Term 3 Overview

Term 3 Overview of Learning Programs

Upcoming Events:

Week 3 Monday 5th to Thursday 8th August: Year 1 student conferences in classrooms

Week 7 Monday 2nd September Grandparents Day 9:00-9:45am 

Week 8 Friday 13th and Saturday 14th September Awesome Art Show

Week 9 Friday 20th September Year 1 Assembly 

Morning Reading-  We would love to encourage parents and carers into the classroom to
share a story with their children - the classroom doors are opened at 8:50am most mornings.

Readers’ Workshop: 

This term, we will be discussing how characters in texts are developed. We will look at what
the author does to tell us more about their characters, what words do they use, how do the
other characters describe them, what do the illustrations tell us about the character?

In reading and writing we will be comparing fiction and non fiction texts, including comparing
the difference in the images contained in the two different genres.  

We will also continue to learn about strategies we can use to help us decode unknown words.
We always encourage children to think about what would make sense when they are
attempting unknown words. Some other strategies we use in class are:

Skip the word and then come back to it.

Chunking - split the words into smaller parts, or two smaller words 

Use the beginning and ending sounds 

Flip the sound - try another sound the letter/s make

Stretch the word out. Blend the sounds together

Think of a word that makes sense

Throughout the term students will also be developing their knowledge of a range of
comprehension strategies, in particular those which help us when reading non-fiction texts.
We will look at the importance of labels and captions in information texts, as well as the need
to clarify new words as we read. We will also discuss the different types of questions we can
ask before, during and after reading.

Work on Writing: 

For the first few weeks of term 3, we will continue our focus on creative writing, in a variety
of ways: 
Students will be guided in writing a 6 sentence story - this will be a structured writing task
where we will be focusing on using creative word choices to write a short story. 

We will also explore using a Sensory box to engage students to write. Students will select
an item out of the Sensory Box and write using the writing process (select a seed, brainstorm,
write, pitstop, recraft, read writing to someone, self assess, illustrate, publish). 

Students will continue to use the Detail strip to promote their use of adjectives and verbs.
Often students are provided with a stimulus picture or video clip etc and asked to write about
the stimulus using the following sentence openers:

I see ….     I hear…..   I smell….. I feel…..   I taste….. I think…. I do…

I feel (inside)...  I say... 

In week 4, we will introduce how to write an informative text. We will begin by comparing
a narrative writing piece with an information report and focus on the importance of facts
in an informative text. Towards the end of the term students will select an animal to research
and collect information under the headings appearance, habitat, diet and how they move. 

Throughout the term we will continue to focus on pit stopping after writing. During pitstopping
we ask students to check their writing for the correct use of capital letters, full stops, nouns,
verbs and adjectives. We have also exposed students to recrafting, where students either
change, add or remove words and are encouraged to use a range of punctuation to improve
their writing. Spelling is integrated into all literacy lessons and is a particular focus during
Word Work sessions. 

If you visit the classroom, you will notice The Writing Wall or ‘Bump it up Wall’. We use the
examples on the wall to assist students in identifying where to next in their writing. We have
started student writing conferences and are working towards providing each student with a
personal writing goal. Students will know what colour they are on the wall and what they need
to do to improve their writing.

Fine Motor - The development of finger and hand strength as well as writing stamina are still
essential skills for our students (even with the influence of keyboards and screens!) Students
participate in regular fine motor rotations. These may include beading, tweezers, balling paper,
playdough, tying shoe laces, pegging etc 

Mighty Maths - In term 3, we will focus on skip counting by 2, 5 and 10 starting from zero
and working towards 100. Some groups will practise skip counting from any given number, on
and off the decade to and from 100! In place value we will continue to work on being able to
recognise, model, read, write and order numbers to at least 100. This term we will have a
particular focus on locating these numbers on a number line.  Towards the end of the term
we will revisit our work on addition and subtraction. In Year 1 our goal is to have quick recall
of friends to ten facts, doubles, near doubles and adding 10 to any number. We use our
knowledge of addition facts to assist us in solving subtraction problems.

Maths Extra - these lessons generally cover concepts in measurement and geometry.

This term we will explore:
Time duration - we will describe duration using months, weeks, days and hours. Students
will be involved in activities such as describing the duration of familiar situations, for
example: ‘how long is it until we next come to school?’

Telling time - reading o'clock and half past times on analogue and digital clocks

3D Objects - recognising and classifying familiar 3D objects, focusing on geometric
features and describing objects using everyday words such as corners, edges and faces

Money- recognising, describing and ordering Australian coins according to their value.
Students will be involved in activities which help them understand that the value of
Australian coins is not related to size, and to describe the features of coins that make it
possible to identify them

Fundamental Motor Skills (FMS) - We will focus on the following skills this semester:
Overarm throw
Dodging
Catching
Kicking

These skills are specifically taught and practised through a variety of games and activities.

Science Inquiry - ‘Look and Listen’ - Light and sound surround us, bringing a wealth of
information about our world. We use light and sound to communicate with each other.
Sounds can be as different as beautiful music or screaming sirens. Light can transmit
the pictures from a television screen or the expressions on someone’s face. Almost
continuously, light and sound affect what we think and do, and how we feel.

Technologies-  This term we explore both design technology and digital technologies.
In design technologies we create solutions to fit a design criteria - it usually involves boxes,
paddlepop sticks and lots of tape! Digital technologies may involve developing skills and
exploring and using digital systems for publishing information, or creating illustrations (we
do this in Google Draw). 

The Arts - We are putting the finishing touches on our visual art works ready for the
Art Show in Week 8. We are really looking forward to sharing these pieces with family and
friends. This term we will also begin work on creating our end of year concert item. We are
looking forward to all the moving and grooving to come...

Marvellous Mondays - a range of other skills and content is addressed during our
Monday rotations with specialist teachers. Our rotations include:

FMS 
Library (remember Library bags for borrowing)
Japanese

Performing Arts