Foxes Class

1. Foxes Class Mrs O’Leary – Monday & Tuesday Mrs Tucker – Wednesday am, all day Thursday & Friday Mr Arnold – Swimming Wednesday pm Mrs Hughes – All week except Wednesday pm.

2. Daily Timetable

3. Class Structure • This has changed slightly this year and we are adopting a more free, flow unstructured approach for the children during the Autumn term with a gradual progression towards more formal learning in the spring and summer terms. • Morning teaching will be kept more formal. • Maths will be taught in the mornings with year 1 and year 2 split due to the demands of the curriculum. • Literacy will be taught in mixed year groups but some children will be taught in smaller groups dependant on needs. • Afternoons will be time to learn topic/science. This will also be a chance for the children to have free flow learning opportunities.

4. Class Structure Learning structure: • KS1 children are young! They are not expected to sit still for long periods of time. • Teaching is kept interactive, pacy and engaging. • Whole class carpet teaching is also kept to a minimum and is interactive. • Children are built up gradually towards writing and working independently for longer periods. • They will be expected to work quietly sometimes. Different learning styles mean some children need quiet to work effectively and some children need to keep active.

5. Morning Routine • PE bags and large rucksacks in lockers. (Please avoid bringing in large rucksacks as children struggle to get them in and out of lockers quickly and effectively) Please have a book bag that can be hung on a peg and accessed easily • Coats and book bags on coat pegs. • Drinks in classroom • Children will have different activities to do each morning so it important that they settle quickly. • Please drop your children on the playground to encourage independence. • Please encourage children to put money/letters etc. into the Foxes post box independently. • Please only come into the classroom if you have an urgent message for the class teacher.

6. Maths • We will be following a new scheme called Power Maths. • Year 1 children will have lots of hands on practical maths learning with progression towards writing down more formal methods. • Year 2 children will be developing their written, formal methods, moving away from using resources and concentrating on the written number.

7. Mental Maths Tests Number Bonds and Times Tables Tests – Children will be tested on these every Tuesday and it is vital for their maths fluency skills and calculations that they progress in this area as soon as possible. There is a Maths Target Mountain on the wall in the classroom and the aim is for the children to climb to the top and ski back down. The children will be sent home slips that will tell you what your child will be tested on the following week. The children will also have a mental maths book with their completed tests in. Please take time to look at your child’s test sheet that they bring home and help them work through any incorrect answers. For year 1’s please encourage your child to count in 10’s, 5’s and 2’s as much as possible; climbing stairs, lampposts in the street etc, but also help them to recognise the written form of times tables such 1 x 10 = 10, 2 x 10 = 20 etc.

8. Topic/EnglishOur topic for this term is Africa! • ‘Talk for Writing’ approach. – Immerse, Imitate, Innovate, Invent! • This term our first story will be Handa’s Surprise • They will be learning how to structure a story using TFW and begin to change some parts of the story. • Punctuation and Grammar is a key aspect of the curriculum, so the children will be learning lots of new terminology and how to use it correctly in their writing. .

10. Swimming • Children will be going swimming at Blackbrook on a Wednesday afternoon. We will be leaving by minibus at 1.30pm prompt and returning at 3.pm. • Parent helpers and minibus drivers needed please  Please sign up on the relevant sheet. • All children will still need a swimming cap to swim. No cap, no swim! • Verrucaswill need to be covered with a sock. No sock, no swim!

11. PE • Children will have PE 10.50 – 11.50 on a Monday and a Thursday. • In a change from last year, the children will get changed for PE at school. • Please label the children’s PE Kits and have them in school every day. • Swimming on a Wednesday.

12. Phonics – Every morning 9.05 – 9.30am • Year 1 children will be with Mrs Oleary/Mrs Tucker learning phase 5 phonics • Children learn new graphemes (different ways of spelling each sound) and alternative pronunciations for these: for example, learning that the grapheme ‘ow’ makes a different sound in ‘snow’ and ‘cow’.  • They should become quicker at blending, and start to do it silently. • They’ll start to choose the right graphemes when spelling, and will learn more tricky words, including ‘people,’ ‘water’ and ‘friend’. They also learn one new phoneme: /zh/, as in ‘treasure.’ • By the end of Year 1, children should be able to: • Say the sound for any grapheme they are shown • Write the common graphemes for any given sound (e.g. ‘e,’ ‘ee,’ ‘ie,’ ‘ea’) • Use their phonics knowledge to read and spell unfamiliar words of up to three syllables. • Read all of the 100 high frequency words, and be able to spell most of them • Form letters correctly • At the end of year 1 all children are given a Phonics Screening Check to ensure they have mastered the appropriate knowledge.

13. Phonics – Every morning 9.05 – 9.30am • Year 2 children will be with Mrs Stone learning phase 6 phonics with the aim of children becoming fluent readers and accurate spellers. • By Phase 6, children should be able to read hundreds of words using one of three strategies: • Reading them automatically • Decoding them quickly and silently • Decoding them aloud • Children should now be spelling most words accurately (this is known as 'encoding'), although this usually lags behind reading. They will also learn, among other things: • Prefixes and suffixes, e.g. ‘in-’ and ‘-ed’ • The past tense • Memory strategies for high frequency or topic words • Proof-reading • How to use a dictionary • Where to put the apostrophe in words like I’m • Spelling rules • Although formal phonics teaching is usually complete by the end of Year 2, children continue to use their knowledge as they move up the school. ‘The whole aim of phonics teaching is not just to learn the sounds, but to use them as a tool for reading and spelling,’ 

14. School Information • Rules and expectations of the school are: • we encourage independent learning and have high standards of behaviour and engagement in learning. • Open door policy – Please feel free to see your teacher at the end of the day after school ends. Alternatively arrange an appointment with your child’s teacher if your require a longer discussion time. • Safeguarding and Online Safety – Please continue to talk to your child about online safety and use of online sites such as YouTube. There is a Children’s YouTube that has enhanced safety. • Parent Voice – Please view the School Website to learn: • Who the School Governors are • How to best support your children in reading, writing maths etc. • Up to date information and newsletters and key information and policies. • Sickness – 48 hours after the last bout of sickness and diarrhoea. • DBS – If you haven’t already signed up please leave your name with us after the talk so we can arrange for Ros in the office to contact you.

15. Other Information • Reading – Listen to your child read for just a few minutes a day, read stories to your child at bedtime and enjoy visiting the library together. In the words of Dr Seuss: ‘The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go.’ • Spellings will be given out and tested every Monday. The year 2’s will get their spellings from Mrs Stone as these are link to the spelling rules they will be learning in phonics. They will be tested in a spelling book; however Mrs Stone will not send this home. The scores will be on the children’s practice sheets in their folders. The year one’s have spelling cards with different sounds on. They will only move on to the next spelling card when they have 8 or more correct. This is to ensure that children are retaining their spellings and are learning all the different spelling patterns. • Reading Logswill be checked on Monday . Please put them in the labelled basket first thing in the morning . They need to be signed by a parent or older sibling and children will then be rewarded with house points. It’s really important children read regularly at home and I hope you will support them in this. Year 2 children need to be responsible for changing their own books. We will assist the Year 1 children for this half term.