Ulysses 

Ulysses Community Report

Term 2, 2025

Welcome to The Ulysses Community Newsletter. We have reached the end of Term 2, and we, the teachers, are proud of the educational and social advancements made by the Grade One community. We have seen significant progress in our students in all areas of the curriculum. We hope that the students enjoy their well-deserved break in two weeks and return rejuvenated and ready to learn. 

Reading

In Reading, we are continuing to read various mentor texts and aiming to achieve our goals in understanding the concepts of predicting the text before reading, the author’s purpose, and text-to-self connections, as well as reading with a steady pace. Thus far, we have seen plentiful success in the reading skills of most of our students. We are also focusing on targeting Phonics as we have been working on the phonemes 'ar', 'or, oi and oy'. We have observed adequate growth in our students’ understanding of the use of these phonemes by the rules we taught. In Term 3, we will begin reviewing information reports. Students will have the opportunity to explore a variety of mentor texts to gain information about insects, animals, and other topics.

Writing

In Writing, we have learning about writing a simple sentence using a noun, a verb, 

adjectives, and adverbs. At the beginning of the term, the students challenged themselves to write a simple sentence using a picture prompt. We saw great success in our students’ understanding and the fantastic work they produced. Towards the end of the term, we focused on allowing them to write a story with a beginning, middle and ending by watching a video. We have seen substantial growth in our students’ learning. Next term, we will continue with writing simple sentences and refine our understanding of informational reports and texts alike. 

Maths

We are now focusing on an elementary version of subtraction. To support this subject, we expose our students to a variety of learning resources and manipulatives, along with real-life scenarios. We have seen profuse success in this realm. In measurement, we have been learning about Mass, the vocabulary used with this is heavier or lighter. Students have been exploring different masses and ordering them from lightest to heaviest using various manipulatives in their classrooms. In Term three, we will learn about 2D shapes and apply this knowledge to distinguish and create different shapes. We will also focus on multiplication and division. 

Social Emotional Learning

In SEL, we have been focusing on various strategies to manage anger and develop coping mechanisms in unfamiliar and unusual circumstances, as outlined by The Resilience Project. We have seen our students showing great interest and enthusiasm for the subject. Students have been participating in various role-play activities to achieve their goals related to the topic. 

Inquiry

In Inquiry, we have been learning about geography, focusing on the different features of places, their locations, and various types of maps. We have been focusing on investigating natural and constructed resources at our school. To help our students understand the topic, they participate in multiple activities, including creating their own school and classroom maps by adding different features and landmarks through drawing. Through their participation and engagement in various activities related to our topic, they have gained a deeper understanding and become effective learners.

• Attendance: Please ensure your child is at school on time and that they have everything necessary to attend class. 
• School Communication App: Compass
• Reading Time: Encourage your child/children to read for a set amount of time each day. 
• Open Communication: Please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s mentor teacher if you have any questions or concerns. We are here to support you and your child. 
• Collaboration: Thank you for your cooperation and support in your child's education.

You can use a school communication app to send announcements, reminders, and important dates to students. This ensures parents receive timely information and can easily access it on their mobile devices. 

The Grade 1 Ulysses Community Teachers

Bree, Sunila, Holly, Emma, Emily, Namarta, and Selin.