What a busy spring term we have had! The children have worked hard to retain facts that they have been taught in all their subjects. They have enjoyed learning about Charles Darwin and the Galapagos Islands.  We researched about hot and cold countries including what it is like to live there. Their knowledge of wild and garden plants is growing and we will continue our work about plants into next term. As the weather warms we will be planting lots of flowers, fruit and vegetables.

Everyone’s reading is improving as we develop our phonic knowledge. Phase 5 is quite tricky as there are lots of ways to make the same sound. Our group reading sessions use books and resources from Little Wandle. On Thursdays, children will bring home a copy of the book that they have read in class that week. They must return this the following Thursday in order to take home the new book. We have a limited amount of books so we need to take good care of them. They will continue to bring home a matched Phonics Bug book to support their reading. This can be changed more regularly than once a week. We encourage children to read a book more than once to develop their fluency. Ask your child to read out loud as if they are performing. This will improve their expression and reading to the punctuation. Not all children need to point to each word any more!

The children have really enjoyed the variety of books that we have studied in our English lessons. They love listening to stories and pretending to be the characters in our Hot Seating sessions! Some of the questions and answers are very original and they are having to improvise a lot more.

In maths, they are beginning to multiply by making equal groups and then using repeated addition to find the total. Most children can count forwards in 2s, 5s and 10s. However, all need more help to do this backwards!

Over the Easter break, please start to introduce your child to o’clock and half past using a clock with hands. Most of the clocks we see around our homes are moving to digital: Alexa, phones, tablets, microwave… we still need to learn how to read the time on an analogue clock!

Here is the overview for next term:

Summer 1 Year 1 Curriculum Map

Have wonderful Easter!

Mrs Dowell, Mrs Armstrong and Mrs Savory.

At last, the sun is shining! However, the children still need waterproof coats so that they can go out to play at every opportunity. PE is on TUESDAYS and WEDNESDAYs only. We appreciate all of your efforts with correct uniform, the children look so smart when they arrive at school. They may look a little different when they leave but they’ve had a fun filled day of learning! As the weather gets warmer they are more likely to take off their jumpers and cardigans. PLEASE MAKE SURE THEY HAVE NAMES IN THEM SO THAT THEY CAN BE RETURNED TO THE RIGHTFUL OWNER!

The children have really enjoyed this week’s book, ‘The Weather Monster’. They have written descriptions of Ron and created their own Weather Monster to describe.

In maths, we have been measuring mass by using cubes. It is important that the balance scale is level when we measure mass accurately. Next week, we will be measuring capacity and volume.

On Thursday, it is World Book Day. Everyone is invited to dress up as a character from a book. Please do not feel the need to buy costumes, there are some great ideas for simple homemade costumes on the internet.

Have a fab weekend,

Mrs Dowell, Mrs Armstrong and Mrs Dowell.

What a great first week back! All the children have settled back into the routines and are working hard in all their lessons.

Phonics is becoming more tricky as we move through Phase 5 and the way different sounds (phonemes) are represented in words. All these words have the /or/ phoneme but spelt differently: author, door, walk, fork and dinosaur. It’s no wonder the English language is so tricky to master!

We have enjoyed reading ‘Chicken Licken’ and meeting all the characters. Our writing has been a setting description using adjectives.

In maths we have been learning to measure. First with cubes, then using a ruler to measure in centimetres (cm). We know that it is important to  start at zero on a ruler.

The children have enjoyed using the iPads to research about the Arctic. They have made a list of what they would need to take on a trip to the Arctic.

Thursday 7th March is World Book Day. The children are invited to dress-up as a character from a book. They can bring their book with them to share in the class.

PE is back to being on TUESDAYS and WEDNESDAYs only. This week the children used their imaginations to dance like Jack Frost of a cold frosty morning.

Have a fab weekend,

Mrs Dowell, Mrs Armstrong and Mrs Savory

I continue to tell the children how smart they look in their school uniforms. We can really tell that everyone is making a great effort with the correct PE kit too, thank you.

This week we have written a diary entry as ‘Sophie’ in The Tiger who came to Tea by Judith Kerr. The children are becoming very skilled at asking and answering questions during our ‘Hot Seating’ sessions. They have also used these skills during Religious Education when learning the story of David and Goliath. Mrs Armstrong was very impressed with the variety of questions by the children and the answers given by the ‘character’!

In maths we are learning to count tens and ones and then to partition two digit numbers up to 50 into tens and ones. For example, 43 has four tens and three ones. We can also partition it into 40 + 3. There recall of simple addition facts of one digit numbers is improving but it needs to be quicker! Lots of practice please. 5+6=11, 4+5=9 and so on.

In computing we are learning to program a robot using forward, backward, left and right. Please help your child to learn their left and right, it will really help.

Thank you for your continued support, keep reading!

Mrs Dowell, Mrs Armstrong and Mrs Savory

What wonderful week we have had! The children are all working hard in their phonics lessons and there have been some great improvements in their reading fluency. Please make sure that they read at home little and often. Just a couple of pages a night is plenty and makes such a difference. The children know to read each sentence again until they can read it without stopping to sound out.

We have enjoyed reading The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson this week. The children have used their knowledge of adjectives to write a description of the woods and then a description of a fantasy setting on Friday. We are working hard to remember capital letters, finger spaces and full stops. Next week we will be reading a fable which is a story that tells us how something came to be.

I was really impressed with the children’s creative skills as they worked to create a moving picture using a slider. They had great fun drawing a character from The Gruffalo and then acting out part of the story using their moving picture.

We have now learnt the history of parachutes and helicopters in our topic about First Flight. Where will next week take us?

Please can you make sure that all children have a clean water bottle in school each day, it is really important that the children stay hydrated and healthy.

I look forward to seeing you all at Parent’s Evening. If you have not booked an appointment, please let me know via chestnut@crowmoorschool.co.uk and I can slot you in. It is a great opportunity to look at your child’s books.

Enjoy the weekend,

Mrs Dowell, Mrs Armstrong and Mrs Savory

Wow, what a busy full week back! The children have enjoyed reading the book ‘Puss in Boots’. They have used adjectives in sentences to describe the main characters. We are working hard to make sure all our sentences start with a capital letter and end with a full stop in the correct place.

In maths we have been adding and subtracting within 20. They have been counting on to add and counting back to subtract. Today, we explored doubles of numbers to 10. Next week we will use doubles to add ‘near doubles’.

In science we have started our topic about animals including humans. We have recognised some animal groups: mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians. Next time we will look at features of each group and sort animals correctly.

This afternoon the children have enjoyed making sculptures of their hands using salt dough. We were so busy that I forgot to take photos! Their sculptures are drying over the weekend and we will finish them off in the oven if needed.

I have had most Parent’s Evening slips back, please check your child’s bag and let me know if you have not had one.

Please keep reading,

Mrs Dowell, Nrs Armstrong and Mrs Savory.

Welcome back, it’s so good to see everyone back at school looking smart. Please remember the school uniform rules sent out at the end of term. School shoes need to be plain black.

Until February half term, our PE will be on Mondays and Tuesdays. Children must wear their school jumper or cardigan with a plain white t-shirt, black, navy or grey jogging bottoms and trainers. No football shirts or colourful and branded hoodies please!

Earrings must be removed by yourself or your child for PE. They cannot be covered with a plaster.

All the children have been excitedly sharing what they have been getting up to over the Christmas holidays, there have been some very lucky children.

We have started our learning about Judaism by thinking about something that is precious to them. We had some lovely thoughts about family being precious which was great to hear. They have learnt to recognise the ‘Star of David’ and that it is a symbol which is precious to Jewish people.

Have a fab weekend,

Mrs Dowell, Mrs Armstrong and Mrs Savory

We’re nearly at the end of a really busy term. All the children have had a fabulous first term in Year 1, they have learnt so much! Their phonics, reading, writing and maths is improving each day. They are more aware of the print around them and take much more interest in finding out new things. They have enjoyed learning about the United Kingdom and some of the kings and queens of the past.

It was great to see so many of you at the church, the children were superbly behaved and loved entertaining you with the songs we have learnt over the past few weeks. Next week we will be spending time learning about the true meaning of Christmas for Christians and how different countries around the world celebrate.

All the children have come home with details of how to login to our new e-books linked to Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. The children will have access to books that they have already read in class. They will be able to show you how they apply their phonics skills to blending to become fluent, repeated reading to improve expression (prosody) and answering comprehension questions.

Please email chestnut@crowmoorschool.co.uk if you have any problems logging on and I will try my best to help.

Well done with all the festive outfits so far, hopefully we can keep going for another three days next week. On Wednesday afternoon, the children in Beech, Chestnut and Elm will have their Christmas disco to finish off the term. Let’s see lots of sparkle!

Have a fab weekend,

Mrs Dowell, Mrs Armstrong and Mrs Savory

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The children’s knowledge of London as our capital city is really growing. They can recognise familiar landmarks and have used this information to write a letter as a character in this week’s book: Topsy and Tim visit London. All children are having a go at writing their own sentences and some are including conjunctions such as ‘and’ to join ideas together.

In maths we are practising our bonds of numbers to 10 and making sure we can record fact families using addition and subtraction sentences. We have also started to learn about shape. We have recognised, named and sorted simple 3D and 2D shapes by looking at their properties.

Please ask your child to find things around the home which are:

• 3D shapes – cubes, cuboids, spheres, pyramids and cones.
• 2D shapes – circles, squares, triangles and rectangles.

In geography this week, the children have learnt about Wales as part of the United Kingdom. They should know the capital city, national flower, national vegetable and be able to recognise the Welsh flag.

In history, we looked at the importance of a family tree to the monarchy. The children had a go at drawing their own family tree.

Please remember that PE is on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Please make sure that all items of clothing which are likely to be removed during the day are clearly named. We often have a collection of jumpers and cardigans with no names, they must have come from some where!

Your child needs the following things in school everyday:

• a clean water bottle
• a warm coat with a hood
• their book bag with their reading book and their reading diary

We have started to learn our class song ready for Christmas so watch this space!

Have a great weekend,

Mrs Dowell, Mrs Armstrong and Mrs Savory