Our Junior School Teachers
1/2M: Amy McDonald | 1/2A: Denise Anderson | 1/2F: Fabia Andronos
1/2B: Sophie Bowler | 1/2: Tess Haycox & Stephanie Lambiris
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Dear Parents/Guardians,
Welcome to Grades 1 and 2 By now your child should be well accustomed to school and daily routines. They know to come in before school, put down their own bags and iPads or Laptop away and say goodbye to their parents. They are developing independence and taking responsibility for their own learning. Students are engaged in Literacy and Numeracy activities, as well as developing inquiring minds though Inquiry. They also participate in the specialist program offered at Oak Park, including: Japanese, Art and P.E. Library is taken by the classroom teacher on a weekly basis. Students also have the opportunity to attend R.E classes on Friday afternoon. The use of technology in the classroom enhances students' inquiry, helps them to learn independently and assists them in learning research skills. Whether students use an iPad or Netbook, it is their responsibility to bring it to school on a daily basis, fully charged. Incursions and excursions are organised throughout the year to enhance students' learning. Towards the end of the year, a sleepover and fun night will take place. Grade 1 students will go home after supper, while grade 2 students sleep at school. Throughout the year, students will be involved in fund raising events, as well as participating in the big school production in term 3. Grade 1/2 Term Newsletter |
Important Dates
Welcome Back to Term 1!!
The Grade 1/2 teachers are all very excited to be back at school and meeting our new students. It’s been a wonderful start to the new school year. Grade 1/2 Literacy - Reading Students will be encouraged to use a range of strategies to read unknown words. They will develop strategies to read independently and learn to choose books that are ‘just right’ for them. Students will also become familiar with working in small groups with their new teacher. Children will engage in tasks which focus on particular comprehension strategies and target individual needs. This term, students will focus on questioning (before, during and after reading) and making connections (text to text, text self and text to world connections). Home Readers Students take books home to practise their fluency, expression and comprehension; as well as to foster their love of reading. Reading logs are to be signed by parents, and we now encourage children to read for at least 10 minutes five nights a week. To assist your child in developing their reading skills:
Literacy - Writing During Writing sessions, students will be focusing on using their writer’s notebooks. They will learn to gather seeds (get ideas) and develop these ideas. Some children will be focusing on learning to use the dotted thirds writing lines and others will be refining their ability to form the letters of the alphabet correctly. Children will also develop their knowledge of planning, writing and punctuating simple and compound sentences. Oak Park Primary School teaches the spelling of unknown words using a classroom-based inquiry spelling program. Inquiry spelling is about teaching spelling strategies rather than learning by rote. These strategies include learning onset and rhyme, hearing and recording sounds, noticing patterns and making connections between words. Mathematics During Mathematics sessions, we will be focusing on representing numbers to 1000 using concrete materials, drawings, numerals and symbols. Students will recognise and continue patterns and represent data in different ways (e.g. tally marks, pictographs and bar graphs). In each of the areas studied, students will be encouraged to share their mathematical thinking and use mathematical vocabulary. Please encourage your child to practise skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s forwards and backwards. Once they are good at beginning at 2, 5, and 10, try beginning at any starting point (e.g. count by 2s starting at 7/ count by 10s starting at 34). Inquiry At the beginning of the new school year we focus on setting up classroom routines and expectations. Each class develops a Mission Statement to outline how they will work together as a grade to achieve their learning goals and build positive relationships. Students explore the school values of Respect, Responsibility and Resilience and think about how they can demonstrate them at school. We discuss important aspects of being safe and responsible in our online learning environments during our eSafety lessons. Finally, we look at the significance of the Acknowledgement of Country and create a class display to refer to throughout the year. |