Montessori Term 4 Overview 2022
Term overview
Welcome to Term 4
This is a busy term with lots on and the weather getting warmer and most likely wetter. Please make sure your child has a water bottle at school each day and a school/broad brimmed hat. In week 4, on the 25th of October we will have our excursion to the Cattana Wetlands. Please let your child’s teacher know as soon as you can, if you are able to support us on this excursion. In order to offer your assistance, you would need to arrange care for any younger children you have and be able to get yourself there and back as there are limited seats on the bus. This term there is also an art exhibition in week 4, swimming lessons (see note for dates for your child’s class) and a carols night in week 10. See the school newsletter or the school Facebook page to keep up to date. In class time, children will take part in the Aussie backyard bird count which happens in week 3. See https://aussiebirdcount.org.au/ for details. You could count birds at home to and submit your findings using the app or the web form.
Attendance
How to report an absence:
- Email attendance@trinitybeachss.eq.edu.au or
- Call the school's absence line on 4057 1444, then press #1 and don't forget to leave a reason why your child/children are away, or
- Send a note to the classroom teacher on their return
Our schools attendance target is 95%
Reading / Spelling
Our school is implementing a systematic synthetic phonics approach that has a teaching sequence for reading and spelling which goes across the entire school. Promoting Literacy Development or PLD for short, provides teachers with an innovative, evidence-based approach to literacy and advocates that children’s literacy and learning outcomes are maximized when the areas of literacy, oral language and movement & motor skills are simultaneously targeted. With this change, we will be working with decodable texts instead of predictable texts in the teaching of reading.
Due to this change, home reading will look different as well. Students may come home with games with high frequency words or sounds instead of home readers. This is reading practice. Please be assured that students will be getting a much higher level of reading mileage at school every day.
English
As stated last term, the written work for both prep and year 1 extends over term 3 and 4. Children regardless of grade, will continue to be exposed to our structured synthetic phonics approach and will practice reading and spelling at their individual levels.
Prep
Prep children are practicing writing their own true story (personal recount). This term, we are ideally looking for their true story to contain who, when, what, why where and how and to have a picture that matches their text. This term, there will also be a reading assessment for prep children which includes a reading and comprehension component. This will be using a decodable reader.
Year 1
Year 1 children are working on information reports and began this work in term 3. The will also present what they know about their topic to a small group. Children will be marked on their ability to make connections between writing, speech and images, their use of capitals and full stops and their letter formation within the related assessment task. Year 1 students will also complete a reading assessment with a reading and comprehension component. This text is not a decodable reader.
Maths
Prep
Prep children get another opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of number but matching number names, quantities and symbols to ten (and beyond if capable), by counting to and from 20 from any starting point and by making and ordering small collections. Children get to answer and compose a simple question and collect data on it this term also.
Year 1
Children will use counting on/back, partitioning and rearranging parts to complete addition and subtraction problems using both Montessori materials and other counting materials. This term, we also focus on chance and data which ties in well with our bird watching. Children need to be able to establish appropriate questions to collect data and then make simple data displays and inferences from their data collected. Year 1 children also have a task requiring them to use and understand the language of direction e.g. forward, back, around, left, right.
Science
Learning for this curriculum area occurs over both term 3 and 4
Prep
Students use their senses to observe the needs of living things, both animals and plants. They begin to understand that observing is an important part of science and that scientists discuss and record their observations. Students learn that the survival of all living things is reliant on basic needs being met, and there are consequences when needs are not met. They analyse different types of environments and how each provides for the needs of living things. Students consider the impact of human activity and natural events on basic needs. They share ideas about how they can support and protect living things in the school grounds.
Year 1
Students make links between external features of living things and the environments in which they live. They consider how the needs of living things are met in a variety of habitats (including changes in sky and landscape). They compare differences between healthy and unhealthy habitats, and suggest how changes to habitats can affect how the needs of living things are met. Students understand that science helps people care for environments and living things. They use science knowledge to recommend changes to improve habitats and care for the environment. They share observations using scientific and everyday language.
HASS
Learning for this curriculum area occurs across both term 3 and 4.
Prep
Preps engage in activities that allow them to learn to identify the features of familiar places. They also learn what makes different places special and how to care for these places. They begin to understand that places can be represented in maps of models. Students reflect on their learning to suggest ways they could contribute to the caring for special places.
Year 1
Year 1 will explore the features of local places, whether they are natural, constructed or managed and how these places change over time. They will work to recognise that people describe features of places differently and describe how places can be cared for. They will learn to represent the location of different places and their features on labelled maps.
HPE
Prep
Students in Prep will demonstrate personal and social skills for working with others in a range of activities. They will develop the fundamental movement skills of two-handed catching and underarm throwing and explore dynamic balances with beanbags. They will apply these skills to solve movement challenges. Students will also be involved in an intensive swimming program from weeks 6-9.
Year 1
Students in year one will perform the fundamental movement skills of two-handed throwing, two-handed catching, soccer dribbling and basketball dribbling in a variety of movement situations. They will see how the heart reacts to different physical activities. Students will also be involved in an intensive swimming program from weeks 6-9.
Music
Prep
In this unit, students will learn about ballet music as they listen to a variety of musical pieces from the Nutcracker. They will become aware of timbre and texture of music and that a story can be told through the medium of music and dance.
Year 1
In this unit, students will learn main rhythmical elements – Ta, Ti-ti, Za, Vah and Great Vah. They will explore sounds as they learn to listen to and make rhythmical patterns using a variety of percussion instruments. They will also learn to discriminate between long and short sounds and silence.
Drama
Stories From The Past – Memories.
Term 3 & 4 will see Prep students respond to, devise and perform drama based on the theme of memories. They will create stories of family and friends as a stimulus and explore improvisation, process drama and dramatic play and then present the drama that communicates ideas about stories of family and friends to an audience, ensuring all students have opportunities to develop their higher-order thinking skills.
Assessment schedule
LEARNING AREA | SUBJECT AREA | UNIT OUTLINE | TASK | DUE DATE |
ENGLISH PREP | True stories – children will write a personal recount containing who, when, where, what, why and how. Children will continue to engage in structured synthetic phonics and guided reading to develop skills for their reading assessment. | Written personal recount with illustration. Reading Assessment | Week 5 | |
ENGLISH Yr 1 | Information reports – Children will write an information report with a labelled diagram. Children will continue to engage in structured synthetic phonics and guided reading to develop skills for their reading assessment. | Written Information report with illustration Reading Assessment | Week 5 | |
MATHS PREP | Understanding numbers Data | Familiarity with number names, quantities and symbols to ten, ability to count forward and back to 20 and possibly beyond. Posing simple questions, making predictions, collecting and interpreting responses. | Interview with manipulatives. Interview with data collection sheet | Week 6-7 |
MATHS Yr 1 | Addition and Subtraction Language of Direction Chance and Data | As well as learning about the concepts of addition and subtraction, children learn a to use a small selection of strategies to complete addition or subtraction problems. Children learn to follow and give directions using language of direction to navigate familiar and unfamiliar circumstances. Students identify whether events are possible or impossible and practice collecting data, making inferences from data and producing simple data displays. | Manipulatives with interview. Manipulatives with interview Written assessment with student interaction required. | Week 6-7 |
SCIENCE PREP | Life and Living | Students suggest how the environment impacts them and other living things. | Illustration and interview | Term 4 |
SCIENCE Yr 1 | Life and Living | Students make links between external features of living tings and the environments in which they live. They suggest how changes can impact living things. | Illustration and interview | Term 4 |
HASS PREP | History | To identify and describe features of familiar places and suggest ways to care for familiar places | Illustration and interview | Term 4 |
HASS Yr 1 | History | My Special Places - students identify features as natural, constructed or managed, represent these features on a labelled pictorial map, reflect on learning to suggest ways for caring for places and recognise why places are special to themselves and others. | Illustration and interview | Term 4 |
HPE Prep | PE | Catch the bean | Practical | weeks 6-8 |
HPE Yr 1 | PE | I’m a Balliever | Practical | weeks 6-8 |
Music prep | Music | Making — Performing Sing a known song individually Making — Performing Keep the beat to a known song while singing Making — Composing Create a rhythm action for Rain, rain song | Weeks 7-9 | |
Music Yr 1 | Music | Making — Composing Create an 8 beat rhythmic pattern using quavers, crotchet, crotchet rest and minim. Responding Written Test – including rhythmic dictation and musical elements | Weeks 7-9 | |
Drama |
Contact information
Contact your childs teacher via email:
P1/A Jacqui Williams - jwill68@eq.edu.au
P1/B Gayle Kyle - gkyle4@eq.edu.au