Grade 1 students have been learning about money, recognising and describing Australian coins and notes and understanding their values. Students have practised adding coins and notes together to find a total and use money to purchase various items. We also created our own class money system, where different coloured blocks represented different values. Students added the blocks together to make amounts and buy objects, helping them develop their understanding of counting, addition and money in an authentic way.
Grade 1 students have been reading the story Market Day by Carrie Gallasch and Hannah Sommerville. Students have been exploring the vocabulary, including the use of the author’s descriptive language. Students transformed a sentence from the book, by changing the verb in the sentence and making a list of things their character did. The students were proud of their efforts!
This term, our Grade 1 students have been learning about Places and Spaces. As part of this unit, we went on a community walk around Avondale Heights. During the walk, students observed shops, services and features in our local area. This experience gave students the opportunity to see how a community works and discuss ways we can care for it. After returning to school, students reflected on their observations by writing about what they saw. They also used their ideas and inspiration to design and create their own Avondale Heights Community Display, showcasing their understanding of the features that make a community special.
In Grade 1 we have been learning about personal and cultural strengths, especially the strength of respect. First, we learnt about Aboriginal cultures and how respect is shown to people and country in these cultures. Then students reflected on how to be respectful in their own lives. In Week 2, we had a great time doing role plays and visual demonstrations of how to be respectful in different situations! We also learnt about ANZAC Day last week. We reflected on how lots of soldiers had to go to war in the past and how sad it was that lots of them died. We talked about how bad wars are because lots of people die in them. We discussed ways to avoid war in the future and how important it is to treat others with respect.
In Reading in Grade One, we have been learning to read words with sounds such as /ai/ /ea/ and /igh/. Students have been practising phonics every day, identifying sounds and blending them together to read simple words. As they learn each new letter sound, they are practising how to form the letters correctly and how to spell words with those sounds in them.
In writing we have been reading mentor texts such as They All Saw a Cat, Rocky and Louie and Three and engaging in different writing tasks inspired by these pieces of quality literature. The story Three was about a lonely dog who finds a new owner and a new home. Students had to create posters to persuade people all the reasons why they should adopt a dog like Three.
Grade 1 students have enjoyed making lots of noise throughout our Inquiry unit, Sound Stories. We used different objects in the classroom to create sounds that made stories more interesting. We shook rubber gloves to sound like a flock of birds flying away, we banged plastic cups on the table to sound like a horse clip clopping out of a stable, as well as making many other sound effects too. Students made their own maracas using water bottles filled with rice, popcorn kernels or pasta. Using musical instruments, students worked in small groups to make their own music to perform to the rest of the class. On the iPads, students explored Chrome Lab to create music through the use of piano keyboards, guitar strings and musical characters. It has been noisy, but fun!
In Grade 1, we are mathematicians! Students have been learning to look at numbers in equivalent ways. They have used different strategies to show the parts of a number. Students created addition equations by making numbers using different parts. We read the story, ‘One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab’, by Jeff Sayre and April Pulley Sayre. Students used pictures of the characters from the book, having a different number of legs, to combine together and record number sentences that showed the total number of legs altogether. Students revised teen numbers and used materials, drawings and numerals to represent them. Students were also learning how to solve subtraction problems using a range of strategies. It has been such a big few weeks of learning!
The Grade 1 students have settled in and it has been a wonderful start to the year. We have enjoyed getting to know one another through games, morning circles and shared conversations, helping to build strong connections within our classroom community. Students have been learning and practising routines across different areas of learning, including reading, writing, and mathematics. These routines support independence, confidence and a smooth flow to our learning day.
Together, we have also created our class expectations and discussed what it means to be part of our class community. We have explored the importance of belonging, showing kindness, respect and taking responsibility as learners and friends.
