Year 1

Welcome back!

It has been great to see the students make such a positive and enthusiastic start to the year. It has also been lovely to hear about all of the children’s adventures over the school holidays. The childe have been busy engaging in team building activities and getting to know their new classmates. Below is some important information about our programs and the term ahead. Please note that this is a term-based newsletter. 

Daily reading at home

The ‘Resilience Diary’ will be used to track nightly reading. Please record the book title and your initials each time they read and return to school in the pouch on a daily basis. The diaries will be sighted by your classroom teacher every Friday. Developing reading fluency is vital for comprehension.  Reading fluently involves 4 different skills or components:

• Expression- The way we use our voices to say the words can be as important to meaning as the words themselves.
• Accuracy- Reading exactly what is on the page and not guessing words. 
• Rate- Increasing the speed of reading enables meaning to be gained for both the reader and audience. 
• Smoothness- Reading in long meaningful phrases and using punctuation to break the reading is vital for comprehension of the text. 

The take home books are designed to be easy for students to decode and therefore allow them to focus on these fluency skills. The upside is that the students are simultaneously working on their fluency and comprehension skills, the downside is we, as adults, may listen to the same story multiple times!

At this stage in term one, your child will be choosing a book from their final 2023 reading level. As the term progresses, we will gain a greater insight into what level best suits your child’s reading ability and their take home books will be adjusted accordingly. If your child is unable to swap their take home book, they may access the Decodable Reading books online. Their log in details is in the inside page of their diaries.

Reader’s Workshop

In our classroom program, children will have the opportunity to build on their reading skills and delve into a variety of high-quality mentor texts. These texts are usually above the students decoding level but build knowledge and understanding of their world around them. These texts model what great writers do when they are recording their ideas and stories.  More specifically the students will be developing reading and comprehension strategies, connections and understandings during the gradual introduction of independent reading sessions.

Writing - Six Plus One Traits of Writing 

The 6+1 Traits of Writing is a program designed to help students become better writers.  The traits that make up the Writing Model are Voice, Ideas, Presentation, Conventions, Organisation, Word Choice, and Sentence Fluency.

Year 1 students will be gradually exposed to the 6+1 Traits of Writing throughout the year.  The focus for the Year 1 students this term will be to build writing stamina, conventions (capital letters, full stops) and building vocabulary.

Phonics and Spelling

This term, we will be consolidating taught sounds and the letters we use to record them (see below) and extending students to more complex sound work (eg. ai says /ā/ like in rain).

• a,e,i,o,u- these are the short vowels (a- apple. e- egg, i- ink, o- octopus, u-under) 
• ll,ss,ff (Flossy sounds- one syllable, right after a short vowel)
• ck,sh,ch.th.ng (Digraphs- 2 letters making 1 sound)
• wh (the /w/ sound in question words is usually wh rather than just w)
• ay, ai- (ay is usually at the end of a syllable while ai is in the middle and something the start)
• ee, ea (both make an ee sound)
• igh (never at the start and usually followed by t).

Numeracy

Our focus this term will be on counting and place value of numbers to 120. Students will:

• Model 2-digit numbers using pictures, materials, numerals and words 
• Sequence numbers to 120 forwards and backwards
• Identify numbers before and after a 2-digit number
• Connect written words with numerals and use counting strategies to order and represent numbers
• skip counting using a 120 chart (2s, 5s, 10s)
• telling the time using half past and o’clock on an analogue and digital clock
• temperature of seasons
• time duration (seconds, minutes, hours, months, years)

Each week we will have a ‘Maths Game of the Week’ in class. A copy of the game will be placed in your child’s black folder every Friday. These activities are focussed on building their speed and accuracy at which they can recall basic number facts. It is also a great opportunity for your child to share what they have been learning at school and teach the rest of the family how to play a new game. If your child requires additional mathematic activities, they can access the Essential Assessment learning platform and complete the My Numeracy and Sunset Maths activities. Their log in details have also been stuck in their diaries.

Inquiry Topic: Day and Night

Did you know that there are approximately 200-400 billion stars in our Milky Way Galaxy alone? What about the fact that the light from stars takes millions of years to reach Earth, therefore when you look at the stars you are literally looking back in time. The sky above us is truly incredible. This term we are looking at the stars, the sun, the Earth and the moon and how they can help and affect us in our daily lives. 

Parent Meet and Greet Meetings

Parent meetings are scheduled for Tuesday 20th February and Tuesday 27th February.

Further information of when and how to make bookings has been communicated through Compass. If you are unable to attend either of these dates, please contact your child’s teacher to arrange an alternative day/time.

Important dates to remember:

• Tuesday 20th February and Tuesday 27th February- Parent Meetings 
• Tuesday 20th February- Science Discovery Dome incursion
• Monday 11th March- Labour Day Public Holiday
• Thursday 28th March - End of Term 1 at 2:30pm

Remember to refer to the school newsletter and Compass throughout the term for updates. If your child is having a birthday and you would like to bring in treats for the whole class, please check with your classroom teacher regarding allergies. 

Kind Regards, 

Year 1 Teachers:  Andrew Culvenor (1A), Madeline Daniell (1B) and Kim Ng (1C- Team Leader)