Year 1/2
Welcome
Dear Families,
Welcome to Term Two. We hope you had a restful and enjoyable break and a wonderful Easter with your families. We look forward to working with your children and celebrating their achievements and progress throughout the second term.
Our Learning this Term
English
Throughout Term 2 in Literacy, students will focus on nonfiction texts and their features. This includes a title, subheadings, an index, a glossary, and incorporating content-specific vocabulary into our writing. Students will learn to identify the difference between a fact and an opinion and to convert facts into ‘did you know?’ statements. We will also learn to identify and create words with long and short vowel sounds.
In our Guided Reading groups, students are exposed to various strategies, such as predicting, visualising, identifying and breaking up sounds in words, and making connections. We guide them through a mix of literal questions, which prompt them to find explicit answers within the text, and inferential questions, which encourage them to delve deeper into the text's meaning.
Readers are being taken home each day. Please ensure your child’s Kluwell is filled in each night. It is very important that children engage in nightly reading at home.
Reading with your children at home has many benefits, including fostering the development of listening skills, spelling, reading comprehension, vocabulary and establishing essential foundational literacy skills.
Parent Helpers
We look forward to welcoming Parent Helpers into the classrooms. Each classroom teacher will display a timetable, allowing parents to select a convenient time. Please ensure that you have a current Working with Children Check as this is a legal requirement.
Religion
To begin the term, students revisited the story of Easter and explored scripture about when Jesus visited His disciples after His Resurrection, before going to Heaven. We reflected on the message Jesus told His disciples before leaving them, ‘The Holy Spirit will come to you - do not be afraid’. This will then lead us into ‘Pentecost’ when Jesus sent the gift of the Holy Spirit. We will learn about this special event later in the term.
In Religion, we will then explore the Seven Sacraments, special rituals celebrated in the Church. Students will learn about the main parts of each celebration and the related symbols for Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist, Confirmation, Holy Orders, Marriage, and Anointing of the Sick.
Maths
We have begun Term Two by building upon the students' existing knowledge of Place Value and counting. We are consolidating students’ understanding of numbers and will work within a number range of 0-99 for Year 1s and 0-999 for Year 2s.
Students have focused on identifying the digit position within numbers and the value of each digit. They will also learn about partitioning or breaking up numbers in various ways. Students are being taught to explain their understanding using hands-on materials such as hundreds beads, icy pole sticks (bundles) and abacus. We will also be looking at ordering numbers on number lines.
Topics covered throughout Term Two are as follows:
Week 1 & 2- Place Value & Counting
Week 3 & 4 - Data
Week 5 - Patterns (Repeating and Growing)
Week 6 & 7 - Addition and Subtraction
Week 8 & 9 - Time (Calendars & Months of the Year)
Week 10 - Place Value & Counting
Week 11- Addition and Subtraction (Part-Part Whole)
Inquiry
Our topic for this term is ‘I Like to Move it, Move it’. We will look into the world of physical science and explore the essential question -
How do things move and why do things move differently?
Students will learn about movement and how shape and force can affect it. They will focus on pushing and pulling.
Throughout the term, students will be working towards a design brief, where they will explore the process of building their own moving vehicle. At the end of this investigation, students will showcase their design and product of their very own moving vehicle to share their learning.
We look forward to sharing what we have learned with you.
Classroom Organisation
It is important for the students in Year 1/2 to continue to develop independence. Students are encouraged to develop this at school through such things as being responsible for:
• Unpacking bags at school
• Organising their own take-home readers
• Organising their personal belongings
• Handing in any notes
• Bringing back library books and bags on their assigned day
• Being punctual to class and ready for learning
After 8:45 am, students must report to the office to be registered as late for the day.
If your child is absent from school it is a requirement that we receive notification of this in writing either via the Audiri App, an email to the classroom teacher or a note handed to the teacher.
All 1/2 students will participate in the Specialist Program on a Tuesday- Italian, Art, Performing Arts and PE. Please remember that every Tuesday the students are expected to wear their runners and P.E. uniform to school for Physical Education.
On all other days of the week, it is important that students wear their school shoes and full school winter uniform.
Library Sessions have commenced this term. Please remember to return all Library books and bring along a Library bag, before or by the day of your child’s lesson. Class lesson days and times are noted below:
1/2A -Tuesdays
1/2W, 1/2L, 1/2V & 1/2Q - Wednesdays
Key Dates
May
- Friday 3rd - Whole School Assembly @9:00am
- Sunday 5th - Year 1/2 Parish Mass @11:00am
- Friday 10th - Mothers Day Celebration @8:45am
- Friday 17th - Whole School Assembly @9:00am
- Saturday 25th - Term 2 Working Bee
- Monday 27th - School Closure Day
June
- Friday 7th - Whole School Assembly @9:00am
- Thursday 20th - Reports distributed to families
- Monday 24th - Semester 1 Parent/Child/ Teacher Interviews
- Thursday 27th - Learning Celebration @2:45pm
- Friday 28th - Term Two Concludes @1:30pm
As dates can be subject to change, please check the weekly school newsletter
How to Contact Us
Lauren Quintal lquintal@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au
Gabi Vass gvass@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au
Lucy Levett llevett@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au
Karen Williams kwilliams@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au
Maggie Sproul maggie@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au
We politely request that there is an understanding that emails may only be responded to during working hours.
SPECIALIST PROGRAMS
L.O.T.E. Italian
The students In Years One and Two will begin this term by revising previously acquired language. They will be encouraged to talk about their grandparents and to reflect and make observations about similarities and differences in family cultural practices. I miei nonni sono… (My grandparents are…)
The unit will highlight the purpose of grandparents, that is, the guidance and wisdom grandparents can provide, their show of love for the family, and what they do to help. The focus this term will be on the students using their newly acquired language and grammar knowledge to complete various structured activities.
They will write a description of their grandparents, write a thank you card/letter/ poem or chant with illustrations and write and illustrate a booklet with the activities they do with their grandparents which they will present to them on Grandparents Day. During the lessons, the students will continue to participate in singing songs, playing games and completing written and oral activities. I also encourage everyone to keep up with Duolingo and Languages Online programs outside the classroom, to increase their vocabulary and knowledge of grammar.
Buon lavoro e ciao a presto.
Signora White
Physical Education
Hello families, we're excited to kick off another term of active learning in Physical Education! This term, our year 1/2 students will dive into various sports, including soccer and AFL.
During the soccer unit, students will focus on mastering essential skills such as dribbling, passing, and shooting. Additionally, they will develop cooperative skills and enhance their spatial awareness through gameplay.
Our year 1/2 students will continue their athletics unit, honing their fundamental movement and coordination skills. They'll have the opportunity to explore a variety of equipment, including tennis balls, bean bags, small and large balls, and hoops.
Here’s to another fun and active term!
Warm regards
Miss Kromer
Art
Hi everyone! Welcome to the news from the Art room for term 2. The children will be working with various materials including markers, crayons and paints recognising art as a form of communication and expression and identifying elements of art such as line, shape, colour, texture and space. All our art projects help students to use their imagination and creativity.
Artwork this term will assist their learning in their Inquiry unit of study. We aim to have lots of fun during our new learnings, creations and experimentations during art classes throughout term two.
Mrs. Bartlett
Performing Arts
Welcome back 1/2 Students and families! Congratulations to the Students for their enthusiasm and creativity during Term 1.
Term 2 will see students exploring their creativity whilst practising their knowledge of rhythmic notation. They’ll be creating their own rhythm and playing it with a friend. I can’t wait to hear what they come up with! In class we’ll practice rhythms using the rhyme ‘Shimmy Bop’ and the game Cuddles Koala which is always a crowd favourite. Students will also be able to express themselves through dance, including making dance moves to Move with the Motion by Susie Davies-Splitter and A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea. We’ll be transitioning with these songs from dance to instruments so students can practice their new rhythmic knowledge with these songs using percussion instruments.
Later in the term, we’ll be doing sound experiments, to tie in with the 1/2 inquiry unit. Students will see how sound waves react to instruments, comparing high and low instrument sound waves. This will help develop a pitch in their voice later in the year. You can help your student by singing along in the car to your favourite song on the radio! The more singing they hear, the better!
Happy singing and dancing!
Mrs Emma Cooper