Welcome back to the summer term Class 1! We hope you all had a lovely Easter holiday, and we are looking forward to a fantastic term ahead. 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 what is ‘Under the Sea.’ Children will learn about different sea creatures and explore what they might find at the seaside.
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. This term the children will also take part in Wild Tribe on Tuesday afternoons. 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 continue using ‘doodle learning’ 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 the children’s home learning. Each week via Class Dojo we will share what have been doing in Class. We will also use Class Dojo to share additional class messages.
Please do look at the weekly newsletter where there are school updates and useful dates.
Again, if you have any worries or questions, please do not hesitate in contacting us.
Many thanks for your support with your child’s learning,
Mrs Matthews (Class teacher), Mrs Cawsey (Class teacher) Mrs Elkins (Teaching Assistant)
Numberblocks
In class we use Numberblocks’ related activities and games to support you with number concepts and deepen your understanding of number.
Please click on the link for more information about the Early learning goals: Early Learning Goals – website
We are village schools set in the beautiful Devonshire countryside. We are aspirational for our children and believe that to have a fulfilling education, we must nurture children's well-being and happiness.
Halwill Ofsted URN: 113151
"I am sure Halwill’s values will be remembered by my children and many others too! They are often spoken about within my family, don’t just settle with what is easy, aim high – try and be the best “you”. When things are challenging – we say be resilient, keep trying. But most importantly, take care – show love and respect, be kind and considerate to each other."
- Angela, Halwill parent
©2021 The Carey Federation
