Year 1/2

Year 1/2 Cluster News 

HARMONY DAY: 

Children are invited to dress in cultural clothes or the colour orange for this day. They may bring a change of clothes if their cultural clothes are restrictive for play. We would love to see and hear about each child’s cultural heritage. 

As part of our commitment to celebrating the rich cultural diversity within our school community, we invite you to complete this short survey about your family’s cultural background and your child’s sense of belonging at school. Your insights will help us ensure that every student feels seen, valued and included. We are also seeking parent support for our upcoming Harmony Day celebrations and would love to know if you are able to contribute in any way. Thank you for partnering with us as we continue to nurture a welcoming and inclusive community for all. 

Family Cultural Background, Languages and Harmony Day Survey  – Fill in form 

Home Inquiry   

Mathematics: Look out for 2D shapes around you e.g. circles, squares, diamonds, kites, triangles. Where are they found? Why are some shapes more common than others?  

Reading: every night for 10-15 minutes. At home, please listen to your child read the decodable books and ask the ‘check for understanding’ questions at the back. The ‘Interest books' with coloured round stickers on the front may need to be read together or some children can read all of the text to you. 

Word Study: videos to support the focus of the week 

Week 7 

Year 1: short u e.g. yum, bud, jug 

https://youtu.be/RRdzsvPUMh0?si=bMA3P1J41-j0wOuT  

https://youtu.be/pWa8_Y16bsg?si=NK8nFqdDbVroqW-u 

Year 2: long ‘u’ (ew, u_e,) e.g. stew, rescue 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxhF1RZdAIc  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZojmFjUAGh4   

Mental Computation ideas  

Rainbow Facts https://youtu.be/YBkpC29_GaI?si=gsVRJT3RDXwVC0hF  

Weekly Timetable – 1/2 Classes 

 Learning for Week 8 and 9 

Christian Studies; 

We are nearing to culmination of our inquiry into how Christians make decisions, which links to the previous Unit of Inquiry: Who We Are. Students are looking at how people make decisions and then how that links with how Christians make decisions. 

Grammar Focus 

Year 1: proper nouns e.g. Adelaide and Alphabetical order 

Year 2: speech marks, question marks, commas in lists marks 

Writer’s Workshop: A new focus on where poets get their ideas. This is a good opportunity to consolidate rhyming skills. Books such as Hairy McLary and Dr Seuss books are great to read at home. 

Readers Workshop: Students are focusing on using reading strategies to make sense of the text, e.g. Listening Lion, Flippy Dolphin, Eagle Eye. These are listed on the bookmarks in their Take Home Folders. 

Mathematics:  

Year 1 and 2: Understanding Place Value through expanded notation e.g. 567 = 500 + 60 + 7 

Year 1: Exploring shapes through comparing and classifying familiar objects. 

Year 2: Exploring shapes and using spatial terms including words like curved and straight.  

Unit of Inquiry: How We Express Ourselves 

We are brainstorming some big ideas together, then collaborating in groups to design and create a solution. 

Other Reminders 

Bag Tags 

It is useful for students to have a bag tag to identify their bag. Please only put one bag tag on and make sure it is not a special one that will be missed if it is lost as we are not able to monitor this. 

Each day students need to bring the following. Please label everything.  

• hats – these will remain at school for the term. GGOSH have spare hats if needed. 

• Take Home Bags which are also for Library borrowing. 

• water bottles  

• a fruit snack 

• recess 

• lunch 

Lunch Boxes 

Please pack a substantial lunch rather than lots of recess snacks and put an ice pack in on hot days as the lunches remain in school bags outside. We also ask that you send in ‘nude food’ which does not include wrappers. 

Take Home books 

Take Home Folders need to be at school each day, particularly Mondays for borrowing/changing 2-3 Interest books to read with an adult. Decodable books are sent home for your child to read to you. We encourage re-reading each page until it is fluent. Please ask the understanding questions at the back of the book.  

During the week, we listen to children and change decodable books which your child will be able to read. 

On Thursdays the Take Home Folders are needed for Library borrowing.  

Shoelaces 

Please make sure your child can do up shoelaces themselves. Another option is shoes with Velcro or using the stretchy laces until they learn this skill.  

Canteen 

Please remind your child not to buy items for others from the canteen. 

Family Photos 

Please continue to send or email these to us for a class display. 

Toddle 

We post important information reminders, student learning, photos/videos, and assessments on this platform. Please contact the office if you are not connected. 

Volunteers 

During the year we have excursions, a Year 1 Sleepover and a Year 2 Camp.  

If you are interested in volunteering, you need to have the following checks up to date. Please do not volunteer unless you have these already. Contact the office if you have any questions. 

• Working With Children Check (WWCC)  
• Responding to Abuse, Harm and Neglect training (RRHAN-EC)  
• Valuing Safe Communities (VSC) training 

https://www.goldengrove.sa.edu.au/parent-portal/volunteering/  

School Calendar:   

https://www.goldengrove.sa.edu.au/calendar/  

May God bless your week, 

Lauren Hall and Melanie Arnold 

Lauren Hall Hall.lauren@goldengrove.sa.edu.au 

Melanie Arnold: Arnold.melanie@goldengrove.sa.edu.au 

Tim Kriewaldt kriewaldt.tim@goldengrove.sa.edu.au 

Ellen Zimmer zimmer.ellen@goldengrove.sa.edu.au