Year One

Dear Year One Families,

Firstly, I would just like to say a big congratulations to all of our Year One students! We have been so impressed with how well everyone have settled into Year One! My name is Rohan Crowle and I am the Year One Leading Teacher. If you see me around the school, please come and say hello!

We have just wrapped up our 'First 20 Days Program', where we had a focus on building relationships and setting up classroom routines and expectations. We are now well underway with our first Unit of Inquiry, 'How We Express Ourselves', where we are learning about identifying and understanding different emotions. 

This week, our 'Homework Program' has started and will be beginning the 'Spelling' component of this in Week Six. If you have any questions, please reach out to your child's classroom teacher. 

As this week ends, we are also close to finishing our 'English Online Testing' and I am proud of the effort our students and teachers have put in. It's been a massive job!

Please continue reading to find out what we have been up to in our classrooms this week:

Reading

In Reading, we have been learning about how to make 'accurate' predictions before we read a text. Students were encouraged to look at the title of the text, pictures/illustrations on the front cover, the blurb, and also to use their prior knowledge to assist them with making their predictions. We have also started to revise a range of phonemes and reading strategies to assist students when decoding unknown words. 

Writing

With our English Online testing finishing, we have completed the writing component of the testing this week. Students were asked to write a story based on a book that was read to them and they did a wonderful job! Students have also been exploring Poetry, by writing 'Colour Poems' based on their favourite colour. Students first planned their poem in their Writers Notebook and then had a go at writing the poem using what they had planned. Keep an eye-out for some 'Colour Poems' on the Year One Display Board in the admin building in coming weeks!

Mathematics

During Mathematics, students have been exploring counting. We started with counting forwards and backwards from different starting points and will be moving into skip counting in the coming weeks. This could be something you practise at home with your child. Students have also been completing 'Launch, Explore, Discuss' lessons, where they explored how they could count collections in different ways. Students were encourage to find the most efficient strategy possible!

Inquiry

In Inquiry this week, we have been investigating our first Line of Inquiry - 'An Inquiry into the signs, symbols, and non-verbal cues that we use to communicate'. Students discussed how we can express our feelings through using body language, gestures, facial expressions, and a range of other strategies. Students then had to use what they had learned to identify how others were feeling.

Reminders:

• Homework is handed out on Monday and is to be completed by Friday each week.
• Take Home Readers are swapped every Monday. 
• Please ensure your child's iPad is fully charged each day. 
• Please ensure your child has a hat in Term One. 
• Dismissal is at 2:40 PM each day and we kindly ask you do not wait on the verandahs for your child. 
• Doors are opened at 8:20 AM and classes start at 8:30 AM. If you arrive from 8:40 AM onwards, please go to the office for a late pass. 

Kind Regards,

Rohan Crowle

Year One Leading Teacher