Level 2
Wow! What a busy and exciting start to the year! It has been wonderful to see our students return to school so enthusiastically and eager to begin our Level 2 journey.
We have spent the first week setting up classroom routines and expectations, getting to know one another, and creating a positive working environment within our classrooms. We are all so excited to see what this year will bring!
We warmly welcome Ashleigh Smith (Mon-Weds) and Bec Burley (Thur-Fri) to the Level 2 team, who are excited to be grade-sharing in 2TC for the remainder of the year. We wish Mrs Cullinane all the best for the next chapter of her life.
THIS TERM'S LEARNING
READING
This term in Reading, Level 2 students are learning to make connections to text. They will explore how they can connect a text to themselves, to another text and to experiences from the world around them. We will also be practising the skills of monitoring and self-correcting. This will enable students to recognise when they have misread a word or sentence that doesn't make sense and apply a self-correct strategy. Students will learn how to sequence a text, retell the key events whilst summarising the important ideas from what the author has told them.
- Can you relate to the characters in the story?
- Does anything in this story remind you of anything in your own life?
- How is this text similar/different to other things you have read?
- How are events in this story similar/different to things that happen in the real world?
- What was the most important thing that happened?
Weekly focus:
Week 1: Positive Start Program
Week 2: Making connections and monitoring and self-correcting
Week 3: Making connections and monitoring and self-correcting
Week 4: Making connections and monitoring and self-correcting
Week 5: Making connections and monitoring and self-correcting
Week 6: Making connections and monitoring and self-correcting
Week 7: Summarising
Week 8: Summarising
Week 9: Summarising
Week 10: Summarising
WRITING
Throughout Term 1, students will be focusing on narrative and procedure writing. They will practice developing ideas, characters, problems and solutions. Students will be focusing on the writing traits of Ideas, Voice and Organisation to enhance their narrative pieces. Students will explore the purpose and different types of procedures whilst identifying key language features and structure.
- Where do writers get their ideas from?
- How can I describe characters?
- How can I describe settings?
Weekly focus:
Week 1: Positive Start Program
Week 2: Narrative
Week 3: Narrative
Week 4: Narrative
Week 5: Narrative
Week 6: Narrative
Week 7: Procedure
Week 8: Procedure
Week 9: Procedure
Week 10: Procedure
SPELLING & GRAMMAR
We will continue to use the school wide Jolly Phonics program which gives students five essential skills for reading and writing: Learning the letter sounds, Learning letter formation, Blending, Identifying sounds in words, and Tricky words. In Grammar we will be practising correct sentence punctuation and learning about nouns.
- How can we apply these rules and knowledge to our everyday writing?
Weekly focus:
Week 1: Positive Start Program
Week 2: Silent B and alphabetical order
Week 3: Silent w and sentence work
Week 4: Silent K and talking marks
Week 5: wh as in whale and question marks
Week 6: ph as in elephant and commas in a list
Week 7: ea as in bread and exclamation marks
Week 8: Soft C and alphabetical order
Week 9: Soft G and proper nouns
Week 10: Revision
MATHS
This Term, our number focus is all things counting, number sequences and place value. We will be focusing on exploring, reading, writing and making numbers in a variety of ways. Students will explore a range of number concepts by using a range of manipulatable materials such as MAB, counters, unifix, number expanders and number charts. Maths sessions will have a major focus on exploring place value to enable students to become confident when ordering, partitioning and rearranging numbers. We will be teaching a range of counting strategies and will be giving students a range of opportunities to count forwards and backwards with a range of numbers and from different starting points.
Within our Measurement and Geometry curriculum we will be exploring concepts of length and area. We will be exploring these concepts using informal and formal methods. Students will practice measuring in hands-on ways and will be investigating how to compare and order objects according to their length and area.
Through the Statistics and Probability curriculum we will be developing our understanding of the language of chance. Students will identify practical activities and everyday events that involve chance, and will describe outcomes as likely, unlikely, certain or impossible.
- How do we use numbers?
- How do we make numbers?
- How do we partition, order and rearrange numbers?
- How can we use patterns to help us skip count?
- What are the features of a map?
- How do we read and use a map to locate places?
Weekly focus:
Week 1: Positive Start Program
Week 2: skip counting and number sequences
Week 3: skip counting and number sequences
Week 4: measurement of length and area
Week 5: measurement of length and area
Week 6: measurement of length and area
Week 7: language of chance
Week 8: language of chance
Week 9: place value to 1000
Week 10: place value to 1000
Week 11: place value to 1000
INQUIRY
In Inquiry this term, Level 2 are exploring characteristics of identity through our unit ‘Growing Older and Wiser’.
Students will learn about staying safe and taking responsible risks, healthy food, expressing their emotions clearly, and dealing with conflict. They will consider how they have changed in their life and reflect on the things that they will be able to do in the future.
- How can I make sure I'm always safe?
- What foods are healthy to eat?
- How have I changed and how will I change?
- How can I express my emotions clearly and deal with conflict?
What you can do at home
- Cook and prepare food together, discussing how certain foods can fuel our bodies
- Share old photographs and stories from family and friends
- Discuss how your child has changed since they were born and the changes that are yet to come.
- Discuss and share the positives about each day
- Enjoy wellbeing activities together as a family
IMPORTANT DATES
Start of term - Monday 30 January 2023
Friday 3 February - Positive Start BBQ Lunch and Open Afternoon (3-3:30)
Thursday 9th February - Information Night 5:45pm
Friday 24 February – Connect Group #1 2:30-3:20
Monday 13th March - Public Holiday - Labor Day
Friday 17th March – Connect Group #2 2:30-3:20
Monday 20th March - Harmony Day (Multi Age Day)
Friday 24th March - National Ride to School Day
- 2nd Hand Uniform Sale 9am
Monday 27 March – 3 Way Conferences
Thursday 30th March – 3 Way Conferences
Monday 3rd April - Easter Bonnet Parade and raffle
End of term: Thursday 6th April 2022, early dismissal 2:30pm
We encourage all families to contact us with any questions or concerns. Please be aware that these email addresses may only be checked once per day, so please call the office with any urgent matters.
Communication
Meg Yates: meg.yates@heathmonteastps.vic.gov.au
Dave Williamson: davidwilliamson@heathmonteastps.vic.edu.au
Lily Luu: lily.luu@heathmonteastps.vic.edu.au
Ash Smith: ashleigh.smith@heathmonteastps.vic.edu.au
Bec Burley: rebecca.burley@heathmonteastps.vic.edu.au