Welcome back Class 1.
Welcome back to a new and exciting term. We hope you have had a lovely Easter break and are looking forward to an exciting new term. This term, we will be working with the children this term to build on their growing independence and support them to continue to demonstrate the important values of aiming high, being resilient and taking care of each other.
We will begin this term with our ‘Growing’ topic. Children will learn all about how things grow, what plants need to survive and name the different parts of a plant. We will also explore minibeasts with a focus on bees and the importance of bees to the environment as well as the chronology of people and how we grow and change from babies to adults. Later in the term we will be learning about Rainforests. Children will learn about different animals and their habitats, as well as having the opportunity to make their own musical instruments. Further information about what the children will be learning will be added to Class Dojo on a weekly basis.
Reception
English/Literacy
In our daily phonics lessons, we will be continuing to consolidate our Set 1 sounds while introducing Set 2 sounds, using the Read Write Inc systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) programme. We will be moving onto Green RWI books which are longer stories that will build the children’s reading pace and stamina. Alongside this, we will also be completing daily spelling practice and regular writing of sentences that will embed the children’s phonics knowledge.
To help your child keep up with the RWI programme, we will record what the children have focused on in their phonics lessons each day in their reading record the children will also have a green book story that they have read in school, alongside a green book bag book for them to practise at home. These will be changed regularly. Additional to the formal Phonics programme, we provide many opportunities to develop early Literacy skills through games and the indoor and outdoor enhanced provision. These will often be linked to the children’s topic work to develop their vocabulary and allow them to retell stories and develop their imagination and creativity.
Mathematics
This term the children will build on their developing subitising, counting and composition skills. We will consolidate their counting skills by counting to larger number and by using a wider range of counting strategies. The children will also secure their knowledge of number facts. We will use a combination of National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM), Numberblock materials, as well as Whiterose materials. Alongside this, we will be exploring patterns, visualisation and map work, and mass and capacity. Alongside daily whole-class teaching sessions, there will be a range of child-led opportunities to develop mathematical skills through meaningful play during indoor and outdoor continuous provision.
Themes (Understanding the World/Expressive Arts and Design)
During our topic work linked with ‘Growing’ and ‘Under the Sea’ the children will have opportunities to enjoy a wide varied of inspiring experiences including creating artworks (inspired by famous artists) using material and man-made materials, investigating and growing their own plants, completing minibeast hunts, making and tasting their own fruit kebabs and investigating how to make a boat that floats to name a few. After the half-term break, the children will also take part in Wild Tribe on Friday mornings. This is a great opportunity for the children to continue their learning outdoors, develop teamwork and grow respect and gratitude for the outdoor environment.
PE/Physical Development
In addition to engaging in a range of activities linked to improving physical development through indoor and outdoor continuous provision. There will also be a weekly PE session on a Tuesday with Mr Hayler who will be focusing on developing functional skills. The children are welcome to leave their PE kits in school, and we will send them home if we feel they need washing or at the end of each half term.
PSHE/Personal, Social and Emotional Development
This is such a crucial part of your child’s education and underpins everything that we do. Through all our activities, every child will have the opportunity to develop their personal, social and emotional skills, learning how to get on with each other and to have mutual respect and responsibility. We will introduce and explore our school values: building Relationships by being Resilient, Resourceful, Reflective and Respectful as well as our school motto; ‘Aim High, Be Resilient & Take Care of Each Other’. Often, we will have a focus on specific elements of PSED in activities such as circle time and with a programme called SCARF (Coram) using specialised resources and stories. The SCARF themes this term are: ‘Growing and Changing’ and ‘Valuing Differences’.
Home learning
In Reception we ask you to support your child’s learning by helping them read their RWI books 5 times a week. These decodable books are chosen to make your child’s reading level, and this extra practice is a brilliant way to consolidate learning in school and develop reading pace and confidence. Please record their daily reads in their phonics book alongside any other reading you complete together at home.
It is also beneficial to help your child practise correct letter and number formation and to practise counting and recognising numbers 0-10. This term the children will be coming home with handwriting sheets matched to the Set 2 sounds they are learning at school, this consolidation at home really helps the children to form their letters with greater accuracy. We will also be using ‘Doodle Learning’ and ‘NumBots’ to support Maths in the Classroom and at home, new assignment will be set weekly and matched to the current maths skills children are learning in class. Please also continue using the 1-minute maths app to support subitising fluency. We always love to see what the children have been doing at home as well.
Year One and Year Two
We have another exciting term of learning ahead of us, including a theatre trip, the Yr 1 Phonics Screening Check, swimming lessons and sports day later in the term.
In all that we do, we aim to build Relationships, be Respectful, be Resilient, be Resourceful and be Reflective; these values are also reflected in all areas of our learning and we regularly refer back to them.
Curriculum:
We carefully plan the curriculum to suit the learning needs of all our pupils and make them excited to learn. Where possible, the curriculum areas are linked to provide context to their learning and allow them to delve deeper into the topic.
Throughout the term, in Maths, we will look at the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and fractions, time and money. There will be some variation in coverage for each year group. Please support your children by regularly practising their addition and subtraction fluency within 10 for year 1s, and for year 2s, practising recalling their 2, 5 and 10 times tables facts including related division facts.
“Reading is the gateway for children that makes all other learning possible” – Barack Obama. A sentiment we share across the Federation and one we want to nurture in our children.
The pupils will have daily opportunities to read through Read Write Inc and have access to our class books where the children can explore a wide variety of genres. For children who are no longer on the Read Write Inc programme, the children will have daily opportunities to read and develop their comprehension skills; we use VIPERS (Vocabulary, Inference, Predict, Explain, Retrieve and Summarise). Please support your children’s learning by regularly engaging with stories and books at home; this can be listening to them read, reading to them or discussing what they have read.
In the lead up to the Yr1 Phonics Screening Check, I will be sending home some additional phonics resources to support the children in developing their phonological understanding. Later this half term, we will have a parent meeting to give you more information about the Phonics Check and answer any questions you might have.
In English, we will begin by looking at ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, followed by ‘The Train Ride’ where various writing outcomes will be generated such as story writing, character descriptions, poetry and letter writing. Throughout the term, we will explore other texts to develop our writing skills and encourage pupils to apply the various grammar, punctuation, spelling and handwriting content taught.
‘Plants’ and ’Seasonal Changes’, make up our topics in Science this term. Pupils will be looking at what plants need to grow and also learn the names of some familiar and not so familiar plants. They will also continue to learn about the different seasons and about the changes that occur in different seasons.
In our History topic we will be learning about the history of transport. In particular will be exploring, the history of Halwill Junction and the old railway considering the effect it had on locals when the railway closed.
In Design Technology we will be looking at the different food groups and nutrition. This will then be used to support the children in planning and creating different recipes.
In Geography, we will be learning about Zambia and comparing it to the UK. Within the topic we will be exploring what it is like to live in Zambia and will be writing letters to another school in Zambia to learn more about it.
Our Art work will focus on textiles and printing. We will be taking inspiration from our Geography topic exploring textiles and prints from Zambia.
For Computing, the children will be exploring and learning about creating media and digital writing. In Music, each unit adapts an integrated approach where games, elements of music (pulse, rhythm, pitch etc.), singing and playing instruments are all linked.
In our Religion World Views, we continue to follow units within the Devon Agreed Syllabus. The units: ‘How should we care for others and for the world and why does it matter? And ‘Who is Jewish and how do they live?’ will be taught and explored. Within RSE (relationships and sex education) will be exploring health and wellbeing focusing on healthy eating. These topics will be taught through the Coram Life Education SCARF resources, who have a useful family page on their website if you would like to know more.
After the half term break, Class 1 will have WildTribe. Please can children bring in:
-Waterproofs to go over school uniform. If they don’t have waterproofs, please bring in a long sleeve top and trousers (not jeans).
– Wellie boots (in a carrier bag in case they get muddy)
– A coat (separate to normal coat if possible as they often get wet and or muddy).
You might also like to pack hat, scarf, gloves and perhaps spare socks in case theirs get wet but this is not a requirement.
Homework:
Homework will continue to be set each week. This will include:
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Maths challenges through DoodleMaths for both year 1 and 2, this will usually be linked to the work we have covered in our maths lessons that week. Sometimes, an additional task may be set if there is an area that your child may need additional support with or which we have been working on during the retrieval sessions. This will be set on a Friday.
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Learning spellings. These will be written into spelling journals each Monday based on the common exception words and will be specific to your child according to assessment. We may also include the spelling patterns that we are currently learning as well. The spelling journals are for practising spelling at home, however it is essential that they are bought back into school every Monday for new spellings. Some strategies that the children have been enjoying to help with their spellings are Rainbow Writing and Pyramid Writing. Although there will be no formal spelling check each week, we will look for evidence within their writing and during morning activities. I will, however, periodically carry out spelling checks to see how the children are progressing. We will continue to stick a copy of the assessment in their spelling journals; the highlighted words being the words the children spelled correctly.
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Reading five times a week with an initial from a parent in their reading records. Reading regularly provides children with the necessary phonics practise (Fred talk/ Sounding and blending). As they grow in confidence reading consistently helps the children develop their on-sight word reading, fluency, comprehension and stamina, which are all fundamental to supporting their progress across the curriculum.
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The Show and Tell box will go home on a Thursday and the children have a whole week in which to find the special objects that they would like to share with the rest of the class.
Children receive stickers and class points as a reward. Rewards may link to our Carey Qualities, it may be for fantastic work, or using super language. There are endless possibilities.
The children’s well-being is of paramount important to us and as a school we aim to create a happy, healthy environment for all. If you have any worries or questions, please do not hesitate in coming to see me. Please email the school office if you have any urgent concerns to ensure we receive it straight away.
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