Welcome to Elm class, 

Year 1 

Our Spring topic is called 'Bright Lights, Big City' and has a Geography focus. 

This project teaches children about the physical and human characteristics of the United Kingdom, including a detailed explorations of the characteristics and features of the capital city, London.

We will also be learning about the importance of sleep and bedtime routines, learning to recognise emotions and physical feelings associated with feeling unsafe and identifying people who can help us when we feel unsafe.

In science our topic is 'Seasonal Changes' . The children will learn about measuring the weather and the role of a meteorologist. The children will begin to learn about the schienceof day and night and recognise that the seasons have varying day lengths in the UK.

Mrs Montgomery and Mrs Magnall

W hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and a 'restul' Break (if that is possible!) We cant wait to welcombe the children back and hear all about their Christmas holiday's. We are looking forward to a jam packed term ahead and seeing the children develop in confidence, making progress and enjoying their learning.

Phonics Screening Check

The Phonics Screening Check will take place in June. To prepare for this please practise reading frequently with your child. Your child should be secure with phase 3 as we are currently working on phase 5. To support them, go over these sounds regularly. Each new sound that we learn will be sent home each week, on a Friday in the yellow book.  Please go through them and practise reading and writing the words that are sent home. If you would like to discuss any other ways your can help your child, please let us know and we will be happy to help. 

Some fanastic sites for phonics practise are: 

https://www.youtube.com/@MrTsPhonics

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/alphablocks

Key Messages

PE - Tuesday's and Wednesdays

This term we are lucky to have Onside delivering PE sessions on a Tuesday afternoon. Our PE lesson with Mrs Magnall with then take place on a Wednesday afternoon. Please could children keep a drawstring bag containing their P.E. kit in school so they can change into their P.E. kit on the relevant days.

Water Bottles -

Please remember to ensure your child brings in their water bottle daily. (no squash please)

Reading and Phonics

Encouraging your children to read from a young age is essential and we will send a reading book and reading diary home for you to explore together.  Please record any reading you have done with your child in the reading diary.  

In year 1, we will deliver daily phonics lessons and we will introduce the children to new sounds as well as new High Frequency Words. Can we please ask that you practise these with your child and encourage them to use them in their writing. The weekly homework will also be based around the phonics sound that we are looking at in class. 

It is essential for your child's reading and writing that both you and they are pronouncing the phonics sounds correctly. Please click and follow the links below to watch videos to hear how to correctly pronounce each sound:

Phonics Level 2 Pronunciation

Phonics Level 3 Pronunciation

Phonics Level 5 Pronunciation

Maths

This term we will be focusing on place value within 10, addition and subtraction within 10 and geometry (shape).

Topic 

If you would like to support your child with our learning related to 'Bright Lights, Big City' then you could do the following:

• Explore words and phrases related to geography - maps, cities, cdirections, routes, landmarks.
• Visit a local city to spot interesting vehicles, buildings and landmarks.
• Search the web for images, information and film clips about London and keep a scrapbok of your findings
• Discuss similarities and differences between different cities in the UK.
• Visit a local library to see if you can find some colourful books of rhymes and traditional songs to sing together
• Plan a visit to the Black Country Museum

Homework 

Each week we will send home English or Maths homework. This homework will be based on activities that we have done in class the previous week. 

Homework will go out on a Thursday and will be due in the following Tuesday.

Our Learning Through Pictures

Our Classroom Environment