Year One

Welcome back Year One Families and Carers!

We hope that everyone had a safe and relaxing term break. It was wonderful to hear about your holidays and the teachers were all impressed at how quickly the children settled back into the school routine.

We have had a fun (and learning) filled two weeks, starting with the Teddy Bear Picnic. This was a great opportunity for the children to mingle and catch up with friends in other classes. We were a bit worried about the weather forecast, but the sun was shining on the day, and it was enjoyed by all.

In the second week, we had our excursion to Scienceworks – this was the provocation for our sixth and last Unit of Inquiry (UOI). In the lead-up to our excursion, the children were very excited and were using class calendars to count down the days. It was wonderful to see the excitement on their faces as the buses pulled into the parking area.

In Literacy over the last two weeks, we revisited author’s purpose (PIE) and researched animal adaptations by reading non-fiction texts. The children wrote holiday recounts and created a wacky animal using ‘Switch Zoo’. After creating their unique animal, they needed to be able to explain how their choices helped their animal survive in its habitat.

In numeracy, we have been exploring the measurement of length and mass. You can help reinforce your child’s understanding by using the vocabulary (taller/shorter/longer/heavier/lighter) with items around your home. There are also some great reference books available in the Reading Eggs Library for these maths concepts. These books can be read by your child and be recorded in their yellow reading diary.

We have been finishing our fifth Unit of Inquiry ‘Animals can develop unique features to adapt to their environment’. This UOI has been integrated through many of our literacy lessons and has culminated in the creation of a triarama (also spelled triorama) of an animal of their choice. The triarama enabled your child to consolidate and demonstrate what they have learned throughout this UOI. All students have done an amazing job and to celebrate this, we conducted gallery walks between pod classes to share their work with a wider audience.

Thank you to those parents/carers who were able to book in for the student-led conferences. It was wonderful to see how proud the children were to share their work with you. If you were unable to book in on this day, please speak with your child’s teacher to arrange another time suitable for you both. They are 10 minutes and student-led led so your child needs to be with you.

Some general reminders:

Doors are opened at 8:20 AM and classes start at 8:30 AM, please obtain a late pass from the office after 8:40 AM.
Fully charged iPads should be brought to school every day.
Hats are compulsory for Term Four.
Homework expectations – students should be doing daily reading (take-home readers, PM readers and Reading Eggs) and their spelling homework. Check with your child’s teacher if you require clarification around this.
Dismissal is at 2:40 PM - we ask that you please do not wait on the verandahs for your child. This helps the keep the area free of additional congestion. We appreciate your understanding on this matter.

We are very excited to continue working with you to ensure the very best educational outcomes for your child/ren.

Kind regards,

Year One Team