Welcome to year 1

1. Welcome to year 1

2. Meet the year 1 team Squirrel Class • Mrs Clifford with Mrs Yeo. • Mrs Gale to cover Mrs Clifford’s Deputy Head time. Rabbit Class • Mr Simmonds with Mrs Bateman

3. Routines of the day • Children self register and make lunch choices. • Literacy, Numeracy, Guided reading and Phonics are taught daily. • PE kits are to be in school all week as PE can be taught on different days. • Topic- this is the opportunity for children to apply their skills in a different context as children need to revisit concepts to master them. • We usually do 3 topics each term.

4. Independent learners At Hollybrook Infant school we are committed to creating independent learners. • Every morning as children arrive they are encouraged to change their own reading books. • Children will be prompted to hand in letters in book bags to the teacher. • Please be patient this may take a little bit of time for children to learn these routines.

5. Home learning • Thank you for the lovely home learning that we received about your summer holidays. • Home learning is the opportunity for your child to explore their own interests within a topic. • Home learning is a project based homework where children can choose how they want to display their learning e.g. Poster, model etc. • We appreciate your commitment to support your child's learning with these projects. • Home learning is shared in the classroom as part of our topic time.

6. Topic • Topic flyers will be sent home at the beginning of each term to share with you what your child will be learning. (These will also be uploaded to the new school website shortly.) • Our current topic is Me, Me, Me! • As part of this topic children are exploring the human body and their senses. • KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR A LETTER ABOUT FOOD TASTING!

7. Reading • Teachers will lead a guided reading session with your child in a group setting at least once a week. • Teachers will initial the reading logs every week and will write a comment when your child moves a reading level. • Teachers will read and appreciate comments left by parents in their child's reading log. • Teachers keep their own records of children's reading.

8. Phonics • Phonics is taught across base. • In Year 1 the focus of phonics is mostly on different graphemes (letters to write the sound) to represent the same phoneme (small unit of sound). E.g. ay is the grapheme for the /ai/ phoneme in hay. • Tricky words- These are words that children have to read by sight and cannot use their phonics knowledge to read. • We will soon be sending home a list of the high frequency words for your child to practise at home.

9. PDR • PDR stands for Plan, Do and Review. • This is an opportunity for children to practise and master the skills that they are learning in class. • The classroom is sectioned into areas where the children can choose what learning they would like to improve. E.g. Using number lines to add numbers, to practise writing tricky words on whiteboards etc.

10. Communication • Parents evenings take place in the Autumn and Spring terms. During these you will receive targets to help support your child at home. • If you have any concerns about your child please talk to their class teacher at the end of the day. • The office is able to get messages to the class teacher if you are unable to speak to your child's teacher directly.

11. A few reminders… • Please ensure that your child does not wear nail varnish to school. • Please make sure that long hair is tied up. • Please make sure that only stud earrings are worn. • Please remember that jewellery is not permitted to be worn at school. • Please remind your children to tuck in their t-shirts to ensure they have a smart appearance.