Welcome to Newt Class!
Meet the Team!
What's Happening?
Maths
This half term, we are focusing on addition and subtraction to 10. We are looking at how parts can be added together to make a whole. We will also look at fact families (4 +3 = 7, 3 + 4 = 7, 7 - 4 = 3, 7 - 3 = 4). We will learn that number sentences can start with the whole (8 = 5 + 3). We will make problems for addition and subtraction and show them with objects, as well as writing the number sentence.
Handwriting
We are focusing upon the correct formation of our letters and learning that some letters are tall ascenders whilst others sit below the line as descenders. Please see the phonic help guides on the Year 1 page to help you support your child at home with correct letter formation.
PE
We will be working sending and receiving. We will explore how to aim at objects and how to use these skills in small sided games.
We will also work on team building games. We will learn to watch a partner and copy their movements, work collaboratively to achieve a goal and how to encourage our friends to succeed.
Music
We will learn to understand that different types of sounds are called timbres. We will also be learning to sing a range of songs.
Phonics/Reading
Thank you for all your support at home with Phonics and Reading. Enabling your child to regularly practise their phonics has a huge impact on their self-confidence and reading.
Please continue to revisit all the phonics cards your child has in their reading folder to ensure that they know the phoneme (sound) and practise reading the tricky word cards they have too. We are now beginning to learn alternative sounds so when you hold up a sound card, your child might say 2 different sounds. Eg /ie/ can say /igh/ as in pie or /ee/ as in field. Our Year 1 page has some phonic videos to help you with the phonemes and we also sent home an explanation sheet at our Meet the Teacher session.
Each week we will continue to send home a phonics letter, informing you about the sounds we have covered, some of the words we have been practising reading and spelling and the sentences we have read for fluency.
Please can we ask that you send Reading folders into school everyday. Please can you ensure that your child's reading books are kept in their plastic folders to help prevent damage. Thank you!
Please remember to practise the inside front cover of your child's reading book. This provides them with the opportunity to practise sounds and words which can be found in the book. This will help your child to develop their automaticity as they read.
It is really important to write in your child's reading record book when you hear your child read. Supporting your child at home to practise their phonics and reading books makes a huge difference to their learning. Your child will have practised their book 3 times at school before they bring it home. Therefore, your child should be able to read their book fluently and you might notice some prosody* emerging in their reading. This will help to make reading an enjoyable experience at home.
It is important to share other books at home to develop a sense of reading for pleasure. This will help to extend your child's vocabulary, understanding of stories and in turn will support their writing. Of course it doesn't have to be fiction books that are read, many children love to learn something new from a non-fiction book! Magazines, comics, recipes and instructions are all great things to read together as well!
*Prosody = reading with expression – with the appropriate rhythm, tone, pitch, pauses, and stresses for the text