Welcome back everyone to our last half term of the school year! 

This half term will be an exciting journey of discovery as we prepare your child for the next stage of their learning journey in Year 2. We kick off the first week back with the national Phonics Screening Check, where the children can showcase how much they have progressed in their reading. Then we will start our new English topic and support the children as much as possible to develop their independent writing skills. There will be lots of transition opportunities and the children will visit their new classroom and meet their new teacher. Finally, we end the term with an exciting school trip to Lytham St Annes to visit a historical pier and a Lifeboat station. 

Our new topic is all about The Seaside. Within this history and geography based unit, the children will explore similarities and differences between seaside resorts now and in the past. They will revisit previous  geography skills taught and continue to develop their map reading by searching for and researching seaside towns within the UK. There will be plenty of opportunity to practice their oracy skills and use key vocabulary to ask questions and describe seaside resorts.  

In English, we will share lots of books with the children, developing their literacy skills and preparing them for independent reading. Our key text is Billy's Bucket and the children will be writing a story retell, further developing their descriptive writing and grammatical skills. We will also explore lots of non-fiction (information books) to find out about seaside towns past and present. We will end the term by writing a recount about our exciting day at the beach!

In maths, the work in Year 1 is crucial for your children to develop number sense and support number fluency in later years. They will use lots of concrete resources and have lots of opportunity to explore using maths cubes, counters, beads, counting sticks, tens frames, number lines, Base 10 equipment, Numicon, and Reknreks.  This half term, they will be learning numbers 50-100 and further developing their understanding of place value within 2-digit numbers. We will also complete the measurement topics: Time and Money, where children will learn to recognise and count coins and learn to tell the time to the nearest hour and half past the hour. 

This half term, it is Year 1's turn to take part in forest school and cooking lessons. This is an exciting opportunity for them to begin learning some outdoor survival skills, as well as understand and respect nature. In cooking lessons, we will be teaching the children about food safety and hygiene and begin to develop basic skills in the kitchen. 

In terms of supporting your child at home, reading is a crucial part of your child's learning so please make sure that you read daily with them and ensure they learn their spellings and complete their maths homework. 

Year 1 have a P.E lesson on Monday afternoon, so please make sure your child has the correct PE kit and ensure all items are labelled with your child’s name.  

Please also make sure your child has a water bottle in school each day so they can stay hydrated! We have a water fountain in school where children have access fresh water. Water bottles are available for purchase from the school office. 

If you need to speak to us regarding any issues, our door is always open.

Thank you for your continued support.

Mrs Sargent, Mrs Burke & Mrs Owen

Homework

Spelling Homework - Your child's weekly spellings will be given out every Friday. Please support them to practice at home as much as possible. Spelling books to be returned to school by Thursday. Children will be tested (with the support they need) every Friday. 

Maths Homework - children have one piece of maths homework per week. The homework will cover the learning from the previous week. It is not intended to challenge them at this stage but to help them develop the habit of completing weekly homework and consolidate the learning they have completed in class. This is given out on Friday and to be returned to school by Wednesday.

Reading & Phonics- Please read with your child daily.  Phonics reading books need to be read 3 times before we will change them to help children increase their fluency.  Children may also choose a book from our class library to enjoy at home. 

PE

Our PE day is Monday Please have full PE kit - white top, black shorts and black pumps.