KS1 – Newsletter – 10.9.21

It’s been a wonderful week in Key Stage 1 welcoming your children back to school. We have been doing a whole variety of activities to get to know them.

We have been using two books across the phase ‘You choose’ and ‘You choose your dreams’. The pages are packed with pictures of all sorts of things and the children have been explaining what they would choose and why. Year 2 have been selecting pictures that relate to them and writing about them.

Both year groups have been writing key information about themselves such as their name, when their birthday is, who lives in their house and who their friends are. These have now all been displayed in the cloakrooms. We have done lots of activities where they have been able to talk to their friends and other members of the phase who they may not know, to find out about their likes and dislikes.

In Year 1, we have been practising our counting skills and writing numbers. Year 2 have begun working on Place value, using tens and ones.

A big focus this week has been for the children to feel safe and welcomed into their new classes and to help them to feel part of our community. We have been talking about Restorative Practice (RP) and reminding them what that means and showing them a video of who the RP reps are. We also spent time deciding on rules for our class, which are now displayed in our classrooms.

Your child should have brought home a reading book today. We would love you to read with them at least three times a week. Whenever they bring their book back, they can change it for a new one. The higher the level of book, the longer the book will be. Therefore, we would not necessarily expect them to read a whole book in one night. When they have read three times in a week, they will move up our reading chart and receive team points.

Please check through book bags as you should also find a sheet of Common Exception Words (CEWs). These are tricky words that your child will need to be able to read and spell by the end of the year. Any practice you can do at home will really help them.

If your child is using the Lexia scheme (a program to help your child’s reading) you should also have received a letter about how it works and how you can access the program at home.

Next week is our Week one. Therefore, it is PPA day on Tuesday and your child needs to come to school in their PE kit on that day please.

On Friday we are having a dress up day. We would like the children to think about what they would like to be when they grow up. We are not expecting you to go out and buy an outfit. If your child wants to be a fireman and has an outfit, brilliant, we can’t wait to see it. Some jobs people will wear their normal clothes, so your child might bring along something that shows what they would like to do, like an author might bring a story or a writing pad and pencil, an artist might bring a picture they have painted etc..

Have a great weekend and we look forward to seeing everyone again next week!