Key Stage 1 – Newsletter – 9.10.20

Phew, we’ve worked them hard in Key Stage 1 this week!

Year one have had a phonics and reading focus this week. Well done to all those children who have been practising at home. They have been doing a variety of phonic activities and have been reading to each of the adults. Some of the children have also been writing their own sentences from ‘The Mystery Tour’ book. In Year 2 the children have been reading about how to look after animals that we have at school. They then planned and wrote a diary about taking one home as a pet and how they looked after them.

For Maths this week, Year 1 have been continuing to practise counting forwards and backwards within one hundred. They have been using numberlines to fill in missing numbers and write the numbers that should come next. In Year 2 we have been consolidating our knowledge of place value. We can now represent two digit numbers using Base 10, counters, natural materials, money and number sentences. We also began to use problem solving skills and thought about ways to show our learning.

Our Science this week was really interesting as we began to explore more about animals and their habitats. We looked at various pictures of animals in their natural habitats and realised that they were difficult to find because they were camouflaged. We discussed how animals have changed and adapted to their environment and how this has helped them to survive. We also spent some of our forest schools day creating habitats for woodland animals (puppets!) thinking about what kind of shelter would suit them.

We were very lucky on our Forest Schools day to spend time up in the garden. We were the first phase to be able to explore and play in our fabulous new tree house! We also spent time digging, observing the rabbits and chickens and also creating pathways with a collection of different sizes of wood.

E safety is one of our top priorities in school and we are focusing on it all half term. This week, we have been reminding the children of things that it is OK to share online and things that we must never share online. As we must never share our full name, we have been thinking of Nicknames that we can use. We would encourage you to talk with your children about being safe online and help them to use a Nickname to keep their identity hidden.

In PHSE year 1 have continued to focus on ways that we are the same and ways that we are different. We shared the book ‘It’s OK to be different’. It taught us that we are all different in various ways and that is OK. We can still be friends.

Every day the children receive free fruit during their playtimes. Children are of course allowed to bring their own snacks from home if they wish. However, please can we ask that you only send healthy snacks for them to take out to play. Usually after playtime, the children have a drink. If your child has milk they will drink it then, or they can drink their water from their bottle. If you would like your child to receive milk, please contact the school office. Thank you.