Melton West Primary School

Year 1

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 learning centres.

For the remainder of the term, the Grade 1 students will be reading, processing and comprehending a wide range of high quality mentor texts. Our lessons will explicitly focus on letter-sound relationships (phonics and phonological awareness), strategies to assist in working out unknown words, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. The comprehension strategies we will be explicitly teaching this term are Activating Prior Knowledge, Predicting and Re-telling. We will also begin to look at the basic structures and features of fiction and non-fiction texts.

 

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 maths 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 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 practice 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

Our year has started off with a focus on the unit Learning to Learn. In the first few weeks of school, our focus is on setting up routines and procedures in our classrooms and supporting students to regulate themselves for learning. Students will participate in activities that support them to develop their emotional literacy, to support them with learning as well as their interactions in the playground. They will also practice and model our expected behaviours in different areas of the school, in line with our School Wide Positive Behaviours matrix. Other areas of focus during our Learning to Learn unit include developing good habits for learning, such as brain breaks and displaying a growth mindset.

Students will then investigate ways that they can get support from responsible adults to help them make healthy choices about what they put in their bodies through our unit ‘Me and My Body’.

Students will investigate the following key questions:

  • What are the key characteristics of a responsible adult?
  • What foods help my body function at its best?
  • What would I do if my body wasn’t feeling right?
  • What substances could harm my body (e.g. prescription drugs and poisons)?

ART

It has been wonderful welcoming the Year 1 students back into our brilliant art room. Students began Term 1 by decorating their art folios using a variety of art materials. As the term progresses we will be exploring the topic of colour. Students will consider some of the ways in which colour plays a role in our experience of the world. They will refamiliarise their knowledge of the primary colours, red, blue and yellow, and create artworks inspired by artists who use predominantly these colours in their work. Students will develop and demonstrate their understanding of the colour wheel by mixing primary colours to make the secondary colours, green, orange and purple. Some of the exciting materials we will work with include modelling clay, cellophane and paint. We look forward to sharing our artworks with you!

 

 

LOTE-CHINESE

Welcome back to an exciting new year! In term one, the grade ones and twos will be learning basic language skills in the Chinese Mandarin language, including listening and speaking, recognising sounds and pronunciation. They will learn about Chinese culture including  the Chinese New Year celebrations and traditions, involving red envelopes lanterns and good luck symbols. We will also be learning Chinese vocabulary and phrases about bodies and clothing. Throughout the term, the students will be involved in various activities and learning songs with actions like Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in Chinese. They will also explore stories of legend such as the race of the Chinese zodiac animals.

 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Welcome back to an exciting year ahead of Physical Education! In term one, students in grade one and two will be focusing their learning on collaboration amongst the class and gross motor skills such as throwing, catching and striking.  Students will be breaking down the techniques required to effectively complete these gross motor skills with ease. We will be introducing students to a wide range of games used in our warm up activities and develop cardiovascular endurance. Throughout the term students will find themselves working individually, in pairs, small groups and in whole class scenarios to become the most effective all-round learner possible in Physical Education.

 

SCIENCE

Welcome to Term 1 Science, and the start of an exciting year ahead! This term Grade 1 students will be focusing on the Biological Science strand. Students will be looking closely at the features of animals and identifying commonalities between different animals, such as head, legs, wings, and tails; students will describe the use of animal body parts for particular purposes, such as legs for moving, and mouths or beaks for feeding.  Students will recognise that different living things live in different parts of the world, and will explore different habitats in the local environment, such as backyard, beach, or bush. This is an exciting term in Grade 1 Science; students will carry out various activities and be involved in hands-on experiments throughout the term!