Welcome to Class 1

Taught by Mrs Crowther with Teaching Assistants Mrs Broadhurst and Mrs Brooke

Autumn Term 2018

Welcome to Class 1! This is a mixed Reception and Year 1 class and we have fun everyday exploring and learning new things.

Since October Half Term we have been learning about Florence Nightingale in History and the Year 1’s have written a fantastic report on her life, that is now oup on display. Reception have been learning all about nurses and what they do and have been looking after the poorly toy babies and teddies really well.

Children in Need

Class 1 really enjoyed Children in Need day on 16th November. They really enjoyed coming to school in their pyjamas and with ‘bed hair’. They all looked fantastic! They also enjoyed the ‘Bake Off’ competition where the children brought in decorated cupcakes, with the best ones winning a prize.

Mr Skippy

On Tuesday 6th November Mr Skippy came into the school. The Year 1’s from Class 1 joined Class 2 and they had a fantastic time learning new skipping techniques. Reception went later on in the day and they had great fun with Mr Skippy. Every single one of them could skip by the end of the session and they didn’t stop laughing. Thank you Mr Skippy!

In History we have looked at “The Great Fire of London”. The children have enjoyed finding out facts and in English they have written some fabulous adventure stories and Newspaper Reports.

Both Year 1 and Reception children have enjoyed exploring different everyday materials in Science looking at their different properties and undertaking an experiment to discover which materials would be waterproof to make Winnie-the-Pooh a new umbrella.

Class 1 working together to find out which materials were waterproof.

In Maths we started the term looking at Place Value and explored grouping and sorting objects according to different criteria. We were then able to apply this in Science to sort and group everyday materials.

Sorting and grouping in Maths.

Sorting materials.

Reception are focusing on recognising their numbers, as well as ordering them from smallest to largest and counting accurately. Whereas Year 1’s have moved onto addition and have even solved some addition problems. We have really focused on using different concrete resources, which the children will confidently access themselves. We are now looking at subtraction and the children are looking forward to some new problems to solve.

Writing numbers with counters.

Counting the spots on the Ladybirds and ordering in sequence.

Counting spots on Ladybirds.

On Wednesday 10th October the Year 1’s in both Class 1 and 2 went on a trip to Ripon Cathedral as part of their RE topic Religious Buildings. The children absolutely loved the visit and came back full of information about what they had learnt, including what a Crypt is and what it was/is used for and watching a doll being baptised so they could understand why Christians believe it to be an important ceremony.

Looking round Ripon Cathedral.

Learning about the key features of a Cathedral.

Year 1’s and 2’s at Ripon Cathedral.

Learning about religious buildings at Ripon Cathedral.

The whole class has been enjoying preparing for Harvest Festival and are really looking forward to the walk to All Hallow’s Church. The Year 1’s from Class 1 have enjoyed going into Class 2 to work with their friends to create their piece for the festival, whilst Reception have been throwing themselves enthusiastically into learning their song for the festival. As part of our preparation for Harvest Festival. We have been learning about growing plants and what Harvest means. The children have been weeding the planters in our garden area as well as planting bushes and some vegetables. They have also used oil pastels to do some drawings of some vegetables.

Weeding the flower beds.

Playing in the Garden Centre Role-play

Playing in the Garden Centre Role-play

Home Learning – Reception

If your child achieves a task at home, please let us know, you can simply note it down on a post it and send it in with them and we will include it in their Learning Journey’s. Over the years we have had all sorts including:

• Riding a bike with no stabilisers for the first time
• Helping a parent/adult with a job around the house
• Being really polite at a wedding/christening/party
• Climbing up the stairs one foot to one step at a time
• Building a model
• Cooking/baking
• Gardening
• Drawings/work done at home

We believe that continuing your learning at home is extremely important. In Class 1, we strongly suggest little and often. Once the children have received their reading books, we encourage them to read to an adult four times a week, even if it’s just for 5 minutes – it doesn’t need to be the whole book.

The children also have a maths target, which are called SMIRFs (Space Mission Instant Recall Facts) and the children will need to practise these throughout the week, we will then check them on a Friday and if they know them we move them onto a new target. The children love being turned into little astronauts and are keen to move up the planets already! We have been doing SMIRFs for several years now and we have found they have helped to improve children’s knowledge and that it has in turn helped their arithmetic and speed in answering questions.

We thank you for your continued support! If you have any questions, please contact us.

Phonics

Articulation of the 44 phonemes is really important as the correct pronunciation enables your child to blend sounds together more easily. Click the link to hear the pronunciation of the sounds:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqhXUW_v-1s&feature=youtu.be
• Phonics Play – https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/
• BBC bitesize – http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/phonics/play/
• Family Learning – http://www.familylearning.org.uk/phonics_games.html
• CBeebies on tablets is also very good.

Class 1 Gallery

Click on a photo to see the full size image.