Term 5 & 6 Newsletter – Class 1

Under the Sea

Dear Class 1 Parents,

We hope you all had a lovely Easter holiday and are ready for all the exciting new learning the children will completing in the terms ahead.

Our theme for Terms 5 and 6 is ‘Under the Sea, Over the Waves’. These will be based around the seaside and Pirate themed activities. We will be going on a trip to the seaside. The children will visit the Blue Reef Aquarium in Hastings which links to our geography and science learning.

As our theme title suggests this term, we will be focusing our learning on things we find under the sea as well as the seaside itself. This theme will have a focus on geography and history learning.

English

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

The Rainbow Fish
Seaside Poems
Non-fiction Sharks
A Fish that Could Wish
Commotion in the Ocean
Sharing Shell
Pirate Pete …as well as many others!

The writing focus for Reception is to continue to use and apply their phonics to write simple sentences independently. They will also be encouraged to accurately spell some the tricky words they have been learning to read. In phonics, Reception will be introduced to reading and spelling CCVC and CVCC words (c=consonant; v=vowel) e.g. went, help. We will be learning to read and write our tricky words and there will be a strong emphasis on blending. Year 1’s writing focus will be to develop their independence when writing. They will also be encouraged to think about the structure of their writing and ways to make it more interesting by editing their work. The Year 1 children will be focusing on spelling compound words such as; playground, farmyard and contracted words such as; he’ll, she’ll.

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:

Computing

Reception children will be experimenting with programming a Bee-bot and learning how to give simple commands. Year 1 children will be using IPads to create a stop motion animation.

History

We will explore the history of the seaside by looking at how clothing for the beach has changed and the types of seaside entertainment people used to enjoy. The children will compare seaside now with how it looked in Victorian times.

Geography

We will be learning about coastal places that we visit and the features of what makes a coast using geographical vocabulary. We will also be finding out about different sea creatures and where they live in the world.

Reading

We would like to thank you for the support you have shown regarding 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. The children also have a daily story time.

Please continue to support your child with reading at home. The children will have a new phonic book sent home each Friday. This book is a Monster Phonic book. 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 during our guided reading session, and this 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. To avoid disappointment with delayed certificates, please be sure that your child’s reading record is in school.

PE

In term 5 on Tuesday, we will have Katie from Brightsparks Sports teaching Athletics and helping prepare the children for Sports Day. Miss Zara will be back in term 6 working on health and fitness. On Fridays Mrs Nobes will be teaching the children to hit a ball using a racket in preparation for playing tennis.

DT

In term 6 the children will be learning textiles to make their own finger puppet. The children will design, make and evaluate their finger puppet.

RE

We will be learning, which places are special and why? Places that are special to them and places that special to Christians and Muslims.

Science

We will be learning about the different materials. We will also be distinguishing between an object and the material. We will plan and observe experiments involving selecting materials for a purpose.

Art

The children will be learning plaiting, threading and knotting techniques. They will use these skills to create a sea themed woven piece of art.

Year 1 Homework

The year 1 children will have their homework books sent home each week with an English and maths task for the children to complete.

The reception children will have the next set of letters sent home to learn with words to learn that link to their phonics.

Uniform and Water Bottles

Now that the weather is warming up please ensure that on days when it is likely to be sunny you put sun cream on your child before they come to school. Also remember to send them to school with a named hat, jumper and water bottle.

Resources Needed

We would be extremely grateful for any donations of the following items:

Baby dolls/clothes/accessories.
Tea set or picnic set.
Cars.

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

sbooth@blackboys.e-sussex.sch.uk or jnobes@blackboys.e-sussex.sch.uk

Very Best Wishes, Mrs Booth, Mrs Nobes and Miss Butler.