Spring Term 1

This term our topic is 'Explorers'. This topic will have a history and geography focus. The children will be learning about the seven continents of the world plus the five oceans. We will be looking at compass points and navigation. We will be researching some famous explorers such as Christopher Columbus, Ibn Battuta and Neil Armstrong. We will also consolidate our learning with an exciting trip to We The Curious in Bristol. 

Reading - The expectation is that the children read three times a week. The children will come home with two books, their normal phonics one and a 'reading for pleasure' book. Both books will be changed on a Monday and Thursday, with the reading for pleasure book being chosen by the children themselves. 

The purpose of keeping a book and reading it multiple times is as follows:

1. The first read is for decoding and reading common exception words (applying phonic

knowledge and recognising phonemes in context – knowing that ‘high’ contains a trigraph

for example and is read as h-igh and not h-i-g-h. Being able to read common exception

words by sight - he, she, was, you, all etc). The first read may be a little robotic because of

this.

2. The second read is for prosody; to encourage reading with intonation and expression.

3. The third read is for fluency.

 If  children are on the Accelerated Reader scheme, they can bring in their books as soon as they are finished and then complete a short comprehension quiz on the book. The children have to achieve 80% or above in three consecutive quizzes before they can move up a level. All the AR books are kept in the library and the children are responsible for choosing their own text. You can lo on from home to check your child's progress, using the log on details given at the start of term.

All children are expected to have their reading folders containing their reading books and reading records, in school every day.

Spelling - Year Two children have spelling lists that would be of benefit for them to learn each week. They could practice writing these out at home in a variety of ways and they could also see if they can add that word into a sentence and write it. They will have a spelling test on Fridays. These spelling lists are also available on Spelling Shed to help the children consolidate their learning at home.

Year One children have also got words on Spelling Shed which link to their Phonics learning that week. They also have a phonics pack in their reading folder containing Phase 5 graphemes and Common Exception Words which can be practiced at home. 

P.E. - This will be on Monday and Friday. Monday will be a shorter session with the sports coach but it may continue to be outside, so warmer clothes will be needed. Friday will be benchball in the hall. Please could the correct kit be worn and long hair needs to be tied up.

Forest School - This will be on a Thursday afternoon, every other week. Please could you make sure that your child has a waterproof coat and wellies on this day. As the weather changes, the forest school area will be muddy so if your child does not have wellies, they won't be able to join in.