This Term

Autumn Term 2023

 It has been wonderful to welcome the children to Butterflies Class. They have been working so hard already! We are really looking forward to getting to know them and teaching them this year. This letter will give you some information about what your children will be learning this term, as well as sharing the new class routines and arrangements.

Mrs Sheikh will be teaching this year on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesday afternoons. Mrs Fouché will be teaching on Wednesday mornings, Thursdays and Fridays. Mrs Walker will be working in class each morning as our teaching assistant from Monday to Thursday.

Maths

In our Maths lessons this term we will be focussing on the topics of number and place value, time, measure and money.

It will really support your child’s learning in Maths if you can give them opportunities at home to practise using money (for example: finding totals of coins), and to look at clocks with you to talk about how we tell the time. We have found that these are areas where support at home can be particularly beneficial.

In addition to this, all the children have an account with Sumdog Maths app. This allows them to access maths activities that are personally selected for them. Do let us know if you need a new copy of your child’s login details for Sumdog.

https://learn.sumdog.com/schools/maths/

As part of the new Maths curriculum, the children will also have their own logins for Complete Maths, which they will be using in the classroom.

Here are some links to websites that you can also use to support your child’s learning in Maths. Do let us know if you have any questions about them.

 https://www.nctm.org/Classroom-Resources/Illuminations/Interactives/Ten-Frame/

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/116/telling-the-time

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/money/toy-shop-money

English

Our English this term will be based around the texts Owl Babies, Arabian Nights and A Christmas Carol in a way that makes them accessible for these age groups. Most of our speaking and listening, grammar and writing activities will be linked to our work with these texts. The children will continue to explore spelling and phonics as part of our Sounds-Write scheme. The texts we will be reading with the children will be closely linked to our phonics work to ensure that the knowledge of the phonics and spelling is securely embedded.

Later in this half term, we will be sending home some short activities linked to our English lessons. These will include letter formation/handwriting and phonics/spelling activities. We will provide more information about this in the weeks to come.

In the meantime, the children will continue to bring a reading book home every day. This will be matched carefully to their progress in reading so as to ensure that the books are suitable for their level and enables them to securely embed their knowledge of phonics. It would be really beneficial if the children read to an adult at home every day. This may often mean re-reading a book, which is invaluable in enabling the children to develop their fluency. 

Once the children are more settled in the class we are going to encourage them to borrow books from our class library as part of our emphasis on ‘reading for pleasure’. The children will be free to take home a book from the class library which they can keep for as long as they like. They may wish to read it themselves or they may wish to share it with an adult and listen to them reading. We will ask the children to take responsibility for ‘signing’ the books out and in.

Foundation Subjects

This half term in geography, our topic is Spatial Sense. We will be learning about maps and honing our map drawing skills. After half term, we will be learning about the history of the Romans in Britain.

In our science lessons this half of term we will be studying the human body. We will be learning about the skeletal system and the digestive and the circulatory systems. The children will spend time thinking about how they can keep their bodies healthy through exercise and healthy eating. In the second half of the Autumn term our Science topic will be Living Things and their Environments. In these lessons the children will be learning about the features of a variety of habitats and the creatures that live in them.

RE

In RE, we will be learning more about Judaism – specifically finding out about what the Torah brings to the Jewish community – before moving on to learn about Christianity by exploring why Christians trust Jesus and follow him.

Our music learning this term will give the children the opportunity to listen to and respond to a wide variety of music. They will have the opportunity to create their own compositions using the classroom instruments. The children in Year 2 will have the opportunity to learn to play the recorder. For this they will each need to ensure their recorders and recorder books (Recorder from the Beginning – John Pitts) are in school on Tuesdays. Could we ask that you please make sure they are named! It would be wonderful if each child could find a little bit of time each week to practise their recorder at home.

Art

In art lessons we will be exploring colour and shape this half term. We will be looking closely at artwork by Paul Klee and Alexander Calder. After half term we will be thinking about colour, shape and texture.

PE

Takes places on Tuesday afternoons. On this day the children will need to wear their full PE kit all day. They will also take part in regular physical exercise in the form of the Daily Mile and Morning Fitness. This term in PE the children will be developing their fundamental movement skills (balancing, running and jumping) and their object control skills (throwing, catching and striking). They will then be developing their gymnastic skills in their lessons after half term.

French

The children will be learning some French phrases through song and simple conversations. They will participate in a weekly French session.

DT

For our DT project this term we plan to design and make a pizza. We will be in touch with you closer to the time to discuss the details of this project.

Computing

This term in our computing lessons we will be covering two units – Questioning and Effective Searching. Linked with this is our Esafety topic of Internet Safety.

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/ is a useful website for parents to visit.

Aside from our Computing lessons we will be using the Ipads regularly to develop the children’s computing skills and to support learning in other areas of the curriculum. Each child will be reminded of their logins for Purple Mash and Sumdog. These apps can be used to practise different skills at home.

We will be teaching weekly PSHE lessons. This term our sessions and conversations will be centred around new beginnings and belonging and how we can work together to tackle bullying as part of anti-bullying week. Alongside the regular PSHE lessons we will, of course, have impromptu sessions to address any important issues as they arise. 

The children will be continuing to visit the Wild Space on a Monday afternoon. For the visits the Year 1 and Year 2 Butterflies will join Miss B, Mrs Watson and the new Ants class on alternating weeks. Please ensure that the children bring their complete outdoor kit into school so that they have it ready for these sessions. If you have any questions about Wild Space sessions do have a word with Miss B.

Each child will be allocated an opportunity to give a Show and Tell about a topic, experience or object of their choice in each half of term. We will provide more information about this in the coming weeks. The children are welcome to start thinking about what they would like to talk about in preparation.

We continue to use Tapestry in class on a regular basis. In addition to using Tapestry to record the children’s learning and achievements we will also use it from time to time to share information and home tasks with parents and carers. So do keep an eye on Tapestry to see if anything new has popped up.

Communication is so vital between parents and teachers so please do catch us at the end of the day if you have any concerns or questions. If it is something that needs a longer discussion, then feel free to email the office and we can arrange a meeting at another time.

Thank you for your support and we will look forward to getting to know you as the term progresses.

Mrs Sheikh and Mrs Fouché

In our class you will find:

Class Teacher: Mrs Fouché and Mrs Sheikh
Teaching Assistants: Pauline Walker: 

Our PE day will be Tuesday

(On this day the children will need to wear their full PE kit all day)