Term 3 & 4 Newsletter – Class 1

Dear Class 1 Parents,

Welcome back! We hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas Holiday and would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a splendid 2026!

Our topic for Terms 3 and 4 is ‘Let It Snow; Let It Grow’. In Term 3, we will be focusing our learning on Winter and the Polar Regions and in term 4 with will looking into living things and growing. A copy of the Medium term plan is available at below.

Finally, if you ever have any queries or questions please do not hesitate to email us:

Very Best Wishes,  

Mrs Booth and Mrs Nobes and the Class 1 Team

sbooth@blackboys.e-sussex.sch.uk

jnobes@blackboys.e-sussex.sch.uk

Literacy

Children will continue to have opportunities to develop their vocabulary through new and exciting themed role-plays, as well as a variety of speaking and listening activities. We will focus on a number of different fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts to base our literacy work on, including:

Lost and Found

Emperor’s Egg

Little Penguin

Polar Animals

100 Things you should know about Penguins

Penguins

Rainbow bear (Michael Morpurgo)               

Jack and The Beanstalk

Seeds

Eddie’s Garden

…as well as many others!

Our writing focus for Reception is to gain confidence and to use their phonics to write simple words and sentences independently. In phonics, Reception children will be revisiting the single letter sounds and will be learning diagraphs. Year 1’s writing focus will be on developing their understanding and use of adjectives to improve description. They will also be encouraged to continue applying their growing phonic knowledge to further support their spelling. There will be a focus for both year groups on writing sentences with the correct capital letter and full stop.  The children will need to use finger spaces so separate words can be seen. 

Mathematics

Through the use of practical maths sessions, in which we will promote the use of a wide range of concrete apparatus, the children will be covering the following objectives:

Numbots: Your child has a log-in for this online Maths website. Please encourage them to use this as regularly as possible at home to help develop their maths skills. This was very popular last term and the children loved receiving certificates for points earned! Please let us know if you would like another copy of your child’s log in details. We are having a Numbots Day on Friday 23rd January where the children will be able to dress up as robots for the day. We’ll be doing lots of Numbots activities.

Computing

In computing the reception children will be listening to a variety of stories to explore the issues of online safety. The Year 1 children will be learning about how to use technology to represent data.

History

The children will be learning about the explorer Ernest Shackleton. We will be using role-play, hot seating, drama, speaking and listening activities to learn about the expedition.

Forest School

In Class 1 this year we are extremely privileged to have Forest School sessions for your child every other week on a Monday afternoon. These will be run by a qualified forest school leader and former Blackboys’ parent; Mrs Lydia Godfrey. She is very skilled in this area and has been delivering Forest School lessons for us for a number of years now. She will be assisted by Mrs Harper.

For Forest School your child will need the following items. Please ensure that your child brings the following items into school on the week your child is attending Forest School.

Wellington boots

Long sleeved top

Trousers (not jeans)

Waterproof coat

Waterproof trousers (if possible)

Please be aware that the children will go out whatever the weather and are likely to get wet and muddy so do not send them with their best clothes.

Water Bottles

Staying hydrated is very important for learning. The body needs a considerable amount of water each day to function effectively. Therefore we encourage the children to drink water at regular intervals. To aid us with this please send a named bottle of water for your child to drink in class. Children are able to drink from the water fountain but having a water bottle in the classroom is a lot easier.

Reading

As was stressed in September, in Class 1 we are passionate about reading! Firstly, we would like to thank you for the support you have shown with regard your child’s reading. We do appreciate how busy life can be and know that it can sometimes be a struggle to fit everything in. In school, we will be continuing to read daily with the children. On some days this will be 1:1, on other days group or choral reading, but every day your child will be involved in hearing several shared stories.

Please continue to support your child with reading at home. The children will have a new phonic book sent home each Friday. These are the books your child reads to you. Please remember that the idea of this is that the books should be read and re-read. Whilst reading the same book over again can be ‘challenging’ for us as parents, this repetition is very important for early readers as it helps them to gain confidence; familiarity; build their vocabularies; develop an understanding of rhythm and pattern; as well as for developing comprehension skills. The larger ‘real book’ changed on a Monday is the book you can share together. The reading record is for you to use at home but please ensure that it is kept in your child’s book bag. In the reading record please write one comment for each day that you read. When 6 pages of the white book have been completed then a reading certificate will be given to your child during our weekly Friday assembly. We will also be checking reading records for these certificates on Wednesday so in order to avoid disappointment with delayed certificates please be sure that your child’s reading record is in school Thank you for your continued support with reading.

PE

We have two PE sessions a week. These take place on a Tuesday and Friday. Please ensure your child has their full PE kit (fully named) in school for each session. At Blackboys School we are extremely lucky that the Tuesday mornings P.E. session is led by gym and dance specialist teacher, Zara Breeze, who will be teaching Dance and Gymnastics. This session will take place in the hall.  Whenever possible the Friday session will take place outside so please feel free to also include jogging bottoms and a sweatshirt for this session to help keep them warm. Please ensure your child’s PE kit is clearly labelled and named.

DT

In term 3 DT will be learning about mechanisms. The children will be designing, making and evaluating a winter themed moving picture using a slider.

RE

In R.E. we will be thinking about why we are special and where do we belong. We will also be learning about Chinese New Year and the story The Great Race.

Science

The children will be learning about what makes Winter wintery; the similarities and differences between seasons with a particular focus on weather; where, how and why some areas of the world are very hot and others extremely cold; comparing ‘who’ and ‘what’ can survive in these cold regions; as well as taking part in experiments involving melting and freezing ice. The children will also be learning about the continents and oceans of the world.

During term 4 the children will be learning about plants in science. They will be looking at identifying garden and wild plants and what plants need to grow. We will also label parts of a flowering plant and a tree.  

Art

In term 4 reception children will be making patterns using petals, leaves and grass before making a spring mandala sun catcher.  Year 1 children will be learning how to shape clay before making a clay pinch pot and tile.

Geography

The children will be learning about the Polar Regions and locate them on maps as well as climates in places around the world.

Parent Helpers

If you (or a Grandparent) can spare any time to share any experiences you have related to our topics we would love to hear from you.