Grade 1

Reading:

In Weeks 3 and 4, students continued strengthening their phonics knowledge through explicit teaching and hands-on practice. They consolidated their understanding of consonant blends (CCVC, CVCC and CCVCC words) and revised that a digraph is two letters that make one sound. Students revised and were introduced to several digraphs including ff, ll, ss, zz, ck, sh, wh, ch and th (voiced as in ‘this’ and unvoiced as in ‘thumb’). 

They practised segmenting and blending sounds using sound boxes, oral blending, and sentence dictation, and applied their learning when reading and writing simple sentences. 

Tricky words such as said, are, her, was, you, and very were regularly revised to build fluency and automatic recognition. Through modelling, games, whiteboard activities, and Stop and Spell tasks, students demonstrated growing confidence in identifying digraphs, distinguishing between different sounds (such as the two th sounds), and constructing sentences using both decodable and tricky words.

Writing

This fortnight in Writing, students have been building strong foundations in handwriting, spelling and sentence construction. They have been practising correct letter formation using sky, grass and dirt lines and learning when to use capital letters and full stops. Students have been developing their phonics knowledge by identifying and writing sounds in words, including CVC, CCVC and CVCC words. 

They have also been learning to write simple, complete sentences and to use picture prompts during warm-up writes to generate ideas and build confidence as writers. Students have begun writing super sentences independently, focusing on correct spacing and punctuation, and rereading their writing to check whether it makes sense. 

Through our shared text “A Year on our Farm”, students have been learning to understand and respond to texts while exploring informative writing. They sorted events from the story into the correct seasons and discussed what happens on a farm throughout the year. Students have also been learning about sentences and fragments by identifying what makes a complete sentence and deciding whether given examples were sentences or fragments.

Maths

This fortnight in Maths, our Grade 1 students have been exploring collecting, recording, and interpreting data using picture graphs. We began by learning to collect data for a given question, record responses as tally marks, and create both vertical and horizontal picture graphs. Students have been practicing how to interpret these graphs by identifying the most and least popular responses and answering questions about “how many.” 

Additionally, we have been strengthening our counting and place value skills. Students have been practising counting forwards and backwards from 0–120, representing multiples of ten using ten-frames, and learning to make and write two-digit numbers by bundling ones into tens and ones. They are also exploring number bonds and using base ten blocks to regroup and rename ones into tens. 

These activities are helping students develop a strong understanding of numbers, place value, and the way numbers can be represented visually and concretely.

Home Learning:

Reading

• Reading using take-home reader books or MultiLit online library
• Read simple words and short sentences together.
• Practise vowel sounds, tricky words (like said, are, her), and bossy ‘e’ words (like cake, time, save).
• Try reading aloud together to help your child feel confident.

Writing

• Practise writing letters neatly on lines.
• Encourage your child to sound out words and write short sentences with a capital letter, space, and full stop.
• Use tracing sheets, pictures, or games to make writing fun.

Mathematics

• Collect simple information at home, such as favourite colours, snacks, or activities.
• Help your child record the answers using tally marks.
• Practise counting forwards and backwards from 0–120.