Year 1

Welcome to Week 7

Welcome back! It has been a quick and busy 6 weeks since we last shared our classroom news with you all. The term is slipping away and holidays are just around the next bend!

Here's a little snapshot at what the term has offered us and what we still have waiting ahead.

Literacy

We are well and truly into the business of routine and structured Literacy lessons with InitiaLit and InitialWrite. In our daily InitiaLit lessons, we have looked at a variety of digraphs and especially focused on the bossy 'e'. Our recent lessons have particularly focused on the following:

Paired Share Reading Time 

An important skill in Year One is to build reading fluency. Partner reading is just one helpful way to build fluency. Reading aloud to a partner gives children the opportunity to practise the same text several times in a supportive environment. With repeated practice, children develop greater confidence, accuracy, expression and reading speed. It is a simple and enjoyable way to help children become more fluent readers. Each day in the literacy block, students get together with a reading partner and read their reader or share a book of interest for the more able readers.

Exploring the world through Story books

Last week we celebrated book week with our annual costume parade and a day filled with some wonderful activities. Students from F-2 mixed into groups and shared a number of the CBCA shortlisted books with some great hands on activities.

365 Penguins

What a fun and mathematical story this one is! It tied in beautifully with our mathematics concept of grouping. A fun way to round out our Book Week.

This week the teachers will be using the Year 1 Phonics Check to screen our students.

What is the Year 1 Phonics Check?

In Year 1 your child’s teacher is able to use the quick and easy Phonics Check to better understand the phonics knowledge of their students. The Check looks at how well your child can 'decode' written words. The teacher will listen to how the child sounds out the letter and letter groups and how they blend these sounds together from left to right to make words.

The Phonics Check helps your child's teacher and the school to understand your child's decoding strengths and areas to work on. Teachers and schools can then use this information to inform their teaching program.

How does the Phonics Check work?

• Your child will sit with a teacher they know and be asked to read up to 40 words aloud.
• These words are a mix of real words and made-up words (sometimes called 'pseudo words', 'non-words' or 'nonsense words').
• Your child may have read some of the words before, while others, like the made-up words will be completely new.
• The Phonics Check normally takes just a few minutes to complete and is carefully designed not to be stressful. There is no set time limit for it and if your child is struggling, the teacher will stop.

Supporting your child's reading development at home

Parent resources - Five from Five

Mathematics 

This Term in Mathematics, we have had a focus on number patterns, measuring length, repeated patterns and skip counting. We are now moving into grouping and sharing a given number between groups. 

Here are some photos of our important hands-on tasks that allow us to put our learning into action.

Learning about Jesus' life as a child

Our first 5 weeks of RE focused on what life was like when Jesus was a child to help us make connections to the things that are universal about the way we live and grow. The students were able to explore the similarities in family, food and even childhood games.

Cooking up a storm

Following on from learning how to sequence steps in a procedure for writing lessons and the poem 'Forgiven' by A.A.Milne about a pet beetle named Alexander, we decided to write down the steps for and create our own bug biscuits. The verdict from the children... "they were delicious!"

Upcoming Events

August

• Wednesday 26th August - Athletics Day. Students can either wear their sports uniform or their sports uniform with a t-shirt for their House Colour. The children have been reminded of their house colours this week, however if you are unsure please give us a call.
• Saturday 29th August at 6:00pm - Family Mass

September

• Thursday 3rd - Father's Day Breakfast 7am onwards
• Friday 4th - Father's Day Stall
• Tuesday 15th - F-2 Incursion and Excursion Day. Tiny Tales reptiles in the morning at St Johns and then 'Room on a Broom' at Eastbank in Shepparton.

Reminders

Specialist Timetable

Grade 1S (Swan)

Mondays: Art and and PE

Thursday: STEM and Japanese

Grade 1T (Timperley and Buhler)

Mondays: Art and PE

Wednesdays: Japanese

Thursday: STEM

If you would like to touch base with us please contact us via email, or leave a message with Bek at the office.

Mrs Paula Swan: pswan@sjeuroa.catholic.edu.au (Fulltime)

Mrs Rachel Timperley: rtimperley@sjeuroa.catholic.edu.au Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

Mrs Christine Buhler: cbuhler@sjeuroa.catholic.edu.au Thursday in Year 1

We hope you have a lovely winter break,

Paula, Rachel, Christine and Karen.