Autumn Term 2023

Welcome to Robins class!

We are a class of reception and year one children which means that some of us are learning from the National Curriculum and some of us are learning from the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. To start the year our Robins will be spending time settling at school, finding out more about each other, what makes each of us unique and also learning school routines. Here is a copy of our curriculum map to give you an idea of what we will be learning this term: Getting to know you – Curriculum Map. We will also be encouraging the children to follow their own lines of enquiry by supporting them to learn through their own interests. You can check out our learning so far on the Robins in Action page.

Things to remember:

Family photographs – We would love to fill the walls of our role-play area with photographs of the children with their families! These will offer comfort to the children when they are in school and, through conversations, helps them to understand the similarities and differences between families, customs and routines. Photographs can be emailed to: robins@alpington.norfolk.sch.uk

PE – Mr Colbeck will be taking all children for PE every Tuesday morning so please remember to send your child to school in their PE kit.

Water bottles – Please can you remember that your child’s class water bottle must contain water only and not squash.

Naming clothes – Please can you make sure that you name your children’s clothes so that we can return them to the right owner and they do not end up in lost property. If you could also check the names in your child’s clothes from time to tome this will help to make sure they haven’t accidentally picked up someone else’s jumper instead of their own.

End of day collection – Please could you let us know if your child is going to be collected by anyone other than their primary carers. In time we will become familiar with Grandparents etc but, for now, if you could just let us know who we are looking for at the end of the day this will really help us out. Could we also ask that you don’t call your child away from their class at the end of the day so that we can ensure that they have been safely handed over to the right adult.

Reading – On Friday we will send your child home with a library book that they can borrow for the week and change again the following Friday. This book is for you to share together at home, we do not expect the children to be reading it to you. There will be information to follow regarding a phonics meeting for new parents and also a letter for all parents explaining the new reading scheme.

If you have any questions or queries, no matter how big or small, please do not hesitate to speak to the Robins staff either in the morning or at the end of the day.

Warmest regards,

Miss Larter

Summer Term 2023

Can you believe we are in the Summer term? We will be starting with the topic ‘A Giant Mystery’ as well as following our own interests. On arrival back at school we found that the Hope Garden had been taped off with a warning sign telling us to ‘KEEP OUT!’ We soon discovered that this had been done by Gemma the giant and helped her to be less selfish and helped her to make friends. During this topic we will be helping Gemma plant flowers and find out all about growing plants – what they need, where they like to grow, what the parts are called and why plants are an important source of food for all sorts of creatures. We will use maps and compasses to find our way around and talk about good places for growing plants. We will also look at other places around the world and make comparisons to Alpington. We will write letters to tell Gemma about the things we are finding out.

A Giant Mystery 3

Spring Term 2023

Welcome back to the Spring term! This term we will be starting with the topic of ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ which will give us the chance to use our imaginations to be creative, enjoy some fantastic books, find out about what life was like in a castle and make comparisons to our lives today. Below is our class curriculum map so you can find out more about our learning in different areas of the curriculum.

Dungeons and Dragons Curriculum Map

Home learning

If your child is off school due to Covid and they are well enough to learn from home please use the tasks below. I will then send you an email with further learning and invite them to online sessions. We do not expect the children to be sat at a computer all day as in class they are encouraged to be active and creative learners. If you are able to create small areas of learning for your children to practise skills independently then this should minimise the assistance they need from adults and also mirror what they are used to in the classroom.

• Create a reading den where the children can take their books to read. This could be made using bed sheets and chairs or boxes. You could even include a torch for secret night time reading! Encourage your child to look at the pictures in the books and retell the story or they could come up with their own story using the pictures. Maybe they could use their teddies and retell the story to a member of their family.
• Encourage your child to be creative! If you have a small space where you are able to leave out paper, pens, tape, unwanted packaging and boxing then your child will have a place to go and be creative or practise their writing skills.
• In class we have a construction area where the children can build using a range of resources. If you have a box of Lego or some building blocks them leave them out and encourage your child to develop their motor skills whilst building.

Maths

• Practise your number recognition on Helicopter Rescue
• Play Hit the Button to practise your number bonds to 10!
• Try finding the missing number in subtraction number problems by playing Subtraction Grids
• Practise using coins to pay for items on Toy Shop Money Game

English

• At Reading Rockets you will find books and activities for summer reading and learning.
• Can’t get to the library but read all the stories you have at home? Oxford Owl has an extensive free online library.
• Reading Eggs. Learning to read is made easy and fun as your child makes their way through self-paced, one-on-one lessons that match their ability and feature fun characters, wonderful songs and interactive animations.
• At BBC Bitesize you can continue to practise key skills with short daily activities.
• Topmarks has a wide range of games and activities available for all ages and year groups to practise key skills independently.

In class we have been using the school curriculum values to talk about our learning: