Year1 Term4 Team Overview
Dear Year 1 Families,
Welcome back to school for Term 4, the last term of Year 1! We are very proud of what students have achieved this year and we are excited to finish off the year.
Curriculum:
Literacy
In reading, students will continue to develop their ability to decode unknown words. They will do this by using strategies such as breaking words into parts and noticing how the end of a word can change its meaning. When reading, students will notice full stops and commas, and use them to change their voice and expression to match the text. Students will understand an author’s purpose by using a range of texts and exploring how they are organised, and their text features. They will develop their ability to comprehend texts by practising skills such as using the text clues to predict what will happen next in a story, inferring how a character is feeling and their motives, and being able to retell the important parts of a fiction text. Year 1 students will also be learning about fiction texts in the form of poetry, identifying how author’s manipulate letter sounds, choose specific words to rhyme and how author’s engage the audience.
In writing, students will focus on creating narratives and poetry texts. Mentor texts will be used to support their development of ideas, word choice, sentence fluency and organisation. Throughout the term, students will explore different ideas for writing, craft well built sentences and identify how sentences are sequenced. They will be adventurous in using vocabulary such as adverbs, actions verbs, adjectives and nouns to help readers visualise the characters and setting as well as the events in their narrative. During this term, Year 1 students will learn how to write simple poems using their knowledge of word families to help write poems that rhyme, connecting to their reading of different authors who use poetry to tell a story. Students will also experiment with different letter sounds and understand how to flip sounds to support their poetry. Each week, students will engage in SMART Spelling and phonics to help improve their understanding of spelling patterns.
Numeracy
This term in Maths, Year 1 students will consolidate their understanding of addition and subtraction. Students will be exposed to a variety of different worded problems and opportunities that involve addition and subtraction to help them identify what strategy they will use and why they are using it. Also, Year 1 students will revisit key ideas around place value, such as using a number line to identify 2 digit numbers and skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s to ensure they are able to think about numbers flexibly. Year 1s will continue to develop their understanding of telling the time to the half hour and how this connects with fractions (halves). Students will be learning how to order Australian coins according to their value and describing the coins’ appearance (shape, size, colour).
Inquiry
Throughout Term 4, students will be inquiring into the question: ‘How has daily life changed or remained the same over time?’ Students will be exploring schools in the past and look at how they are the same or different to our schools now. Students will be investigating objects that were used in the past and comparing them to objects that we use now. Students are going to be creating interview questions to help them find out more information about our topic. They will bring these questions home to interview a family member. Students are going to be sharing their findings with their class through the form of a poster or book.
Ways to Help Your Child At Home:
Home Reading - Please ensure that your child is reading every night at home for at least 20 minutes, following up with a conversation about the book (this is very important to help them verbalise their understanding). Please see your child’s homegroup teacher if you are having trouble accessing Reading Eggs or Wushka.
Learning Goals - Your child’s individualised learning goals are listed on Compass as well as SeeSaw. There is a reading goal, a maths goal, a writing goal and an Inquiry or SEL (social and emotional learning) goal for your child. Please read these and support your child by going through the suggested strategies to help at home. These goals are changed every 5 weeks, and you will also be informed of your child’s achievement of these goals. If you have any questions regarding your child’s goals, please see your child’s teacher.
We are looking forward to completing the year with you and your child. All of the year 1 teachers have appreciated all of your support with your child’s learning. Please come and see your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns. After school is best for a quick chat, otherwise send your child’s teacher an email to set up an appointment time for a longer chat.
Year 1 Team