Welcome to Acorn Class

PE Days Autumn Term 1: TUESDAYS and THURSDAYS

Forest School Autumn Term 1: No children will go to forest this half term.

 

At Water Primary School, Acorn Class is home to Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Year 1 children. Your child's Class Teacher is Mrs. Smith and their Teaching Assistant is Mrs. Greenwood.

We hope you have had a lovely Summer break and are looking forward to our first half term (and for some of your your first day at school!

Focused Learning

English

In Autumn Term 1, in English, the children are going to complete some exciting learning from a very familiar author, Julia Donaldson. The children will make predictions, talk about characters, settings and events and even write a version of their own story in a similar style with some twists of their own.

Reception children will begin their mark-making journey. It is such an exciting time, where the children will learn that they can communicate in a new way. They will move from drawing and making marks on the page to writing initial sounds and some may even start writing more of the sounds that they can hear.

The children will focus on their gross and fine motor skills in order to help with their handwriting. Reception children will spend lots of time this term focusing on the skills that they will need to become a successful writer. They will do lots of exercises to help with their shoulder, elbow and wrist movements as well as lots of funky finger work to strengthen those hand muscles. Year 1 will do daily handwriting practice, focusing on letter families and on how each letter is correctly formed. They will also use their handwriting time to practise tricky spellings. All of the children will also have the opportunity to write in provision (this will look different for each child) - at this time of the year, most year 1 children are now writing captions and short sentences. EYFS children will all be at different stages depending on their experiences at nursery and their personal learning journey. We will support them to share their thoughts in the best way for them.

Year 1 children will continue to develop their sentence writing skills; focusing on using their phonic knowledge and finger spaces between words along with using capital letters and full stops. 

Our children will take part in daily phonics lessons; your child will be sent home with a reading book and these will be changed on Tuesdays and Fridays. We always encourage children to read their book at home each night. It is really important that they read the book more than once. For example:

1. Let your children try to read independently.

2. Encourage your children to use their phonics skills to segment and blend words together.

3. Model reading for your child.

4. Ask questions about what has been read e.g. Who is the main character? Can you tell me what happened at the end?

5. Please sign the reading record book, so we know the book has been read.

We will endeavour to read with all the children throughout the week too. There is an exciting incentive on offer where your child will receive a raffle ticket every time they read and at the end of each half term, 2 lucky children will win a tocking to spend in our book vending machine. The more times you read, the more chances you have of winning! (You;ve got to be in it to win it!)

Maths

In Maths, our reception children will begin their Powermaths workbooks. This is a mastery scheme where the children will learn the deeper concepts of number. They will learn to point and count, say the total and recognise numerals.

Year 1 children will also begin their Powermaths workbook, initially focusing on sorting and then that deeper understanding of numbers to 10. They will move from using resources towards the written method.

You can help your children at home by playing lots of number games, counting and comparing numbers.

Handwriting

We will teach your child handwriting through discrete lessons as well as through their phonics lessons. They will learn a rhyme for each letter which will help them to remember how to form each letter correctly; starting and ending in the correct place.

This term, year 1 children will focus on handwriting families to help the children make associations between letters eg. c, a, d, g, o, q, s, all start with the same movement. EYFS children will learn their letters in the order of our phonics scheme (satpinmdgockeurhbfl) as well as the important letters in their name.

A poster will be sent home so that you can support them at home.

Phonics

Reception children will start their Red Rose Letters and Sounds phonics. They will spend the first 2 weeks focusing on hearing initial sounds and being able to say the sounds in simple words. eg c-a-t = cat, p-e-n = pen.

Year one children will being the year by recapping phase 4 as well as remembering all of those phase 3 sounds (ch, sh, th etc). They will then begin their phase 5 learning, where they will learn new ways of writing the sounds that they already know. For example, ai in rain can also be ay in play.

Learning through exploring

Not all of our learning in Acorn Class is through adult-led, focused groups. We also give children the opportunity to learn through play in time called continuous provision (independent learning).

Our classroom is set up to enhance children's independent play. This is an important time for our children as it develops so many skills, such as communication, problem-solving and understanding the world. At home, encourage your children to play and to talk to you about what they have done throughout the day.

PE 

This half-term, Acorn Class PE will take place every Tuesday and Thursday. Please ensure that your child wears their full Water Primary PE kit with trainers and navy leggings or joggers so that we have the flexibility to train inside or out, depending on the weather.

Forest School

This half-term, no children will attend forest school.

Snack Time

In Acorn, we operate a snack system. If you would like your child to have a snack, please pay for it on Parent Pay at the beginning of the half-term, which will cover your child’s snacks for the full half-term.

Keeping in Touch

Our door is always open and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to speak to us before or after school. We always welcome any news from home so please share any exciting activities which you have done with your children.

Please see our facebook and instagram pages.