Welcome to Swallows class page

Ms Sarwar, Miss Gray, Miss Pearce and Mrs Welsh

Things to Remember:

• PE is on Tuesday and Wednesday. Please ensure your child wears their PE kit to school.

• Homework and spellings are given out on Friday and should be handed in by the next Friday.

• Spelling tests will be completed on Fridays, and scores will be written in their folders.

Reading

We encourage you to continue reading with your child as often as possible—just a few minutes each day can make a big difference. Each time you read at home, please remember to sign or tick your child’s reading diary (adding a short comment if you can).

To motivate and celebrate regular reading, children will earn a stamp every time they read at home. These stamps build up towards rewards, with children working their way through Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels. At each stage they will receive a prize, with the rewards becoming more exciting as they progress. Consistent reading will not only support your child’s learning but also give them the chance to achieve the top-level prize from Mrs Lewis.

Spellings

Your child will receive their spellings on Friday. Please take some time to practise these together at home, as this will support their learning in school. The spellings are key words that children are expected to be able to read and spell by the end of Year 2 (Key Stage 1).

Numbots

Your child will have their Numbots login in front of their reading record. This online game supports children's mathematical skills and we recommend playing at home if possible. The children also have the opportunity to play in school. 

Play Numbots 

Online games to support learning

Hit the button - practice number bonds to 5, 10, 20, and 100.

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

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What we are learning this term

English

This term in English, we will be reading The Highway Rat, which will inspire our writing. The children will begin by exploring a model text in the form of a newspaper report about a local hero. They will learn about the key features of a newspaper report, including headlines, captions and factual language. Using this knowledge, the children will plan and write their own newspaper report about the duck from The Highway Rat, focusing on how the duck saves the other animals.

Maths

In Maths, the children will be learning about measurement, including mass, capacity and temperature. They will develop their understanding through practical activities and real-life contexts. The children will then move on to fractions, where they will learn to recognise and find a half, a quarter and a third. To finish the year, the children will explore time, as well as position and direction, building important skills that they can apply in everyday situations.

Science

In Science, the children will be learning about living things and their habitats. They will explore different habitats and learn to identify things that are alive, have never been alive and are dead. The children will also investigate microhabitats and simple food chains, as well as what animals need to survive. This will help them to understand how living things depend on their environment.

Phonics

The children are taught discrete phonics lessons everyday following the Twinkl Phonics program which is a DfE approved programme.  We teach the children the sounds in order for them to read and write with increasing proficiency. At the end of Year 1 the children completed a Phonics Screening Check which is a legal requirement for each child. They will apply their phonics knowledge to read 40 words, 20 of which are real and 20 which are not (we call these alien words).

In Year 2, we will continue to build on children's phonics knowledge from reception and year 1. Children will have lessons tailored to meet their individual needs and next steps.

There is more information about the Phonics Screening Check here: 

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/home/reading-owl/expert-help/the-year-1-phonics-screening-check

Here is an overview of our phonics programme. We will be recapping level 3 and teaching levels 4-6 in year 2, depending on the children's level.

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Common Exception Words

We will be teaching the children how to spell these common exception words by the end of year 2.

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