Inquiry
Weeks 1 – 2 Inquiry Unit Focus “Fire Safety – Keeping Ourselves Safe around Fire”.
Get Firewise for year 1 and 2 is a sequenced programme of learning experiences designed to give five and six year olds knowledge, attitudes and behaviours that will keep them safe around fire. The programme is cross-curricular with a strong literacy focus.
Years 0, 1 and 2 students will discuss behaviours that keep them safe from starting fires; such as not playing with matches and lighters. They will learn and practise what to do if there is a fire in a building or room they are in. There is also an additional section where students learn and practise calling 111 in an emergency.
Get Firewise focuses on:
- not playing with matches and lighters
- being safe near fires
- understanding that fire can be dangerous
- knowing what to do if there is a fire in a room
- practising evacuation from a room in a fire emergency.
Weeks 3-9 Inquiry Unit Focus ‘I am an Innovator : Technology Curriculum’.
The creative focus will be to create, design and construct a ‘Treasure Box’ from a range of materials.
Students will explore how materials can be different and which materials are appropriate for different purposes.
Students will use their imagination and creativity to design a personalised box to store an identified treasure.
The students will explore how designers often use a design process. Such as …
- Generate Ideas
- Plan (multiple times)
- Create
- Test
- Improve and alter as needed
- Share and celebrate the finished product
We will be sharing, celebrating and showcasing our finished product with families at the end of Term 4.
Literacy
Reading
Guided books will go home with children once your child has decoded and unpacked how letter sounds, words and sentences are put together to ensure they can read and explain the texts confidently. The reading books your child brings home will be easy for your child to read as the texts have either been previously read in a guided lesson/s with the teacher, or have been selected from an “independent box” of familiar readers.
Poetry Books : Each week your child will bring home a poem in their poetry book to share with you.
Library Books: Every week all students will have an opportunity to visit our school library with their class. The students will select one or two books from our wonderful school library, to take home for a week to enjoy with their whānau.
Writing: As our students begin their writing journey we encourage writing to be a fun and enjoyable task. As writers we work hard to record the letter sounds we hear in words and develop our skills to learn and spell words. We will explore and extend our knowledge of how words and spelling patterns work alongside our reading programmes.
Our focus areas for the term will be:
- ‘Descriptive’ writing uses adjectives to provide detail and interesting information and vocabulary for the reader to enjoy.
- ‘Narratives’ use our creative and imaginative ideas to create a fun and engaging piece of writing. We will explore the wonderful world of fictional writing.
- ‘Procedural Writing’ The children will learn how to write simple instructions. Writing our own instructions will help us to learn how important sequencing information is in order for others to be able to follow our instructions accurately.
End of year
Week 9 (4th December -8th December)
- Please can All Library Books, Reading Books and School Resources be returned to school before Friday 8th December.
The final day for Guided Reading Lessons for 2023, will be Wednesday 6th December. Reading will continue to be in our daily class programmes, however we will not be sending home readers with the children from this date.
Numeracy
During the first two years of school our goal is to explore all areas of numeracy. We work hard to build and extend knowledge and consolidate skills. The areas for Term 3 will be:
Measurement:
Measuring is fundamentally about making comparisons.
At level 1, students need to develop their understanding of the measurable attributes of objects.
E.g. Is this bag heavier, lighter or about the same as this one? No measurement is required but some way of comparing the two bags needs to be devised. Some attributes, such as length and area, are able to be compared by placing the objects directly in line with another. This is called direct comparison. Other attributes, such as capacity or circumference, may also require an indirect method, such as using water to fill one container and then pouring it into the other container. This is called indirect comparison.
Order and compare objects or events by length, area, volume and capacity, weight (mass), turn (angle), temperature, and time by direct comparison and/or counting whole numbers of units.
Shape – Sort objects by their appearance.
Position and orientation – Give and follow instructions for movement that involve distances, directions, and half or quarter turns. Describe their position relative to a person or object.
Transformation – Communicate and record the results of translations, reflections, and rotations on plane shapes.
Geometry: Positional language, Mapping, Coordinates, Turns in relation to fractions:
- describes the position of an object
- follow and give directions involving 1/2 and 1/4 turns
- follow and give a sequence of instructions related to movement and position
- follow a sequence of directions
- use the language of direction to describe the route through a maze
- use the language of direction to guide a partner through a maze
- rotate their body and other objects through 1/4 and 1/2 turns
- follow a sequence of directions
- describe where objects are using the language of position
- give and follow instructions using the language of position and directionality
Number Knowledge
- Number Knowledge is rote counting forwards and backwards, recognising and reading 2 and 3 digit numbers and beyond. Linking in the knowledge of Place Value and how numbers are formed with different components. E.g. 23= 2 tens and 3 ones or it can also be 23 ones which can then be tidied into 10s for efficient counting of groups.
- Writing and forming all numbers correctly (practising writing numbers at home would be a wonderful support skill for many children).
- Extend our knowledge of addition and subtraction equations using sets and materials. Recording our thinking e.g. 7+8 = 15 or 7+7=14 + 1 more = 15 or 8+ 8=16 – 1 =15.
- Skip counting forwards and backwards in 2s, 5s and 10s and making links to timetables and division equations.
- Integrate the concept of money into our learning, to help make connections to numbers in real life situations. Learn to identify both dollars and coins, reading and recording prices as well as adding and subtracting amounts using real life examples.
- Making links between skip counting, repeated addition and times tables.
- Explore the relationships numbers have in a family of facts, using materials to help us see and explain our thinking e.g. 4+3=7, 3+4 = 7, 7-3=4, 7-4=3 (addition and subtraction) and 2×5 = 10, 5×2=10, 10 divided by 2=5, 10 divided by 5 =2 (multiplication and division).
Basic facts equations help us to have a quick recall of answers and to notice and identify patterns e.g. 10 + __ = 14, 10+4=14. A helpful website for basic facts practice is www.prototec.co.nz.
The Arts
All areas of the Arts play a significant role in our childrens’ development. It is especially beneficial to young people – it helps promote self-confidence, encourages self-expression and develops problem-solving skills. We plan and integrate all 4 areas of the ‘Arts’ Dance, Drama, Music and Visual Arts into our termly programmes.
- In Term 4 our art will be integrated into our inquiry unit of ‘I am an Innovator’, being creative through a Technology Curriculum focus.
- The creative focus will be to design a ‘Treasure Box’ from a range of materials. The students will use their imagination and creativity to design a personalised box to store an identified treasure.
Te Reo
We model and encourage all students to explore, and develop their confidence in learning the language of Te Reo Māori. We will continue to learn, sing and show the actions for a variety of waiata during our fortnightly lessons with Matua Hemi Prime, on a Monday.
During Term 4, our key focus areas will be developing our knowledge and skills of Te Reo in a variety of ways. Our focus areas will cover…
- daily greetings and farewells
- class whakatauki
- days of the week
- colours
- shapes
- reading and counting of numbers
- concepts of movement e.g. kei raro – under, kei runga ake – above
Physical Education
At all times in Physical Education we teach the importance of participation and positive play by taking turns, showing patience, encouraging others and having ‘a go’.
Sportstart Physical Education Programme.
Term 4 – “Athletics” which will help the students to learn how to explore the skills and techniques for the 3 core components of ‘Run, Jump and Throw’.
Years 0 and 1 : Students will learn to throw accurately, jump further and travel with control.
- Stand with one foot forward when throwing and point to the target
- Swing arms when jumping and link two or more jumps together
- Look ahead when running and learn to travel in different pathways with control
Year 2 : Students will explore a wide range of fundamental movements and experiment with different ways of running, jumping and throwing.
- Explore different ways of jumping at different heights using a range of different jumps
- Explore different ways of running at different speeds (long strides, quick feet, high knees)
- Explore different ways of throwing using a variety of objects (underarm, overarm, push) and develop accuracy for aiming towards a set target
Digital Technology
In the first 2 years of school, as part of the Digital Technology Curriculum most of the learning is taught through mainly offline activities. The students work to explore and understand the vocabulary of the curriculum
e.g. planning, instructions, sequencing, identifying errors (bugs) and repeating a sequence (looping).
We work hard to integrate this vocabulary into a wide range of activities throughout all areas of our learning.