18 Oct 2019

Yr1 Curriculum Update -18/10/19

Working together to achieve success for every child

UOI – Who We Are

As students return from the holiday break, it can be difficult to get back into the swing of things. We have shared stories about the holidays, revisited classroom routines and remembered what it is like to be back in the classroom.

Students have been working on their Zones of Regulation, where they have been successful at self-regulating, verbalizing their feelings and figuring out what they need to do to feel better. Many students have been in the “blue” zone this week, as it is hard to get back to a routine. 1M has been working on meditation and paying attention to what our bodies need in order to get back to the “green” zone and ready to learn.

Math

Students have been consolidating their knowledge and practice of careful counting. They have learned how to create and use number lines with different materials and manipulatives. Recording our thinking has been practiced and students now feel more confident using these skills.

Students are now working on subitizing. This is the ability to recognize the number of objects in a small group without the need to count them. We have been using dice, dominoes, ten frames, tally marks, and other manipulatives in order to recognize numbers quickly. Here is a video that explains a bit more of what we have been exploring: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI37YqVVQc0

Literacy

Students have been focusing on comprehension and reading the pictures in a book. We have also started our writing by introducing “Read like a writer”. This consists of reading a familiar book and applying the skills that the author uses in our own writing. Students are creating their own stories, but using the author’s skills to help them record and express themselves. Some of the skills they have been working on are: showing emotions and feelings in the pictures, using thought bubbles, creating a cover of a book, using speech bubbles, showing actions in our drawings, use of color, being able to read our story to someone, re-reading and editing, etc. These skills have helped students choose their writing targets and master these skills. One of the most important pieces of this structure is to reflect on our work and share with others in the class. This gives an opportunity for students to look at what others are doing and give them ideas as to what they could incorporate into their own books. If your child is creating books at home, encourage them to bring them into the classroom and share with their peers.

Our Year 5 buddies came to our classrooms and helped us write stories. We had a great time getting new ideas from them and they enjoyed hearing our stories.

Shared Area

The children are beginning to learn about Maker Education and we are starting with cardboard construction. We discuss sustainability with the class and reuse items whenever possible, but we will still need a lot of cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes.

If you could send any cardboard boxes to school with your children, it would be much appreciated. Larger boxes can always be flat packed so that they are easier to carry. Things like cereal boxes, tissue boxes, gift boxes and shoe boxes would all be gratefully received.

Play sessions

We are very excited to open up the shared area to our parents. There will be an introduction meeting for you to get an idea of what we mean by “play” and then some hands on time with your child.

We look forward to seeing you next week.