English

This week in English, we continued our learning about how to write letters! We thought carefully about the letters that were in the story Click Clack Moo, Cows That Type and how they were written in the form of a conversation. Farmer Brown sent letters to his animals and they sent letters back! We decided to write letters to the children in Year Two, telling them information about Year One and asking a question about our next school year. The children have worked so hard on remembering to use capital letters for proper nouns, finger spaces in between each word, full stops at the end of a sentence and question marks to demonstrate a question! 

We completed our letters by using our purple pens to edit and improve, making them even better than they already were. When we edit, we focus on capital letters, full stops (and punctuation in general!) and the Year One common exception words (Tricky Words). 

We have now started our new topic of Free Verse Poetry! Using the text Out and About, a collection of poems written by Shirley Hughes, we started our learning by thinking about what free verse poetry actually means. These poems have very few rules; they can be written about any topic and presented in any way the poet chooses, for example, using a combination of short and long sentences and not using rhyming words. 

We thought carefully about words that sound like their meaning, such as 'the squelchy mud' and 'water being sloshed from a bucket!' We worked together to generate ideas for a class poem about Popcorn - I think our favourite part was definitely tasting the popcorn and using our sense of touch, smell and sight to describe how delicious and fluffy it was! 

Maths

We completed our learning about Volume this week, thinking about how we can best measure it using a non-standard unit such as water or cubes! The children have absolutely loved working so practically and we have loved hearing their vocabulary and overall conversations and understanding deepen. 

We have ended the week by beginning to count in 2s and 10s! The children have been expert Mathematicians and spotted the pattern of only saying even numbers immediately! We have practised counting up in 2s to 50 and up in 10s to 100. We thought carefully about what digit changes when we count up in 10s, starting with the number 10. We know that the tens column (the chips!) changes but the ones column (the peas!) stays the same with a 0. 

Next week we will begin counting up in 5s. Any practise at home would be greatly appreciated, as this is an important foundation for future learning, including times tables.

Phonics

This week we revised sounds the children already know, including those that may appear in the Phonics Screening Check:

  • ue – blue, rescue
  • ew – chew, new
  • u_e - rude, cute
  • aw – claw

Tricky words: today, any, their, people, your

Topic Learning

Art

This week, we sketched the design that we want to create into a collage! We used the work of Tracy English and her collection 'Jungle Life' as inspiration. We talked about the background of our collage and how this must be done before adding any objects at the front - these objects are often what make a collage appear 3D! The children were so careful and patient with sketching their designs; what a special afternoon it was! 

Science

This week we thought about the differences and similarities between wild plants and garden plants! We understand wild plants to simply grow of their own accord and garden plants are planted and cared for by people. We went on a walk around our school grounds and identified whether the plants were wild or garden before we had a go at drawing our own! 

Reminders

This weekend we have sent home a short activity for you to complete with your child! The children should think of a variety of adjectives using their senses to describe their favourite food. The ideas they come up with will support their poetry journey next week, where they will write their own free verse poem! If these could be returned on Tuesday, that would be fantastic. 

Don't forget that Wednesday is our Sports Morning! From 9.15am until 11am, join us in completing a range of different games and activities, as well as a fan favourite, the running race! The children will be returning to their classrooms at 11am, ready for a special treat to help cool them down! 

Please ensure that all of your child’s belongings are clearly named. As the weather gets warmer and children remove layers, we have collected many unnamed jumpers, which can be difficult to return to their owners.

We also kindly ask that your child brings a water bottle and a sun hat each day so they can stay hydrated and safe in the sun.

Finally, please make sure your child has spare clothes at school. Changes of clothes are often needed for a variety of reasons, including getting wet while playing with OPAL resources, and it really helps when children can change into their own belongings.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support.