Curriculum Newsletter
Class 1
January - March 2016
What are we doing in our class this half term?
What does freedom mean to someone?
English
This half term, the children will continue to read both fiction and non-fiction and learn to
differentiate their features and uses. The children will write non-fiction reports and fact pages
about Sir Francis Drake and themes that link across the curriculum.
Later in the term, we will continue our story writing work, with a focus on rehearsing and
planning fantasy stories, using the class text “Where the Wild Things Are”.
We will continue to work on correctly punctuated sentences using capital letters and full stops,
as well as adding joining words and adjectives to make our sentences more interesting.
The children will continue to develop their Phase 5 phonic knowledge, in which they are learning
alternative spellings of sounds and applying these to their reading and increasingly to their writing.
Maths
The children’s addition and subtraction skills will be further developed using various calculation
strategies to solve problems. We will continue to develop mental mathematics skills, with a focus on
number bonds to 20 and we will continue to practise our maths targets – please also support this with
regular practice at home. The children will continue to build upon their knowledge of place value to
support strategies for mental addition and subtraction.
We will also begin to learn to tell the time, starting with to the hour and half past the hour; recognise and
use language relating to dates, including days of the week, weeks, months and years and begin to
compare, describe and solve practical problems for time, for example, quicker, slower, earlier and later.
Discussing time in these ways at home would really support the children with this topic.
Enriched Curriculum
This half term, the whole school focus question is ‘What does freedom mean to someone?’
Class One will study Sir Francis Drake and his circumnavigation of the world and will
consider what freedom meant to explorers in Tudor times vs now as well as what it meant to
the indigenous people in the countries Drake visited. In geography, we will study weather
patterns and begin to develop a geographical understanding of the environment, e.g. the
difference between human and physical features. In science, we will study everyday materials and their
properties. Our class PSHE theme for this half term is ‘Identity, society and equality: Me and others’; children
will learn about what makes themselves and others special, roles and responsibilities at home and school and
about being co-operative with others.
The Captain’s Cabin and Treasure Island in our role play areas will allow the children to take on the role of
captains, explorers and pirates. They will have the opportunity to write a message in a bottle, create a
treasure map, write an entry in the ship’s log and make binoculars. We need lots of kitchen roll tubes (no
toilet rolls, thank you) for these projects and we always need small boxes and tubes for our workshop
- please send us your recycled materials.
Religious Education
In our weekly RE lessons this half term, taught by Mr Brotherton, the children will
learn about what it means to belong to a church or mosque. They will consider
similarities and differences between places of worship and understand that not all
churches and mosques are the same as each other.
Computing
We will continue to focus on basic computer skills, teaching the children to navigate around the
computer as well as opening and closing computer files and using technology safely and
respectfully. Safer Internet Day will take place on 30th January.
Art
The children will be using collage to create pirate pictures and pastels to draw portraits. If you haven’t done
so already, please can you send an art shirt into school for our messy projects, thank you!
French
Class One will enjoy informal sessions of French, learning songs and rhymes to introduce them to
some basic vocabulary.
Physical Education
P.E will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays; on these days, please make sure that your child is
wearing school uniform that they are able to change in and out of
independently. Please also ensure your child has some socks in their PE bag
and that their kit is in school all week. P.E this half term will focus on the
gymnastic skills of moving with control and balance.
Homework
Reading
Reading books will be sent home on Tuesdays and Fridays. We use a variety of reading schemes
and children will bring home a selection of fiction and non-fiction. Please return the book to school
the following morning, as we use the books in class. Please assist your child and talk to them
about what they have read; the Big Cat books have some great ideas on the back cover for
exploring the texts in greater depth. We have a reading wall in the classroom for the children to
display any work they have completed at home relating to their reading books.
We would appreciate a comment/signature in your child’s reading record to let us know how they have got on
at home. Children may have already read their book in school but please do ask them to read it again. Each
time they re-read, their fluency, comprehension and expression will improve. We aim to hear each child read
at least once per week.
We also recommend that parents read to their child every day – this could be a story, comic, fact book or
whatever interests your child.
Weekly Homework
Homework will be sent out twice weekly – on a Monday, a maths activity will sent to be returned on Thursday.
English or topic homework will be sent on Thursdays, to be returned the following Monday. The children will
bring home tasks related to the work they have been doing in class, to give them chance to practise the skills
they have learnt in the week.
Thanks
Please make sure that your child brings a named water bottle into school every day and ensure that every item
of your child’s school clothing is labelled with their name.
If someone else will be picking your child up from school, please let us know by either speaking to the class
teacher or leaving a message at the school office.
Small boxes and packaging are always gratefully received for our workshop area!
Many thanks for your support. As always, if you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to
speak to me at drop off or pick up or contact the school office to arrange a meeting if this is more convenient.
Mrs Meadows and Miss Ewen
Dates for your diary
Thursday 12th January
Monday 30th January
Friday 10th February
After School Film Night
Safer Internet Day
End of half term