Welcome Back!
Hello,
Welcome to the Autumn Term! It seems strange to mention autumn when we are experiencing such lovely weather today! We are excited to welcome the children back to school tomorrow and hope you’ve all had a wonderful summer. Here is a blog with some information on to help you be prepared for some of the routines in KS1.
Each Monday we will blog on the Starlings Blog of the Crossdale website and update you with key Year 1 events and reminders for the week. This will also be our weekly reminder to complete homework tasks. We do not use SeeSaw in Y1 to share information as you have done in Reception but instead homework can be completed in the homework book that will come home with your child and all key notices will be on our Year 1 blog.
*Homework book – We have had really good feedback about our homework books which are where you should keep your child's homework activities. Please return this book each Monday morning when your child comes into school to Mrs Jones. We will then mark it and stick in activities for the next week. These will be sent back home with your child on a Tuesday. Don’t worry if you have a busy weekend and can’t do all of the activities every week but please bear in mind that we will still collect them in on a Monday so that we can stick them in ready for the next week. There will always be a spelling activity, a short ‘Special Homework’ (which varies each week – this might be English / maths / topic or PSHE based or something your child needs to work on individually) Your child should also log onto doodle for Maths activities and to do regular reading. Each half term will begin with the topic menu overview – details on the page to help you. The subject and type of activity changes each half term but overall these activities enrich what we are learning at school. Our homework tasks are really short and we feel helpful in consolidating what we are doing in school.
*As in Reception, your child has a doodlemaths account and each week we will set activities to complete on here. Sometimes the objective will be returned to several times so you might recognise the assignments again. This is deliberate to help keep learning really fresh! We encourage children to complete their 5 questions a day and then a few times over the fortnight there will be an assignment of 10 questions to complete. Hopefully you find this a quick and fun way to practise key maths concepts. We certainly notice the impact of this in school.
*Spelling – Within the homework book, we will print and stick in a weekly spelling activity which links to what we have taught in school that week. Again, returning to this helps children to learn and embed words so this will be helpful support. We touch on these words every day in class as part of our English learning and do daily activities, also. We do not formally test children on their spellings until Year 2 but we do sometimes have a fun quiz on a Friday. (Our spelling overview for this half term will be on a separate blog).
As a school we subscribe to EdShed / Spelling Shed. Now that your child is in Year 1 they will have an account and be able to access the same words we have been learning in school. They can play fun games to further develop their spelling knowledge. We know children enjoy this and like playing games and learning. The words will swap over every Monday and children can access this unlimited. Usernames and passwords will be sent home stuck into the front page of the homework book.
*Reading is really important for your child’s progress and we hope this forms the main part of the work you do with your child each week. We will send home reading books each week linked to their phonic knowledge and encourage you to listen to your child read at least 3 times a week but more is fantastic. We use the Reading Journeys as you are used to from Reception to record your reading at home. Children can also choose picture books or other reading books from our class shelves.
*We have a lovely teddy called Bananas who will come to your house for a visit at some point. We hope he behaves and you enjoy this special visitor!
*We do have a trip to Tamworth Castle coming up. We will share more details with you when formal arrangements have been made (awaiting coach confirmation!) and we will be asking for parent volunteers that day also. We will use SchoolMoney to request a payment and for you to consent to your child attending.
*Please see separate blog for information about spelling (overview), knowledge organisers which show our key learning, vocabulary and enquiry questions for our history and science topics and a ‘Curriculum Map’ which provides an overview of learning in all subjects for this term. Every term there will be a new blog post which gives an overview of these things.
*We have Forest Schools this term which will be on a Monday afternoon. Please ensure that your child has waterproof trousers, wellies and a waterproof coat for this. This kit should be labelled clearly and kept on your child’s peg for them to access. We do love going out whatever the weather so children will need to be prepared for all weather conditions!
We look forward to seeing you at our Base One meeting on Tuesday 19th September where we will give you some more information about our routines and curriculum.
Please do come and ask if you have any queries in the meantime.
Year One Team