Year 1/2 News

Year in 1/2 – The Reef

🌱 Wellbeing

Student well-being is at the heart of everything we do in 1/2 – The Reef. We are continuously learning all about emotions — how to recognise them, name them and manage them in positive ways. We have explored a range of feelings such as happiness, frustration, excitement and worry, and discussed that all emotions are normal and important. Students are practising strategies to regulate their emotions, including taking deep breaths, using positive self-talk and asking for help when needed. Through stories, role-play and class discussions, students are building empathy by considering how others might feel in different situations and learning respectful ways to respond. It has been wonderful to see students growing in confidence as they develop the language and skills to express their feelings in healthy and supportive ways. 

📚 Learning

Literacy

Students have been reading, spelling and understanding letter sounds. They are building their understanding of characters and comprehension through rich discussions and engaging texts. Using The boy who tried to shrink his name and Two mates, students explored how verbs describe characters’ actions and identified the main character and changing feelings. Students are learning to define and identify verbs within simple sentences. 

Mathematics

Students have been developing their understanding of number and shape through hands-on learning experiences. Students have explored 2D and 3D shapes, identifying their features and describing where we see them in everyday life. The students participated in a shape hunt around the school, finding a variety of 3D shapes in the playground. They have practised counting forwards and backwards from different starting points to build number fluency and confidence. Students are also strengthening their addition and subtraction skills using a range of strategies, including number lines, split (partitioning) strategies and doubling to solve problems efficiently. We are proud of the way students are explaining their thinking and applying these strategies during independent and collaborative tasks.

Inquiry

Our Year 1 and 2 historians and inventors have been travelling back in time to explore how families, transport, technology and food have changed from the past to today. Students have compared cars and schools from past to present while discussing why these changes have happened over time. They have identified similarities and differences between old and new technologies — from telephones with cords to devices that fit in our pockets. It has been wonderful to see their curiosity grow as they discover that life “back then” was quite different.