Purple Class 2020-2021Welcome to Year 1 Newsletter

Dear Parents/Carers and our new Year 1 children,Welcome to Year 1! We have really enjoyed looking at all of your fantastic home learning and seeingyour involvement with our transition challenges over the past few weeks and we are really lookingforward to working with you all next year. We have decided to send out our Term 1 newsletter now sothat you can begin to prepare for life in Year 1 over the summer holidays.

Behaviour and RewardsIn Year 1 we use Class Dojo alongside our behaviour ladders and gold book behaviour system. Childrenwill still have the opportunity to move up the behaviour ladder, have their name written in the goldbook and earn afternoon tea with Mrs Lewer. In addition to this they will also have the opportunity toearn positive Class Dojo points for all of the wonderful things that they do throughout the day. FromSeptember for every 100 points that a child earns they will earn a ‘dip in the box’. Children can alsolose points for making poor choices but we are sure this will be a very rare occurrence next year.

Home LearningReading - It is very important that your child reads as regularly as possible to develop their fluency.It is also important that they do not only read independently but also sometimes have the opportunityto discuss their book with an adult who can ask them questions and help them to develop theircomprehension. Children who read regularly at home always make the most progress with theirreading in school so we really value your support in this area. In Year 1 the children will be given timeevery day to read and change their books and they can do this as many times during the week as theywant to. Teachers and teaching assistants will only write in your child’s contact book if they haveread with your child. We would like you to record into your child’s contact book when they read to youat home please.

Spellings - Every week we will send home spellings for the children to learn and we will have a spellingchallenge every Friday. There will also be opportunities for the children to practice and apply theirweekly spellings during our daily lessons and challenge time opportunities.

Optional homework – Each week we will be sending home a suggested homework activity letter andthis will be available weekly on the school website. You are welcome to undertake any of theseactivities with your child at home as they will build upon the children’s knowledge and understandingof different topic areas that we have taught them that week in class.

For every piece of homework that your child completes and for every time you write a comment intheir contact book to show that they have read at home they will receive a dojo point. Children canshow their contact books when they arrive in the morning any day throughout the week and will havethe chance to share their homework in their busy books with each other at the end of each week .

Some parents have asked for ideas for summer activities that they can do to help their child preparefor Year 1 and so we have attached some Year 1 Summer Holiday Challenges. There is no pressure tocomplete any of these challenges, it is all optional.

‘What do animals need to survive?’In September our topic will focused on answering the question ‘What do animals need to survive?’.Below is an overview of how our topic will link with the rest of the curriculum.

In English we will be begin by writing a recount of our summer holidays. Then we are going to beexploring the book ‘Goldilocks and the 3 bears’. We will be adapting and writing our own version of thestory and then moving on to the book ‘Jungle Jamboree’ where we will be focusing on writingsentences including adjectives to describe different animals.

In Maths we will begin by exploring the pupil’s current mathematical abilities for the first two weeks.We then hope to begin exploring place value including counting forwards and backwards to 100,identifying and representing numbers to 20 before moving onto addition and subtraction to 10 andthen ending the term recognising and exploring 2d shapes.

In Science we will be focusing on animals including humans. We will learn about the different groupsof animals and what they need to survive before exploring the human body and its senses alongsidenaming the different body parts.

In PE our focus is going to be sending and receiving using our feet. PE will take place on a Tuesdayfor BOTH classes at separate times. Please ensure that your child has a complete PE kit in schooland ensure that earrings have been removed and long hair is tied back on these occasions. We willalso be taking part in the Mile a Day most days weather permitting.

In RE we will be looking at what it means for Christians and Jews to live within a faith community.

In DT we are going to be designing and making animal habitats.

In Art we are going to be exploring printing and using different printing techniques to create animalmasks.

In Computing we will be exploring e-safety and we will be reminding children about how to usetechnology safely and respectfully.

In History our focus will be significant historical figures therefore we will be learning about TimBerners- Lee who invented the World Wide Web.

In Geography we will be looking at maps to help us to learn about human and physical features and toidentify different parts of the world where we might find animals who have paws,claws or whiskers.

In Music we will be exploring the song Hey You as part of our Charanga scheme. We will also belearning some harvest songs.

We have several animals themed activities planned for our Forest school inspired learning nextterm. As well as continuing to be able to choose what they would like to focus on during our ForestSchool Inspired Learning time the children will also be given the chance to undertake some animalsthemed tasks too. This will take place every Monday for BOTH classes. Please ensure that your childhas appropriate clothing (waterproof coat, jumper, top, trousers) and footwear (wellingtons or boots)in school. We would prefer it if children could bring their forest school clothes in on the firstMonday of term and then leave their clothes in school until half term so that we have the flexibilityto change our forest school day depending on the weather. If the children’s clothes get really muddy

or wet, we will send them home earlier than half term.As we haven’t been able to show you around the Year 1 area and classrooms, we have included somephotos for you to look at below.

This is the Year 1 outdoor shared area. These are only some of the areas, we are lucky to have a largeoutside space purely for Year One to use.

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These are parts of our classroom- Purple Class

This is the door that we will use as an exit and an entrance to ourclassroom. It opens up into the outside learning space and leads toa gate onto the field.

We have two sinks next to our toilets. We willuse these to wash our hands throughout the day.

We have two toilets inside of the classroom(although you can only see one in this photo.)

This is our challenge time/phonics and spelling This is our busy bees homework display.display. We will use this to display the challengework we are most proud of.

This is the new display that is waiting for you in September! We will be creating ‘passports’ to displaynext to a picture of you inside of a stamp!

This is our role play/reading corner. It is called ‘Rainbow Vet Surgery’. Inside there are lots of safe,washable veterinary themed toys to play with, as well as books all about different animals with Paws,Claws and Whiskers.

This is our topic board. We will be adding work to it each week when we learn something new.

This is our ‘WOW wall’. Each Purple Class student will have an amazing piece of work displayed everyterm. It is a space for you to really show off work that you are proud of!

This is how our tables will look in PurpleClass. We also have a blue focus table andtables by the window.

At the moment, we do not have our usual bugcarpet in Purple Class. Each of you will begiven a silver spot to sit on during carpettime.

This is our behaviour system. Every day you will earn the opportunity tomove up the chart towards the golden book! We also will have dojopoints being awarded each time you move up! (Or sadly taken away ifyou move down.)

Year 1 Summer Holiday Challenges

EnglishKeep a weekly diary about your

summer holidays.

ReadingRead at least one book a week.Fill in a book review for your

favourite summer read.Spelling

Practise spelling some of the Year1 common exception words.

PhonicsPractise saying all of the Phase2, Phase 3 and Phase 5 sounds.

For example ‘s like in socks’, ‘ow’like in cow.

Practise spelling your first andsurnameMaths

Practise counting forwards andbackwards to 100.

Can you continue counting forwardsor backwards from any number to

100 not always starting on 0.Handwriting

Practise your handwriting.Can you form all of your letters

correctly?Practise telling the time to the

nearest quarter hour (o’clock, halfpast, quarter past, quarter to).

We’ve attached some clock petalsyou might like to copy and put

around your clock.

MusicLearn a new song.

Art/DTBe creative, create something

for your bedroom.History

Find out one fact about yourfamily’s history.

GeographyCreate a map of your house or

local area.Science/Forest School

Create a home, den or nest foryourself or animal.

PEComplete the mile a day at least

once.

ComputingDiscuss one time when you were

being safe when using technology.Log on to purplemash and complete

some of the activities on thewebsite safely.

https://www.purplemash.com/sch/ditton-infant

EcoHelp with sorting out your

recyclable items/rubbish athome. How many times can youfind this symbol on packaging?

This is our welcome to Year One portrait display. If you have not already sentus your portrait, we would love for you to do one during the Summer holidaysand bring it in with you on your first day back please so we can complete ourdisplay.