SIS Blog: Grade 1- Welcome to Term 1, Week 1

The Grade 1 students have worked very enthusiastically and knowledgeably this week, making a great start to their elementary school education. We have introduced the key concept of FORM through our observations of bugs as well as trying to capture the interests of the young learners. Over the Summer break, I saw many children collecting, chasing, studying and searching for bugs so I thought I would bring this nature study into our first week of Grade 1.

Mathematics
In Maths this week we have been looking at 1:1 Number correspondence, recognizing numbers to 50, counting sets and patterns. The children created their own patterns too.

Language
Class novel: Flat Stanley
Read aloud books: The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle; No David by David Shannon; David Goes to School by David Shannon.
In Reading lessons, children selected a book that interests them for the classroom library and they went to Library class with Mr Appersan. We practised and performed role plays in response to the books David Goes to School which allowed the children to practise their oral language skills as well as demonstrate their ability to respond to a text and show their comprehension. All children were assessed by Ms Hilary and Ms Melanie in reading and their RASKids levels have been adjusted accordingly.

In writing, we worked on sentences, labelling photos with nouns and adjectives, starting writing journals and created a Class Shared Writing. We created a collection of vocabulary words and sentence starters to use in their writing. The children all worked with Ms Hilary and I to complete their Daily Language Review and work at the classroom Writing Station. Here is the Class Shared Writing for you to read:

Lost in the Forest

In the forest of trees, where the monkeys live, it smelled bad. My brother saw a butterfly. It was blue with green and yellow dots on its wings. There was another butterfly with rainbow wings.

I saw the two big butterflies and I chased them and chased them and chased them. But then I was tired and LOST! I felt sad, lonely and scared. Luckily, my brave friend Leo came along riding a lion. Soon, I saw my parents right in front of me. I was safe again! I felt happy!

By Grade 1- Term 1, 2019

Shared Writing

We will be starting Words Their Way spelling after student assessments have been completed.

Unit of Inquiry

This week we were establishing the classroom systems and processes such as bus lines, door greetings, morning activity centers, taking the class roll, using student trays and other self management skills. We played Go Fish and Memory games in the mornings to develop language fluency and turn taking skills. Today we made a video call to an IB School in Melbourne, Australia. We asked the Year 4 students, "How can we be healthy?" as a provocation for our new unit of inquiry beginning next week. The children also introduced themselves in English.