Year 1/2

Year 1/2 Cluster News

Home Inquiry 

We will be talking in class about protective strategies (more information below in Unit of Inquiry). You could discuss these ideas with your child: 

Knowing your address, phone number/s of trusted adults and emergency 000. 

Problem solving: ‘What if…’ e.g. You are lost at the shops. What do you do? Who could help? 

What does your body feel like you feel unsafe e.g. dry throat, butterflies in your tummy, cold, shaky. These can be warning signs that something isn’t right with a person or situation and your body is letting you know that you need to talk to a trusted adult.  

Who is in your trusted network to go to when you need help? e.g. family, school staff, sports coach. 

 

One helpful resource is My Body Safety Rules https://youtu.be/u03EHVf-7vI?si=WbAKddup6No7ytVp  

 

Personal Space 

Another part of protective strategies is talking about personal space. Recently we have needed to remind students frequently about personal boundaries. In class, we use the vocabulary of ‘staying in your bubble and using ‘safe hands’. Please partner with us to talk to your child about this expectation. 

 

Mental Computation ideas 

Near doubles– this works by doubling a number and then adding or taking away one  

e.g. double 5 = 10, 5 + 4 can be worked out by doubling 5, then taking 1 (10-1 = 9). 

https://youtu.be/NDqbCfplYrg?si=VZYW4lhvS7-Z4-A6 

https://youtu.be/lh4sgwrSB6c?si=-mx1709PDbBAy5hs 

 

Skip counting links: 

https://youtu.be/DS3W9WLIxlQ?si=f98T-pXxLa02EFse  

https://www.abcya.com/games/interactive_100_number_chart Change to setting to the 120 chart then use this number chart to colour the 2s, then the 5s, then the 10s.  

 

Reading library books or home books – We encourage approximately 10-15 minutes each night.  

 

Learning for Week 6:   

Literacy:  

Reader’s Workshop mini lessons: each class will take part in focus lessons according to the needs of the students e.g. choosing a range of books rather than only one series or author and using post it notes to support comprehension by asking questions.  

 

Teachers are currently assessing individual students on a range of reading strategies, listening to ensure students are reading ‘good fit’ books and testing them on the ‘heart word’ or ‘high frequency’ word lists, ready to send home for you to support your child by practicing the unknown words. We will retest the students on their unknown words later in the term to check their progress. 

 

Writer’s Workshop mini lessons: each class will take part in focus lessons according to the needs of the students e.g. what do I do to spell an unknown word and different ways of publishing.  

 

Spelling  

Each week there is a focus ‘sound of the week’. Students are introduced to groups of words which use the spelling patterns and revise the alternative spellings of vowel sounds. 

 

The sound of the week is not intended to be a spelling list for you to teach your child at home. It is for you to be aware of what we are teaching at school and you are welcome to use the sound as a starting point for your child to share what they are learning. 

 

Year 1 and Year 2 have the same sound and spelling: long e sound (ea spelling)  

Example words for Year 1: tea, sea 

Example words for Year 2: seat, please 

Videos to support learning: 

https://youtu.be/hYYfHp1e7TA?si=oUdiaBspASrCEEQ5  

https://youtu.be/jkycxr-joDk?si=5rfN5cAXPUdr1nko  

 

Grammar Focus: capital letters (Year 1), questions (Year 2) 

 

Mathematics: Students will continue to consolidate understanding of place value and practice addition and subtraction of numbers to 20 (Year 1) and 100 (Year 2). We teach use of mental computation strategies such as  

Year 1 counting on https://youtu.be/m_sX7YyiyBs?si=nfdLdUyBjJzFuaPH  

Year 1 friends of 10, also known as rainbow 10 https://youtu.be/1pMEBNy8FNs?si=6mrEK4f2VcNbDEW6 

Year 2 friendly numbers https://youtu.be/G-79q7wk5ag?si=LllFhfl9azlKHB4x  

 

Unit of Inquiry: Who We Are 

Central Idea: Choices we make affect our health and wellbeing 

Line of Inquiry 1: a healthy lifestyle 

Line of Inquiry 2: our choices impact the health of ourselves and others 

Line of Inquiry 3: improving health and wellbeing 

 

We will be using the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum for Reception – Year 2. https://kscpc.sa.edu.au/  The focus is Protective Strategies. This involves talking about remembering your address, important phone numbers, identifying people in your trusted network, problem solving, practicing being assertive, saying ‘no’ and resilience. 

 

Christian Studies: Christian Beliefs 

Key Idea: Christians explore and outline ways Christians make decisions about how to live. 

We inquire into Bible stories which show decision making. 

  

Reminders 

Each day students need to bring the following. Please label everything.  

hats 

Take Home Bags which are also for Library borrowing. 

water bottles 

a fruit snack 

recess 

lunch – ‘nude’ food, leave chocolates or lollies for home 

wear sunscreen 

 

Library Borrowing  

Wednesdays for Year 1/2Z and Thursdays for Year 1/2AK.  

 

Volunteers 

During the year we have excursions, a Year 1 Sleepover and a Year 2 Camp. If you are interested in volunteering, there a few things you will need to have up to date to be able to come along or to help in the classroom.  

Working With Children Check (WWCC)  

Responding to Abuse, Harm and Neglect training (RRHAN-EC)  

Valuing Safe Communities (VSC) training 

https://www.goldengrove.sa.edu.au/parent-portal/volunteering/  

 

May God bless your week, 

Melanie and Ellen  

 

Melanie Arnold arnold.melanie@goldengrove.sa.edu.au 

Tim Kriewaldt kriewaldt.tim@goldengrove.sa.edu.au 

Ellen Zimmer zimmer.ellen@goldengrove.sa.edu.au