From the 1/2 Classrooms

World Dance Incursion

On Monday 11th August all of the Grade F-2 students participated in a World Dance incursion which aligns with term our focus is on Culture and Diversity. To say the session was FUN is an understatement! There was colour, costumes, music, dancing and plenty of laughter and smiles. Our instructor, Cass from Supreme Incursions, took us on a journey around the World learning about different cultures, celebrations and of course….dances!

Students learnt multiple dances from different Countries in easy step by step instructions. We then put all the movements together to dance to the music. We learnt about how the different dances performed around the World are part of the Country’s cultural celebrations. We learnt words such as ‘matador’, ‘flamenco’ and ‘Carnivale’. Students loved picking their own costume to wear for the dancing and immerse in the different cultures.

Enjoy looking at all the pictures we took on the day!

Numeracy:

For the next few weeks, we are focusing on division as a part of our multiplicative thinking. Students are encouraged to use concrete materials (counters, unifix blocks etc) and draw the questions as an array, as we did the multiplication. We will use the language of ‘sharing’ items between groups. 

For example, if we have a look at the following problem:

‘I have 30 lolly snakes for my party bags and there are 5 people coming to my party. How many snakes will each person get?’

Students are encouraged to following this process while the concept is new and we are all learning together:

1. Read the problem aloud.
2. Students can then get out 30 concrete materials and share these into 5 groups to represent the five people. How many are in each group?
3. Students are to then draw the array. Start by drawing 5 circles going down (column). These 5 circles represent the 5 people. Add one circle to each row at a time until you get to 30. However, many circles are in each row will represent how many lolly snakes each person will get. 

      4. Write the number sentence (30 / 5 = 6). We read the number sentence as 30 lolly snakes were shared between 5 people. Each person got 6 snakes. 

You can include this around the home and encourage students to group the items, draw an array and attempt to write the number sentence:

• If you buy 12 apples and there are 4 people in your family. How many apples will each person get?
• If you have 15 toy cars and there are 3 friends playing. How many cars will they get each?

Reminders

• Students are to bring their red 'Reading Diary and Word Book' to school each Friday. This will be checked by the teacher and enables us to see what students have been reading at home.
• Students have 1 Essential Assessment maths task set for homework each week to complete. This task aligns with what is being taught in the classroom.
• Please bring in a box of tissues are we are running low.

Thank you for reading and your support at home,

Grade 1 and 2 teachers