Grade 1 Community News

Dear Grade 1 Families,

What a fantastic way to finish the term! It is truly amazing to see how far the children have come and how much they have grown. We are incredibly proud of the way they have settled into their daily routines, built strong friendships, and enthusiastically embraced their learning.

Below, we have captured a snapshot of what we have been exploring over the past fortnight, along with some simple, fun ways you can continue to support your child at home over the holiday break.

First off, congratulations to the following students on receiving their awards 🎉:

InitiaLit:

In our InitiaLit sessions, our Grade 1 students have been working hard as phonics superstars! Here is a look at what we have been learning over the past fortnight:

The 'r-controlled' Vowels: We have introduced new focus sounds where the letter 'r' changes the vowel sound, including ‘ir’ (as in stir), ‘ur’ (as in surf), and ‘er’ (as in fern).
Word Building & Grammar: The children are exploring how language works by learning about base words and suffixes, as well as decoding two-syllable words ending in ‘er’.
The Split Digraph: We have also introduced the ‘a_e’ split digraph (often called ‘bossy e’), learning how that silent 'e' at the end makes the vowel say its name (like in cake or gate).

Alongside these new concepts, we are consistently revising our previously learned sounds to build confidence in blending and reading fluently.

InitiaLit - Tricky Words: Before, after, these

How you can support at home:

Read for a few minutes each night and ask your child to spot words with our focus sounds
Practice tricky words by writing them on paper, saying them aloud, or using them in a sentence.
Find verbs and homophones you find in your books while reading and write them down.
When reading with your child, see if they can spot any "bossy e" words or find the ‘ir’, ‘ur’, and ‘er’ sounds hiding in their home reading books!

Storybook & Vocabulary

This fortnight, our Grade 1 readers explored Max by Bob Graham, a heartwarming story about a little boy born into a family of superheroes.

The Plot: Max’s mom, dad, and grandparents can all fly and save the day with ease. Max wears the suit and the cape, but there’s just one catch—he can't seem to fly yet! While his family anxiously waits for his superhero talents to kick in, Max does things in his own time. He ultimately discovers his own unique strengths when he steps up to save a small baby bird in need.

Why We Love It

It is a beautiful, gentle story that teaches our students that it’s okay to grow and learn at your own pace, and that true heroism comes from kindness, empathy, and being yourself.

We have been focusing on the 3 vocabulary words: legendary, hover, firm

Writing

Our classrooms have been buzzing with creativity! Inspired by our focus book, Max, our young authors have been busy inventing and writing about their very own superheroes.

Over the past two weeks, students have moved through the entire writing process:

Planning & Designing: Brainstorming unique superhero characters, choosing their special powers, and plotting out exciting adventures.
Drafting with Adjectives: Learning how to use descriptive words (adjectives) to bring their characters and settings to life.
Publishing: Working hard to write, edit, and beautifully publish their final narrative stories.

We are so proud of the unique characters and amazing stories they came up with!

How you can support at home

You can naturally support your child's writing journey at home by encouraging them to talk about and plan simple stories before picking up a pencil. Together, help them map out a clear beginning, middle, and exciting end for their narrative, prompting them to add descriptive adjectives and fun details along the way. Listening to your child proudly read their writing aloud and celebrating their creative ideas is one of the best ways to build their confidence, vocabulary, and storytelling skills.

Maths

In Mathematics, we have continued to deepen our understanding of place value by learning how to make, read, and say three-digit numbers using hundreds, tens, and ones. Alongside this, we have introduced an exciting new concept: Solving Total Problems. Our Grade 1 mathematicians have been analyzing word problems and utilizing number bonds to determine if a question is asking for a total. Through this hands-on approach, students are learning how to unpack the information within a story problem to correctly identify the individual parts and find the overall total.

How you can support at home

You can support this learning at home by creating simple "total" stories during everyday routines. For example: "We have 5 red apples and 4 green apples in the bowl. We have 9 apples altogether. What are our two parts, and what is the total number of apples?"

Humanities

Our Grade 1 students have hopped into a time machine for our exciting new topic, Changes in Daily Life! In our latest lesson, "Time Traveller: How our lives have changed," we are exploring how everyday routines, homes, and traditions have transformed over time. Students are becoming history detectives, comparing "then and now" to discover that while many things look different today, beautiful aspects of daily life—like families eating together and children playing—have stayed exactly the same.

Vocabulary: Tradition

We have been learning that a tradition is something special that families or groups do again and again over time, like having pancakes on Sunday mornings or celebrating cultural holidays.

Connect at home:

Ask and share with your child, "What is a special tradition that our family does together?"

Incursion:

Our Grade 1 students recently had the wonderful opportunity to participate in an exciting, high-energy incursion titled "Superhero in Me"! During this immersive experience, students explored what it truly means to be a superhero, what they do, and why they inspire us. The day was beautifully connected to our Term 2 storybook unit, while focusing closely on teamwork, critical thinking, and creative problem-solving.

Rather than looking for laser eyes or super strength, our young heroes explored real-life superpowers such as Trying, Calm, Listening, Kindness, Learning, and Helping. They practiced expressing these powers through fun actions and reflected on which inner strengths they possess.

A major highlight of the day was the creative workshop, where students designed and decorated their own super cool eye masks using vibrant colours and stickers. Our students may have walked into the room as ordinary classmates, but they walked out proudly, discovering the incredible superpowers inside themselves!

Ask your little superhero:

"Which superpower did you choose, and how did you decorate your special superhero mask?"

Reminders:

Hats are not compulsory for Terms 2 and 3, but students may still wear them if they wish.
Please label uniform items with your child’s name clearly. The weather is getting colder, so we are expecting more students to bring jackets and beanies to wear during outside play.
Please continue to read every night and ensure your child swaps their take home readers on their allocated day.
School begins for Term 3 on Monday, the 13th of July

Please watch from 3:14 to 3:38 to view and practice the words we have learned so far.

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support and wonderful partnership in your child’s learning. We truly love sharing this educational journey with you and your family!

Wishing you all a safe, happy, and restful holiday break.

Ms. Santos, Ms. Duncan, Ms. Yianni, Ms. Marsden, Ms. Newman, Ms. T, Ms. Hannah,

Ms. Stafford, Ms. Chandler, Mrs. Mill, Ms. Fetolofai, and Ms. Doris of PLC1 😊