Dear Parents and Pupils,
Here we are in the third and final term of the school year! Mrs Evans, Miss Simpson and I have really noticed how grown up everyone is, physically, emotionally and academically! Somehow, everything starts to slot into place, the reading is more fluent, writing is detailed and number recognition comes more naturally! We still have the longest term to go, and I am sure that you will see even more dramatic progress in your own child.
Our current topic is Dinosaurs. In science, during the first half term, we will be focussing on living things; identifying and classifying dinosaurs and we will be using scientific language so expect to hear the words ‘herbivore, carnivore and omnivore’ banded about at home! We will extend our scientific enquiry the next half term through a study of mini beasts! In computing we will be creating fact files and in Geography we will be consolidating mapping skills and extend our knowledge of the UK, finding and locating places on a map where fossils can be found! In History we will have a look at Georgian life and find out about the life and work of Mary Anning. In D&T we will taste and bake biscuits, in Art we shall be drawing with charcoal and in Music we shall be singing and adding percussion to action songs. In RE we shall explore how we appreciate the natural world and find out what prayer means to Christians, and in PE we shall continue with football and cricket and, in the summer term, we shall have tennis lessons too! We will also start preparing for Sports Day (Tuesday 6th June at 2.30pm)! All very exciting I’m sure you will agree!!
Class One Assembly
A new date for your diary is Wednesday 14th June. We will hold our class assembly at 9.15am. All children who attend school on a Wednesday will take part. I look forward to seeing you all at our final assembly for the year.
Visit
We are also going out on a school visit to Hetland Hall Dino park on Thursday 25th May. All children in class 1, who normally attend school on Thursday, will be invited to attend. More details to follow shortly.
Reading and Writing skills
Mrs Evans’ phonics group are almost at the end of Book 5 and will soon move onto Book 6. My group have just finished book 7 and have started book 8. As you are aware once we finish a book, we send it home. Hopefully the children can go through the book to consolidate their phonic knowledge. Once we complete book 8, I will revise and consolidate tricky words and sounds, whilst extending the difficulty of words and associated tasks. This way the whole year group will be ready to start the Year 2 spelling programme with Mrs Sweetman in September.
Nursery children continue to learn new sounds and enjoy stories and rhymes each morning with Miss Simpson. It has been a joy to welcome, Parker and Violet into our Nursery. The Year One children will sit their Phonics Screening check in June. I will keep this as low key and fun as possible!
In literacy I am extending the Year Ones to write longer pieces of writing with accurate punctuation ( . , ! ?) and joining words (and, because, but, then, after). I expect the pupils to read through their own work and look for and amend errors! In Maths we will be tackling addition, subtraction division and multiplication, counting in 2s, 5s and 10s, problem solving and fractions! I am also focussing on reading and writing of numbers (words and digits) to 20 and beyond.
Expectations for the Reception children are once again raised in readiness for their final term. I will be focussing on sentence construction and neat and accurate letter formation. Ideally, I would like all Reception children to be able to write short captions and simple sentences, which contain capital letters and full stops by the end of the year. Reading underpins all other learning at this vital stage and so please continue with the good work of hearing your child read every night and sharing a love of books and stories!
In Maths we will be encouraging neat recording of simple addition and subtractions, number bonds to 10 and beyond, counting and recognising digits beyond 20!
I appreciate that this sounds intensive but, as I am sure you are aware, we do have lots of fun and hands on practical activities to facilitate this learning!
Communication
I am really looking forward to meeting up with you at the Summer Parents’ Evening, in July. You will have the opportunity to look at some of your child’s work and have a 10-minute confidential appointment with me. In the interim, Mrs Evans, Miss Simpson and I are always available for a chat at the start or the end of any day and we would urge you to come in and see us at your earliest convenience should you have any concerns, or questions about what is happening at school.
Thank you, as always, for your continued support as we work together for the very best outcomes for every child in my class.
Yours sincerely,
Lynn Harrison.
Headteacher
