What’s been happening in Year 1

Year 1 Blue have begun Term 3 with their usual enthusiasm! We love to begin each day with investigations. This term, our dramatic play zone has been transformed into a police station and courthouse. The students play the roles of police, judge and criminals. Sometimes, undercover detectives collect and give evidence to the judge. Some of the cases are making for some very interesting moral discussion. Last week, a criminal was arrested for stealing food. When the judge asked why he did it, he said he was stealing to feed his son. We may only be 6 and 7 years old, but we have some very rich conversation in Year 1.

In other investigation news, our construction team have been set the challenge of designing and making a miniature golf course on our verandah, that the class can play at the end of the term. So far, they have designed a starting point and Obstacle 1, which involves hitting the ball into a snake’s mouth!

Our Spiny Leaf Insects are still going strong. We are amazed that the little nymphs that arrived in the post at the beginning of the year are now adults. Based on our observations and the experience of others, we are quite sure our female will be laying her own eggs soon. However, as we know only too well in 1 Blue, the eggs can take anywhere from two weeks to two years to hatch! Every day we check the eggs Mrs. Stephen gave us at the beginning of the year, but still no action. Spiny Leaf Insect breeding is certainly a waiting game!

Religious Education

In Religion we are learning that there are many reasons why people pray, both on their own and as a community. We have revisited the formal prayers we say at school, and have made a copy of our own prayer book. We are looking forward to meeting Fr. Eden and visiting mass in Week 4, so that we can actively participate in an example of community prayer.

At the moment Year 1 are especially praying for Ash’s grandmother Mackie who is very sick.

English
We have now reached the halfway point of Year 1, and last week took a moment to reflect on how much progress we have made in English. The students are feeling very proud of their growth and are motivated to continue to do their best. We were introduced to a new character called Decoding Dragon, who keeps the Guessing Monster away. At the moment we are focussing on our first split digraph ‘bossy e’, who makes the vowel sound long.

We practice writing short pieces, often. Our focus for Semester 1 was on writing Super Sentences in neat, legible handwriting. We will now begin to learn about writing a paragraph. Go Year 1!

Mathematics
In Mathematics we are learning all about 2D shapes. We have been identifying and counting sides and corners. We noticed that closed shapes have the same number of sides as corners, and the special name for the point that sides meet is the vertex. We are also exploring horizontal, vertical and parallel lines.

Science
This term, we are learning all about observable changes that occur in the sky and landscape with Mrs. Wolfe. We examined a photo of the office building from 1921, when it was a convent, comparing it to our office building today.

(Photo courtesy of the Moruya and District Historical Society Inc.)

Geography
This term we are exploring features of places, with a special focus on Indonesia. Included is a photo of Milton’s’ writing, who, as the focus student had to find out some facts about Indonesia to share with the class.

Art
In Art we have continued to explore line and shape, and enjoyed creating 3D paper sculptures. The simple colour blocking looks very effective.

Well done Year 1! Semester 2, here we come!

Mrs Genevieve Schofield
Year 1 Teacher