Year 1

Welcome back to Term 2! It has been wonderful to see students return with such positive energy and enthusiasm for learning. We are looking forward to a busy and exciting term ahead, filled with new opportunities, experiences, and growth for all students. 

Inquiry/STEAM: 

Our Inquiry/STEAM topic for this term is Community. Students will be exploring what makes a community, including the difference between what a community needs and what it wants. As part of this learning, we will be heading out on a community walk around Cheltenham. This will give students the opportunity to observe different places, services, and features within our local area, helping them make real-life connections to their learning. We are excited to explore, ask questions, and deepen our understanding of how communities support the people who live in them.

Year 1 students will then have the opportunity to collaborate with Year 2 students on our 2026 STEAM project. Together, they will design and create their own communities using recycled and craft materials. These communities will include important places identified during our walk around Cheltenham, as well as from research using non-fiction texts.

The mathematics and technology components of this project will focus on location and coding. Students will create algorithms to guide Beebots safely through their communities, applying their understanding in a hands-on and meaningful way. The students are very excited to have the opportunity to program the Beebots to move safely through their communities. 

Literacy

Reading and Writing

Our Literacy learning this term is closely linked to our Community topic. Through our mentor text, The Map of Me by Nicola Davies, students will explore the purpose of maps, identify similarities and differences between communities, and develop an understanding of how communities give us a sense of belonging. This text also supports students to consider how communities have changed over time, as we compare the past and present. Students will make observations about how our school and the Cheltenham area have evolved over the years.

Did you know? Cheltenham Primary School is the fifth oldest school in Victoria—how impressive!

We have already identified the Post Office as an important place in our community for communicating with others. Students will be learning about the postal service and how a letter travels from being written to arriving in a letterbox. To bring this learning to life, students will write and post a letter to themselves, testing their ideas about how mail moves through the system.

Through non-fiction texts, students will learn about the important role of community helpers. They will also practise using key text features, such as contents pages, page numbers, and headings, to locate information. Year 1 students will then select a community helper and create their own informative piece about their role within the community.

We will also explore the work of author Bob Graham, who has written many beautiful stories about community, including The Concrete Garden. As part of this author study, students will focus on making text-to-text connections, experimenting with descriptive language, and exploring Graham’s unique writing style.

This learning will lead into our narrative unit, where students will begin writing their own imaginative pieces. They will learn about narrative structure, including characters, setting, problem, and solution, and apply these elements in their own writing.

MSL

This term, students will participate in MSL (Multi-Sensory Language) lessons three times a week. These sessions are designed to reinforce and consolidate their understanding of previously taught concepts, helping to build confidence and strengthen their literacy skills.

Throughout the term, we will be learning and reviewing a range of spelling rules, including:

• Floss Rule (ff, ss, ll, zz)
• ai/ay – “Sail away”
• oi/oy – “Boil the toy”
• Long ‘i’ – “Pie night”
• Long ‘e’ sounds
• oa/ow – “The boat is slow”
• ou/ow – “Loud cow”
• Soft ‘c’ and ‘g’ – “Gentle Cindy”

These spelling patterns will support students in becoming more confident readers and writers, as they learn to recognise and apply these rules in their everyday learning.

Numeracy: 

This term in Mathematics, students will continue developing their understanding of place value and exploring the many different ways numbers can be represented. This helps build a strong foundation for working with numbers confidently and flexibly.

Students will also be learning about number lines and how they can be used as a helpful tool for solving problems, estimating, and understanding the size and order of numbers.

In addition, we will be exploring patterns in our number system, particularly focusing on counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s. Recognising these patterns supports students in building fluency and efficiency when working with numbers.

Throughout the term, students will also be learning about 2D shapes, exploring their features and properties, as well as developing their understanding of location and positional language. We will also investigate length, including measuring using informal units, giving students opportunities to compare, measure, and describe objects in practical and hands-on ways.

Later in the term, we will move into addition and subtraction. Students will experiment with a range of strategies such as counting on, counting back, using friends of ten, and bridging to 10. These strategies will support students in solving problems more efficiently and developing their ability to calculate mentally, moving away from relying heavily on their fingers.

Important Dates

Wednesday 6th May - Community Walk (1C) 11:15am

Thursday 7th May - Community Walk (1A and 1B) 11:15am

Kind Regards 

Year 1 Team

Lauren Mackenzie (1A), Meg Nicholas (1B), Rachel Scott (1C Mon - Wed) and Jessica Kennedy (1C Thurs-Fri).