Hello and welcome to Squirrel Class.

This page has information about the class routines and termly learning. We use Tapestry Journal as another way to communicate and update you about your child's learning; please do check regularly for more personalised updates or if you need to contact your class teacher.

Reading books:

In phonics we follow a scheme called Little Wandle. In this scheme there are reading books that match the phonics we are learning weekly. The children read this book in their guided reading sessions all week and then every Friday this book is sent home to be read with you. You can keep that book for a week and return it the following Friday ready for the next book.

We also have a sharing book corner which works similar to a library. The children can come and take a book, put it in their book bag and read it with you at home. The following day they can return that book and choose a new one. 

To summarise your child will have 1 weekly phonics book (home book) that they read to you that changes every Friday.

They can independently choose a sharing book that you read together and this can be changed daily if you like. 

Homework:

In year 1 we send home homework in a homework book on a Friday. This is optional and is only in preparation for when they are in the older years of school. We choose homework which reflects the learning from that week, so it is a great time to talk to your child and see what they have learnt. 

This goes out every Friday and we ask that books are back in by the following Friday for the new piece. Marking is in the form of a stamp that says "great homework". This is to show you we have seen the homework; if your child has made any mistakes we will still stamp the work but will also work through the mistakes with your child that week through interventions. 

Term 5 learning:

English:

In Squirrel class we will be looking at The snail and the whale by Julia Donaldson.

During this book we will be exploring different genres of writing. 

Maths:

In maths we are now looking at multiplication and division. This is first taught as counting up in multiples of 2's, 5's and 10's. Then we move onto repeated addition and sharing out amounts equally into groups. Lastly we use arrays to show the multiplication visually.

Please see this link to fully understand how arrays work to support your child in maths this term: Arrays BBC

We use a scheme called Maths Shed in our teaching and it includes a problem solving evaluation:

Science:

Our topic is plants. 

We will be learning:

• identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants, including deciduous and evergreen trees
• identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including trees.

PSHE:

 We use a scheme called JIGSAW to deliver our PSHE/RSE curriculum. 

Our current topic is 'Healthy Me' in which we talk about how to be healthy people. There is more to being healthy than healthy eating. We talk about hygiene, sleep, exercise and positive mindsets.  

Phonics:

We use a scheme called Little Wandle. Term 2 is learning phase 5 phonemes and graphemes: This includes alternative sounds for example we have learnt that ee makes an 'e' sound and ea also makes the same 'e' sound. Now we know the words see and sea sound the same but have different meanings.  

PE:

We will be learning cricket in our PE lessons, the dances we learn in our PE lessons will be performed to you in our Christmas performances. 

PE kit is a plain white top, black or blue shorts/joggers and either trainers or plimsolls.

Art/DT:

This term we are looking at printing. We are using a range of resources to create prints. 

Music:

We use a scheme called Charanga to listen and appraise music. 

RE:

In RE this term the children will learn about Judaism. 

Thank you,

The Squirrel team.