Welcome Active Ants 

It's Mrs Bissell here.  We are lucky to be supported by Mrs Brandon.

We can't wait to start a new term with you all

This is the Spring term.

We wear PE kits on Tuesdays and Fridays.  Please bring your reading folders and water bottles in every day.  We also love exploring and discovering inside and outside in all of the seasons so please always ensure you have spare clothes (with your name on) in your school bag and a suitable coat.

Each week, I will upload a Week Ahead.  This will detail our learning for the week.  It will contain the new sounds we will be learning in Phonics, our Literacy, Maths and RE focus as well as new skills that we will discover in our classroom and outdoor area.  It will also provide you with any other pieces of information for that current week.

Please continue to check our Class DOJO page to see what we have been up to and for class and school updates.

Phonics

We follow the Essential Letters and sounds (ELS) phonics programme.  This is a DfE validated scheme that helps children learn sounds, blend words for reading and segment words for writing in a structured and engaging way.

We are currently working in Phase 3.  During this phase, children are learning new digraphs and trigraphs (two or three letters that make one sound.  Eg, ch, sh, th, igh).  We will continue to practise blending sounds to read words and simple sentences and spell words using the sounds we know.  We will be developing confidence in reading captions and short sentences.

At home, you can help by practising the sounds that your child has been learning and encouraging them to sound out words when reading.  Children already have a copy of the phase 2 and phase 3 sounds in their reading folders.  The mnemonics that we use and a glossary of terms can be found below.

If you have any questions about phonics or how to support your child at home, please ask.

Writing

We will be continuing to work on pencil grip and making controlled movements. We will also be continuing to work on forming our letters correctly as we learn them. Each morning, we will spend some time practising our newly learnt letters and how to form them.  In Spring term, we will be continuing to practise writing CVC words eg, cat, mop, duck and develop our writing to include writing captions.  We will be writing lots in play making lists, labels and stickers. We will inspire a love of writing through play and purpose!

Drawing Club 

 Drawing club is an exciting adventure that we love in Class A! We explore amazing books, stories and clips. Through Drawing Club we will explore the unanswered questions of stories. We will create exciting codes using our Writing and Maths skills to make our pictures come alive. Drawing Club will ignite and develop our creativity and create a love for the stories we explore!

Mathematics

We will be following the White Rose scheme. We will be developing on our Autumn term learning by focusing on numbers 6-10, exploring these numbers with a deeper understanding and will start to develop reasoning on a foundation level. We will also develop our knowledge and understanding of measurement and we will explore 3d shapes.

Reading at home / home learning

Reading at home is so important for children that are learning to read. Just 5 minutes each day really will make such a difference to your child’s progress and confidence in reading. We will send home a reading book but will also use an E-Library to assign Phonics books.  Please record your child's reading onto their Boom reader each time they read with you.  If you have any questions about Boom Reader, please ask. 

Play

We will do lots of learning through play in Class A. We will explore and investigate the world around in both our indoor and outdoor classrooms, as well as our school forest area during our weekly forest learning sessions. We will have plenty of opportunities to apply our learning though play and we will lead our learning based on our interests. As we explore and discover in all seasons, please also ensure your child always has spare clothes with them (and they have your child's name in them).