A couple of weeks ago, the Grade One students had a superhero themed stay late.
Students came to school dressed as their favourite superhero for the day! The experience began with decorating their very own superhero masks. Next, students rotated between a variety of activities. This included superhero tattoos, superhero colouring, superhero builders and a photo booth. After our activities, we had delicious pizza, juice and icy poles outside. We finished our fun night with a disco and glow sticks. We all had a super fun time!
In Inquiry, the Grade One students have been exploring their cultural backgrounds and making connections between themselves and others. This has included languages spoken at home, cultural celebrations and country of origin. We have also been researching about how times have changed, and how life is different now than it was then. Students interviewed a member of their family from an older generation and brought in an item from the past to discuss how it was used.
In Grade One, students have been exploring 2D shapes and 3D objects. They have been identifying and describing the properties of shapes. Students made 2D shape robots. They also used a variety of materials and nets to create 3D objects. This was a good way for students to explore vertices, edges and faces.
Following our Cyber Safety incursion, the Grade One students have been learning about how to keep safe online. We have looked at what personal information is safe to share with the public and what needs to stay private. Students learnt the STOP strategy for when they feel unsure or unsafe online.
(S-stay silent, T-tell and adult, O-get out of the game, P-play something else.)
Students were also lucky to have a fun disco last week to encourage personal wellbeing. All the children loved dancing and singing along to their favourite songs!
In Literacy, students in Grade One have been exploring fairytales. So far, we have read and listened to the story of The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood. Students have learnt about the author’s purpose of these texts (to entertain) and have focused on retelling the stories. We have used stick puppets, reader’s theatre play scripts, and writing templates, to retell the story in different ways; first rehearsing orally, followed by sequencing pictures, to writing the characters, setting, beginning, middle and end of the story. Next week we will retell the story of The Gingerbread Man! Fairytales are fun!
In Grade 1, students have been learning about a variety of Addition strategies. This has included the picture strategy (draw it, solve it, write it), counting on from the largest number using a 100 chart or number line, and making to ten. With a bank of strategies, students are now able to choose the most effective strategy when solving an addition problem, show their working out and explain their reasoning. Great mathematical thinking, everyone!
Education Week and Personal and Social Capabilities
To celebrate Education Week (Active Learners: Move, Make, Motivate) 1A have been incorporating extra movement breaks into our day, including games from the Australian Ballet. We have been singing our daily Growth Mindset song and students have had a voice in choosing the actions to match. In Respectful Relationships, we have been exploring each other’s similarities and differences and discussing how we can respect each other’s interests.
1B have been active learners, by mixing and investigating change during classroom science experiments, by role playing how to support each other in Respectful Relationships and by giving compliments in fostering respect and gratitude for peers. 1B has been on the move to motivate and activate their learning.
1C have been incorporating brain breaks throughout the week by including mindfulness techniques such as ‘Mindful Yoga’, playing sensory games such as ‘Robot, Robot’ and moving our body through the ‘Wiggle Dance’. We have also been motivating one another by providing our peers with positive feedback.
The Grade One students commemorated the beginning of Reconciliation Week by creating Sorry Day Posters using paint. Students have been enjoying the swimming program and learning about water safety skills. In Inquiry, students have been curious when making observations using their 5 senses. Our experiment this week was to place celery into coloured water and predict and record the changes observed. What a busy but fun week!!!
In Grade One, students learnt about ANZAC Day through the story ‘Lest We Forget’. We discussed how some events want to be forgotten but that the soldiers need to be remembered. Students learnt about ways in which people commemorate the day and about the poppy being a symbol of the fallen soldiers. To remember our fallen ANZACs, students made their own paper poppy and wrote a procedural piece on how to make one.
Grade 1 In Grade One, students have been learning about what plants and humans need to stay healthy. We have explored healthy eating choices and had the opportunity for an amazing incursion from Market Fresh. Students learnt all about where fruit and vegetables come from and how they get to us from the farm. We discussed how we use insects to protect our food in an environmentally friendly way and enjoyed taste testing some fruit and vegetables. What a wonderful finish to Term 1!
Numeracy
In 1A we have been learning about quicker ways to count collections. Students have been practising skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s from zero. We enjoyed completing a range of activities this week to consolidate our counting skills.
In 1B we have been learning about time. Students have been learning to tell the time to the hour and half hour using both analogue and digital clocks. They have developed their understanding by reading, making, and recording time using mini clocks, maths stories and games.
In 1C we have been learning why skip counting is quicker to count than counting by 1s. We investigated how long it takes us to skip count by 2s, 5s and 10s and found that skip counting by 10s was the quickest! We have also been learning to tell the time using analogue and digital clocks and exploring the features of these clocks. We even made our very own paper clocks.
Inquiry Learning
Our Inquiry topic this term is ‘Growing Older and Wiser.’ 1A have been exploring changes that people and other living things make over time. Students used baby pictures to describe how they have changed. We have discussed what they are capable of during different milestones between birth and now, as well as imagining what they will be capable of in the future. To explore growth and changes, we have also planted bean seeds which we will observe weekly.
As part of our inquiry topic this term ‘Growing Older and Wiser’, 1B are learning what living things need to grow and change so that we can help care for plants and animals. Last week students planted bean seeds and have been observing and recording changes weekly in their diary. This week students have been learning to compare our capabilities and milestones between birth to now and the future. They created their own timeline of their life and drew a picture of their future self.
Our Inquiry topic this term is ‘Growing Older and Wiser’. 1C have been exploring what makes us unique by looking at our fingerprints and identifying the different patterns made by them. We have had lots of fun playing a 1C Baby Guess Who game and observed how we have changed between birth and now. This week we also planted our bean seeds to explore the life cycle of a bean and how it changes over time. This week we discovered that our seeds are already forming roots!
Personal and Social Learning
In 1A students have been revising what they know about Zones of Regulation. As a class we discussed the different feelings that we can experience in each zone and students are beginning to self assess themselves by placing their photo on the relevant zone. Students have also been working collaboratively in groups to think of different scenarios and match them to the feelings and zones.
In 1B, we have been learning about the Zones of Regulation and becoming aware of how actions and behaviour change our feelings and the zone that we are in. Students were given a variety of scenarios and encouraged to think about how this would make them feel and which zone they would be in.
In 1C, we have been discussing our emotions and how these reflect our feelings and what zone we might be in. This week, we worked collaboratively to understand how different scenarios might make us feel and what zone they may put us into; GREEN, YELLOW, BLUE or RED. In RRRR, we have also discussed our different emotions and the key signals that help us to identify what emotion we are feeling.
Routines for Success
Grade 1A have had a very positive start to Grade One. We have set up Routines for Success, and students have created class rules and expectations. We have also been getting to know each other and thinking about what goal we want to achieve this year!
Grade 1B has had an excellent start to Grade One. We have been collaboratively setting up our classroom and establishing expectations while getting to know each other.
Grade 1C have had a wonderful start to 2023! Throughout the week we have been collaborating to establish our Routines for Success. We have explored what it means to be a good reader, writer, mathematician, listener and learner whilst getting to know more about each other and who we are as individuals and as a class.
