Tinana State School

Term 1

In Term one, the students experience an integrated unit on My Family and Myself. This incorporates Science, S.O.S.E. and Health. Students learn about:- themselves, their families and are involved in a social program about how to learn and how to be a friend.

They investigate healthy food groups and become aware of using their 5 senses - touch, taste sight, hearing and smell.

 Students participate in activities that develop fine and gross motor skills. 

The world of reading is introduced through:- shared book experiences and the Jolly Phonics Program to teach the sounds.

This program is a multi- sensory approach to learning sounds and is supported by an intervention program where a teacher aide screens all children’s progress with knowing their sounds. Students needing extra support are identified early and these children receive individual support.

 Sounds and sight words are taught in conjunction with learning Nursery Rhymes. This culminates in a Nursery Rhyme Concert at the end of the Term. Children dress up as their favourite Nursery Rhyme character s, say the rhymes and do dances in front of an audience

This is followed by the Easter Hat Parade which ushers in the Easter holidays.

Term 2

In Term two the students take part in the unit “A Journey Under the Sea”. This unit encompasses all the key learning areas. The students are given a technology task to complete which involves them having to plan and design:- where to find sea creatures,      how to get there and what to take.

Throughout the term the students investigate a variety of topics such as:- the features of the sea and its uses, characteristics of sea animals, beach and boat safety, caring for the sea environment, sinking and floating, mapping, food webs and life cycles.

Jolly Phonics continues on to the seventh set and blends are introduced. The students are involved in a variety of reading and writing activities on a daily basis ranging from shared and modelled reading and writing to guided reading and independent tasks.

Some of the Mathematics for the term involves:- adding numbers, days of the week, measurement (length & mass), simple graphs, left/right, more, less & same, counting to 50, ordinal numbers to 5^th, 2D shapes, patterns & sorting, and number concepts.

At the end of the term the students participate in a culminating activity at school, where they come dressed up and enjoy - “A Day at the Beach.”

Term 3

In Term Three the Year One students participate in an ‘Australian Animals’ Unit.  The students study the special characteristics of our native wildlife, in particular mammals, marsupials and monotremes. Students draw upon their prior knowledge of the needs of living things to design and create a model of a habitat for a native Australian animal in a shoe box.

Students continue to expand their knowledge of Jolly Phonics as they learn ‘Copycat Sounds’. For example, the students learn that ‘a_e’ and ‘ay’ are alternative spelling choices for ‘ai’. Students compare fiction and non-fiction texts and they use their knowledge of sounds, sight words and sentence structure to write a descriptive text for a native Australian animal.

In Mathematics the students learn to count to 70 in ones, count in twos to 10 and investigate ordinal numbers to tenth. The students will recognise and spell number names to ten. They will learn strategies for the automatic recall of addition facts to 10 including count on 1, count on 2, doubles and turn arounds. The students will investigate the attributes of coins and notes as well as the features of 3D shapes.

Term 4

IOur unit focus in term four is “Transport”. Throughout the term the students investigate a variety of topics such as types of transport and their purpose – land, sea & air, comparing modern and olden day transport, mapping, weather – space & air pollution from transport, road & bike safety and community workers & their vehicles.  

The major genres in writing are recounts and descriptions. Focused lessons with the teacher using Modelled, Shared and Guided Writing of this genre, gives the students the scaffolding they require to independently write a recount on their own.  A variety of shared texts on Transport are used in reading along with the daily reading tasks. Within reading the students become aware of the type of genre used, the generic structure, the author’s purpose, and literary features and are able to show an understanding of the text in a variety of ways. A number of topics are used in Speaking & Listening such as, riddles, mimes, narrative book reports, explanation of a maps, description of a form of transport and reading own stories.  

In Mathematics this term the students are required to count to 100, back from 20, in 2’s to 10 and know odd and even numbers to 10. They recognize, write and sequence numbers to 20 and compare groups to 10 that are same, different, more or less. Investigating and creating problems with money is practiced as well as identifying and sorting notes and coins to $100. The understanding of addition and subtraction concepts, equal groups, time - o’clock, seasons, months, days of the week, difference 2D & 3D objects & names are assessed. 

The study of transport this term leads up to a transportation excursion that allows the students to use as well as further their knowledge of transport to areas within the community.