Welcome back to the start of an exciting new year. We are writing to share some information about life in Year 1.
Our two classes are Wrens with Miss Hedgecock and Robins with Mrs Ellis. Our teaching assistants are Mrs Fryer (Wrens) and Mrs Cornwall (Robins).
We will be building on the Early Years ethos with children leading their learning through the use of a
‘choice board’ in the afternoons linked to all the areas of learning for the children to choose from.
Curriculum
We are so excited to start our year with our BIG question, ‘Who Should Look After Our World?’ We begin the term thinking firstly about who Christians believe created the world. We will discuss the story of creation and link this closely to the Harvest festival. This will support our children’s understanding of the concepts and skills of RE. Texts we will be using this term include ‘10 Things I Can Do To Help My World’ by Melanie Walsh and ‘Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish’ by Michael Foreman. Through these texts we will be developing reading and writing skills and thinking about simple changes to help make our world cleaner and healthier. After this we will look at recycling and the impact our waste has on the world. Finally we will look at how the weather can be used to create sustainable energy through the use of wind turbines and solar panels. Our driver subjects for this term are DT and Science. An overview of the curriculum can be found on the website.
Forest School
We are hoping to start Forest School sessions soon with half of Wrens. You will receive more information about this at a later date.
Homework and Reading at home
This term, we will be changing reading books on a Monday. We ask that the children bring the books they have read in on this day with their reading record for us to see how they have been doing over the past week. We will then send home 2-3 new books for the week ahead. Please remember how important reading at home is. We recommend the equivalent of 10 minutes a day but this could be phonics games and activities that are based on reading skills. Please fill in their Reading Record each time you read at home, filling in the title and page numbers. If you would like to write a brief comment about how your child got on that is always helpful. The children will again be taking part in the reading challenge where they will be earning certificates for reading 20, 50, 100 times and beyond and these will be awarded to the children at school.
Whilst we are getting used to new routines, the children will be asked to just concentrate on their reading at home. Further details about additional homework will follow later in the term.
PE
This term, we will be teaching PE in Year 1 on Mondays and Thursdays. Please can children come into school wearing their PE kits on these days. If there is any reason why your child cannot participate in a PE session, please let the class teacher know via the year group email address. PE is only cancelled in the event of heavy rain, icy or extremely cold conditions. Therefore, a pair of jogging bottoms and a sweatshirt (ideally navy) are useful. If your child does not have an alternative sweatshirt, they will have the option of wearing their school one. Children with pierced ears must be able to remove their own earrings or cover these with tape provided from home. Long hair should also be tied back.
Water bottles and Snacks
Please remember to bring in a named water bottle every day. Children will be provided with fruit snack for playtimes however if they would like to bring in an additional healthy snack for break time they can (e.g. fresh fruit, dry crackers or breadsticks, a bagel, raisins). Please ensure any snacks are nut free.
Uniform
Please ensure your child has a waterproof coat in school every day as children will only stay inside at playtimes if it is raining heavily. All clothing, including PE kit, should be clearly labelled with your child’s name. In addition to this your child only needs their water bottle and Bookbag. We are trying to reduce the cross contamination of things travelling from home to school and back again so we ask please can backpacks be left at home wherever possible.
We are really looking forward to a great Autumn term. If at any point you need to speak to either of us about any queries or concerns, please contact us through the year group email: year1@stwilfrids-hh.school and we will reply or respond by phone as soon as we can.
Best Wishes
Miss L Hedgecock and Mrs C Ellis
