Week 6 Term 1 2022

 Kaya, 

Last week we cooked up some delicious pancakes to mark Shrove Tuesday. Traditionally during Lent, Christians would give up rich, tasty foods such as butter, eggs, sugar and fat. Shrove Tuesday was the last chance to eat them – and what better way to do so than with a delicious pancake! Lent is an important period of reflection, growth, and new beginnings. This is a special time to show their devotion to their faith, draw closer to God, and prepare for Easter. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, the day after Shrove Tuesday, and six weeks before Easter. It ends on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. Lent is 40 days long, as Sundays are not counted. Last Wednesday, we shared in a beautiful Year One Liturgy where children had Ash sprinkled over their heads to help us all remember to be more like Jesus.

SEESAW ANNOUNCEMENTS and SEESAW JOURNAL POSTS

Please remember to go into your settings in Seesaw app on your phone and turn notifications on to keep informed of happenings in Year 1.  We will be using this as our main communication for both of our classes.  

We also encourage you to go through your child's Seesaw journal and have a look at all of the formal learning posts and other everyday learning snapshots.  Our formal learning samples include a cover sheet with details and a judgement of your child's achievement in regards to the WA Curriculum and teacher feedback in the form of a rubric or comment for English and Mathematics.  By the end of this week, your child should have one formal learning post for reading, writing, maths and art. This is a great way to keep you informed of your child's progress and an insight of their personal growth throughout the year in addition to the end of semester reports with grades.  We and your child also love to see your name when you have opened up the post and reading your comments! 

Homework

We will keep homework folders in the classroom on Fridays to get them up to date with new fluency grids, readers and spelling words each week so please send them in every day so that they can be swapped over twice a week.  Students will receive new reading books on Monday and Wednesday but we recommend you just bring in the homework folders every morning for consistent routine so that they are not forgotten.  Each morning upon greeting the students will need to bring in their homework folder, drink bottle and snack.  

A reminder also to take out their yellow fluency grids and stick them somewhere special in your house (on the pantry door or fridge is a great spot) and practise reading and timing them every day - these reading fluency sheets do need to be returned to school at all.  There will be a new fortnightly grid sent home this week with the new fortnightly set of spelling words that we will be doing in class on the back.  

Writing

Our focus in writing has been the recount genre. These texts describe a series of events that occur in order. We have been writing parts of a recount that include a title, opening paragraph, body (including first, next and finally connectives) and a conclusion. Each Monday, the children will be writing a recount of their weekend. 

Students have used 'My Dunsborough recount' as a template where a visitor describes sights and places they see for the students to put their views and places they would like to visit. They have spent the last few weeks writing their own creative recount taking friends and family on a visit to their special local places in addition to writing their own recounts of weekends.   

Mathematics

The Year 1's have been practicing representing numbers in multiple ways through a think board. Place value is the position of each digit in a number. When we talk about 1-digit numbers there is only one place value (that is the ones place). When we come to 2-digit numbers, there are two place values. In the two digit number '51' The digit 5 is in the tens place and stands for 50 and digit 1 is in the ones place and stands for 1. 

The Year 1's have been representing two digit numbers in words, number facts (51 = 50+1), pictures and with concrete materials. We have been exploring where numbers sit in a sequence and also on the 100 chart.

Learning Intentions

English - adding suffix 's' to make plurals.

Mathematics - skip counting by 2's, 5's and 10's. 

Friendology

The Year Ones have been combining forces for Health lessons and getting in touch with our emotions in Friendology lessons. We have been discussing the importance of being able to calm down when we have big emotions and strategies to do so. Each of the classes now has a special 'calm down kit' that the students can access in a quiet space in the classroom. It includes things like: a squishy toy, emotions charts, mindfulness colouring in, paper to draw/write/reflect, a stress ball and a cushion. We also made a 'big emotions jar' last week which we can shake up and watch the glitter settle, just as our emotions will always settle with time.

Here are a few pictures of us playing 'Conversation Catch'. Our challenge this week was to talk to a new friend and keep the conversation going. We were asking each other questions and finding out more about one another as we played catch.

Absentee

If your child has been absent please complete an online absentee form available on the school website under the information tab. 

Character strength of the week

We are focusing on modelling and observing different character strengths. This week we are looking for people who show forgiveness. 

"If we do not strive to forgive and to love, we will not be forgiven and loved either" Pope Francis

Bornung Koort Dombart Wongi – Many hearts one voice! 

Thank you so much for your continued support and assistance,

Penny and Gemma