YEAR ONE
Grade Bulletin - Term Two, 2023
Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Primary School provides a range of holistic learning experiences to enable students to:
- Participate in the life and mission of the school.
- Deepen their knowledge and engagement with the Catholic faith and tradition.
- Build capacity to continuously reason, reflectively, logically and critically.
- Embrace interdependence of human existence as global citizens, who are responsible to and for themselves and others.
- Engage in learning in a multitude of ways, through personalised and self-paced learning.
Religious Education
During Term 2 during Religious Education students will engage in the topics of Easter and Baptism. The Easter Season unit will develop students' familiarity with the Easter story. Students will be exposed to the stories of the Ascension and Pentecost. They will be encouraged to engage with the mystery of God's presence. The Baptism unit will introduce Baptism as the sacrament of initiation into the Church community. We will look at the key symbols and actions used during the Rite of Baptism.
English
Our English Literature Focus this term will be based on imaginative texts. Students will learn the narrative structure and the writing process with a focus on explicit grammatical teaching. We had a large focus on writing correct sentence structure in Term 1 and we will be building upon this for Term 2. Once we build upon student knowledge of this area, they will be given multiple opportunities to write their own stories.
Our Literature focus texts for this term are, 'March of the Ants', by Ursula Dubosarsky, 'The Very Brave Bear' by Nick Bland and 'Walk of the Whales' by Nick Bland.
Students will also participate in weekly recount writing and are learning to build upon this area by using time connectives, conjunctions, verbs, adjectives, proper nouns, correct use of punctuation and sentence structure.
Soundwaves Spelling - The students will continue working with our Soundwaves Spelling program. Spelling lessons are taught daily using an online platform and student spelling books.
Handwriting - The children will continue to work on their pencil grip, correct letter formation and writing within the lines.
Mathematics
Children will be grouped within their own classes according to their needs and ability. All classes will be working through the early part of the Stage One outcomes. Mathematics lessons occur daily. The topics taught this term are:
- Combining and Separating Quantities (Weeks 1-2),
- 2D and 3D Spatial Measure (Weeks 3-4),
- Representing Whole Number (Week 5),
- Forming Groups (Weeks 6-8),
- Geometric Measure (Week 9)
- Non-Spatial Measure (Week 10).
Science and Technology
During Term 2, students will be studying the unit 'All Mixed Up'. The unit will enhance student understanding of the properties of materials and the physical changes that occur when materials are combined. They will learn about the concept of matter and the various types of mixtures and their purposes. They will also learn to classify, investigate, predict observe, document their findings, explore through hands on experiences, discover and experiment.
Mandarin
This term students in Kindergarten to Year 6 will continue to participate in the Chinese language program called the Meg Language Program. The Meg Curriculum is written by the co-author of the Australian Curriculum. All students and teachers will participate in the digital learning platform via Zoom weekly sessions with educators in China.
Geography
This term, we are continuing our 20 Week Geography program on natural and human features of places. The students will describe the reasons places change and identify the active role of citizens in the care of places. Students explore activities occurring in places and how spaces within places can be used for different purposes.
Amadeus Music Program
Students will continue their participation in the Amadeus Music Education program, introduced by Sydney Catholic Schools providing students with a high quality music education program.
Students will participate in activities in listening, performing and organising sound (Kindergarten to Year 6), within their regular Classroom Music lessons. Within these lessons, students will:
- Sing in unison and in parts
- Play tuned and untuned percussion instruments
- Play available instruments such as Ukulele, Guitar and Keyboard (Grade appropriate)
Creative Arts
This term, Visual Arts is linked with Geography and English. Students will create abstract artworks and discuss the various perspectives depicted in art. They will create natural landscapes and have a spotlight focus on the artist, Ken Done and his famous artwork of Sydney Harbour.
Personal Development, Health and Physical Education
This term we will collaborate with the De La Salle PASS students and teachers and allow them to instruct our students for a half-hour sports lesson each week. This program has been implemented between OLF and De La Salle Caringbah for many years with great success. All students are encouraged to participate in the exciting and engaging activities that are organised by the De La Salle students. The lessons with De La Salle will take place on the following days/weeks for all of Year One:
Thursdays (Weeks 1, 3, 5, 7, 9)
Wednesdays (Weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, 10)
Please send your child to school in their full sports uniform every Wednesday and Thursday with the correct joggers.
The students will also continue their sports lessons each Wednesday with Miss Reid.
We will continue with the Open Parachute program that was implemented last term K-6. The program aims to provide practical support for students' mental health. The program aims to reduce stigma and generate authentic dialogue in classrooms about the real issues students face. The psychological skills-building exercises aim to increase empathy, self-compassion, self-awareness, mental health literacy, and self-efficacy in students.
Homework
At Our Lady of Fatima Caringbah, we acknowledge that the time children spend with their families and their involvement in extracurricular activities are important components in the development of the whole child.
Homework brings students' school experience into the home, allowing families to understand their progress and engage more closely with the curriculum.
This term our focus will be on reading on a nightly basis and review of spelling words that are taught from our Spelling Program 'Soundwaves'. Parents are asked to sign diaries and return them to school each day. Homework books will be sent home on a Monday and returned on a Friday for marking.
Please note daily reading will begin in Week 1 of Term 2 and the spelling homework will begin in Week 2 of Term 2. Spelling words are handed out on a Monday and students are expected to glue these straight into their homework books.
We look forward to working with you and your child this term. If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher via a note or by email through Compass.
Miss Dominique Vuaran (1Blue)
Mrs Nicole Pyne and Mrs Gabrielle Devine(1Gold)
Ms Liz O'Brien (1White)
Important Dates for Year 1
Sport Day
1Blue – Wednesday, Thursday
1Gold – Wednesday, Thursday
1White – Wednesday, Thursday
Library
1Blue – Wednesday
1Gold – Wednesday
1White – Wednesday
School Photos
Wednesday May 3rd 2023 - Students are to wear full winter uniform
School Term - 26th April - 30 June 2023