1/2M (Teacher: Miss Alison McMenamin) 
Welcome to Grade 1/2M. We have 22 students in our grade, as well as me- Alison McMenamin, pre-service teacher Renee Leggett, trainee teacher aides Winter Dunstone and Amy Carter, and teacher aide Amy Jewell. Our grade is a fun and engaging class. I encourage students to challenge themselves and consistently produce the best results they can. All I ask for is their best. Students are encouraged to learn from their mistakes and are given tools to assist them with their learning and positive interaction with others. Students are encouraged to foster a love of learning and achieving, without fear of put-downs or ridicule. Our classroom is fun, happy and enjoyable, where we all enjoy coming to school and learning about the world around us.
For our reading sessions, we stream groups with 1/2G to maximise and focus activities to the specific needs of each child. The students participate in various reading, comprehension, spelling and word activities to assist them to improve their reading skills.
In our writing sessions, we explore different genres, including narrative, procedures, poems and information reports. The students enjoy writing in their ‘dream book’, recording thoughts, stories and dreams in written and pictorial form. 1/2M has pen pals that they write to throughout the year. Their pen pals are a 1/2 class from Moriac Primary School, near Geelong. The students enjoy receiving and writing letters to their pen pals.
We have explored the topics of Rules and Values, Zoo Animals, Under the Sea and Healthy Bodies. The students thoroughly enjoyed finding out about different animals that live at the zoo. To find out more, together with 1/2G and Prep M, we visited Werribee Zoo. We went on a safari tour to see many of the animals, and had a classroom lesson. Despite the weather, we all had a wonderful time. For our Under the Sea unit, we have made many sea creatures in craft sessions, including sea horses, glitter fish, shells and clam puppets. The students have found out about different layers of the ocean, living and non-living creatures that live in the ocean and ways to conserve the ocean and those that live in it. To conclude this unit, we will be visiting the Imax Cinemas and the Melbourne Aquarium. We are all looking forward to it.
