Week 8 Snapshot
English
Students have been working on building their reading stamina, reading for longer periods of time without interruption. We have been focusing on 'Good fit books' for our book boxes. 'Good fit books' are books that have purpose, Interest, we can Comprehend and we know the words. Children can bring 'Good fit books' for their book boxes from home if they wish, please ensure the book is named.
In addition to selecting 'Good fit books', we are focusing on retelling what we have read which includes retelling the most important parts of the text in their own words and in sequential order. The students have been learning about procedural texts and have written a variety of procedures including 'How to wash your hands', 'How to plant a seed' and 'How to make fruit kebabs'. We are also inquiring into writing letters and constructing those as a class and independently.
Wellbeing
Through shared discussion, each class has agreed upon a unique set of expectations that will form their Essential Agreements for the year. Essential Agreements will be revisited thoughout the year.
Each day students practise mindfulness to create calmer classrooms. The Smiling Mind App is a useful tool to practise mindfulness and can be downloaded for free via the App store.
Mathematics
In Mathematics, students have been counting to and from 100 and beyond as well as locating these numbers on a number line. They have been counting collections to 100 and beyond by partitioning numbers using place value and playing place value games. They have been inquiring into their classmate's favourite exercise by collecting data and then making a bar graph to show their findings. Students have also been inquiring into measurement, using informal units such as unifix cubes to measure and compare the length of everyday objects.
Unit of Inquiry
Our current unit of inquiry - Who We Are has the central idea Choices affect our health. Students are deep into this unit and are coming up with their own questions which will guide their personal inquiries. The key concepts are connection and responsibility. We also explored the related concept of 'choice' and what impacts our choices. Students had fun making Grass-heads and were asked "What choices can we make to keep our Grass-heads healthy"? Students are learning about physical, social and mental health and are identifying their own personal strengths and setting health goals. Balanced and Caring are the PYP learner profiles that we are focusing on throughout this unit.
Homework
This year we have implemented a new reading assessment tool school wide, called the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System. We have been using this tool to assess students reading behaviours and comprehension skills, to then provide us with a student’s instructional reading level. This allows us as teachers to work with children at this level during small guided reading sessions to develop and build on their skills. As a result of the new assessment tool, you may have noticed that your child's reading level has changed. We would like to reassure you that take home books should be below a students instructional level so that students build confidence and experience success with their reading at home. It is also a time for them to develop fluency and expression when reading aloud, which is something we have noticed that all students in Grade One need to work on. Reading with your child should be enjoyable. You could model first how to read fluently and with expression. We also discourage the use of finger tracking at this age as it hinders fluency. Thank you for your continued support at home!
Home learning
For those parents who choose to keep their children home due to COVID-19,here are some of our home learning suggestions:
*Writing - keep a daily health diary of how you are staying healthy physically, socially and mentally. Also how you are being balanced, responsible and caring.
*Write a letter to someone special in your life and tell them about your health goals.
*Inquiry - research answers to personal questions connected to our unit of inquiry.
*Mathletics - complete tasks set by your teacher. Your child's sign in code is located in the BPS planner.
*EPIC - a comprehensive online library for children to access at home which is free of charge for the time being. Please contact your class teacher via e-mail and they will invite you to EPIC to connect.
*Read and reread books on the shelf from home!
*Mindfulness - origami, Cosmic Yoga, mindfulness colouring and the Smiling Mind App
Reminders
*Term 1 ends 27th March and Term 2 starts 14th April.
*Please return signed media waver forms from student planners ASAP.
*Please return library books.
*Please update compass with any unexplained absences for term 1
Grade 1 Team
Tessa Woodgate 1A
Michelle Flood 1B
Nicole King 1C
Kellie Runciman and Jewel Jackson 1D