Year 1 News
Welcome back to Term 3 of Year 1! Monday morning was filled with excitement as we returned to school with big smiles, eager to share our holiday adventures.
The highlight of our week was our much-anticipated excursion to Werribee Open Range Zoo, which marks the beginning of this term's Inquiry into Living Things! As researchers, we spent the day learning alongside zoo educators Shaan and Daniel while exploring Australia's incredible wildlife. We discovered fascinating facts about animals' features, diets, habitats and life cycles while observing koalas, emus, wallabies, reptiles, birds and kangaroos. We learnt that emus lay large green eggs and that the male emu sits on the eggs and cares for the chicks after they hatch. We were also amazed to discover that koalas have two thumbs on each front paw, helping them grip branches and climb trees with ease!
Next, we climbed aboard the Safari Bus and journeyed through the zoo's open grasslands and wetlands, where we saw antelopes, giraffes, hippos, rhinos, zebras, camels, bison, horses and ostriches up close. Our expert tour guide shared many interesting facts, including that Southern White Rhinos have an excellent sense of smell and hearing but surprisingly poor eyesight. We also enjoyed a special keeper talk with Neil at the cheetah enclosure. We learnt that cheetahs are incredibly intelligent, are carnivores that love eating meat, and are generally solitary animals. Before heading home, we spent time exploring more of the zoo, visiting the monkeys, gorillas and lions. The lion cubs were adorable! It was a fantastic day filled with curiosity, discovery and learning. We can't wait to continue investigating living things and building on everything we learnt throughout Term 3!
As mathematicians, we had so much fun exploring Duration of Time. We revised the Days of the Week and Months of the Year, connecting familiar events to each. We also explored the parts of the day and sequenced events using time language such as minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years.
This week, we will tune in to repeating patterns, using shapes, objects, symbols, colours and numbers. We will also begin exploring skip counting and identifying patterns in number sequences.
Please note: By the end of Year 1, the Victorian Curriculum expects students to be able to:
- Count forwards from 0 to 120 (and start at different numbers)
- Count backwards from 120 to 0 (and start at different numbers)
- Skip count forwards by 2s, 5s and 10s from 0 to 120, and identify the pattern/rule
- Skip count backwards by 2s, 5s and 10s from 120 to 0, and identify the pattern/rule
Please continue to support your child with their counting each evening to help consolidate what we are learning at school. Every little bit of practice makes a big difference!
This week, we will be learning about…
- Numeracy: Repeating Patterns
- Reading: Non-Fiction Texts
- InitiaLit: New sounds: suffix /ed/ and revision of bossy ‘e’
- Revising learnt sounds and digraphs and building, reading and spelling words and sentences (ck, ll, ff, ss, sh, qu, ee, z, zz, ch, v, x, th, wh, y, ng, oo, ay, ai, ee, ea, oa, ow, igh, _y, ue, ew, ar, or, ore, ir, ur, er, -ing, -s, bossy ‘e’...a_e, e_e, i_e, o_e, u_e, ou, ow )
- Writing: Information texts
- Inquiry: Living Things
- Religion: Grandparents Day and Confirmation
- TRP: Feelings/Emotions
We are looking forward to an exciting Term 3!
Year 1 Team,
Alycia Marsico, Chloe Wang and Olivia Bovolato