Dear Parent/Carer of:

 

Welcome back and Happy New Year

 

Our topic/key question for this half term is “Where do stories come from?”

 

As discussed at the autumn term Year 1 induction evening; we are now moving more formally into the Key Stage 1 way of working.

 

This means that for much of the time we will be working with children in groups of about six.

 

Sometimes these groups will be organised by similar ability. This is when we will put children at similar stages of development together so that we can work on a shared learning need. These groups are different for different areas of learning and are regularly changed as children move on or need more practice.

 

Sometimes children will work in mixed ability groups or friendship groups. There will still be times to choose too, and at these times, some children will choose to work individually.

 

In the morning we will be continuing to do what we call a reading circuit.

 

We ask you, if you can, to bring your child into school and help them settle. When you do this, could you please ensure that your child practises the handwriting for their name, help them with their words in a new ‘look, cover, write and check book’, and then tell them what the card says on their table about what their group will be doing in the reading circuit.

 

Hopefully this will only take a few minutes.

 

We understand that for some parents who work, have pre school siblings or school age siblings this can be hard to juggle. Just do what you can manage. We will support all the children.

 

Doors open at 9am and we ask that parents leave by 9.15am at the latest, so to help the children’s independence. Anyone arriving after this time will have to enter school by the office.

 

“Where do stories come from?”

 

Ø      This topic has a strong influence on literacy and we will be looking at a range of stories from around the world. We will talk about where the stories come from and thinking about some of the underlying morals.

Ø      We will use maps and globes to locate where the stories come from.

Ø      Our role play area will be a story corner/library and we will be encouraging the children to act out known fairy tales, to make up their own stories and to retell stories.

 

Ø      Share traditional stories with your children. Maybe retelling them rather than reading them from a book.

Ø      Send in examples of stories from around the world which we can share with the whole class at story time.

Ø      Act out stories with your children. Focus on how a story needs a beginning, a middle and an end, and to use expressive voices.

 

Ø      To describe movements of familiar objects.

Ø      To know that pushes and pulls can make things move and change shape.

Ø      To carry out experiments to find out more about pushes and pulls.

Ø      Look at toys at home. How can you make them move, change shape, stop, go faster etc.

 

Ø      To be confident in strategies in addition (e.g. to use counting on, to put the biggest number first) and subtraction (e.g. to use counting back)

Ø      Count in tens up to 100.

Ø      To know off by heart the addition doubles: 1 + 1, 2+2, 3+3, 4+4, 5+5

Ø      To know off by heart all the bonds (pairs of numbers) which make 3, 4, 5 or 6, e.g. 1+2 = 3, 3 + 1 = 4, 3 + 2 = 5, 4 + 2 = 6. To begin to recognise sums which relate – e.g. 6 – 2 = 4

Ø      Begin to count in twos

Ø      To become familiar with the vocabulary involved in measuring e.g. short, long, longest, tall, tallest, full, empty, half full.

 

Ø      Practice counting in tens, from 0 to 100 and back again.

Ø      Make up number quizzes with your child where both of you take turns. Let them ask the questions too! Focus on addition doubles and numbers that add up to 10 and taking away from 10.

Ø      Practise counting in twos. See how far your child can get.

Ø      Practise addition and subtraction sums mentally with your child, encouraging them to use the strategies of counting on and back.

 

Ø      To apply phonics in reading and writing.

Ø      When writing to use capital letters for personal pronoun “I”, for names and for the start of sentences.

Ø      To re-tell stories giving the main points in sequence.

Ø      When reading, to talk about the characters in the story and discuss how they are described in the story.

Ø      To form letters correctly.

Ø      To recognise consonant clusters in reading and writing – e.g. tr, pl, cl, sm etc.

 

Ø      Practise reading and writing words from the phonics spelling list (see attached list).

Ø      Continue to practise the 42 Jolly Phonics sounds.

Ø      Encourage your child to retell you the stories they are reading. Ask them questions about the characters in the story e.g. about their appearance, behaviour, qualities etc.

Ø      When reading encourage your child to blend regular words independently and to practise tricky words as they come up.

 

Reminder – Please make sure your child has their reading book and contact book in their book bag every day as we try to fit in extra reading whenever possible.

 

Children in Blue group should focus on the phonics (Red group in Indigo class).

Children in Green group should focus on the phonics and tricky words (Blue group in Indigo class).

Children in Yellow, Orange and Red groups should attempt all of the activities below (Green, Orange and Yellow in Indigo class).

Hopefully by now you have had the chance to log in to Fronter. There are lots of exciting

things on there including videos of our One World Week and Christmas performances,

linking to learning websites and games and information for parents. Your child should

have a sticker with their username and password (as well as the Fronter login address

www.fronter.com/croydon/login/uso) inside their home-school contact book and

homework book. Look out for more new links and content on Fronter.

 

Week beginning 4^th – Arts Week events

19^th – Individual Children photos

26^th – Year 1 to Hornimans Museum

 

12^th School breaks up for half term

Week beginning 22^nd – Science Week

 

16^th & 18^th – Parents evening and science week exhibition

24^th – Year 1 & 2 Spring performance – 2pm

31^st – End of term disco for Year 1 & 2

 

1^st – School Breaks up and end of term do

19^th – INSET Day

Week beginning 20^th – Healthy Week

 

19^th – Group Photographs

 

Week beginning 7^th – Environment Week

30^th – Sports Day – Year 1 and 2 (a.m) and Nursery and Reception (p.m)

8^th – Parents evening and Art Exhibition

23^rd – School Closes