Year 1 Update – Week 7
Wednesday 2nd October – Parent Consultations – We look forward to seeing you all there!
Friday 4th October – Hong Kong Community Chest Dress Casual Day – Please give a donation of $10-$20.
Monday 30th September – BHS CPD Day – School closed for the day.
Tuesday 1st October – Public Holiday – School closed.
Thursday October 17th, 24th, 31st and Thursday November 7th, 14th and 28th – Year 1 Pitch – Please see the enotice sent out by Mr Teahan. Please complete the form to give permission for your child to attend these pitch sessions.
Our week in pictures…….
Once again we have experienced poor air quality at BHS and therefore instead of outdoor play the children have enjoyed some indoor activities at lunchtimes including; Go Noodle, Jump Jam dance, Cosmic Yoga and mindful drawing.
We connect with each other to create learning communities.
This week the children have continued with their role as Play Detectives and have been going around the school looking for children who are making green choices in their play, sharing with each other, taking turns, communicating their ideas and helping each other. We have been really pleased by what the children have already learnt about themselves when they are playing and how they are starting to solve small problems and conflicts that occur in their play. Please take some time to chat to your child about what they have learnt about playing with others and encourage them to use these skills at home by playing games that promote sharing, turn taking and communicating with others.
We have continued to explore our Learner Profile attributes of caring, communicator and courageous by reading stories, engaging in group discussions and through our class circle times.
Numbers can be added and subtracted
This week we have started our new maths unit based on addition and subtraction. The children began the unit by showing us what they know about addition by finding different ways of making 10. They did this by solving an open-ended problem based around a ladybird who had lost his spots. They used their maths thinking skills to try and find all the possible ways of making the ladybird’s spots add up to 10. During the week the children explored their addition number bonds to 10 by making towers of ten using two colours and used tens frames to find totals of 10. We have modelled how to record addition sentences using the symbols + and = and the children have had a go at recording addition sentences themselves.
Shapes are classified and named according to their properties.
The children have started to explore 2D shapes and their properties through a range of practical activities. We have focused on developing the children’s mathematical language in relation to shape and have been encouraging them to describe 2D shapes using vocabulary such as sides and corners.
Please help your child to complete the Mathletics tasks set for them and have fun playing Maths Live. It is expected that an adult will support your child whilst they are completing these tasks. If you have any difficulties using the website please let us know.
Writing helps us to connect and communicate
In English this week we have started to model the use of different types of writing and the children have had the opportunity to write shopping lists and messages to each other. As part of our unit of inquiry the children have continued to write in their Play Journals. They have been recording their play preferences, who they have been playing with and the green choices they have made in their play. As we have mentioned before, we really want the children to see themselves as writers and be keen and motivated to write for themselves. Please do not correct all words if they are not spelt correctly and celebrate your child’s efforts.
In Readers Workshop, the children have continued to explore the concept of “Readers are always thinking when they are reading.” They have been using our class constructed “Think Marks” to identify parts of a story that make them smile, make them laugh, make them sad and make them wonder. The children are learning that reading is much, much more than simply reading the words on a page. Over the course of the year, we will be teaching the children a range of comprehension strategies that the children will use when they are reading. Please see the front of the children’s reading journals where the reading comprehension strategies are listed.
Phonics
Next week we will start our second set of phonemes: r l d b f h i u We will be teaching the children to blend the phonemes for reading and segment the phonemes for writing and spelling.
The camera words for this unit are: day, of, a, he, today, for These are sight words and we teach the children to take a picture of these words in their mind.
Please continue to use the phonics bookmark that will be sent home on Wednesday for games and activities that you can play together to support our phonics teaching.
Please also use the new laminated bookmarks that highlight the reading strategies that we are teaching the children in class to decode unknown words that they encounter when reading.
Get Ready to Talk
As we work on developing the children’s language skills, each week in the Weekly Update we will be asking you to take some time each week to sit with your child and talk about something linked to our unit of inquiry. This week we would like you to talk to your child about how they can be a good friend when they are playing with others.
1G – Caspar Lau
1L – Abigail Chui
1P – Neev Rai
PE – Chloe Lai
Congratulations to all of our Golden Book winners this week.
Library Borrowing
Mrs Lowe, our librarian, is so pleased with how quickly the children are learning the routines of the library. It is wonderful to see how enthusiastic many of the children are about reading. Sadly, we have had several books returned to school which have been written or drawn in. Please, can you check that the books are treated with respect and they are kept out of the reach of younger brothers and sisters so that there is no danger of anyone adding their own pictures. We also ask that you do not underline any words in the text. Thank you for your help with this.
Community Chest Dress Casual Day
On Friday 4th October our school will be encouraged to ‘Dress Casual’ and support the Community Chest by donating money to this fund. The HK Community Chest does great work in the community and supports a number of charities to make a difference to people’s lives. To find out more about what they do, click here. Students can make donations of $10-20
