Grade 1/2 News

Key Dates:

• Monday 20th April: Term 2 Commences
• Friday 24th April: School ANZAC Day Service
• Tuesday 28th April: Where Is The Green Sheep Excursion - Ulumbarra Theatre

Dear Grade 1/2 Families,

As we come to the end of an enjoyable and productive term, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate all the great things our students have achieved. It’s been a term full of fun and engaging learning, with classroom activities, creative tasks, and class and whole-school celebrations. It has been fantastic to see our students learning, growing, and giving things a go. We hope that everyone has a fantastic Easter break.

What we have been up to...

Cross Country

It was wonderful to see our grade 1 and 2 students have a wonderful time at Cross Country on Monday. We saw many displays of our school values during this event. Thank you to the many families who were able to attend on the day to show their support!

Last week, our focus text was Sundays Under the Lemon Tree. This special text follows a young child’s memorable Sunday, with the smells and sounds of family cooking, the adventure of collecting seawater to make ricotta, and the triumph of learning to bake a special family apple cake.

This week, we read Dragon Dance. This story, written by Bendigo's own Lauren Mitchell, tells the story of Sunny and Nai Nai who can't wait for their town's annual dragon parade. But when the loongs don't wake up, Sunny must find a way to save the family tradition.It's a story of hope, resilience and creativity, and a celebration of the much-loved Chinese dragons on the Australian goldfields.

In Writing, we have finished our unit on narratives. The students enjoyed writing creative stories with an Easter theme.

In Maths, we have continued learning about addition and the students were introduced to the concept of subtraction. 

Maths Challenge

Well done to our Week 8 Maths Challenge winners - 1/2 Mac ! We look forward to some more awesome challenges next term!

Mathematics and numeracy at home

If you’re looking for ways to support your child’s Mathematics learning at home, this website offers helpful videos, resources, and ideas: https://www.vic.gov.au/mathematics-and-numeracy-home

This week's tips outline some counting activities that you can try at home.

Counting

Counting is one of the first experiences of Maths for young children.

Learning to say numbers often begins with a favourite song or rhyme and the repetition of the number names. Children will often say the numbers before they recognise and identify individual numbers.

Here are some activities and tips to engage your child with counting:

• Listen for the counting sequence in these songs and rhymes, which can all be found on youtube.com:- Five Little Ducks- Ten in the Bed- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Once I Caught a Fish Alive- Ten Green Bottles- Five Little Monkeys- 1, 2, Buckle My Shoe
• Children will begin by counting all objects in a group, for example, fingers and toes, the buttons on their clothes, steps to the house, or their toys.
• As children move on to counting a set of objects, they begin to link each object with one number. In the beginning, encourage your child to touch each object as they say the matching number.
• When beginning to count a group of objects, children may need to arrange the objects in a line to help them count. Later they will be able to start counting from any object without arranging the objects.
• Once your child is confident, use different numbers as the starting point for practising counting. For example, start counting from 6 or 10. Ask your child to count forwards and backwards. Ask what number comes before, or what number comes after, a given number.

Upcoming Learning - Term 2

Week 1 and 2

Reading, Writing and Spelling: 

Our focus texts for Week 1 and 2 next term are:

• ANZAC Ted
• Welcome to Country

Phonemes and Heart words for  Term 2 will include: 

Week 1: ar, a

💗- park, dark, shark, car

Week 2: or, ore, a, aw, au

💗 – saw, more, before

Week 3: ir, ur, er

💗 – girl, first, her

Week 4: air

💗 – hair, fairy

Week 5: oo (book)

💗 – look, took, put

Week 6: ow, ou

💗 – out, now, down, house, our

Week 7: oy, oi

💗 – boy, toy/s,

Week 8: oo (boot)

💗 – food, soon, zoo, school

Week 9: eer

💗 – dear, hear, year

Week 10 and 11: Revision based on student need

Mathematics: During Week 1 and 2 students will continue to develop their number fluency skills with addition and subtrction.

Topic: In Term 2  we will begin in Week 1 learning about the significance and meaning of ANZAC Day. We will then move into our topic for the term which is titled Tip Toe Through Our World - Sustainability. Students will be explore concepts relating to how we utilise our natural resources and the impact that our choices have on the environment.

Respectful Relationships: Our school focus in Respectful Relationships next term is Personal and cultural strengths.

Our team and emails are as follows:

Madie Floyd: Madison.Floyd@education.vic.gov.au

Tegan Edwards: Tegan.Edwards@education.vic.gov.au

Jane Rodda: Jane.Rodda@education.vic.gov.au

Sami Craig: Samantha.Craig@education.vic.gov.au

Chris McClellan: Christopher.McClellan@education.vic.gov.au