Miss MacDonell and Mrs Shepherd would like to welcome you to Sycamore Class!

In Maths we follow the White Rose curriculum, which involves using concrete and pictorial methods to solve fluency calculations, problem solving and reasoning.   

We are also developing the children maths mastery by following a new Maths Mastery programme, whereby the children will develop a solid foundation in subitizing and visualising numbers and amounts.   

In English, we are following the Pathways to Write Programme and linking other select texts to our Connected Learning topics with fun and interesting fiction picture books, covering units which include, diary writing, recounts, letters and instructions. There is a key focus on grammar, spelling and punctuation, we look at specific rules and patterns each week and complete regular spelling tests. In addition, it would benefit the children to be able to spell all of the common exception words for Year 1(the link is below).

In reading, the children will be leading into ‘Accelerated Reader’, which provides them with a ZPD range to choose appropriate ability books to build on their decoding and comprehension skills.

We have lots of fun things in store with our Connected Learning topics.

These will include subjects on:

• What can we find in our school?
• What would you put in your own museum?
• Where would you travel?

Each of these will have a focus to try and solve over each term.

Although there is no formal homework in Year one, we do have a termly home learning challenge. In addition, we would appreciate you reading daily with your child and practising the spellings.

Due to the current school restrictions please contact the office (on 01233 614660 or email on office@john-wesley.org.uk ) if you need to arrange a meeting with us or have any questions.

The children also have their reading logs which you can write notes in to communicate with us.

Should the school be closed at any point then 'Home Learning' will be provided through the online platform 'Seesaw'.

Log in information can be found in the children's reading records.

Seesaw will also be used by us to post: Home learning challenges, termly spelling lists, reading challenges and class information. Your child can then choose whether to bring their work into class or respond via Seesaw. 

Other 

Reading

Read a book you haven't read before. (Oxford Owls has some good free books to read online!)

Read and follow some instructions.

Put your books in alphabetical order.

Rank your story books from most to least favourite.

Choose a word or a sound to hunt for - how many times can you find it?

Read to your toys - they love books as well.

Writing

Keep a diary every day. This is a really good way to get your feelings out and can be a really good piece of history.

Make up a story about one of your favourite characters from a book or a film.

Draw and write your own comic book.

Write the lyrics to your favourite song, but change them a little bit!

Use big chalks to practise writing on the pavement.

Use different writing tools, like felt pens, crayons, chalk or paint to write with.

Maths

Play Countdown. Can you make a target number using only random numbers?

Counting - How many toys do you own?

Sorting - Can you sort your toys into groups, based upon certain criteria (i.e. soft, fluffy, metal, plastic)

Sorting - Can you order toys from largest to smallest? Heaviest to lightest?

Find and write down all objects with numbers on them in the house. How many do you have?

Measure and record the length of a bean plant as the days go on.

Bake a cake

How many small containers of water fit into one large container?

Other

Build a den from blankets and pillows. Use it as a reading area.

Make something using real tools. (With supervision!)

Learn computer science.

Learn a language as a family.

DIY Science Experiments

Make a treasure hunt around the house.

Useful Weblinks

This list is not exhaustive, but these (mostly) free websites can help to continue to develop skills at home. Please let the class teacher know if you have found a good website we could add to our list!

GENERAL

Games for various subjects:https://www.ictgames.com/

Help for home learning: http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/

CBeebies: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies

Scratch Jr: (programming): https://www.scratchjr.org/

Hour Of code: https://hourofcode.com/uk/learn

ENGLISH

Purple Mash (School Login Required):  https://www.purplemash.com/login/

Education City (School Login Required) https://www.educationcity.com/

PHONICS

Cued Articulation JWS Phases 3 and 5 https://youtu.be/9E2LN7_x7EY

Letters and Sounds:http://www.letters-and-sounds.com/
 

MATHS

Maths games:https://www.topmarks.co.uk/

Maths Playground: https://www.mathplayground.com/

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

CONNECTED LEARNING

British Antarctic Survey: https://www.bas.ac.uk/

Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps

Google Earth:  https://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/earth/

National Geographic Kids: http://www.natgeokids.com/uk/

Thank you as always.