Grade 1 Community News

Dear Grade 1 Families, 

We hope you are having a fantastic term four so far!

Here are our award winners from the previous two weeks:

InitiaLit 

In InitiaLit, we have been exploring more ways letters can represent sounds! We have been learning that ‘c’ can say /s/, as in city and cent, and ‘g’ can say /j/, as in cage and huge. We have also been learning that three letters can work together to make one sound: ‘tch’ represents /ch/ in words such as catch, fetch and match.

You can support your child at home by looking for these spelling patterns when reading together and encouraging them to blend the sounds to read unfamiliar words.

InitiaLit – Tricky Words

We have been learning to read and spell the tricky words always, animal, open, other, another and water. Look out for these words when reading together at home and encourage your child to practise using them in sentences!

How you can support at home:

• Read for a few minutes each night and ask your child to spot words with our focus sounds 
• Practise tricky words by writing them on paper, saying them aloud, or using them in a sentence.
• Find verbs and homophones you find in your books while reading and write them down. 

InitiaLit – Storybook and Vocabulary

We have been reading Captain Jack and the Pirates by Peter Bently, and exploring the vocabulary words abandon, spy and holler. We are learning what these words mean and how to use them in sentences. Encourage your child to explain these words to you and try using them together at home!

Writing

In writing, students have been learning to create a character and a narrative for that character, using adjectives and following the narrative structure of a beginning, middle and end. 

Ways you can support at home:

• Encourage your child to invent a character and describe them using adjectives.
• Make up a story together with a beginning, middle and end.
• Ask, “Where does your character live?”, “What problem do they face?” and “How do they solve it?”
• Invite your child to draw, tell or write their story.

Maths

In Maths, students have been learning to represent numbers in different ways by regrouping one ten into ten ones. For example, 50 can be represented as 5 tens and 0 ones, or 4 tens and 10 ones: 50 = 40 + 10. We have been using the phrase “one ten less, ten ones more” to help us understand that the total stays the same, even when we group it differently!

Ways you can support at home:

• Use straws or icy pole sticks to make bundles of ten and some loose ones.
• Choose a number, such as 34, and build it using 3 tens and 4 ones.
• Unbundle one ten to show that 34 is also 2 tens and 14 ones.
• Practise saying “one ten less, ten ones more” and ask, “How do we know the total is still the same?”
• Create patterns using everyday objects and ask your child to continue the pattern and identify the pattern core.

Humanities 

In Humanities this fortnight, students have continued exploring Egypt, with a focus on its land, water and climate. We have learnt that much of Egypt is covered by desert and has a hot, dry climate with very little rainfall. We have also explored the importance of the River Nile, which provides water for drinking and growing crops. This has helped us understand how the natural environment influences where people live and how they meet their daily needs.

Respectful Relationships

In Respectful Relationships, students have been learning to recognise the difference between kind and violent behaviours. We have explored how our words and actions affect others, and how showing kindness helps everyone feel safe, included and respected. Students have discussed ways to manage disagreements calmly, use words to express their feelings and seek help from a trusted adult when they feel unsafe.

Reminders 

• Students MUST wear hats in Term 4. Please purchase one from the school uniform shop if needed.
• Please label uniform items with your child’s name clearly. 
• Please continue to read every night and ensure your child swaps their take home readers on their allocated day. 
• Please check Compass for information on the upcoming Grade 1 Melbourne Zoo Excursion. Consent and payment ($53 non refundable) is DUE on the 23rd of November 2026. Please check the dates below to find out when you child’s class will be going:

Monday, November 30th, 2026: 1C, 1D, 1H, 1K

Tuesday, December 1st, 2026: 1B, 1F, 1G, 1I

Thursday, December 3rd, 2026: 1A, 1E, 1J, 1L

•  Please watch until 7.21 to view and practice the words we have learnt so far. 

Warm regards and best wishes,

Ms. Santos, Ms. Duncan, Ms. Laura, Ms. Marsden, Ms. Newman, Ms. T, Ms. Hannah, 

Ms. Stafford, Ms. Chandler, Mrs. Mill, Ms. Fetolofai and Ms. Doris of PLC1 😊