Year 1 News
GRADE 1 CURRICULUM NEWSLETTER TERM 4 2026
Reading
This term, students will participate in an Author Study of Alison Lester, exploring a selection of her much-loved picture books, including Imagine, The Painted Ponies, Noni the Pony and Magic Beach.
Through these texts, students will continue to develop their reading comprehension skills by using strategies such as predicting, visualising, making connections, questioning and summarising. Students will discuss the characters, settings and plots of different stories and make connections between the texts and their own experiences. They will also build their vocabulary and practise using clues from the text and illustrations to develop both literal and inferred understandings.
Later in the term, students will explore information texts about animals. They will learn and use topic-specific vocabulary, identify important information and apply their comprehension strategies to build their understanding of factual texts.
Students will continue to develop their phonics knowledge and apply their understanding of letter–sound relationships when reading and spelling words. Through explicit phonics instruction, students will practise blending sounds to read words accurately and fluently and segmenting words into sounds for spelling.
Writing
This term in writing students will explore how types of texts are organised according to their purpose, such as to recount, narrate, express opinion, inform, report and explain. Students will create short narrative and informative texts, written and spoken, on personal and learnt topics, including using some topic-specific vocabulary and a structure with an opening, middle and conclusion.
The students will also learn to re-read their own texts and discuss possible changes to improve meaning, spelling and punctuation.
MATHEMATICS
Students will continue developing their mathematical understanding through hands-on activities, games and problem-solving tasks.
Students will be learning about:
Multiplication and Division: Sharing objects equally and making groups.
Capacity: Comparing how much different containers can hold.
Data: Collecting information, creating picture graphs and interpreting results.
Addition and Subtraction: Solving number problems within 20.
Time: Reading o'clock times on analogue clocks and estimating how long activities take.
Place Value: Understanding tens and ones.
Measurement: Exploring shapes and comparing lengths.
Students will practise using different strategies to solve everyday maths problems and build their confidence in explaining their thinking.
INQUIRY
This term, Grade 1 students will explore how dance and drama can be used to communicate stories, ideas, emotions and culture. They will experiment with movement, character and space to express ideas and feelings, use their imagination to create performances, and work collaboratively to develop and share their own dances and dramatic stories.
SCIENCE
In Science this term, students will be focusing on Physical Science. The topic we will be covering is called ‘Push and Pull’. Students will learn that pushes and pulls are forces that can change an object’s movement or shape and can be represented in terms of strength and direction
Throughout this term, students will:
exploring the forces of push and pull
investigate the amount of force needed to move objects by pushing and pulling
investigate how pushing or pulling an object can start, stop or change its direction of travel
explore the basic concept of gravity
explore the movement of toys from around the world, including Indigenous toys.
LOTE
During Term 4 we will learn about: – Junk/Take Away Food, Telling the time, Around the House – Bathroom & Laundry, On the Weekend, Opposites, Handshapes #4, Going to the Beach, Sign Languages Around the World, Party time and Revision.
These new lessons will show signs being used in a variety of social settings, and we will explain that there are many sign languages used around the world.
The Revision lesson will involve an Auslan story, using many signs that we’d learnt this term and presented the challenge of ‘reading back’ the signs to understand the story.
The students will begin to gain confidence, through experience, in both signing, (Expressive) and understanding others’ signs (Receptive).
ART
This term, our Year 1 students will explore playdough by rolling coils, pinching shapes, flattening pieces and joining parts together. They will create animals, objects and imaginative characters, using simple tools to add patterns and textures. These activities will strengthen fine motor skills and encourage attention to detail. Using playdough, students will create different 3D objects.
Students will experiment with watercolours, practising brush control, colour mixing and simple washes. They will observe how adding water changes the appearance of colour and use these discoveries to create expressive artworks.
Using pastels, students will explore lines, patterns and colour. They will practise blending and layering, adding details to their drawings and choosing colours to express their ideas.
Students will also design and build cardboard sculptures, experimenting with folding, arranging and joining pieces to create three-dimensional forms. They will develop problem-solving skills as they explore how to make their sculptures stand, while practising safe tool use and sharing materials. Students will finish the year by creating festive cards and ornaments to celebrate the end of the year.
MUSIC
At the start of the term our Grade 1 students are reviewing musical concepts related to beat and rhythm. The students are learning to write and arrange their own music using Garage Band. This involves recording and looping music and layering different instruments and sounds.
This term students will learn also about pitch, intervals, and how to write a short melody.
Later in the term students will also revisit and play musical instruments such as keyboard.
Throughout the term students will develop listening skills as they explore genres of music from different times and places such as Jazz and the Blues, traditional Japanese music played on the Koto, Bossa Nova music from Brazil, Australian Aboriginal music played on the digeridoo or yidaki and popular music by Australian Aboriginal artists such as Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu; Orchestral music by classical composers such as Beethoven and film music by Joe Hisaishi amongst other styles.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
This term, our Grade 1 students will focus on teamwork, fair play and working positively with others. Through a range of games, partner activities and team challenges, students will practise taking turns, communicating with others and being a supportive teammate. Students will also be introduced to hockey, learning the basics of safely using a hockey stick, controlling and moving the puck, passing and working with a partner. To finish the year, we will revisit a range of skills, games and activities from throughout the year, giving students the chance to practise what they have learned and celebrate their progress in PE.