Year 1 News
English
Reading
During our start up program in Reading, the Grade 1 students will be discussing and identifying the routines and expectations of our reading lessons. Our lessons will focus on establishing expectations for independent reading, selecting Just Right Texts, participating in buddy reading opportunities, setting up and taking care of our classroom library and understanding and appreciating varied reading interests. We will also be establishing structures and routines for conferencing, teacher focus groups and purposeful reading experiences.
For the remainder of the term, the Grade 1 students will be reading, processing and comprehending a wide range of high quality mentor texts. The comprehension strategies we will be explicitly teaching this term are Activating Prior Knowledge, Predicting, Retelling and Making Connections. Students will also have the opportunity to look at the basic structures and features of fiction and non-fiction texts, as well as learn strategies to assist students in working out unknown words and fluency.
Writing
To start the year in Writing, the Grade 1 students will be familiarising themselves with the Writer’s Workshop routine. Students will have the opportunity to conduct both teacher directed and personal choice writing using different materials from their classroom writing centres. Students will also be setting up and personalising their Writer’s Notebooks, which will be used throughout the year to support idea development.
Students will then be participating in an introductory unit on Narratives. This unit will support students to begin to develop their skills in narrative writing through the context of reimagined traditional tales e.g. The Three Little Pigs. Students will be focusing on elements such as planning and sequencing ideas, structuring sentences, using capital letters and full stops appropriately and simple revising/editing before publishing.
Mathematics
Grade 1 students will begin the year familiarising themselves with the tools and equipment that they will use to support their learning in mathematics sessions. Students will also be familiarising themselves with the routines and expectations of our mathematics sessions, including how to work productively with a ‘maths mate’.
Our first mathematics unit will focus on Time. Students will spend a short time revising days of the week, months of the year and calendars, before beginning to look at reading half past time and consolidating o’clock time on analogue clock faces. This focus will be ongoing throughout the year.
Following Time, Counting and patterns will be the main focus for the term as this is a pivotal part to all other areas of mathematics. Students will investigate, continue and produce a range of counting patterns and begin to develop fluency with these patterns. Students will be given counting goals which they will practise with a ‘maths mate’ throughout the year.
The last few weeks of Term 1 will be focused on Place Value. Students will begin to work towards recognising, reading, writing and modelling numbers to 100.
Inquiry
During this term, the Grade 1 students will be settling back into classroom routines and structures and revisiting positive behaviours. They will begin the term by focusing on our school wide Learning to Learn program to ensure school wide positive behaviours are understood and displayed. These will be regularly revisited throughout the year. Students will then move into their first Inquiry topic ‘Me and My Body’. During this unit students will be learning about different foods and substances that aren’t good for their body, as well as who they can go to for help when their body is not feeling right.
Science
Welcome to Term 1 Science and a new and exciting year ahead! This term the Grade 1 students will be focusing on the Biological Science strand. Students will explore the life cycle of humans and the five main stages they go through as they grow – birth, child, teenager, adult, elderly; students will investigate, and discuss, some of the changes that will occur as they grow up (such as growing taller and appearances changes). Students will look closely at the stages that some animals go through and sequence the life cycles of familiar animals, such as frogs, butterflies, and chickens; students will also learn to recognize that animals have offspring similar to themselves. During this term, students will be involved in many interesting learning activities, along with investigations and hands-on experiments. This is an exciting term in Grade 1 Science!
LOTE-Chinese
I would like to welcome back the Year1 students to Chinese for this term. During Term 1 in Chinese, Year1 students will learn about Chinese New Year in first two weeks’ time and then learn some key words used in Chinese new year and some culture stuff about China such as The Great Wall, big cities such as Beijing Shanghai Xian etc.in China.
Art
Welcome to Term 1, Art, 2023! In Art, Grade 1’s will begin by settling into routines and following expectations in our classroom environment. This includes taking pride and care when using our art materials and showing positive behaviours. The topic for this term is Colour Theory. Students will get to revise their Primary Colours and learn how and which colours make Secondary Colours when mixed. They will learn to identify and name Secondary Colours which are orange, green and purple. Students will use different mediums such as paint when creating artworks and mixing colours. They will look at various artworks by different artists to explore how colours have been used. Grade 1 students will learn to follow directions and various techniques when creating their artworks. Looking forward to working with Melton West Primary School Grade 1’s 2023!
P.E
Welcome back to a new year of Physical Education. During this term our grade 1 students will be continuing their learning and building on skills introduced last year. For this term we will focus on tennis and baseball (T-ball) and the relevant skills required to perform the sport and play in a competitive environment. Our students will be performing fundamental movement skills for these sports which including throwing, catching, running, and striking. They will also continue to develop problem solving skills and use strategy when participating in the different sports to try and achieve successful outcomes. During this term we will take a deep dive into the core skills needed for each of these sports and give the students ample opportunity to demonstrate these skills in game play. A games-based approach will be evident throughout the year in Physical Education where all students will be given time to participate and play in actual games of the chosen sport to develop an understanding of the skills, rules, and game concepts required to play. I am excited and looking forward to working with all the grade 1 students this term!