30/07/2026
Miss Thompson has been working hard making these really imaginative Tuff Trays. What are Tuff Trays you ask? Read below to find out. No wonder our Year 1's are having so much fun!
The Snail and the Whale : The children arrived to find the classroom had been visited by a whale over the weekend! Whale mail, a package and clues had been left behind. The whale explained that people had shared incorrect facts about humpback whales and asked the children to help set the record straight. This launched our information report unit, with students researching humpback whales and creating reports to share accurate information.
NAIDOC Week Symbol Exploration : Students explored Aboriginal symbols and discussed how they can be used to share stories, places and important ideas. Using loose parts, and playdough, students recreated symbols and experimented with creating their own representations.
The Lost and Found : Inspired by The Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers, these small world provocations encouraged students to immerse themselves in the story through retelling, discussion and imaginative play. Each tray offered a different way for students to engage with the text, including key vocabulary from the story, loose parts such as bottle tops and pom poms for creative exploration, and a miniature Antarctic landscape to represent the setting. The varied materials encouraged students to revisit the story, build oral language skills, make connections to the characters and setting, and create their own story experiences through play.
Capacity Investigation : Students explored the maths concepts of full, empty, more and less using pom poms and containers of different sizes. They predicted, tested and compared how much each container could hold while developing their mathematical language and understanding of capacity.
Heart Word Practice : This morning literacy invitation gave students the opportunity to practise reading and writing Heart Words. Students identified the parts of words they could sound out and the parts they needed to remember "by heart", helping to strengthen spelling knowledge and word recognition.
