Year One

 

Spotlight on Learning

Dear Families,

Week 7 is a wrap! This term seems to go by very quickly. Students are quite busy participating in assessments along with their regular learning. It is wonderful to see their growth since the beginning of the year. We hope, the Newsletter gives you some idea of what we teach at school. 

With the conclusion of learning about Mary the Mother of Jesus, we are very proud to showcase the creative work of our students to pay tribute to our lady through a crafted Marian garden. Please feel free to come in and have a look after school!

Religious Education focus:  June 8th is the feast of the Pentecost. We remember the beginning of the church originating from Jesus' apostles. Next Tuesday we will celebrate the rich and diverse culture of our school community, just like the church that Peter built after Jesus' death. Students are welcome to wear a cultural costume (no sporting costumes please). Students have been learning about the 'Holy Spirit' as a helper and giver of courage, wisdom and strength. Additionally, it would be wonderful if you could teach your children how to write 'Hello' in any other language you might use at home.

English focus:This week we have focused on the spelling patters 'or', 'ore' and 'aw' to spell some of the following words. Students are eagerly adding to their vocabulary bank by studying spelling and grammar through a research based structured approach to learning Reading and Writing. This includes a Daily Review of all spelling sounds learnt since Foundation. You can reinforce their spelling skills by practising some of the phrases we have learnt this week.  

Mathematics focus: This week we explored the use of research based Mathematics tool, 'Bond Blocks'. Bond Blocks, created by Dr. Paul Swan, are interlocking blocks used to help young children understand early Mathematics concepts like number bonds, addition, subtraction, and place value. They make learning hands-on and visual, helping kids “see” how numbers work together. Used at school and home, Bond Blocks build strong foundations in Mathematics through play and problem-solving.

SEL: This week for SEL we learnt about  what respect looks like and sounds like in different situations. We did this by roleplaying different scenarios that could happen at school or home. Some of which are as follows:

1. Asking someone if you can play with them
2. Meeting someone for the first time
3. Asking an adult to read you a story
4. Telling someone you don’t want them to hug you
5. Explaining that you don’t want to lend someone one of your toys

History:  This week we learned about how our neighborhood has changed over time from thriving dairy farms to what we see today. Students will explore a range of views of our school grounds over time and understand how changes have occurred over time. 

AUSLAN: This week have learnt the following signs: 

Students above are practicing their AUSLAN.

Next week we are learning about... 

Religious Education focus: We will focus on the celebration of Pentecost. 

English focus: Next week's book is 'The Heartbeat of the Land' by Cathy Freeman. During Phonics, we will look at different ways of spelling the 'ir' and 'ur' sound as in bird and disturb. 

Mathematics focus: Students will learn about Measurement-ordering Length, Mass and Capacity.  

SEL: During Social and Emotional Learning we will focus on Cultural Strengths where we learn about respect from an Indigenous perspective, such as respect for land and elders.

History: We will continue to work with on our Inquiry question based on the book 'My place'. 

AUSLAN Focus: Students will be starting on unit 4C. 

Reminders

• Please make it a point to read the readers students bring home, even if they seem easy to decode. Our aim is to build fluency at the stage they are learning during phonics and build comprehension skills. Some questions you may ask based on any book are as follows. 

• Model using prompts like:

  "Point to where it shows...."

  “I wonder why…”

  "what makes you think...."

  “This reminds me of…”

  "Show me where it says"

  “I didn’t understand that part, so I’ll reread it.”

  Use a mix of Who, What, When, Where, Why, How questions based on the book.

Important Dates

• Monday, 9 June 2025 – King’s Birthday
• Tuesday 10th June - Multicultural Dress Day - Pentecost
• Thursday 3rd July - St Thomas the Apostle Feast Day
• Thursday 3rd July - Student, Parent and Teacher Interviews -3:30 - 8:30pm
• Friday 4th July - Last Day of Term 

Contact Us @ Jerusalem

jerusalem@cranbourneeast.catholic.edu.auOR

On behalf of the Jerusalem community, thank you for reading our newsletter! 

Nimanthi