Grade 1

Reading:

This past fortnight in Reading, students are building their understanding of how words work by exploring base words and suffixes, particularly the suffix “-ing.” They are learning to recognise and read words that include this suffix, helping them understand how words can change meaning. Students are also developing their phonics knowledge by identifying and reading words with the digraphs “ir,” “ur,” and “er,” focusing on the sounds these letter combinations make in different words. Through these activities, students are strengthening their ability to recognise word parts, decode unfamiliar words, and read with increasing confidence.

Writing:

Over the last two weeks in Writing, the students have been building their literacy skills through listening to and responding to fables. As they listened carefully to stories being read aloud, they practised identifying key events, discussing characters and thinking about how characters changed from the beginning to the end of the story. Students explored the morals of different fables and worked on explaining the lessons these stories teach in their own words. Additionally, the students focused on understanding and using verbs and adverbs. They learned that verbs are doing words that show action and that adverbs describe how an action is carried out. Through a variety of reading, speaking, and writing activities, students identified verbs and adverbs in sentences and experimented with using them in their own writing. They practised choosing strong verbs and adding adverbs to make their sentences more interesting and descriptive, such as "ran quickly" or "spoke softly."

Maths:

Over the past two weeks in Maths, students have continued to build their understanding of addition and subtraction within 20 through hands-on activities and visual representations.

In Week 6, students represented addition stories using ten-frames and number bonds, explored how parts combine to make a whole, and learned to accurately use the addition (+) and equals (=) symbols when writing number sentences. They also investigated equivalent number sentences, developing an understanding that different equations can have the same value.

In Week 7, students extended their learning by exploring the concept of difference. They used pictures, materials, bar models, number bonds and number lines to compare quantities and determine how many more or fewer objects were needed. Students learned that difference can be found by counting on as well as counting back, and they represented their thinking using addition equations and missing addend problems.

Integrated:

This fortnight, we have been continuing our learning about how communication has changed from the past to the present. We explored the different ways people communicated long ago, such as writing letters, sending messages through messengers and speaking face-to-face. We then compared these methods to the technology we use today, including mobile phones, emails, text messages, video calls and social media. Students discovered that while communication in the past could take a long time, modern technology allows us to connect with others almost instantly, no matter where they are in the world.

Home Learning:

Reading

Read together each night and encourage your child to sound out words and spot tricky words.
Practise tricky words. Encourage your child to read these words (located in their Term 2 home journal.
Spot sounds like /ir/, /er/ and /ur/ in everyday words

Writing

Read a fable together and discuss the lesson or moral of the story. Ask your child what the characters learned and how they changed throughout the story.
Encourage your child to retell a favourite story in their own words, including the beginning, middle, and end.
Play a "verb hunt" by looking for doing words in books, magazines, or around the house (e.g., jump, cook, write, play).
Challenge your child to act out different verbs while family members guess the action.
Practise using adverbs by describing everyday actions in different ways, such as walking slowly, eating carefully, or speaking quietly.
Writing a few simple sentences using a verb and an adverb in each sentence.

Maths:

Practise addition facts to 20 by using household items (e.g. 8 spoons + 5 forks = 13 items).
Use a deck of cards to make addition and subtraction problems. Turn over two cards and find the total or the difference.
Look for opportunities to compare quantities around the home and ask, “What is the difference?” (e.g. comparing the number of apples and oranges in a fruit bowl).
Practise counting on and counting back from different numbers within 20.
Write and solve addition equations with missing numbers, such as 7 + ___ = 12.
Challenge your child to find different addition equations that have the same value (e.g. 3 + 5 = 4 + 4).