Year 1 Bulletin

Learning Intention – To locate the /wh/ digraph in our everyday surroundings.

Learning Experience Overview:

Each week our Investigation lessons will focus either on a Maths, English or Wellbeing theme. One of the English-based activities students will complete is the search for blends or digraphs around the classroom. This lesson, we looked at the /wh/ digraph, as in whale.

We do:

As a class, we made a poster brainstorming different words that use the /wh/ digraph. The students brainstormed words and their teacher added them to the chart along with a drawing.

Prompts

What words use the /wh/ digraph?
Can you think of an animal that swims in the ocean? Can you think of a question word?
Where in this word is the digraph most often positioned?
Are there any words which use different letters to make the same sound?
Can you think of a word that uses this digraph but sounds different? What about in the five Ws that we use in writing?

You do:

During our investigations, our reporter and photographer are sent out – with their clipboard and iPad respectively – to explore where they might find this sound, and to record this information in whichever way they see best fit.

Share and reflect:

At the end of each Investigations session we come together to present our findings. Our reporter and photographer will use their clipboard and iPad as props to share what they have been working on and what they found.

Look out for the /wh/ digraph in readers and other books you read at home.
Have a go at writing down the words you found and spelling them.
Think of different ways you can record the words you found. Can you make a list? A poster? A chart? How else could you record this information?

This is what Grade 1s had to say about Investigations this term: