Year One

Dear Year One Community,

As we near the last few weeks of Semester One, we would like to acknowledge the incredible effort the Year Ones are putting into their learning and the growth they are making socially, emotionally, and academically. We have enjoyed watching the students develop their resilience and ability to be courageous and have a growth mindset. Although we have made great progress in these areas, we encourage students to continue this work at school and home so that they can continue to develop into their best, most confident, selves and overcome obstacles that may appear in their path.

Reading

In Reading, we have been exploring the comprehension strategy of summarising. This occurs after reading a text and is a skill where children must identify the important events and retell them in a short and concise manner. Students initially practised summarising texts through the use of the sentence starter 'This text is about...' and finishing the sentence. They used graphic organisers to sort their important events into when they occurred - beginning, middle and end. When this was mastered, students began to use the 'Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then' strategy. When using this strategy, students must identify the main character (somebody), state what they wanted (wanted), discuss the problem (but), explain the solution (so) and say how the story ended (then). 

Writing

In Writing, students have continued looking into the convention of boundary punctuation. They are working towards understanding that sentences can end with a full stop, exclamation mark, or question mark depending on the purpose of the sentence. Students are also exploring the appropriate use of capital letters. They have been exposed to when to use capital letters and are encouraged to continue practising this whenever they write at school or at home. We have recently started learning about information reports. Students have explored what facts are - something that we know to be true, can't be argued against, and can be researched. This week, we read texts and learnt about vets. Students recorded facts about who vets are, what they do, where they work, and what tools they use.

Mathematics

In Maths, we have started exploring the concept of subtraction. Students were introduced to the concept through a story called 'The Action of Subtraction,' where they were exposed to a range of subtraction vocabulary such as minus, take away, fewer, less, and how many left. From this, students then made their own subtraction story which will be used to create a class 'The Action of Subtraction' book. This week's lessons have been focusing on consolidating the understanding that subtraction means to take away which would result in a smaller amount. Students have explored the take away (cross-out) method to demonstrate their understanding. 

Inquiry

In Week 7, we began our third Unit of Inquiry. We introduced the unit through a 'Community Helper Dress Up Day,' where students were invited to dress up as their favourite community helper and discuss their reasoning. Students worked collaboratively on the day to complete a progressive brainstorm activity sharing their prior knowledge of pictured community helpers and locations. They then went on to work collaboratively to solve and unjumble our Central Idea 'Many occupations contribute to a successful community.' This week we started defining the terms 'communities' and 'occupations' to help develop students' understanding of the central idea. We introduced the term community as a place where you live, learn, and work/play. Students then made connections to communities they are a part of such as school, sporting, church, and Point Cook. We also linked the term occupation to jobs and began identifying and discussing different community helpers, their roles, their workplace, and their tools.

Reminders:

• Students are expected to bring their satchel to school every day filled with their take-home reading books, diary, and homework book.
• Students are expected to bring their iPad to school every day fully charged. 
• Late arrivals (8:40 am onwards) require a late pass from the office.
• If your child is absent, please ensure the reason is entered on XUNO; if you need support with this please reach out to the office staff or your classroom teacher.
• Students should be completing nightly reading and spelling as part of their Year One Homework Expectations. Please refer to SchoolBox for the updates. Homework is due every Friday. Students receive their spelling words in their homework books every Monday and will be tested every Friday. 

Kind regards, 

The Year One Team.