Spring Term 2
This term our topic is 'Seeds, Soils and Sunshine'. This topic will have a science focus. The children will be learning about what plants need to grow, the different parts of a plant and the lifecycle of a flowering plant. The children will also be conducting some growing experiments in which they will attempt to grow seeds in various conditions and observe what happens. Towards the end of term, the children will be making and sewing their own Easter decoration.
Reading - The expectation is that the children read at least 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 log 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.
Log in details for Spelling Shed can be found in the front of the children's reading record.
P.E. - This will be on Monday and Friday. Monday will be a shorter session with the sports coach but it may be outside, so warmer clothes will be needed. Friday will be dogdeball 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. With the unpredictable British weather, the forest school area will be muddy after a lot of rain so if your child does not have wellies, they won't be able to join in.