This week the children have started to learn about time. They have been taught how to read and move the clock hands to o’clock and half past.

In English the children looked at adjectives again and came up with their own adjectives to describe a toy. They then had to read their adjectives to friend to see if the friend could guess the toy. This way they were able to tell if their adjectives were good enough!

History this week we looked at sorting past and modern toys. We then explained how we know which toys are from the past or the present. We looked at the materials that they are made from and how the toy moves.

Next week
Maths – We will be looking at mass and weight next week. We start by comparing objects using light and heavy before moving on to ordering which objects are lighter and heavier. Our main exploration will be around whether the smaller objects are always the lightest.

English – Using the adjectives that the children have come up with this week, they will create a poster. The poster will be informing others to look out for the toy Cuddles.

How can I support my child at home?

Many children have started learning a new set of sounds in phonics. It is important that they see these new sounds regularly in order to confidently use them in their reading and writing. Therefore, please help your child to practise them at home.

When looking at an analogue clock ask your child if they can tell you the time. They should be able to identify o’clock and half past.

Here is our learning from Romero week:

The children designed their own cross after learning about Oscar Romero and how he had designed his own cross with his community and landscape that inspired him.

The children also learnt about the catholic teaching solidarity. That although we can live in different places and different countries, we may not look the same or have the same name. We all have a voice and we can all sing the same song to be heard and make a difference.

The children made themselves and joined hands to show we are all working together for the great good!

This week the children have been learning about Oscar Romero, and have learnt how to live the Catholic way. We focused on solidarity. We now know that although we all come different places and do not look the same we can still work together to achieve.

The children finished their toy information sheets this week and hope to set up a toy museum in the coming weeks to show off their amazing work to others in the school.

We have been learning to partition numbers in maths, using place value grids. We spent a lot of time on this as it can be a tricky concept to understand. Please continue asking your child how many tens and ones a two digit number has at home to support their development of this skill.

The children ended the week by learning about microbes. They learnt that they are all around us and most are not harmful, however some can make us poorly. We focused on 3 main types of microbes: virus, bacteria, fungi. The children then used modelling dough to create their own microbe!

Next week:

Maths – The children will begin learning about time. They will learn about the minute hand and the hour hand. The children will learn what the clock looks like when it is o’clock.

English – We will start a new toy book this week – toys in space. They will predict what will happen in the story and infer the characters emotions when they are taken.

What can you do to help at home?

Continue to practise two digit numbers with your child at home.

When at home draw attention to clocks that you have in your house. Talk about the difference between digital and analogue clocks.

Keep reading at home. We expect you to read a minimum of 3 times a week. These are 3 separate reading occasions. Please fill in the 3 boxes in your child’s orange phonics communication book.

Please use the tricky word cards at home to remind your child of the tricky words. We are finding many children are struggling to recognise and use tricky words, particularly in their writing!

The children have had a jammed packed week learning all about toys!

We started off the week by looking at the toys we have at school and thinking about the materials they are made from. We then compared to a doll that was from the past to a doll that is more modern. We spoke about the differences between the two and then wrote about the materials they were made from.

For maths we learnt how to count in 10s. Here we are placing our groups of 10 on a number and counting in tens to find out how many straws we had altogether.

The children have started to write their toy information sheet for English, they have included a heading and one paragraph to describe what the toy looks like.

Please can we remind you that if your child wants to have a key ring on their bag it MUST only be one. If the book bags have more than one key ring they start to get stuck in the trays and unfortunately key rings are breaking and children are understandably getting upset.

Next week:

Maths – For maths next week we will be looking at two digit numbers and partitioning them into tens and ones. We will start by making the numbers from numicon and denies before using a tens and ones frame to record our findings.

English – We will be continuing with our toy information piece, particularly looking at verbs.

What can you do to help at home?

As we will be using two digit numbers in maths next week please remind your child of these. It doesn’t have to be with flashcards, it could be looking for numbers on houses or the side of the bin as you go for a walk.

Please encourage your child to write at home. Remind them to use their phonics, finger spaces, full stops and capital letters. At this point in the Year we would expect children to write clear sentences which make sense.

A short and sweet week this week contained a walk to the field to see how it had changed since we had seen it in autumn 2 to learning the difference between fiction and non fiction texts!

The children returned full of fizz and excited about their Christmas holidays but after sharing what they were lucky to be given they got on to learning.

On the field they looked at changes, the children noticed all the leaves had fallen from the trees, the field was muddy and one child even saw a fox lurking in the bushes!

For maths we looked at numbers to 50 and helped to fill in the missing tiles on a snakes and ladder board to 50.

English this week we looked at the difference between fiction and non fiction texts. They children started to identify some of the features, such as a heading or a real life photograph.

We explored forces for science, looking at push pull when playing with toys.

Next week:
Topic – Terrific Toys

Maths – The children we will be learning how to count in 10s to 100. The children will begin by grouping objects in 10 and then place it above the 10 on the number line before counting in 10s.

English – We will continue to learn about non fiction texts and why they are important. The children will also be learning about the features of a non fiction text (heading, real life photographs, labels, paragraphs and questions) and being able to identify them on a page, as well as telling what they mean.

How can you help at home?

If you know your child is struggling with recognising numbers or counting reliably please practise this at home.

Find a non fiction text at home, can your child identify any of the following: heading, real life photographs, labels, paragraphs and questions.

Have a discussion about the toys you played with when you were younger. What were they made from? Can you think of any adjectives to describe what they were like? Did you have any toys that are similar to the ones your child has?