Year 1/2 Term 3 Overview

Year 1/2 Curriculum Overview

Welcome back to Term 3! We hope you found time to relax and recharge with your family and friends over the holidays! This term is shaping up to be a busy and exciting one, with many fantastic learning opportunities and special events to look forward to. Highlights include Book Week, our Superhero Dress-Up Day, the Father’s Day Breakfast and Parent-Teacher Conferences. We can’t wait to share another wonderful term of learning and celebration with you all!

Important Reminders

Winter Uniform: Winter uniform must be worn in Term 3.

Toys at school: We kindly ask that students leave toys and special items at home, as they can become a distraction during learning and may be misplaced or damaged. Please note that any personal items brought to school remain the responsibility of the student.

Reading Record: Please remember to initial your child’s Reading Record each day after listening to them read. The take home book is intended to be an easy, independent read, to focus on vocabulary and discussing the story, rather than decoding words.

Ask questions as your child reads, such as ‘What has happened so far?’ or ‘What do you think will happen next?’

Parent Helpers: Thank you to everyone who volunteered and helped in our classrooms last term, we really appreciated your support. If you are available and would like to assist this term, please add your name to the roster. Please note that when helping, you will be supporting both classes Parent Sign In Sheet and Timetable

Homework

Homework will be sent out on Tuesday, but not each week. It may include a selection of 3 tasks across any subject area. Students are required to complete 15-20 minutes of homework - 4 times a week. This will cover Reading, Maths Tasks and Spelling.

Please encourage your child to complete it over multiple sittings, not all at once. Homework will complement what we are learning in the classroom and your child should be able to complete it mostly by themselves. Please help with reading the instructions if necessary but allow them to complete tasks independently.

Religious Education

In Religious Education, we will begin the term with studying the events of Pentecost and understanding that God sent the Holy Spirit to help us. Following that, students will dive deeper into the Images of God and the various beliefs and depictions, to help them grasp the presence of God in their own lives.

History

Our unit of humanities this term is History and the students will develop their understanding of the past as they explore the overarching rich question:

How do families stay connected through traditions and celebrations as they change over time?

Students will investigate the ways in which families have changed over time, with a specific focus on the similarities and differences in the roles and structures of their families. Students also examine just how families have continued celebrations and traditions and how families spend their leisure time together.

Mathematics

Our topics this term in order will be:

Multiplication and Division: Students will solve simple problems involving equal groups, sharing and arrays. They will recognise and represent multiplication and division by grouping, repeated addition and skip counting (particularly using 2s, 5s and 10s)
Measurement: Length: Students will identify, measure, compare and estimate the length of objects using informal units to check and explain their reasoning.
Space: Location: Students will learn to describe locations, give and follow directions and use maps and pathways to move around familiar spaces.

Measurement: Shape: Students will identify and describe 2D shapes and 3D objects focusing on their features including sides, corners, faces and edges.Our Maths learning moves at a fast pace, so regular practice at home can make a big difference. We encourage students to practise key number skills such as number facts to 10, one more/less, ten more/less, one hundred more/less, and skip counting forwards and backwards by 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s from different starting points. If you would like ideas for simple activities to do at home, please don't hesitate to ask as we are always happy to help.

English - Reading, Writing, Speaking & Listening

This term we will explore fiction texts in depth as we move into our Narrative writing unit. Using the ‘Fabulous Friend Machine’ and "Jetty Jumping’ as some of our mentor texts, students will investigate the structure and features of narratives and have the opportunity to plan and write their own creative pieces. Students will learn about characters, setting, actions, problem and solution and feeling, to create a succinct narrative. Students will also investigate information reports, learning about their purpose, key structures and features.

We will continue to build on literal and inferential comprehension skills by looking at class texts with a particular focus on developing vocab and retell abilities. In order to help with comprehension skills, literal and inferential questions should be asked with your child’s reader to ensure they understand the text they are reading. We will continue to follow the PHORMES spelling program and its accompanying routines and structure. This spelling includes daily review activities, a ‘weird words’ introduction for irregular spelling patterns and explicit teaching of a different spelling pattern or rule each week. Students will further develop their handwriting skills by practising correct letter formation and consistent presentation on dotted thirds.

Social & Emotional Learning

We will continue working through the explicit teaching of the Resilience project building their emotional literacy and supporting their personal and social wellbeing strategies. Students will explore the three tricks of being truly happy; gratitude, empathy and mindfulness. We encourage you to also practice these tricks at home and we may also send home activities for homework relating to these lessons.