Maths – Ten and a bit
This week in maths, we’ve been exploring numbers between 10 and 20. We’ve been learning about the ten and a bit structure and thinking carefully about what each digit means.
We now know that in a number like 14 the 1 means 1 ten and the 4 tells us how many ones there are. This has helped us understand how numbers are built.
In our lessons we have:
- used tens frames to see that numbers between 10 and 20 are made of 1 full ten and some extra ones
- built numbers using objects and counted them carefully
- recorded what we found using part part whole diagrams
- written simple equations to match what we can see
We’re getting much more confident at explaining our thinking and spotting how numbers are made.
Help at home by asking your child to build numbers between 10 and 20 using small objects like toys or pasta. Encourage them to make a group of 10 first and then add the extra ones. Ask them questions like “How many tens can you see” and “How many ones are there” to help build understanding.
Topic and Science Learning
Welcome back, Year 3! We hope you all had a lovely and restful Easter break.
We have jumped straight back into our learning and are excited to begin some fantastic new topics this term.
In Topic (Geography), we are learning about explorers. Our main case studies are York and Venice, where we will be exploring their climates and thinking about how tourism affects these places. We will also be developing our geography skills, particularly our map-reading skills, to help us understand where these places are and what they are like.
In Science, we have become biologists! We are learning all about plants, including their life cycles and the changes they go through as they grow.
Help at home:
You can support your child by reviewing our key vocabulary (see below).
- Can your child use the word in a sentence?
- Can they explain what the word means?
- Can they tell you anything they already know about it?
We are looking forward to a busy and exciting term ahead!
Life on Earth
Wheels, wings and other things
Summer 1
This half term will be learning about bugs and will be going on lots of bug hunts. We will be learning about the life cycle of a butterfly and will hopefully set some free! We will be using some hand drills to build a bug hotel for our outdoor area.
We are also hoping to develop our outdoor space a bit more so if anyone has any compost, plant pots, tree stumps or plants we would would really appreciate them.
Reminders and Notices
Forest School- It is our turn to go to Forest School after the holidays. Please send your child to school in their PE kits on Friday with waterproofs and wellies in a labelled plastic bag.
Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs
We ended the spring term with the focus book Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs! by Paula Metcalf.
This was a very funny book, that definitely made us chuckle! We were also very lucky to receive a visit from the Easter Bunny who kindly left us all a tasty Easter egg in forest school! Thank you so much Easter Bunny and the PTA helpers!
Our final week in school was full of Easter fun, we made cube carrots in the maths area, Easter bonnets in the workshop area and used our funky fingers to cut out and make Easter chicks.
Have a happy and healthy Easter break and we will see you on Monday 20th April.
Welcome back to the Summer Term!
Welcome back to the Summer Term! I trust you had a restful Easter break and are looking forward to all of the excitement of the Summer Term.
Reading
I hope you enjoyed sharing the final chapter of The Wolf Wilder. It was quite an emotional rollercoaster with some very nerve-racking points but hopefully the children enjoyed seeing that friendship, courage and being true to yourself can lead to great achievement and happiness.
We will be voting for our next class novel this week. The current shortlist is:
- A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll (recommended by Aria)
- The Last Bear by Hannah Gold (recommended by Arthur)
- The Wild Robot by Peter Brown (recommended by Jack)
There may be some late additions if anyone has found any other great books this holiday – I will let you know the outcome!
Following feedback, I will continue to send a chapter of our class novel home for you to share together – any further feedback on whether this is something you enjoy (or not) would be very welcome.
Writing
The first skill we will be working on this half term will be how to write direct speech.
The children will learn the rules needed to write direct speech:
When you are reading together, it would be great if you could occasionally pause and discuss the direct speech. Has it followed all of the rules? Below is an example from the first page of A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll, note how this example doesn’t have a reporting clause – you could ask your child why they think the writer has not included a reporting clause for this direct speech.
Handwriting
I am really proud of how hard the children are working in class to ensure that their handwriting is joined and legible. If your child does any handwriting practice at home, please do encourage them to bring it in to show me so we can celebrate (and reward!) this effort.
Spellings
| Test Date | 27th April | 5th May | 11th May | 18th May |
| position
mention possession pressure special should delicious machine mission brochure |
chemistry
scheme architect chaos mechanic character technology choir echo school |
misinterpret
reconsider readdress misguided reposition misremember regroup misunderstood misheard reappeared |
submarine
substitute submerge automatic autobiography television telephone teleport telescope telepathic |
Maths
We will be completing our unit on multiplication and division this half term including learning what happens to numbers when you multiply or divide them by 10 or 100. If your child would like some fun extra practice at home, they could play this game: Multiply by 10 and 100 game
In the next couple of weeks, we will have looked at all of the times tables facts up to 12 x 12. If your child has some facts that they are not yet secure with (this will have been communicated with their Learning Updates at the end of last term) it would be great if you could continue to practise these. As always, please do let me know about any consistent effort from your child or increases in confidence in recalling times tables facts so that we can celebrate and reward this in school. Just a quick reminder that the national Times Tables Check will be held during the first two weeks of June.
Science
This half term we will revisit our enquiry to find out how the animals in Forest School change over the year. We will then move on to learn about the difference between urban and rural habitats and how humans can impact habitats.
When I have taught this unit of work previously, lots of children have wanted to know more and to know how they can help. If your child is feeling inspired, this would be a good place to learn more: The Regenerators (BBC)
Geography – Explorers
This half term we will begin by thinking about the concept of location and scale. We will learn about imaginary lines used to split the world into parts. We will then recap the difference between a city, a country and a continent.
We will then think about the concepts of place and interdependence. Over a series of lessons, we will use York and Venice as case studies to think about the impact of tourism and the challenges that water can bring.
Call for help to bring our curriculum to life: If you have visited York or Venice as a tourist and would be happy to host a short question and answer session with the class, I would love to hear from you!
PE
There will no swimming in the first week of term but we can’t wait to get back to the pool on Tuesday 28th April! Please send children in their PE kit on Tuesday 21st April as we will do an extra PE lesson in school.
Our in school PE lessons this half term are through the sport of Basketball. Over the half-term we will be learning to pass and catch accurately (using ‘throw and point’ and ‘ready position’ that we have used in other sports), to dribble, shoot and intercept the ball.
Living and Learning
This half term we will think about how we keep ourselves physically healthy and fit and how we keep ourselves safe. See the school calendar and weekly homework for further details.
Feelings First
The feelings we will think about this half term are:
- relieved
- horrified
- concerned
- overloaded
- furious
We will also be thinking about how our capacity to function well (represented by the green part of the battery) can be impacted by lots of things such as feeling tired or hungry or by other things that are happening in our lives. This can explain why something might not have an impact on how we feel one day, but could have a significant impact on another day.
As always, please do catch me on the door at pick up, send me an email or give me a call if you have any questions or I can be of help at all.
Spring 2 in Review
What an exciting half term we’ve had! The children have been fantastic and have really helped to make our school a happy and healthy place to achieve and believe.
- In maths, we’ve been adding and subtracting, and using generalisation to help us on our way to being number facts super stars!
- In reading and writing, we’ve enjoyed Nothing by Mick Inkpen and Naughty Bus by Jan and Jerry Oke.
- In phonics, we’ve learnt lots of alternate phonemes and words with schwa (lazy sounds like the ‘o’ in dinosaur).
- In handwriting, we’ve been practising capital letters. Many of us have enjoyed the challenge of writing in new narrow-lined books.
- In RE, we’ve been learning about Matthew the tax collector and the people Christians believe Jesus helped.
- In science, we’ve been looking for signs of spring, taking particular interest in the weather…
- In topic, we’ve been computer programmers, using BeeBots to learn about computers, algorithms and staying safe online.
- In PE, we’ve continued to develop our fundamental movement skills.
- In Living and Learning, we’ve learnt about helpful and harmful substances, handwashing, sleep, and healthy eating.
Thanks for all your support this half term. We’ve got so much to look forward to in the summer term.
Mr Nash and the Year 1 team
Spring Planting
This week we’ve replanted our sunflower seeds because they’ve really grown.
We’ll be sending them home at the end of term to see who can grow the tallest sunflower. Good luck everyone!
Jack and the Beanstalk
This week we’ve continued our learning using the traditional story Jack and the Beanstalk.
We’ve learnt to retell the story using our class story map and a few actions to help. Our prosody has really improved as we became more confident with the story.
Maths
In maths we’ve been doubling, we’ve used the stem sentence 2 is made of 1 and 1, double 1 is 2. Doubling numbers up to 5. We’ve also had a go at doubling the leaves on a beanstalk.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we learn a new poem and recite it every day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called Hungry Birdies.
Hungry Birdies
I have built a little nest,
look inside, look inside.
Hungry birdies with their beaks,
open wide, open wide.
And the little birdies grow,
day by day by day.
‘Till they spread their wings and fly,
far away, far away.
We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. Can your child tell you the rhyming words in this week’s poem? We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm.