Term 1

Welcome back to a new school year.

We hope you will find the following information useful for settling your child into his or her new class in Years 1 or 2.

 

Reading book / reading record book

Your child should take his or her reading book home every evening.  We would like your child to change his/ her reading book whenever you feel it is appropriate.  Reading boxes are stored outside Robins and Kingfishers classrooms. Higher level book boxes are stored in the library.

Your child will read regularly to an adult in school. In addition, reading is taught in class through guided reading groups and through shared reading and writing in Literacy lessons.

 

Homework books

Each week on a Wednesday your child will be set homework. The children will be given a task in their homework book to be completed and returned by the following Monday. Your child will also have a separate spelling book with suggested activities to help them practise and learn these ready for testing in school. It is important these books are kept at home throughout the week and not returned until Monday to ensure you have them available for regular practise.

 

P.E.

Please make sure that your child has his/her P.E. kit in school every day.  Please ensure that all clothing is clearly named in a named bag to be left on your child’s peg.  This term we will be doing both indoor and outdoor P.E.  Your child will need the following items:

 

School Items

Please can we remind you to clearly label and name all items children bring into school in permanent pen - this will ensure they are quickly returned to your child.

 

Water

Your child may bring a small, named, clear plastic bottle of still, unflavoured water to school each day.  All bottles do need to be taken home each day.

 

Parent Helpers

Teachers are always appreciative of any support parents can give to help in the classroom.  If you are interested please see your child’s teacher to arrange convenient times.  Please can we remind you that all parent helpers must have had a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.  If you are interested in helping, but haven’t had this done, please enquire at the office.

 

 

Term 1

Following a mysterious letter arriving from Captain Blacksocks, Robins' class set about learning how to become pirates. We designed Pirate flags and wrote captions to explain about the symbols we had used. After investigating materials and whether they could float or sink, Captain Blacksocks challenged our skills to design a boat that would carry a pirate and his treasure. The designs needed to be clearly labelled and show exactly which materials were to be used and how they would be joined. The boats were then tested. In literacy we have experienced an adventure in learning the story of 'The Night Pirates', exploring the characters' thoughts and feelings through role play and writing narratives. At the end of the term, during our Pirate Day, Captain Blacksocks awarded us with certificates to show we had indeed become pirates.

We designed and made boats hoping they would float and hold the pirate and his treasure...

We tested the boats...

We enjoyed 'Pirate Day', using mapping skills for treasure hunting, creating our own maps and doing some craft activities.

We enjoyed displaying and looking at the different power projects from our class.

Term 2

This term our topic is called, 'Let's Celebrate'. We have been learning about special times people remember or celebrate. These have included Bonfire Night, Remembrance Day, Diwali and Christmas. In Literacy, we have listened to poems with a pattern and written our own firework poems. We have learned about the story of Rama and Sita, acted in role as the characters, and retold the story. In Art, we have created firework prints using a variety of objects. We made our own diva lamps out of clay and printed patterns into them. We have used pastels and geometric shapes to create rangoli patterns. We have enjoyed learning about how Hindus celebrate Diwali.

We made and painted Diva lamps.

We enjoyed performing our EYFS and Key Stage 1 nativity, 'A King is Born'.

Term 3

This term our topic is called, 'Famous Faces'. In Literacy we will have a focus on the author Julia Donaldson. We will find out about some key historical people and events in our History learning. Two of our famous faces, from the past, might even pay us a visit to help us find out more! In Art we will look at colour, and find out about the artist Andy Warhol. 

Stick Man wanted to melt the ice round his tree house quickly. In Science we investigated what could be added to the ice to make it melt faster. We had to make it a fair test.

The 'Freshwater Theatre Company' came to school to do a drama workshop based on Florence Nightingale.

Here are some of our thoughts about what we learned:

"Florence was entertaining. She always had a smile on her face." Joshua

"Florence made the soldiers better." Harrison

"Florence pushed through anything. She never gave up." Caitlin

" I enjoyed pretending to go on the train and the boat." Darcie

"I enjoyed wrapping up the soldiers." Isabel

We enjoyed learning about primary and secondary colours. We found out about the work of Andy Warhol. We drew our own portraits and used these to paint in the style of Andy Warhol. We had to make colour choices and mix our own secondary colours.

Term 5