Term 3

Term 3 Learning

Term 2 has been a very busy term. I apologise for the lack of blog posts this term. Here are just a few things that have been happening in our school and class in Term 2. I hope all families have an amazing 2 weeks quality time with your children. You all definitely deserve the break. Reports will be coming home with children on Thursday this week. I will also be sending home test books this week. Test books must be returned before Friday. 

English

Listening and Speaking

This term we have had our Super Scientist competition which was an exciting way to present an experiment to an audience. Congratulations to Ethan and Liam who were the Year 1 Room 24 finalists. Unfortunately they did not make the year level overall winner, however, we all think they did an amazing job! A big thank you to all parents for your support with the Super Scientist, without your time and effort to support your children, events such as this one would not be possible. We look  forward to Semester 2 Super Scientist!

Speaking and listening will be a focus in our classroom next semester. I would like to see all students develop more confidence in this area and require less support to scaffold their presentations. 

Phonics

This term we have looked at some new spelling rules.'bossy r' - bossy r controls the vowel to make a new sound e.g. ar, er, er(uh), or, ir, ur'tricky y'- a y in the middle or at the end of a word is a vowel. It can make the sound 'i' or 'e''bossy e' - bossy e makes the vowel say its name.
We have also been consolidating our digraphs; sh, ch, wh, th, ck,   

Reading

Reading should be occurring in all households daily. The more students are reading, the greater success students will have at school. Reading develops students understanding of phonics, vocabulary, grammar, writing, knowledge of the world, and can also support them in other curriculum areas such as science, geography and history just to name a few. In today's society, students are reading less and turning to IPads and other ICT devices before picking up a book. I would like to set a holiday challenge to students and parents. I would like all students and parents to find 10 minutes each day during the holidays to sit down and share a story or a book together.

Comprehension

Comprehension is a very important part of reading. Students generally are very good at reading the words using their decoding skills, however, when it comes time to retell and answer a range of questions about the text, they are unable to do this well. Before they will be moved on to a higher level, their understanding of the texts read and their ability to retell (summarise) and answer a range of question types needs to be adequate. There is no point in reading something if you do not have an understanding of what you have read.

Writing

 

Texts

We have been writing procedural texts this term. Procedures are found in instructions, recipes and rules for games. We have looked at the different elements of a procedure and had a go at writing all parts. We have had a big focus this term on using simple punctuation in sentences. Students know and can say when to use a full stop and capital letter, however, most are still not applying this to their writing without reminders. Further opportunities to practice and consolidate this at home will be beneficial to everyone. 

Grammar

We have also been looking at grammar this semester. We now can identify nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs in a sentence. Next time we will be looking at doing some sentence building to create more complex sentences in order to improve our writing. We have also looked at tense this term and how to identify if a sentence is past, present of future text.

Spelling

Students are progressing in their spelling and most are on track in this area. Please make sure that students are practising their words in dictated sentences at home as some are finding this a challenge on test day. Below is a link to Term 3 spelling. Your children know which colour groups they are for phonics, sight word lists have students name next to them. A copy will be glued into home practice books next term.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Rg0GqBZJDA2RN5mbm8SLOudHnca2JjaM

Mathematics

Number

This term we have begun some more complex concepts in Mathematics. Students have been looking at larger numbers and using place value to break these down into smaller numbers. A solid understanding of place value is necessary before students can move onto more complex concepts. Without this firm understanding and ability to apply their understanding, they will struggle in future years with Mathematics. Please support your child at home with Mathematics as well as Literacy. If you need any support with the strategies that we use in class, I am more than happy to make an appointment with you to show you how it is done.

Measurement

In measurement, we have looked at measuring and comparing mass (weight) and calendars and clocks (telling the time to the hour and half past). It would be fantastic to see or hear about lots of cooking experiences happening at home with students are your helpers to consolidate these skills. It may also be time, if students do not have one already, to have a calendar on the fridge and a simple analogue watch to tell the time with. The more exposure and opportunities for practice with these concepts, the better students will understand and be able to apply their skills in class.

 

Statistics

This term we have focused on creating and interpreting simple data tables and graphs. Most students are able to record data using a tally and also read and interpret tables and graphs. They can also record data using simple bar graphs. A focus now is to develop students ability to compare the data in tables. They also need to work on developing their own questions in order to collect and record data.

Science

This term we have been focusing on biological science.
We have discovered the difference between living and non-living things. We now know what the basic needs for survival are for people, animals and plants. We have been working on our very own projects this term where we have designed and created our very own alien animals. We have done lots of research into animal body parts and their purpose, habitats and how features in these places help animals to survive, we have even looked at parts of plants and have been investigating how these grow. We have been busy creating our dioramas to demonstrate our knowledge about living things. These will be displayed in class next term once completed this week.

Geography

This term we finished off our landscape features concept in Geography. We now know all about features within our environment and can classify them into natural, managed and constructed features.

Health

Our focus this term has been on resilience. We have looked at skills and strategies to support us when we are feeling a little down. We have also enjoyed two incursions this term to support our passenger and road safety concepts from Term 1. Both incursions were very informative and engaging for students. It is hoped that students are able to apply these skills and understandings to their own lives and will use safety gear when on bikes, scooters, skates and skateboards.