Welcome to Acorn Class

PE Days Summer Term 1: MONDAYS and THURSDAYS

Forest School Summer Term 1: No forest school this term (other than 1 family session on Friday 17th April at 9:45-11:30)

 

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 Assistants are Mrs. Greenwood, Mrs Sanderson and Miss Ross.

We hope you have had a lovely half term break and are looking forward to the next half-term!

Focused Learning

English

In Summer Term 1, we will continue exploring Beatrix Potter stories. The children created a Biography before Easter focusing on non-fiction. In Summer 1, will be exploring narrative and poetry based on Peter Rabbit.

The children will continue to focus on their gross and fine motor skills in order to help with their handwriting. They will continue daily handwriting practice, focusing on letter families and on how each letter is correctly formed. They will also have the opportunity to write in provision (this will look different for each child) - at this time of the year, most children are now writing initial sounds and simple, single words and others are writing captions and sentences.

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. We will continue focusing on using the word 'and' and adding 'ed' endings to our words as well as using capital letters for names and places. We will also focus on the joining word 'but' and adding 'ing' endings.

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. 

Maths

In Maths, our Reception children will continue their Power Maths journey. They will begin by exploring patterns. They will then move on to counting on and back on a number line. They will begin working on numbers to 20. They will finish the term by working on doubles and halves.

We will spend lots of time recapping number bonds to 5; the idea is that all children will be able to say all of the ways of making 5 (0+5, 1+4, 2+3, 3+2, 4+1, 5+0).

Our Year 1 children will start working on multiplication and division. They will count in 2's, 5's and 10's, count and add equal groups, make arrays and doubles as well as grouping and sharing. They will then learn about fractions; Finding halves and quarters of shapes and quantities. They will finish the half term by learning about position and direction. They will describe turns and position using the words left, right, forwards, backwards, above and below.

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. 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 we 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.

A poster has been sent home so that you can support them at home.

Phonics

Reception children will continue their Red Rose Letters and Sounds phonics. They are now nearing the end of phase 3 phonics. This term, they will complete phase three phonics and then consolidate their knowledge.

Year one children will continue with their phase 5 phonics learning where they are learning alternative spellings, for example 'oo' in moon can also be 'ew' in grew, 'ui' in juice, 'ue' in blue etc.

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 Monday 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, ACORN CLASS WILL NOT BE ATTENDING FOREST SCHOOL (other than a single family forest session on Friday 17th April at 9:45-11:30).

These sessions will be led by our Forest School Leader, Mr. Claxton. Please can children come to school dressed in their full Water Primary PE kits, bringing with them their Forest School clothes to go over the top of these, which includes waterproof jacket and trousers (please try to avoid all-in-ones as these are more difficult to get on independently and make toilet trips more tricky), wellington boots/walking boots and any other items they will need to stay warm, such as a hat, scarf, gloves and extra socks.

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.