We hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and a restful holiday. This term we have lots of exciting learning opportunities. Our theme is Food Glorious Food and I am sure the children will enjoy talking and sharing their experiences with you over the next few weeks.

Maths

We will start the term looking at shapes. The children will learn to name and relate the shapes to everyday objects. For example a cereal box is a cuboid. We will look at the properties of 2D and then 3D shapes. The children will explore pattern making with shapes and building to a design with 3D shapes. 

We will then move on to place value and addition and subtraction within 20.  We will practice adding by counting on. We will recap number bonds and this knowledge as a strategy a method for addition and subtraction. For subtraction, the children will start with by counting back, then move on to related facts and then comparing number sentences. For example 20-16=4  20-4=16  16+4=20 4+16=20. We will extend our knowledge of number by counting to 50 by making 10s. Then work on recognising numbers to 50, counting forwards and backwards within 50.  The children will use tens and ones apparatus and drawings to represent numbers to 50. By doing this they will understand the values of each number. We will order numbers up to 50. Count in 2’s 5’s and 10’s.

Key Words: count, more, less, subtract, add, few, fewer, greater, addition, number bonds, number line, triangle, circle, square, rectangle, hexagon, octagon, pentagon, cube, cuboid, sphere, cone, pyramids, triangular, square based, corners, sides.

English

The story ‘The Enormous Turnip’ will allow the children to rehearse retelling this well-loved tale.  They will make puppets and become confident in sharing the story with a partner and a group. Once very familiar, the children will adapt the setting to a forest, town or beach. They will then change the vegetable to a new fruit or vegetable to finally write their own ‘enormous’ story.

Our second focus will be to write a fact page about fruit or vegetables. The children will look of information books, spot features, write lists, practise descriptive sentences. They will produce their own page full of information that they have researched.

Each day we will read lots of wonderful food related books for pleasure and enjoyment and for the children to widen their exposure to quality texts.

If you would like to support your child’s writing at home. Maybe you could encourage your child to write lists of fruits and vegetables.  Perhaps writing a sentence to describe a particular fruit or vegetable.  If you go to the supermarket, see if they can name the different fruits and vegetables.

Each morning, the children will work in small groups on phonics. This is a combination of skills to support reading, writing and spelling. We use the Read Write Inc scheme and the children are becoming more and more familiar with 'Fred the frog talk' and green or red words. This learning is supported through reading at home. It is extremely beneficial to the children if they can read as often at home with you. We always love to hear the children read in school and see their improved progress.

Key words: verb, noun, adjective, non-chronological, research, capital letter, apostrophe, suffix, title, headings, sub-heading, fiction, non-fiction.

Science

As with last term, the children will continue to observe the seasonal changes.

Our key topic over the next six weeks is Animals including humans. Children will learn about six of the groups that scientists use to classify animals: mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians and insects. They will learn to identify the group an animal belongs to by its features and will classify animals according to their group. They will also learn about the different diets animals eat. We will then find out about the parts of the human body and have the opportunity to explore the five senses through a simple investigation. In the final lesson, children will use all their knowledge from this unit to classify animals according to their own criteria.

Key words: January, February, winter, spring, mammal, amphibian, sort, reptile, fish, bird, classify, habitat, diet, environment, temperature, science, scientist.

Computing

This term we will be using our computing skills to work on a 'Rocket to the Moon' project.  We will be building a rocket using junk modelling materials which we will then test out before launching it across the playground.  The children will use computers to help them with their designs: writing lists in a word processing program, using online drawing software (Sketchpad) to design and label a rocket, sequencing instructions and debugging them where needed and necessary before following the instructions and then using a spreadsheet to record data showing how far the rockets travelled.

Key words: annotate, cells, components, create, data, debug, designing, digital content, digital image, document, e-document, edit, editing program, evaluate, folder, input, instructions, log in, photo, program, order, robot, save, sequence, share, software, spreadsheet, table.

Art and Design

This term we will be exploring colour mixing through paint play, using a range of tools to paint on different surfaces and creating paintings inspired by Clarice Cliff and Jasper Johns.  We will learn about the primary colours and how these can be mixed to make secondary colours.  We will also look at patterns knowing that this in a design in which shapes, colours or lines are repeated.

Key words: Blend, hue, kaleidoscope, pattern, mix, primary colour, print, secondary colour, shade, shape, space, texture, thick.

Design & Technology

This term we will design, make and evaluate a fruit salad for us to eat at a teddy bear picnic.  The children will examine a range of fruit and vegetables, with opportunities to handle, smell and taste fruit and vegetables in order to describe them through talking and drawing.  They will evaluate existing products to determine what they like best, and have opportunities to investigate preferences of their intended users and suitability of the products for their purpose.  They will learn basic food hygiene practices and learn how to use simple utensils for food-processing skills such as washing, grating, peeling, slicing and squeezing.  The children will then design, make and evaluate their own products for the teddy bear picnic.

Key words: fruit, salad, vegetables, healthy eating, growing, food, farming, soft, juicy, crunchy, sweet, sticky, smooth, sharp, crisp, sour, hard, flesh, skin, seed, pip, core, slicing, peeling, cutting, squeezing, choosing, ingredients, planning, investigating, tasting, arranging, popular, design, evaluate, criteria.

Music

Using classical music as a stimulus, the children will use percussion instruments to represent the sounds that animals make.  The children will listen to Saint-Saëns – “Carnival of the Animals”. They will then be singing animals, creating a performance. There will be a focus on tempo and dynamics over these sessions. Ending with a performance to share and record.

Key words: fast, slow, quiet, dynamics, tempo, musical composition.

History

'How have toys changed?'

We will begin by looking at our own favourite toys, recalling our own past using language relating to time.  Moving onto investigating toys of the past, discovering whether our parents and grandparents played with the same toys as us.  Using and evaluating artefacts the children will discover what toys were like up to 100 years ago, comparing toys from two different time periods and identifying similarities and differences.  We will end the topic looking at how teddy bears have changed over time to identify that toys experience both continuity and change over time.

Key words: artefact, century, decade, different, evidence, living memory, memory, modern, now, past, present, remember, similar, source, special.

PE

Our PE days continue to be a Wednesday and a Friday, however we ask that you please ensure your child has their PE kit in school on a Monday and they will bring this home on a Friday for washing so that it is accessible throughout the week. 

During our indoor PE sessions we will be focusing on gymnastics, exploring this through animals.  Children will learn to travel safely in different ways, at different speeds and levels.  They bounce, hop, hopscotch, gallop, skip, tiptoe and run in different directions.  They learn to jump safely on the ground and onto the equipment.  They jump and roll into different shapes, and put contrasting movements together to make sequences that they remember, repeat and perform.  They think about exercise and consider each other's performances, evaluating and improving their work.

For our outdoor PE sessions our focus will be multi-skills: throwing and catching.  Through this the children will learn basic ball handling skills.  They will learn to control a ball when they are rolling and bouncing, throwing and catching, on their own, with a partner and in a group, progressing from simple rolling to underarm throwing and two handed catching.  They will also develop tracking and receiving skills, which are essential skills for playing ball games.  They will experience simple team games, following rules, competing and supporting each other to win.

Key words: gymnastics, direction, speed, jump, roll, sequence, travel, bounce, hop, hopscotch, gallop, skip, tiptoe, run, evaluate, perform, repeat, throw, catch, bounce, roll, underarm throw, tracking, receiving.

RE

We will be finding out about Judaism. The children will learn about the Jewish faith and how Jewish people live. Starting with symbols and places of worship. We will also look at important festivals and holy days such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Key words: Judaism, Jew, Jewish, Shabbat, Synagogue, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Torah, faith, religion, belief.

PSHE

The topic will be Health and Well-being. The lessons covered over the next few week should be very beneficial to the children in understanding their own emotions as well as looking at ways they can stay healthy and be aware of how to do this. Firstly they will find out about and discuss their own strengths and qualities and set themselves small achievable goals. Great for New Year resolutions. Later they will look at the physical benefits of sleep, ways to get to sleep. We will look at relaxation and strategies to calm down. The children are quite aware already but we will be looking at germs and how to stop them spreading.  Finally, we will look at sun safety, allergies and people who help us to stay healthy.

Key words: qualities, proud, kind, caring, honest, brave, helpful, benefit, healthy, sleep, deprive, relax, calm, germ, healthy, allergy, dehydrate, sun stroke.  

Seesaw

I will continue to share our learning journey on Seesaw. I hope that you have enjoyed seeing what we do. I appreciate your feedback and comments and especially your support with the children’s learning at home. If there are any other ways that we can help, please let me know what would be useful.

Behaviour

In our class we use lots of verbal praise and find this is the most powerful, recognising when children have made good choices in behaviour and explain why it was good. Effort and 'having a go' is highly praised and an understanding between all of us to act as role models and 'do the right thing' to share and be kind to one another to be a great team together. At the same time recognising that we all can make mistakes sometimes and that we are all learning. 

After their day at school, you may like to ask:

'What was the best thing about today?' Use Seesaw as a way to start conversations about their learning from that day. Feel free to shower them with praise when they get home, they will have worked really hard.

Useful Websites

https://youtu.be/s6OiU2h3sUI This is a video of all the sounds and how to pronounce them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/topics/zf44jxs/videos/1

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/Early-Years.html

http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex.htm

www.oxfordowl.co.uk

http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents/

Key Dates

Monday 13th - Friday 17th February - Half term.

We are sure the children will have a great term and we look forward to working closely with you to ensure your child has the best opportunities and that they enjoy all that we offer in Year 1.