Welcome to Year 1, 2014!
Welcome to a new and exciting year of learning opportunities in Year 1. In this first term, we aim to build a happy and safe learning environment
for all students and to promote connections between the school and home environments. We are looking forward to working with your children
and are spending a considerable amount of time getting to know all individuals, allowing us to best cater for their learning needs. At Campbell
Primary, we have the advantage of specialist teachers in the areas of Japanese and Library. The following overview provides some scope into the
teaching and learning programs designed for the students in Term 1.
English
Our English program is drawn from the Australian Curriculum. Children
will be involved in a variety of activities to help them develop skills and
strategies in all aspects of English. These include reading, writing,
speaking, listening and viewing. This term our major teaching emphasis
will be to:
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Develop handwriting.
Understand the purpose of information texts and imaginative texts.
Develop knowledge of sounds and letters, high frequency words and
punctuation when reading.
Learn new letter patterns and letter clusters to inform writing and
reading.
Listen to others when taking part in conversations, using appropriate
language features.
Throughout the term, we will provide the children with learning activities
to give them the opportunity to:
 Write lower and upper case letters using correct letter formations
(handwriting).
 Describe and compare some different images in imaginative and
informative texts.
 Focus on specific reading strategies through individual, small group
and whole class reading activities.
 Create short texts that show emerging use of text structure, spelling
and punctuation.
 Use interaction skills including turn taking and speaking clearly.
Reading and writing are connected in many ways. Developing children’s
understandings in reading will help in the development of their writing.
In Year 1, children will be exposed to a variety of forms of writing to
develop their knowledge that there is a purpose for writing, and for them
to be able to identify their audience, e.g. I am writing a letter to Granny
to say thank you for…. Risk-taking or ‘having a go’ to spell words is critical
and should be encouraged. The children will also be involved in a variety
of activities to develop their oral skills such as news, circle time, and class
meetings, which will aid their language development and build up
vocabulary. Your child will be advised of their news day.
The home reading program will begin in Week 4. We will be asking for
parent volunteers to assist with Home Reading. This program is based on
the theories of literacy expert David Hornsby, advocating reading with
your child, reading to your child and reading by your child, depending on
the degree of difficulty of the books chosen.
Mathematics
During Maths, students will be having the following learning
experiences:
Chance and Data
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Choose simple questions and gather responses.
Represent data with objects and drawings.
Identify and describe outcomes of familiar events involving
change.
Number and Algebra
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Develop confidence with number sequences to and from 100 by
ones.
Skip counting by twos, fives and tens starting from zero.
Simple addition.
Simple subtraction.
Students will also be involved in activities to develop their problem
solving skills using materials to model answers and reasoning.
Concrete materials, games, hands-on and written activities will be
used during Mathematics learning time. Activities from the online
Mathletics program will be introduced into our classrooms this term.
This program is a fun and exciting interactive mathematical
experience that children will be using both as a whole class, in small
groups and individually. Children can also access this program at
home to consolidate their learning. All students have been given
individual access to this program and have their own user name and
password. Mathletics is fully aligned with the Australian Curriculum.
Focus of Inquiry
Library
This term our Focus of Inquiry is ‘Schoolyard Safari’. This unit is
developed by Primary Connections and is fully aligned with the
Australian Curriculum and is ideal to link Science with English in the
classroom. The unit seeks to build on students’ natural curiosity and to
nurture a sense of wonder in how the world around them works.
During library lessons, students will be discussing features of plot,
character and setting in different types of literature. They will revise
and consolidate their understanding of the different parts of the
library, the types of books that can be found and how these books
should be taken care of. Students will begin to investigate the specific
rules used when shelving books and how these rules help us locate
books we are interested in. They will need a library bag to protect the
books they are borrowing. 1RW will have Library on Mondays and
1M will have it on Thursdays.
The Schoolyard Safari unit provides opportunities for students to:
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Develop an understanding of how the different places where small
animals live, can be affected by environmental conditions.
Observe the features and behaviour of small animals enabling them
to gain an insight into the diversity of animal life.
Observe the external features of small animals leading to a better
understanding of how their features help them survive in their
habitats.
Investigate how animals move, feed and protect themselves.
Explore and compare the habitats of different animals.
We will be specifically investigating snails, worms and ants throughout
the term and there will be opportunities for students to consolidate
their learning at home, this will include things such as news
presentations and discussions and investigations with parents, carers
and siblings.
There will be opportunities throughout the term for students to work
with their peers from both Year 1 classes allowing for the development
of new friendships and the consolidation of existing ones.
PE and Health
Throughout Term 1, students will be participating in the Footsteps
Dance Program – this program will be held weekly and will assist in
developing flexibility, coordination, and spatial awareness as well as
enhancing children’s expressive, musical, and auditory skills.
We will be continuing skill development and knowledge growth from
Kindergarten though the following 2 programs which will run
throughout the year:
 Bounce Back – in conjunction with our SCARFFF Values this
program is to support children to develop a stronger sense of
wellbeing and to be more resilient, confident and successful.
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Gross Motor lessons – to encourage children to gain confidence in
their ability to perform physical activities and to develop gross
motor skills and co-ordinated body movements.
Our Health Program is based around the programs Skills for Growing,
Protective Behaviours and Restorative Practices.
Japanese
This year's unit of work is called “watashi no sekai” (In My World). During Semester 1, students will develop skills for functional language
use in the classroom, identifying familiar classroom objects and understanding classroom requests. During Semester two, students will develop skills
that enable them to talk about their families and homes. They will develop an understanding of the family unit in Japan and make comparisons with
Australian and Japanese homes. 1RW will have Japanese on Thursdays and 1M will have it on Mondays.
Dates to Remember
Junior Swimming Carnival
Wednesday 26 Feb.
Canberra Day Holiday
Monday 10 Mar.
School Photo
Friday 14 Mar.
Learning Journey
Thursday 27 Mar.
Cross Country Carnival
Tuesday 8 Apr.