Grade 1 News

📅 Important Dates & Reminders

All important dates and events are available on our Compass Calendar. Please check the calendar regularly to stay up to date.

Monday 23rd  February: School Photos

Friday 27th  February: House Cross Country

Monday 9th  March: Labour Day Public Holiday

Thursday 2nd  April: Last day of Term 1. Dismissal at 2.30pm (Happy Hat Parade)

*Icy Poles will be sold by the Grade 6's on Monday and Tuesdays! $1 each*

Key Information

• Students are to bring their take-home bags to school daily beginning week 3 to swap books for home. 
• Students will need their hats this term to play outside. 
• Senior School Leaders will be selling icy poles at lunchtime on a Monday and Tuesday.

Learning Reflection

➗Maths 

This fortnight, students continued their learning about data, with a focus on interpreting, representing, and creating picture graphs. They explored how information can be organised and displayed clearly using visuals. Students also began a new unit on counting and place value, building their understanding of numbers. They have been practising counting forwards and backwards from 0–120 and bundling ones into tens to strengthen their understanding of place value.

Students have also continued their Maths Masters practice and completed daily reviews, revisiting previously learnt concepts to support the retrieval process and strengthen their learning.

Preview for learning: 

Next fortnight, students will continue building their place value knowledge by identifying tens and ones, as well as comparing and ordering two-digit numbers.

📖 Literacy 

Word Work: 

This fortnight in Word Work, we reviewed some of the long vowel sounds that have been previously taught. Some of these included ‘ai, ay, oa, ee, ea, er, ou, ow, igh and oo’. We revised spelling rules and practised decoding and spelling with some of these sounds. We then began learning the ‘Silent Final e rule’. Students learnt that there are short vowel sounds and when we add an ‘e’ to the end of a word, it changes the short vowel sound to a long vowel sound by jumping over the consonant.

Preview for learning:

Next fortnight, we will begin learning about compound words and the -ing suffix. 

Handwriting

This fortnight, students have practised forming the letters t, k, l, b ,d and h.

Literature: 

This fortnight, students continued exploring A Year on Our Farm. We practised listening to stories, asking questions and sharing ideas about what happens on the farm and how it changes across the seasons. Students learned how illustrations help tell the story and created their own drawings to show change over time.

In Writing, students learned about common and proper nouns, capital letters and punctuation, and practised editing their sentences. We also read an informative text about shearing sheep and learned how farmers care for animals. Students enjoyed stepping into the role of characters and sharing their thoughts and feelings.

We also began our Literature Unit on Ask Aunty. Students explored a story about First Nations seasons and learned how nature helps people understand seasonal changes. We listened to the story, shared ideas and made connections to our own experiences.

In writing, students learned about pronouns (such as he, she, they and it) and practised using them in simple sentences. Students also built their vocabulary and developed their understanding of seasons and the natural world.

Knowledge Rich:

This fortnight, we also began our Knowledge Rich Unit ‘Countries, Continents and Maps’. We began by looking at maps, where they are found and some important features of a map. We learnt about a compass and a key to identify the meaning of symbols on a map. We then learnt about Australia, where we explored some of its geographical features, including animals.

Preview for learning:

Next fortnight, we will continue our unit on ‘Ask Aunty’ and our Knowledge Rich Unit on  ‘Countries, Continents and Maps’, where we will explore other continents and their geographical features.

😊Friendology

During this fortnight in Friendology, students will develop and practise skills for making new friends by reflecting on feelings, engaging in conversation, finding common interests, and role-playing introductions and invitations to play. Through these activities, students will learn positive behaviours that help build friendships and apply these strategies in real-life situations.

Curious Corner 

This term, during Curious Corner, students will be exploring our school values through play-based learning experiences. We will also be focusing on building positive friendships, practising social skills, and learning how to work and play cooperatively with others. It’s been wonderful to see students beginning to connect and support one another as they learn.

Homework

Optional Homework for Grade 1 

Students will choose a new book from their classroom daily (optional) and will need to return their previous book before receiving a new one.

Below is a link to a folder containing Sparkle at home activities, should you wish to use them: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/126BRm52aR9NyaCdEgnCljLC3X0MWqupj 

If you are unsure which Sparkle level your child is currently working on, please feel free to ask your child’s teacher.

For students who are off Sparkle, please encourage them to read a book of their choice at home each day.

If you would like to practise Maths Masters at home, the link below provides access to all belts: Maths Masters.

Linked below are some optional homework activities you may also choose to complete at home: homework activites.

Thank you for reading our newsletter, please remember if you have any questions feel free to contact your child's teacher. 

Grade 1 Teachers, 

Catia Anson, Bella Albanese and Jess Kitteringham.