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.
Upcoming Dates and Key Information
Monday 1st September - Whole School Dress Rehearsal at Rowville Institution of Arts
Tuesday 2nd September - Music Production
Wednesday 3rd September - Music Production
Friday 19th September - Last Day of Term. Dismissal at 2.30pm.
Library
Please refer to the timetable below for your child’s library day. Ensure your child brings their library bag each week so they can borrow books.
Take-Home Folders
Please remember to send your child’s take-home folder to school every day.
Homework
For homework in Grade 1 the expectation is that students will read their take-home book to an adult each day. Every student will receive a new book from their classroom on a Monday. Students will need to return their previous book before receiving a new book.
Here are some optional activities:
Grade 1 Sustainability Day Photos!
Production – Moana
What an incredible week it’s been! Our students had an absolute blast performing in the whole-school production of Moana. They showed amazing resilience, adapting to changes in routine and pushing through tiredness to deliver a fantastic show. Their singing and dancing were full of energy, and they looked wonderful on stage. We couldn’t be prouder of them! Check out some photos below.
Learning in Action
📖 Literacy
Word Work
Students have been learning how to read and spell words and sentences that use -ed as a suffix to change the meaning of the word.
Preview for learning: Students will be applying their understanding of the ‘ai’ and ‘ay’ digraphs and when to use each one.
Handwriting
Students have now learnt all letters of the alphabet and will be revising each one multiple times throughout the term to improve their letter formation and overall handwriting quality.
Sentence-Level Writing
- Identify and define adverbsStudents learned that adverbs are words that describe how an action is done. For example, in the sentence “She sang beautifully,” the word beautifully tells us how she sang.
- Match adverbs to common verbsWe practised pairing verbs with suitable adverbs (e.g. measure carefully, run quickly, smile cheerfully) to help students build stronger and more expressive sentences.
Expand simple sentences using adverbsStudents worked on expanding simple sentences by adding adverbs.
For example:She crept → The little girl carefully crept to the kitchen.
These activities helped students understand how adding just a few descriptive words can transform a basic sentence into a more interesting and vivid one. It has been wonderful to see their creativity and confidence grow as they experiment with sentence expansion!
Preview for learning: Over the next two weeks, our Grade 1 students will continue developing their sentence-writing skills by learning how to add more detail and variety. They will also begin identifying four different sentence types: statements, questions, commands, and exclamations.
Knowledge Rich
Knowledge Rich:
Ancient Egypt
In our Grade 1 Knowledge Rich Unit on Ancient Egypt, students have taken a fascinating journey back in time to explore one of the world’s oldest and most remarkable civilisations. We began by locating Egypt on a map and discovering that it is in the northeast corner of Africa. A major focus was the Nile River, which flows through Egypt. Students learned how important the river was to the ancient Egyptians: it flooded each year, leaving behind rich soil that helped crops grow. Using maps, students identified the location of the Nile and understood how it was the lifeline of ancient Egyptian life.
We also explored the powerful rulers of ancient Egypt, known as pharaohs, and learned that they were the most important figures in Egyptian society. Alongside this, students investigated what daily life was like for ordinary people, including jobs such as building structures using bricks made from mud and straw. Students also discovered that Egyptians travelled by boat along the Nile to transport goods throughout the kingdom.
Preview for learning: Grade 1 students will continue learning about Ancient Egypt, exploring the pyramids and why they were built, as well as the many gods that the ancient Egyptians worshipped.
➗ Maths
Over the past fortnight, students have explored sharing and grouping through hands-on activities. They practised dividing collections equally, using sentence frames such as “15 can/cannot be shared equally between __ groups,” and identified all possible equal sharing groups for given totals. They solved practical problems with concrete materials and arrays, circled groups, and skip-counted by 2s, 5s, and 10s. They also created groups of a given size, recorded how many groups were formed, and linked this to multiplication and division using frames such as “8 shared equally into groups of 4 is __ groups of 4.”
Preview for learning:In the coming weeks, students will explore repeated addition and grouping strategies. They will begin by making equal groups in real-life contexts—such as counting wheels on bikes—and representing these with repeated addition (e.g. 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 10). They will also apply their knowledge of grouping to exchange groups of coins.
Students will then solve problems by identifying target numbers through grouping and reasoning, using clues and skip-counting to test possibilities.
To finish the term, students will revisit key Term 3 concepts—time, patterns, sharing, and grouping—through engaging review games and activities.
Wellbeing
Continuing our unit on Gender and Identity, students learned about the purpose of labels and how they differ when applied to objects versus people. They explored how gender labels like “boy” and “girl” can limit how we see ourselves and others, and practised challenging these stereotypes to embrace individual differences. Students reflected on their own likes and dislikes, breaking down stereotypes around preferences. We explored the idea that people can enjoy different activities, colours, sports, or music regardless of their gender.
From the Grade 1 teachers,
Ms Holmes, Miss Albanese, Mrs Reynolds and Mrs Ryan
Updates from around the school
Garden Working Bee – Friday 12th September
We are calling on our wonderful school community to help us freshen up the gardens at the front of the school. On Friday 12th September, from 11.30am to 3.30pm, we will be holding a garden maintenance afternoon and would love your support.
The work will include:
- Removing old plants
- Weeding garden beds
- Planting new plants to brighten up the entrance to our school
If you can spare some time, whether it’s for the whole afternoon or just an hour, your help will make a big difference. Please bring along gardening gloves, tools if you have them, and plenty of energy!
To assist with planning, we kindly ask that you confirm your attendance by emailing the school office at lysterfield.ps@education.vic.gov.au.
Together, we can make the front of our school a welcoming and beautiful space for our students, families, and community.
Green Team News
Under the guidance of Mrs Stokol and Mrs Alexander, the Green Team met for the first time this week, and what a meeting it was! Across Years 3 to 5, we had nearly 50 excited and passionate students eager to do their part for the environment.
Whether it’s helping to keep the school free of rubbish, caring for and developing the gardens, or educating our community about sustainability, there was a real buzz in the air as students shared ideas and signed up for various roles.
A new initiative launched this term is the collection of 10c containers. Thanks to the special lunch day last term, we raised $21, a fantastic start! We’re now working to collect eligible containers daily to reduce landfill waste and turn recyclables into funds that will be reinvested into future Green Team projects.
Participation in the Green Team is inclusive and open to all. It’s not too late for your child to get involved; we’d love to have them on board!
Green Team Newsletter #2
The enthusiastic Green Team members from Years 3 to 6 continue to meet with Mrs Alexander and Mrs Stokol each Wednesday lunchtime. Meetings begin with a check-in on how the yard cleaning roster is going. Students report which areas are the cleanest, which need more attention, and share ideas for improvement.
Sustainability remains a key focus. Whether it’s managing waste, maintaining garden spaces, or spreading awareness, students have shown impressive initiative and creativity.
Our 10c container collection is going strong! We've raised over $30 in just a few weeks. Green Team members manage the collection bin outside the canteen on lunch order days, and also visit classrooms weekly to gather containers from specially labelled tubs. By collecting these items daily, we are preventing waste from going to landfill and turning it into cash to support our environmental efforts.
Be sure to check out the Sustainability Display in the gym over the coming weeks to see what we’ve been up to!
Did you know? You can support the Green Team by nominating Lysterfield Primary School (LPS) as your donation partner through Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme.
Download the app or visit:🔗 Victoria's Container Deposit Scheme | Learn How To Donate
It’s planting season, and what’s better than free plants?
Help the Green Team — and Earn Free Plants!
Did you know that the Knox Environment Society (KES) offers free native plants as prizes through their Nature Discovery Passport program?
By playing an interactive game and collecting stamps at local reserves, participants can earn plant prizes, and what better way to use those plants than by donating them to our school for the Green Team to grow and maintain?
Explore one of the many beautiful reserves in Knox on the weekend, learn about your local ecology, collect stamps, and claim your prize. It’s a fun way to get outside, support the environment, and contribute to our school’s sustainability efforts.
And who says the fun is just for the kids? Families are welcome to join in too!
To learn more, visit:
🔗 Nature Discovery Passport – Knox Environment Society
🔗 Knox Environment Society Home Page
Thank you — every little bit helps!
Mrs Stokol and Mrs Alexander