Year 1/2

Year 1/2 Cluster News 

We have lots of positive routines happening now. We are monitoring eating times (recess and lunch) more closely as we have noticed children rushing off to play. 

Keep the family photos coming in for our class displays please. 

8.45am Start 

We appreciate that there are occasional times you are not able to get your child to school on time. We wish to make you aware that some lessons and student support sessions begin promptly at 8.45am. 

Home Inquiry   

Do you have a calming area at home? Could you make a space with some mindfulness posters, fidgets/teddies, books etc? You could even create your own posters. Please share a photo with the class to encourage others to do the same. 

Read every night for 10-15 minutes.  

High Frequency ‘Heart Words’ 

We will begin using these at school, once unknown words are determined then they will be sent home for practicing.  

Weekly Timetable – 1/2 Classes 

Learning for Week 4 and 5 

Word Study (previously Jolly Spelling):  

Week 4 

Year 1 sound ‘ea’ for /ee/ sound 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PJGqbCeRU4   

Year 2 ‘ee/ea’ for the /ee/ sound    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6F4KRdhqak   

Week 5 

Year 1 ‘i_e’ for the /ie/ sound 

https://youtu.be/JrGmIGB__54?si=ejV9FxixI2useX-C  

Year 2 ‘ie, i_e, igh’ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U60sOQxbO4I  

Grammar Focus 

Year 1: Sentences (Week 4 and 5) 

Year 2: Sentences, Speech Marks 

Writer’s Workshop: We continue exploring what writers do and record our own ideas.  

Readers Workshop: We continue identifying and practicing reading fluency and comprehension skills. 

Teachers will be doing standardised testing for reading with individual students for the next few weeks. LSOs will continue to listen to students reading decodable books. 

Mathematics:  

We continue looking at partitioning numbers into part/part = whole e.g. 4 and 2 makes 6. 

Mental Computation ideas  

Counting in 5s https://youtu.be/KKg0eu9_fsM?si=R0tW_7MJcdaSpK6P  

Counting in 2s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCxvNtrcDIs   

Counting in 10s forwards and backwards https://youtu.be/7stosHbZZZg?si=g1KUrdpRuq8YCo0z   

Unit of Inquiry: Who We Are 

Central Idea: People’s attitudes and actions impact wellbeing and relationships. 

Line of Inquiry 1: Personal wellbeing. 

Line of Inquiry 2: Actions that build a safe and healthy community. 

Line of Inquiry 3: My connections/relationships with others. 

We continue our learning about Kimochis and how the Kimochi characters help us to identify our feelings and regulate our emotions. We will explore how each of the characters demonstrate our learner profile attributes e.g. balanced, caring, principled. 

Other Reminders 

Shoelaces 

Please make sure your child can do up laces themselves if they have shoes with laces. Another option is shoes with Velcro until they learn this skill. 

Bag Tags 

It is useful for students to have a bag tag to identify their bag. Please only put one bag tag on and make sure it is not a special one that will be missed if it is lost as we are not able to monitor this. 

Each day students need to bring the following. Please label everything.  

• hats – these will remain at school for the term. GGOSH is aware and they have spare hats if needed. 

• Take Home Bags which are also for Library borrowing. 

• water bottles  

• a fruit snack 

• recess 

• lunch 

Lunch Boxes 

Please pack a substantial lunch rather than lots of recess snacks and put an ice pack in on hot days as the lunches remain in school bags outside. We also ask that you send in ‘nude food’ which does not include wrappers. 

Library Borrowing  

Both classes visit the Library on Tuesdays to borrow 2 books for 2 weeks. 

Take Home books 

Each week students take home 2-3 interest books to read at home. A letter has been sent home explaining the process. During the week, we listen to children and begin sending decodable books or other good fit books home to read.  

Sunscreen 

Please apply sunscreen in the mornings before school. We will encourage reapplication during the day. If your child requires their own sunscreen, please label it and they can keep it in their bag. 

Toddle 

We post important information reminders, student learning, photos/videos and assessments on this platform.  Please contact the office if you are not connected. 

Volunteers 

During the year we have excursions, a Year 1 Sleepover and a Year 2 Camp.  

If you are interested in volunteering, there a few things you must have up to date to be able to come along or to help in the classroom. Please do not volunteer unless you have these already. Contact the office if you have any questions. 

• Working With Children Check (WWCC)  
• Responding to Abuse, Harm and Neglect training (RRHAN-EC)  
• Valuing Safe Communities (VSC) training 

https://www.goldengrove.sa.edu.au/parent-portal/volunteering/  

May God bless your week, 

Melanie Arnold and Ellen Zimmer 

Melanie Arnold: Arnold.melanie@goldengrove.sa.edu.au 

Tim Kriewaldt kriewaldt.tim@goldengrove.sa.edu.au 

Ellen Zimmer zimmer.ellen@goldengrove.sa.edu.au