Term 3 & 4 Newsletter – Class 1

Our Village
Journeys

Dear Class 1 Parents,

Welcome back! We hope you have all had a lovely break and that you are now ready for all the exciting learning that will take place in terms 3 and 4.

Our themes are ‘Blackboys our Village’ and ‘Journeys ’. In Term 3, we will be focusing our learning on our local environment Blackboys Village. We will be learning about where we live by looking at maps, historic photographs and taking part in fieldwork around the local area. We will be focusing on key geographical vocabulary of human and physical features in the local area such as; village, town, city, sea, hills.  The children will also have the opportunity to learn about the history of the first aeroplane and the journeys they made over time.

if you ever have any queries or questions please do not hesitate to email us:

sbooth@blackboys.e-sussex.sch.uk

jnobes@blackboys.e-sussex.sch.uk

Very Best Wishes,

Mrs Booth, Mrs Nobes and the Class 1 team

English

The children will continue to have opportunities to develop their vocabulary through new and exciting themed role-plays, as well as a variety of speaking and listening activities. We will focus on a number of different fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts to base our literacy work on, including:

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Stanley Stick

Owl Babies      

Non-fiction Foxes

Non-Fiction Hedgehogs

Non-Fiction Owls

The Naughty Bus

…as well as many others!

Our writing focus for Reception is to gain confidence to use their phonics to write simple words and sentences independently. In phonics, Reception will be revisiting the single letter sounds and learning diagraphs. Year 1’s writing focus will be on developing their understanding and use of adjectives to improve description. They will also be encouraged to continue applying their growing phonic knowledge to further support their spelling. There will be a focus for both year groups on writing sentences with the correct capital letter and full stop. The children will need to use finger spaces so separate words can be easily read by others. 

Mathematics

Through the use of practical maths sessions, in which we will promote the use of a wide range of concrete apparatus, the children will be covering the following objectives:

Your child has a login for Numbots. Please encourage them to use this as regularly as possible at home to help develop their maths skills. This was very popular last year and the children loved receiving certificates for points earned!

Computing

In computing Year 1 children will be using a variety of software packages to explore how digital content can be recorded. Reception children will be listening to and discussing stories related to online safety.  

Geography

In Geography we will be looking at maps of our local area to support our field work and drawing our own maps. The children will look at aerial views of the local area to help them understand the human and physical features in the environment. We will be using geographical vocabulary when drawing our maps.

RE

In RE, we will be thinking about what makes us special and where we belong. We will be learning about what makes many Christians believe they are special to God.

Forest School

Forest school will continue run on a Monday afternoon. The children will attend fortnightly, please see the new rota for details of the dates for your child to attend.

For Forest School your child will need the following items.

Wellington boots

Long sleeved top

Trousers (not jeans)

Waterproof coat

Waterproof trousers (if possible)

Please be aware that the children will go out whatever the weather and are likely to get wet and muddy so do not send them with their best clothes.

Reading

As was stressed in September, in Class 1 we are passionate about reading! Firstly, we would like to thank you for the support you have shown with regards to your child’s reading. We do appreciate how busy life can be and know that it can sometimes be a struggle to fit everything in. In school, we will be continuing to read daily with the children. On some days this will be 1:1, on other days it will be guided reading or choral reading, but every day your child will be involved in hearing several shared stories.

Please continue to support your child with reading at home. The children will have a new phonic book sent home each Friday. This book will be a Monster Phonic book that the children have experienced during our guided reading sessions. These are the books your child reads to you. Please remember that the idea of this is that the book should be read and re-read. Whilst reading the same book over again can be ‘challenging’ for us as parents, this repetition is very important for early readers as it helps them to gain confidence; familiarity; build their vocabularies; develop an understanding of rhythm and pattern; as well as for developing comprehension skills. The larger ‘real book’ changed on a Monday is the book you can share together. 

The reading record is for you to use at home but please ensure that it is kept in your child’s book bag. In the reading record please write one comment for each day that you read. When 6 pages of the white book have been completed then a reading certificate will be given to your child during our weekly Friday assembly. We will also be checking reading records for these certificates on Friday so in order to avoid disappointment with delayed certificates please be sure that your child’s reading record is in school.

In the next couple of weeks Reception children will be receiving the next set of letter sounds and high frequency words to learn.

Science

In Science we will be learning about plants by naming the parts of a plant and growing plants from seeds. The children will also look at seasonal change by exploring the season of winter and spring.

History

In History we will be learning about Blackboys Village a local history topic. We will be finding out about how Blackboys got its name and how the village has changed over time. To support this learning, we will be completing field work around the local area. In term 4 the children will learn about how vehicles have changed over time e.g. trains, cars and aeroplanes and start to look at timelines.

Art

In Art Year 1 children will be continuing to develop their understanding of primary and secondary colours and will be exploring colour mixing and creating texture. Reception children will be using play dough and clay to create a nocturnal animal linked to our theme for this term.    

Design & Technology

In term 4 we will be doing DT. We will be learning about Winding mechanisms. We will be assembling, joining and combining materials in order to make a vehicle with moving wheels.

PE

We have two PE sessions a week. These take place on a Tuesday and Friday. Please ensure your child has their full PE kit (fully named) in school for each session.

Homework

The children will continue to be given a weekly maths and spelling and grammar sheet to complete. Homework books will be given out on a Friday and need to be handed in on a Thursday morning.

Wanted

As we now have our fantastic woodwork area outside. We are in need of wood for children to use and explore. Could this please be soft woods and in manageable size pieces. If you have any spare wood that you could kindly donate during the year we would really appreciate it.