Friday 22nd July, 2016 Treasures of Our Faith

Dear Year 1 Families,

Welcome back to Term 3. We hope that you enjoyed your holidays and had a chance to relax in preparation for the second half of the year.

We hope that you had a chance to discuss your child’s report and portfolio with them. If you have not already returned the portfolio, please do so now, along with your child’s goals sheet. Once again, remember that portfolios are only a snapshot of your child’s work and if you wish to see more, please feel free to make a time with us.

RELIGION/INQUIRY In this Term’s unit, ‘Backyard Biodiversity’ we will visit scripture passages such as Creation – Genesis 1 and 2 and The Parable of the Sower. We will look at ourselves as ‘Creation Caretakers’ and discuss looking after our environment, especially our new Peace Garden. We are going on an excursion on Friday 29th July to Port Phillip EcoCentre in St Kilda to learn more about biodiversity.

LITERACY In Reading, this term we will continue to teach children to identify and use good reading strategies, including decoding and comprehension skills. As children are advancing in their reading, the focus will begin to shift from the decoding skills when reading a text, to levelled comprehension questioning and discussion of texts. During the term we will be reading Dreamtime Stories and relating that to the Unit of Creation.

In Writing, we will continue to focus on a number of different Writing Traits. It is important that the students develop the confidence of strengthening the use of different conventions, such as correct application of capital letters, contractions, full stops, understanding words and using adverbs, adjectives to enhance their writing. Each child will also continue to use their Writer’s Notebook and apply these strategies when writing. During the term we will be looking at how to paragraph sentences, in particular, when writing Persuasive Texts.

MATHEMATICS This term we will continue to count forwards and backwards from various starting points by 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s. We will consolidate the place value of 2 digit numbers and continue to expand this to 3 digit numbers. We will continue looking at various addition and subtraction strategies, continuing to revise and reinforce vital number strategies such as automatic recall of small and big doubles, 5plus, partners to 5 and 10, partitions of numbers 0-10, build to 10 and +9. We will be exploring coins and money, 3D objects, mapping and measurement activities.

HOMEWORK Reading, Spelling and Maths tasks will be sent home as part of the Homework Grid. We encourage you to continue hearing your child read aloud each night, as well as reading to or with them. Remember to ask your child questions about their books prior, during or after reading to further develop their comprehension skills. Asking them to make predictions based on the front cover, pictures, or what they have read so far would be fantastic as it will link with what we do in class. Students are doing a wonderful job, willingly completing tasks online through the continual use of the Studyladder and Mathletics sites. This will continue as per last term. Please inform us if you are experiencing any difficulties with setting up a homework routine with your child or accessing the online resources.

SPECIALIST CLASS OVERVIEWS VISUAL ART – Lisa O’Sullivan During Term 3, students will be experimenting with new materials, techniques and skills and continue to refine their existing knowledge. They will learn about the art work of Paul Klee and through this investigation develop and art language related to the different elements of art including shape, line and colour with regard to The Mentor artist, Paul Klee and his artistic style. Students will create their own Cubist style inspired artwork using geometric shapes and patterns using a water/ wax resist technique. Students will document their thinking and choices in their artist’s journals using art appropriate language. Students will continually reflect on their own artwork and identify areas of strength and weakness so that they can further develop their artistic skills.

PE – Kristina Van Oosterum In Term 3, students will be continuing to develop basic motor skills and explore more complex skills in the unit Jogos Olimpicos (Spanish for Olympic Games). Students will practise a variety of motor skills required in Olympic sports, such as bouncing in basketball, moving forwards and backwards in fencing, throwing in handball and striking in hockey and tennis. Students will also aim to improve their balance and jumping skills when practising rope skipping. Balance and coordination activities will be practised using a range of circus and gymnastics equipment, such as hula hoops, bean bags, juggling scarves and balls. The skipping activities will assist with Year Five’s Jump Rope for Heart initiative and this whole unit focuses on broadening students’ experiences whilst following the Olympic Games in Rio. While participating in movement and physical activities, students will continue to learn that good sportsmanship is just as important as ability, through the Olympic values, respect, excellence and friendship. PERFORMING ARTS – Serena Jordan-Munro The Performing Arts provides students with an opportunity to explore music, dance and drama through hands-on experiences in a variety of contexts. These contexts include both individual and group responses, which build students’ confidence, social skills and body awareness. Students learn about musical instruments and notation as required, learn to sing safely, express themselves dramatically, undertake dance routines and respond to different media. This allows students to be creative and learn valuable skills which are transferable to all areas of the school curriculum, such as problem-solving and teamwork.

This Term, the Year 1 students will continue to rehearse their song and dance routine for the school concert, the “Pirate Cantata.” Their songs are: On a Pirate Ship (1PB) and Long John Silver (1F). The school concert will take place on Monday 12th September at Kilbreda College, Mentone. It is an amazing opportunity for students to showcase their learning and perform to a live audience.

JAPANESE – Yumiko Aiki In term 3 Year 1 Japanese students will be introduced to the topic of “Body parts”. The students will learn relevant Japanese words for, for example, “arms”, “legs”, “feet” and “hands” through games, songs and other fun activities. At the end of the term, they will participate in role-play to ‘introduce’ the arms and hands, etc. of a class mate. The students will also learn an expanded range of Japanese hiragana characters and further develop their skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Early in the term students will celebrate Tanabata, an annual “Star Festival” celebrated in Japan on 7 July each year. Students will decorate colourful strips of paper called “tanzaku” with Japanese characters, which will then be used to decorate the classroom, before being taken home to show their parents.

Students will be age appropriately assessed on their Japanese skills over the course of the term.

Even Weeks Odd Weeks Monday PE & Performing Arts Tuesday PE & Japanese Wednesday Japanese & Art Thursday Library & Art Children will be required to wear their sports uniform on Mondays and Tuesdays and bring their library bags on Thursdays.

Upcoming Events ● Excursion to Port Phillip EcoCentre, St Kilda on Friday 29th July. ● School Maths Night is on Tuesday 26th July. ● School Athletics Carnival is Monday 1st August. ● School Closure for Staff Conference on Thursday and Friday 4th and 5th August. ● Grandparents and Special Persons’ Day is Friday 19th August. We will need a group of Year 1 parents to assist with coordination of this. ● Book Week Parade is Friday 26th August. ● School Concert is Monday 12th September.

Remember, if you would like to come in for a chat at any time, we are happy to see you, remembering we have meetings on a Monday and Wednesday afternoons but usually another afternoon would suit. The morning is busy and allows us time to talk with the children prior to the day’s learning. Once the meditation music has commenced, our focus needs to be on settling the children and being ready to start the school day. We ask that parents either stay for meditation and then leave or leave the room to chat with other parents and not to come back in to give their children hugs once children are sitting in a circle and the music is playing. If it’s a message, please wait until after meditation.

We are looking forward to another great term working together, Ann, Majella and Jess.