We hope you all had a lovely, restful Easter and are now refreshed and ready for the Summer term!

This term our topics will be ‘Wild Thing’ and then ‘Kenya’.

We have kick-started the summer term by transforming our classrooms into ‘Rainforest settings’ and we have already planted sunflower, tomato and been seeds. This has hooked the children straight away into their new   learning context.

We have six busy weeks planned of planting and rearing a mixture of flowers, vegetables and fruit. We will be using the wooden planters in the Mary Garden.

RE

We will be focussing on Easter and the story of The Resurrection. We will finish the year learning about Pentecost and Mission and how the disciples went out and proclaimed the good news.

Literacy

In Literacy we will be applying ‘Instruction’   writing skills when planting sunflower seeds. We will also be teaching a unit on ‘Stories with fantasy settings, where children will learn to use powerful description. If you have any excellent examples of stories with exciting settings your child could share with our class, please bring in a named copy or speak to teacher if you would like to come and read a story to the children.

After half term we will be teaching an extended unit on ‘Stories with from other cultures’ looking at patterned language and rhyme. We will finish the year with a piece of extended story writing.

As you may well already know there is a ‘Phonics Screening Check’ taking place in all Year One classes across the country during the week beginning 16th June so reading daily with your child, practising decoding the sounds in words and blending is essential to help them show what they can do.

Numeracy

We have just completed a week on ‘Telling the Time’ which all children experienced some success in. Please continue to encourage your child to use time-related language and practice reading o’clock, half past and quarter past times.

This term in numeracy we will be starting to explore place value in two-digit numbers and partitioning for addition and subtraction. We will be using the fractions half and quarters in the context of numbers and shapes; mentally using number bonds and doubling facts to add and subtract; standard units for measuring   including use of rulers and weighing scales.

Science

We found out what the children already knew about plants and have planned the ‘Wild Thing’ topic using the children’s own enquiry  questions. After half-term we will be learning about ‘Light and Sound’.

PE

The children are continuing to learn basic throwing, catching and ball-control skills in outdoor multi-skills with Mr Mortimer. After half-term they will be learning other skills in    preparation for sports day.

Foundation

Through the ‘Kenya’ topic we will explore African drumming,  singing and dancing. We are hoping to try some Kenyan cuisine.

If you are an expert on anything ‘African’ and would like to come and talk to the year group about your experiences or share your knowledge, please get in touch.

ICT

Thank you for the continuing support of our parent helpers.

If you are interested in supporting year one during the summer term, even if you only have an hour to spare to hear readers, please speak to your child’s class teacher.

As the weather improves children may need to bring in named sun-hats and named bottles of sun cream. We suggest children apply a layer of sun-cream at home  before school and then they need only re-apply if necessary.

We have been very busy this term with lots of engaging learning opportunities in year one. The year group loved our school trip to the Weald and Downland Museum.  This experience really enriched our ‘Homes’ topic as children were able to explore inside a vast range of different homes from throughout history. We were very proud of the questions they were asking the volunteers at the museum, showing their curiosity to find out about the past. In literacy we have been improving our key skills and learning how to use powerful adjectives to effectively describe story characters and settings. In numeracy year one have been extending their addition and subtraction skills using number lines and dienes to add tens and units. We have been very pleased with the commitment our classes have been putting in to their learning and the collaboration they have been showing as they work together and support each other to improve.

St Peter’s are Digging Deep this Lent

THIS LENT, SCHOOLS ACROSS THE COUNTRY WILL BE DIGGING DEEP

TO ENSURE THAT MORE OF OUR SISTERS AND BROTHERS AROUND THE

WORLD HAVE ENOUGH GOOD, HEALTHY FOOD TO EAT.

Thank you for all your donations large or small.

Every penny counts in raising money for Cafod this Lent!

We have been using the donations to practise counting in multiples of 2, 5 and 10 this week in numeracy. The children have been adding up all of the coins. We are hoping to have a final total by Thursday 3rd April. We will post the final total of donations from Year One on our blog by Easter!