Grade 1

Grade 1 Theme for 2012 - Blast off to Big School

 

Term 1:

• My Body
• My Feelings
• My Senses

Project: This is Me - From Babyhood to Now

Outings:  Fish Hoek Beach

 

Term 2:

• My Family
• My School
• Healthy Living
• Safety (Water)

Project:  My Grandparents

Outings: The Magic Classroom

 

Term 3:

• Living a Healthy Life
• Food
• Exercise
• Germs/Aids

Project: How I live a healthy life

Outings: Two Oceans Aqarium

 

Term 4:

• My Pets
• Money

Project: Money

Outings: The Farmyard and Kirstenbosch Gardens

 

THRASS

At the beginning of 2009, Thrass was introduced in Grade 1 at our school.  Thrass stands for Teaching Handwriting Reading And Spelling System.

The programme includes 44 Phonemes (speech sounds) and 120 key Graphemes.

Lower case and capitals are identified by name.  Pupils need not unlearn previous teaching.  Continual reference is made to pictures, letters, keywords and whole-picture charts.  The charts encourage spatial awareness and make it easier for future study.  The Thrass handwriting programme makes an easy transition to Cursive writing.

This system provides life-long word solving skills.  It is a cross-curricular system.  Pupils explore language, listening skills are sharpened and reading and spelling skills develop successfully.  Only a small percentage of base words are decoded in the "old system".  The Thrass System, which is analytical, exposes pupils from the start to graphs (one letter), digraphs (two letter groups), tri-graphs (three letter groups) and quad-graphs (four letter groups).

The use of music, song and rhythm makes this an exciting programme.  The pupils are excited about Thrass lessons.  The system is reinforced by the remedial teacher for pupils who attend small group tuition.

The pupils will continue this system in Grade Two.