Happy Easter

Here are some photos from our Easter Hat Parade last Thursday. The Easter Bunny visited St Anthony's just before our parade started and Year 1 were very excited! 

Wishing you all a very happy and safe Easter from all the Year 1 team. 

Don't forget to read with your child during the holidays and use the fix up strategies when they come to a tricky word. 

(In preparation for term 2 we ask that you bring a large glue stick and headphones. Thank you in advance.)

Place Value Warm Up

This week, Year 1 have been enjoying a new place value warm up game. This warm up has been developing the students' ability to read, write and represent 2-digit numbers. It has also given the students an opportunity to practise counting by tens and ones. The students need to match the numeral with its visual representation using MAB materials. We have so far only used the game to play go fish, but it can be used to play a range of games such as bingo, memory match and snap.

Download your own copy of the game cards by clicking here and enjoy playing with your child at home! 

Area continued...

After making different shapes with an area of 12 cubes, Year 1 have been working on finding out the area of a chosen object around the room. They have been using materials such as MAB equipment, paddle pop sticks, rods, shapes and uni-fix cubes to measure the area of their objects.

Here is a photo of our Learning Intention and Success Criteria. This is added to at the end of each lesson in our reflection time. We encourage students to use the success criteria as a tool for when they need help!

Below are some photos of how some students have been measuring the area of their objects.

Area

This week we have been working on area. The students had to solve the problem 'I made a shape that had an area of 12 cubes. What might my shape have looked like?' 

Year 1 learnt that area is the size of a surface. They can measure area with no gaps or overlaps. We discovered that shapes with the same area can look different.

Check out some of the shapes that Year 1 created below.

Multiplication and Division

Over the past two weeks Year One have been working on multiplication and division through the concept of lollies. 

Their first task was imagine you have 12 lollies to share with some friends. How many friends could you share your lollies with and how many lollies would each friend get?
Students were able to work out a number of solutions to the problem, sharing the lollies equally. They recorded their solutions through drawings, sharing counters into groups, organising into arrays and writing the repeated addition number sentence. 

Students then had to solve the following task. Everyone at a party gets 3 lollies. How many people are at a party? How many lollies will there be altogether?
For this task the students needed to multiply by the same number each time. They once again demonstrated their multiple solutions through a variety of ways including groups, rows, drawings and writing the repeated addition number sentence. Students were then encouraged to think of more efficient ways of solving the problem. For example, If I had 20 people at my party, I could work out how many lollies there would be for 10 people and then double my answer.

Have your child share household items with family members at home. It could be while preparing dinner, setting the table or sharing a block of chocolate.

Check out some of the great mathematical thinking from the students in the pictures below. 

Lent Unit

In Religion over the past few weeks, Year 1 have been learning about Lent. We have been talking about how we can grow and change into better people in preparation for Easter. We have been using the scripture story of Zacchaeus to learn how Jesus helped people to grow and change. The students have enjoyed watching a video of the Zacchaeus story and using the exploring scripture kits to further understand the story.

Police Officer Visit

Today we had a visit from two police officers from Merrylands Police Station. They spoke to Year 1 about the different types of police officers and how they help the community. They taught the students about stranger danger and reminded the students about who are safe and unsafe people. They then showed the students the equipment they use to keep the community safe. The officers even drove the car into the playground and let every student sit inside the car and turn the turn on the siren. Year One had a wonderful morning and did some very informative writing about the police and how they help the community.