We have certainly rocketed into the term with a very busy first two weeks with science-based Discovery Days, Book Week this week, and the Year 2 Sleepover on Friday! We are in for an action-packed rest of the term, with many exciting things happening as we make the most of every moment we have left together before the year wraps up!

Inquiry

In our unit of inquiry, for How the world works, we have been looking at the central idea that if we understand forces, this enables people to create and innovate. Our lines of inquiry are:

● Forces that can act on objects

● Variables that influence force

● Using our understanding of forces to create and innovate

It has been wonderful to see the students exploring the different types of forces that create and affect movement in the world around them. We have loved seeing them not only being able to identify the different forces but also using them in a broader sense as they applied them to engage in some spectacular design challenges. The way they combined their understanding and creative problem-solving skills to build their designs and explain why they worked was a joy to see.

In the coming weeks we will move on to our new unit of inquiry Sharing the planet where we will look at how people can work together to create sustainable practices and solutions for our world. Our lines of inquiry for this unit will be:

● choices that can lead to sustainable practices and solutions (responsibility, sustainable practices, choice, function)

● people and organisations that create sustainable practices and solutions (function, responsibility, sustainable practices)

● how we can work together to create sustainable practices and solutions (responsibility, causation, choices, solutions).

Literacy

The students will focus on narrative texts this term. They will look at a range of narratives and picture storybooks, discussing how stories work and identifying key elements of their structures. There will be an explicit focus on understanding the author's intention and what devices they used to express this to their audience. The children will then apply their understanding to develop their own creative story. There will be a focus on the editing process; from planning and developing, editing and revising, to finally publishing their stories.

This will include:

● reading a diverse range of texts and picture books and thinking of the perspective portrayed

● reading to self and reading aloud to others focusing on accuracy, fluency and comprehension

● creating mind maps and story planners for narrative texts.

● developing their skills by re-reading and editing texts

● applying the problem, action, solution structure of stories

● using their knowledge of the Read, Write Inc sounds to make attempts to spell unknown words

● expanding their vocabulary choice to include some 'wow' words

● understanding the importance of short 'power' sentences

● ensuring boundary punctuation and capital letters are used appropriately.

They will also be looking at procedure writing in line with our units of inquiry.

Maths

In Numeracy this term, the students will be introduced to some new concepts as well as consolidating previous learning such as multiplication and division. They will investigate a unit on fractions and develop their understanding of fractions in various applications. They will then move on to probability and money, before spending the rest of the year reflecting on the knowledge they have gained over the year.

Students will be exploring strategies such as:

● understanding, displaying, and manipulating fractions

● understanding that fractions can be part of a whole as well as part of a collection

● the relationship between division and fractions

● studying the place value of fractions and finding where they fit on a number line

● recognising, counting, and ordering small collections of Australian coins and notes

● that the likelihood of events can be predicted and expressed in different ways.

Here’s to another amazing term!

LIANE and LEXI
Year 1 and 2 Teachers