Monthly Archives: November 2019
Year 1 Update – Who We Are
Posted by admin
WHO WE ARE
Central Idea: Understanding who we are as individuals and as a community help us to GROW. DISCOVER. DREAM.
Inquiry into:
The core emotions and the extent to which these are felt (Causation. Grow. Discover)
Personal strategies for solving problems or differences (Perspective. Grow. Discover)
The impact of actions on others (Responsibility. Dream)
Overview: This unit will help students understand their emotions, the different causes of their emotions and how these emotions can impact on us. We will use the school’s guiding statement ‘GROW DISCOVER DREAM’ to explore how developing our self-awareness of emotions will help us to grow. We will find out more about ourselves and others. We will develop strategies for solving problems as they arise.
Language: We are exploring how to tell personal stories connected to our emotions and are encouraging students to think about interesting and relevant details when talking to others. We are also asking the students to use these ‘ideas’ and their ‘voice’ in their writing. At the same time we are continuing to identify all the letters and sounds of the alphabet and make simple words. In reading we are starting to notice individual words. For some children, they are being encouraged to read sight words in isolation. Other children are learning to ‘read’ simple books through the pictures and use 1:1 correspondence to recall simple sentences.
To support learning at home: Read with or to your child everyday. Play games that help the children notice things around them and develop their vocabulary. For example ‘I spy”. Using some key words in your child’s reading book (the, and, come etc.), write the words on pieces of card and play a game. Here are some suggestions:
- Use the cards for hopscotch,
- Stick the “Passwords” on the door and read everytime you go through the door
- 10 pin bowling (use water bottles with the cards stuck on),
- Memory match/ concentration
- Paint the words,
- Write the words like a rainbow (write over the top of each word again and again in different colours),
- Make the words with playdough,
- Use magnetic letters to make the word,
- Use thick popsticks to make sight words dominoes (two words on a stick – one at each end)
Children are enthusiastic writers when they are enjoying and having fun. Children love to have their own special notebooks, diaries, mini whiteboard to write messages to family members, lists (shopping, things to do, places to go, people), cards, post it notes are also a great tool to encourage writers.
Mathematics
Patterns, patterns are everywhere!
We are noticing patterns in our environment, repeating patterns of shapes, colours, size and growing number patterns eg 10, 20, 30, 40, 50. We are also learning how to copy, describe and create patterns using materials, people and through music with body percussion.
We are beginning to use mathematical language of pattern to understand the repeating part of a pattern (term) and the individual parts of a pattern (element) to help us describe what we notice.
Check out these short youtube clips below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBjjxSx45-Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HIn3X14inI
Some simple ideas of how you can help at home;
- Help to notice the patterns in our environment.
- Help to copy and describe patterns you may see eg; big-little, big-little or bumpy-smooth,-smooth, bumpy-smooth-smooth or red-blue-green, red-blue-green.
- Play simple games with everyday items to make patterns eg; set the table boy-girl, boy, girl arrange cutlery knife-knife-fork, knife-knife-fork and ask, ‘What comes next?’
- Play walk and talk number patterns in 2s and 10s. Each step you take count a growing number 2-4-6-8-10 to 20 and 10-20-30-40 to 100.
