Dhumbadjirri "Talk Together"

Year 1/2 

Celebrating Learning

What we have been up to: 

“Bugs, bugs and more bugs!” The 1/2 mainstream classes loved getting up close and personal with all sorts of six-legged creepy crawlies during our Melbourne Museum visit last week. They discovered that’ ‘bugs rule the world’ and how they contribute to the ecosystem of humans by pollinating flowers and decomposing waste. The exhibition aligned beautifully with our “schoolyard safari” integrated unit. Each group of grade 1/2s listened and participated in the “Bugs Alive” program, led by a staff member of the museum in one of the Learning Labs. In this program, we were introduced to many different types of bugs and some of the specimens we would see in the exhibition. The grade 1/2 teachers were very impressed and proud of the knowledge that the students could share with the museum staff about what they have already learned about bugs at school. 

 

Throughout the day, the grade 1/2s were also able to look through exhibition spaces such as the Forest Gallery, The Dinosaur Walk, Miniature World and of course the Bugs, Bugs Bugs exhibition. We had a fantastic day! 

At school we have also enjoyed sharing our “Backyard Safari Searches” with our classes and students have enjoyed listening and being listened to too. Thank you to all parents for your support in this home activity.

 

If parents are interested in helping out with reading in the classrooms in the mornings (Monday- Friday), please get in touch with your class teacher. Our reading workshop is to give guidance on how we teach reading at TPS. 

 

Maths:

We finished off our place value unit of inquiry by using our knowledge of place value to solve problems. Students were introduced to problem solving strategies of:

  • Guess, check, adjust 
  • Make a table,
  • Make a list
  • Write a number sentence
  • Find a pattern
  • Use materials
  • Draw a picture
  • Work backwards

We also continued our exploration of 2D shapes by investigating all the different shapes that can be formed by joining 2, 3, 4  and 5 triangles together. Students got to connect their understanding of 2D and 3D shapes by playing on the ipad app ‘Polypad’. This app allows students to make virtual nets, and 3D objects which they can then unfold.

 

Literacy:

As part of our phonics program, classes reviewed Little Learners Love Literacy  Stage 7.1 sounds. These sounds include: –y as in silly, igh as in night, ie as in pie, ea as in meat, -y as in fly, and oa as in float. They have started learning Stage 7.2 and starting with the  sound ar as in art and or as in sort .

 

Students collected facts about different bugs in preparation for writing their information reports. They chose an insect and planned and drafted their first information report. Students have been introduced to the features of information reports such as sub-headings, diagrams and labels.

 

What’s to come in the next two weeks:

  • We are very excited to have Katrina Forstner (a parent of Pip in year 3) coming in to share her wonderful bee knowledge next Tuesday. We will learn about native bees, and how to spot the difference between a fly and a bee.
  • In the coming two weeks in phonics, we will be continuing to learn Little Learners Love Literacy Stage 7.2  and the sounds aw as in saw.
  • Continuing with the text type information reports.
  • We will start developing our understanding of addition and subtraction by first representing and modelling, joining and separating stories. We will finish off 2D shapes and 3D objects with a building task, where students explore how 3-dimensional shapes can be composed into more complex structures. 
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  • We would love any small empty boxes you may have at home to help with this activity. Please send these along with your child to school. Thanks so much for your ongoing support.

1/2 TEAM