Year 1/2's
We have already had such a busy start to the term in the 1/2 area. We spent the first week of term focusing on routines and expectations to allow us to hit the ground running with lots of learning. We are all very excited about our excursion to the Castlemaine-Maldon steam train on Friday 29th May!
Reading
In our Knowledge Building unit we have continued our learning into early settlement in Australia, in particular the Gold Rush. We looked deeper into the development of transportation in Australia around the time of the Gold Rush, linking settlements and communities. We also examined the impacts of colonisation on Indigenous Australians and the land. Students are looking forward to the trip from Castlemaine to Maldon on a steam train, which will show how people travelled in the early days between the goldfields.
Writing
In Writing, students have been learning how to create informative texts. We began the term by writing recounts about our school holiday experiences, focusing on sequencing events and including detail in sentences about ‘who’ ‘what’ ‘when’ ‘where’ ‘why’. Students are now exploring information reports about animals, where they are developing skills in identifying the features of non-fiction texts and incorporating these into their writing, locating and using technical vocabulary, and understanding the difference between facts and opinions.
Phonics
Students in Naomi’s phonics group have been practicing reading and spelling words ending in ‘y’, ‘ey’, as well as using suffixes and prefixes to build vocabulary and word comprehension.
Students in Ben’s phonics group have been reading and spelling both one-syllable and multisyllabic words including the grapheme–phoneme correspondences ‘ie’, ‘y’, ‘igh’, and ‘i-e’. They have also been practising the use of the suffixes ‘-s’, ‘-es’, ‘-ed’, and ‘-ing’.
In Jaclyn’s phonics group, students have been reading and spelling words ending in the double letters ‘ll’, ‘ss’, ‘ff’, ‘zz’, while focusing on building fluency and making meaning from text.
Maths
In Mathematics, students began the term revising place value, working with both standard and non-standard groupings of numbers. They developed their understanding of ordering numbers and using number lines to represent and compare quantities. Students have now moved on to exploring length, where they are learning to compare objects directly and indirectly. Through hands-on activities using materials such as string, paper, and rulers, students are building their understanding of measurement and developing key skills in comparing and describing length.
Wellbeing
In Wellbeing, students have been learning to recognise and understand the emotions happiness, sadness and anger. They have explored situations that may cause these feelings and discussed how emotions can look and feel in different people. Through class discussions and hands-on activities, students have been developing positive strategies to cope with their emotions, including calming techniques, problem-solving skills and ways to communicate appropriately.
Auslan
Students have been practising signs for colours, question words, and key sentence-building words such as ‘I’, ‘my’, ‘your’ and ‘favourite’. Students are beginning to combine these signs to form simple sentences and ask and respond to questions in Auslan.
PBL / PMP and ICT
Year 1 students have been enthusiastically involved in PBL rotations, taking part in a variety of hands-on and creative experiences. Throughout these sessions, they have been building key social skills such as sharing, turn-taking, and cooperating with others. This emphasis on collaborative play has helped strengthen their communication, problem-solving, and reflective thinking. Students have explored materials including LEGO, K’NEX, Duplo, and wooden planks, alongside engaging in colouring and creative art activities. They have also taken part in imaginative role-play, using props to recreate familiar real-life situations such as visiting the doctor or vet, and managing different types of shops.
Year 1 students have been loving the PMP rotations with our year 5 leaders. Lots of gross motor skills like jumping, hopping, throwing, catching, skipping and the crowd favourite - the obstacle course. The weather has been kind to us so far, but we may need to be more creative when the cold and wet days hit!
In ICT, students have been developing their digital literacy skills using Google Docs. They have been learning how to type simple sentences, edit font style and size, and format their work to improve presentation. Students have also practised copying and pasting images into their documents to support and enhance their writing.
SAKG
1/2J had their first cooking session for the year last week, with students loving being back in the kitchen. We even got to sneak down to the veggie patch and found lots of ripe strawberries.
It’s wonderful seeing students work as a team to follow a recipe, clean up the kitchen and sit down together to enjoy the food. A big thank you to the parent helpers who we couldn’t do this program without!
