Year One Summer Term Newsletter

LiteracyThis term we will be developing our story writing skills and learning how to make our writing more interesting for the reader by adding descriptions. We will be writing letters from under the sea and making fact books about sea creatures, writing messages in a bottle, postcards and sea poems. We are really focusing on developing our spelling by finding out which words we already know and choosing the words we want to learn by using the Look Cover Write check method and bringing home words to learn. We would like to begin a magazine swap in our class so if you have any children's magazines at home they can bring them in and swap them for a new one.

Context for learningWelcome to the colourful world of Under the Sea for this terms context! We have already created a super Yellow Submarine for our role play area and collected a range of sea book for our reading corner. Watch out for our Under the Sea Assembly later on in the term.

MathematicsWe are becoming really good at independently identifying our next steps in our learning by looking at our Big Maths tests and choosing the next area we want to learn. Can you look at the tests we send home each week and see how your child is progressing. They should be able to tell you which areas they are working on so you can help at home too. Also this term we will be collecting data and making some wonderful graphs and tables. We will continue to develop our understanding of 3D shape and making an under sea city using junk materials. Our Toy Sale which a fabulous success so you can continue to help at home by asking your child to add coins together and give change from 10 or 20p.WelshIn Welsh this term we are asking questions about our families or pets to collect data for our graphs such as Pa liw ydy’r ci? ( What colour is your dog?) or Oes brawd ‘da ti? ( Have you got a brother?) We will be revising our colours and numbers and learning to write what we know in Welsh.See our website for phrases you can try out at home.

ICTWe are treasure hunters! In this unit we will learning about what is an algorithm and what it means to debug. We will be learning to programme a Beebot, following and writing our own instructions using our own codes and spotting and correcting mistakes. We will be also be using the Ap Pic collage to create our Escher artwork as well as developing our skills at using popplets, learning how to find images using the internet and inserting them into our work.

CreativeThis term we are looking at the artist Escher who creates amazing symmetrical pictures. We will be using our ICT skills to photograph our work and repeating and rotating the images to create symmetrical patterns. We are also looking at layering our work and creating effects using different media as well as developing our fine motor skills of drawing and cutting.In music we will be listening to Saint – Saens Aquarium from the Carnival of the animals. We will be moving and responding to the music through dance and creating our own under the sea music.

REThis term we will be looking at Special Books. We will learn about the story of Mary Jones and how she walked for miles to get a Bible. We will discover what books are special to the religions of Judaism and Islam and making our own Special books, developing our ideas of what is important to us in how we live our lives.

Trips and Special DaysIn line with our context this term we will be arranging a trip to Barry Island and a trip to an aquarium to further develop our understanding of undersea life. We will be holding a Teddy Bears picnic to learn about the importance of eating healthy foods and of course our annual Sports Day to celebrate our health and fitness.

Your Help at homeYour help at home is invaluable to supporting your child's learning. Reading regularly with your child makes the world of difference in their development. Look out for orange cards which the children will use to show you areas of their learning that you can help with at home. Together we are a team working for the best possible outcomes for our children. Thank you!