Dear Class 1 Parents,

Here are the plans I have made for the Reception and Year 1 class this Summer Term. Planning is taken from the Early Years Foundation Stage and the Key Stage 1 National Curriculum. Children will be taught through adult-directed activities, adult-led play and child-initiated play.

Communication, Language and Literacy

Throughout the curriculum literacy obviously plays a major part. Your child will be extending his/her language skills in phonics, sentence structure, grammar, punctuation and handwriting, alongside reading for enjoyment and information. Practising reading skills is very important - book bags should be in school every day.

Reading

We are fortunate that our children are very keen readers and have been flying through the reading scheme books. So in order to support their independence, comprehension and fluency children can take home library books or one of the classroom picture books. We change books every week, and if able to we will change them more often. If your child is keen for a new book to enjoy and we have not yet got to their book bag, you may change their book. Please follow the class procedure of marking the book off in the green folder when it has been returned by placing a line through the title on your child's page, and by placing an R beside the title of the book you are taking out. This should hopefully ensure that we are keeping our reading records accurate, and that children do not receive the same book twice. We are grateful for your support and help with this.

We hear readers as often as we can at school, but with a full curriculum this is not as frequent as we would like! We would therefore love to have parent helpers to support us. This does not have to be a big weekly session - even half an hour at the start or end of the day would be a big help. Please speak to me if you are able to spare time to hear readers.

We will be continuing with shared reading on a Friday morning.

Mathematical Development

We shall be working on all the core objectives, and will continue to provide the children with a wide range of experience in applying their mathematics and developing their methods of calculation. This will involve grouping the children according to their needs so that they can receive appropriate teaching and support. The Abacus Evolve Mathematics Scheme of Work is used to support the teaching of this subject.

Science and other curriculum areas

In Science we will be focusing on Sorting and Using Materials during the first half of the term, where children learn about the characteristics and uses of a range of common materials and vocabulary for describing and comparing materials. During the second half of the term we will be focusing on Light, which develops children's understanding of the need for light in order to see things. Children learn that darkness is the absence of light and that in the absence of sunlight other light sources are seen more easily.

Our topic work this term is based on two themes. The theme for the first half of the term is Rainforests. In Geography the theme of rainforests will help the children to observe, find out about and identify features in the place they live and the natural world around them. For the second half of the term the theme is People Who Help Us. In History this will involve studying Florence Nightingale and the role of nurses, as one of the groups of people who help us. Design Technology and Art will link to both of this term's themes; we will create Rainforest shelters, collage tree frogs, and even create our own 3D pesky bugs!

Our R.E. work will be focussing on friendships. Mrs. Evans will be continuing her art and craft through Bible stories.

I.C.T. will focus on developing the basic skills of using a computer; loading a program, saving work and printing work. We will also be using I.C.T. during other curriculum area with the use of a digital camera and the interactive whiteboard.

Physical Education

We will follow Devon's PE scheme Leap into Life. The scheme develops the areas of Functional Movement, Aesthetic Movement, Manipulative Skills and Movement Concepts. The scheme also promotes an increase in the amount of P.E. children do throughout the week; children therefore need to have their P.E. kits in school every day. All P.E. and school clothes (particularly new sweatshirts, dress/skirts, trousers and coats) must be clearly marked. Lost property is increasingly difficult to manage, but all marked items can be returned to the owner immediately.

As Always

Please don't hesitate to come in and talk if you need to. As you well know the mornings are particularly hectic and I would appreciate it if you can catch me at the end of the day. Of course if it is a pressing issue then see me at any time.

Miss Chudley

Class 1 Teacher