2023- 2024

Owls Class Welcome Letter                                             September 2023

Welcome back to school! I hope you had a lovely summer break and are feeling rested and ready for an exciting year ahead.

Our topics this year are Fantastic Creatures, Survivors & Explorers. Our first topic Fantastic Creatures offers a wide range of learning objectives for the children to immerse themselves in. A lot of the children’s learning will be cross-curricular which will hopefully make it interesting, meaningful, and memorable. Please refer to our curriculum map for specific learning goals.

Our New Classroom Routines:

PE – PE is always on a Thursday with Mrs Lloyd & Mrs Blazer and Friday with Mr Colbeck. On these days the children must come to school in their PE kits. As winter draws near, the weather will begin to turn cold and wet, so please ensure your child has appropriate clothing such as trainers, jogging bottoms, jumpers, gloves, and light waterproof jackets. If for some reason your child cannot participate in PE, please send a note, or see us in the morning.

Reading:

Guided Reading: Your child will read with their ‘Guided Reading’ group twice a week. The days your child reads on will be noted in their home book. Each group will read a book chosen from our school library. They will read with an adult in school and be issued reading homework which will be recorded in their home book. It is important their reading homework is completed before their next session as the whole group reads and moves on together.

Individual Reading:

Your child will need to choose a book that they want to read on their own, this can either be from home or chosen from the classroom bookshelf.  Your child can bring this book home, but must remember to have this book in school each day as we will have quiet reading daily.

Mental Maths– Your child will receive mental maths targets every Thursday which will be tested the following Thursday. The children have been assessed and will be given different targets to practise at home. The targets are not specifically linked to their maths lessons, but consolidating mental skills. The main focus will be times tables, which are useful in all areas of Maths.

Spellings – Your child will receive new spellings to learn every Tuesday which will be tested the following Tuesday. The spellings hopefully will expand their vocabulary and allow them to be more independent in their writing. We expect the children to learn the correct spellings of words, but they should also know the meanings and be able to use the words in sentences.  Every few weeks the children will have a mixture of spellings that they have already had.  Hopefully this will help embed them in their long-term memory.

Pencil Cases: The children are very welcome to have a pencil case from home, but they need to be stored in their bag unless it is needed for a specific lesson, we have plenty of equipment in the classroom for everyone.

Water Bottles: Please can everyone have a named water bottle, these can be kept in the classroom so the children can access them at appropriate moments within the day. Please can water bottles only contain water.

Thank you for your support.  Mrs Lloyd.