there are.
Skip count in 2s, 5s and 10s using everyday objects,
Practise making equal and unequal groups of objects using everyday objects.