Class Teachers:
Miss Bond
Mrs Hill
Miss Dobson (Trainee teacher)
Mrs Farr (PPA cover)
Mrs Stevens (PPA cover)
Year 1 Term 2 - Poles Apart
Teaching Assistants:
Mrs Hargreaves
Mrs John
Mrs Southern
Wow! Activity – Designed to immerse pupils into
the theme of the topic
Thursday 3rd November - visit from ‘Polar Fun
Days”. We will be investigating how animals keep
warm in the arctic cold.
Intended Exit Activity – To conclude our topic
A certain celebrity from the North Pole will be
visiting us in the last week. So we had better be on
our best behaviour.
Specialist Teachers:
PE coaches
How we work
When working in the classroom we sometimes sit
with children who are working on the same star
challenges or in friendship groups.
Talk partners –someone we may work with when
we are on the carpet, these change weekly.
Growth Mindset – helps our brains to grow and
helps us to develop perseverance.
We differentiate work appropriately for your child.
Homework
5-10 minutes of shared reading daily.
15 minutes of Abacus online or focused Maths activity to be completed in homework books.
15 minutes of Spelling or Grammar activity.
Project homework
Choose from the following options:
Create a representation of an animals from Antarctica, Arctic or Africa
Pack your bag for an expedition and write a list of everything you have put in there and say why.
Write a diary entry as if you were an explorer
Project homework due in week commencing: Monday 5th December
Spelling/Phonics
We will be continuing to learn alternative
graphemes for phonemes we have learnt.
For example, “ow” for bow as an alternative to “oa”
This term we will be focusing on learning spellings
number names upto and including twenty.
Intended Trips, Visits, Visitors and Experiences
Polar Fun Day visit (5th November)
Christmas Production (13th and 14th December)
Class Christmas Parties (16th December)
NB: We will do our best to arrange these, but please be aware
they are intended activities and are subject to change.
Reading Records
Reading records should come into school every
day in your child’s book bag.
We will hear your child read twice a week and
record this.
Please record every time your child reads to you.
If your child completes 5 pages of their reading
record each term, they will receive a reward.
Helping at School
Parents and relatives are very welcome to help at
school, providing they have a DBS check for
suitability for working with young children. We
welcome support with reading and craft activities.
Additional notes
Your child’s PE kit should be in school every day, please. As it is getting colder please ensure there is a
fleece or tracksuit so they don’t get cold. Please could you ensure all of your child’s clothing is clearly
labelled with their name. Home reading books will be changed once a week.
Please see you child’s Teacher if you would like to discuss anything.
Key questions to be investigated
Where is the Arctic, Antarctica and
the Equator located?
How is the weather different?
Why is it different?
What can you find in each of the
places?
Children’s Own Questions
Why don’t polar bears live with
penguins?
Who lives in the Arctic?
Do people live in igloos?
What animals live in the snow?
Can penguins fly?
Website
The School website has
lots of useful information
for Parents and Carers.
Class pages are updated
termly.
How you can help at home
Support your child with completing their homework.
Read with your child daily and record this in their Reading Record. Sharing stories helps children become
better readers and writers themselves.
If you can do any follow up research, visits or have discussions with your child about their learning, that
would be much appreciated!
English
Saying our sentences before writing them.
Using finger spaces, capital letters and full stops when writing a simple sentence.
To begin to use a question mark at the end of a question.
Continuing to spell some common exception words (tricky words) correctly.
Begin to use letter names to distinguish between alternative spellings of the same sound.
Begin to form lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place
Maths
Understand and then make teen numbers.
Consolidate number bonds and facts for 5, 6 and
10.
Add and subtract one-digit numbers, including
zero.
Compare and measure lengths using uniform
non-standard and standard units
Geography/History
Identify the location of hot and cold areas of the
world in relation to the Equator and the North and
South Poles.
Name and locate the world’s seven continents
and five oceans.
Understand geographical similarities and
differences.
Music
Use their voices expressively and creatively .
RE
‘The Christmas Story”
Reflecting on the Christmas story and decide
which gifts would be meaningful to Jesus.
Science – Materials
Identify and name a variety of everyday materials.
Describe the simple physical properties of materials.
Identify suitability of materials for different objects.
Compare and group together a variety of materials.
Perform simple tests, such as sinking and floating.
Art
Begin to develop an understanding of colour and
colour mixing. To use these techniques when
producing art work.
IT and Computing
‘We are story tellers’
Begin to use technology purposefully to create,
organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital
content.
PE
Develop fundamental PE skills with the coaches.
Dance for Christmas production
Collective Worship
Our theme this term is “Forgiveness”.
We will be thinking about why we need forgiveness
and how we forgive and ask to be forgiven.