Welcome Active Ants 

It's Mrs Bissell here.  We are lucky to be supported by Mrs Brandon.

We can't wait to start a new term with you all

This is the Summer term.

We wear PE kits on Tuesdays and Fridays.  Please bring your reading folders and water bottles in every day.  We love exploring and discovering inside and outside in all weather so please always ensure you have spare clothes (with your name on) in your school bag and a suitable coat.

Each week, I will upload a Week Ahead.  This will detail our learning for the week.  It will contain what we will be learning in Phonics, our Literacy, Maths and RE focus as well as new skills that we will discover in our classroom and outdoor area.  It will also provide you with any other pieces of information for that current week.

Please continue to check our Class DOJO page to see what we have been up to and for class and school updates.

Phonics

We follow the Essential Letters and sounds (ELS) phonics programme.  This is a DfE validated scheme that helps children learn sounds, blend words for reading and segment words for writing in a structured and engaging way.

In Summer term, we will be continuing to practise blending sounds to read words and simple sentences and spell words using the sounds we know.  We will be developing confidence in reading captions and short sentences.  We will also be looking at different word structures, for example CVCC (belt), CCVC (flop) as well as suffixes ('ed - land and landed). Children in Class A that need some extra support to recall and/or implement the phase 2 and 3 sounds will be having interventions during the day to support them with their phonics learning.  

At home, you can help by practising the sounds that your child has been learning and encouraging them to sound out words when reading.  Children already have a copy of the phase 2 and phase 3 sounds in their reading folders.  The mnemonics that we use and a glossary of terms can be found below.  You will also be given a regularly updated assessment sheet for your child and it will highlight sounds or skills that they need support with.  

If you have any questions about phonics or how to support your child at home, please ask.

Writing

We will be continuing to work on pencil grip and making controlled movements. We will also be continuing to work on forming our letters correctly as we learn them. Each morning, we will be doing independent writing.  We listen to a dictated phrase such as 'six pink pigs' and we have a go at writing it.  We will also use this time to practise our letter formation and presentation.  In the afternoon, we will have a separate handwriting focus whereby we concentrate on forming one letter each day.   In Summer term, we will be continuing to practise writing CVC words (cat) and captions that can be read by others but we will also be completing tasks with an adult in order to develop our writing skills. 

We will be writing lots in our play too.  We will be making lists, labels, instructions, stickers and stories. We will inspire a love of writing through play and purpose!

Mathematics

Our School day includes lots of exciting maths.  For example, we count how many friends have lunches and show this on our hands, who is here and who is absent, we display our class register on tens frames and use it to help us subitise and we get into groups for Discovery time.   There are so many opportunities to explore, develop and deepen our maths understanding.  For our more formal learning, we will be following the White Rose scheme. We will be developing on our Autumn and Spring term learning by focusing on numbers, exploring these numbers with a deeper understanding and will start to develop reasoning on a foundation level. We will explore sharing and grouping.  We will study patterns.  We will also explore 3d shapes by finding shapes within shapes and rotating and investigating them.  

Reading at home / home learning

Reading at home is so important for children that are learning to read. Just 5 minutes each day really will make such a difference to your child’s progress and confidence in reading. We will send home a phonics sound mat, tricky words and a reading book but will also use an E-Library to assign Phonics books.  Please record your child's reading onto their Boom reader each time they read with you.  It is really important that all children practise their sounds and tricky words as well as reading with you. If you have any questions about Boom Reader or reading at home, please ask. 

Play

Play in EYFS is so important and allows us to learn and develop so many skills. Our weekly provision is always based around a book or a theme.  We will explore and investigate the world around us in both our indoor and outdoor classrooms, as well as our school forest area during our weekly forest learning sessions. We will have plenty of opportunities to apply our learning though play. As we explore and discover in all seasons, please also ensure your child always has spare clothes with them (and they have your child's name in them).