Maths – Whole and Parts

This week in maths, we’ve been learning about wholes and parts.

We started by looking at a whole group of objects and understanding that the whole means everything in the group. We practised counting objects carefully to find out how many there were altogether.

Next, we explored how we could identify a smaller part of the whole group. We used rings to circle some of the objects and talked about how the objects inside the ring were still part of the whole group.

We practised using stem sentences to explain our thinking:

• There are ___ in the whole group.
• There are ___ in this part of the group.

We also challenged ourselves to think more deeply about parts and wholes. We investigated the smallest and largest possible parts we could make and explored how we could choose different parts from the same whole group.

Throughout our learning, we’ve been explaining our answers using ‘How do you know?’ questions. This has helped us to develop our mathematical reasoning and use accurate vocabulary.

Help at home by gathering a small group of objects. Ask your child to count the whole group before drawing a ring around a smaller part. Can they explain how many objects are in the whole and how many are in their chosen part?

National Poetry Day – Wonder

We had a wonderful time celebrating National Poetry Day! This year’s theme was ‘Wonder’, which gave us lots of opportunities to think, talk, perform and reflect.

We started our celebrations by joining a live National Poetry Day assembly featuring one of our favourite poets, Michael Rosen. It was brilliant to hear poetry being shared and performed and to think about how poets use words to make us laugh, imagine and wonder.

We also enjoyed reading and performing ‘Woodlice’ by Simon Mole. We thought carefully about how we could use our voices, expressions and actions to bring the poem to life.

The theme of ‘Wonder’ linked perfectly with our learning about spirituality. We talked about how spirituality can be about experiencing moments of awe and wonder. These are those special ‘wow moments’ that make us stop, notice, think and feel amazed by or connected to something around us.

We reflected on how poetry can help us to pause, notice and wonder. A poem might make us think about our own feelings, connect with other people or notice something amazing in the world around us.

The children contributed their own ‘Wonder is…’ statements.

Help at home by finding a poem to enjoy together? Talk about what made you pause, think or wonder.

Philosophy Friday – Rights and Responsibilities

Philosophy is thinking deeply.

Every Friday, we start our day with some time to wonder and ponder.

We’ve a different question each week – there’s no obvious right/wrong answer and no underlying moral message. All children are given the opportunity to contribute their ideas and give reasons for their thoughts.

The children had some lovely responses.

You might hurt their feelings. Ezra

If they’re doing something bad you could stop them to help. Elliott

Yes because they might me making the wrong choice. Margot

If a teacher says 3, 2, 1 stop, you have to stop and listen even if you’re doing something that you want to do.

If it’s something that might hurt them, you should stop them even if they think it’s fun. Lylah

You might have to stop someone to help them follow the rules. Elodie

Help at home by discussing this week’s Philosophy Friday question with your child.

Living and Learning – I use good manners.

This week, our Living and Learning statement was: ‘I use good manners’.

We talked about what good manners look and sound like and why they’re important. We decided that using good manners is a simple way to show kindness and respect to the people around us.

We thought of lots of ways we can show good manners:

We also thought carefully about whether ‘please’ or ‘thank you’ is more important. There were some brilliant ideas and we realised there isn’t always one right answer!

Help at home by looking out for good manners this week and noticing when they happen. You could ask, ‘How did your good manners make someone else feel?’

Reading – Gruffalo Granny

We’ve been very excited this week about the release of the brand-new book, Gruffalo Granny by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

On Thursday, we spent lots of time watching out of the window and waiting patiently for our special delivery to arrive. Luckily, it arrived just in time for us to share the story together before home time.

We also joined a special webinar where Julia Donaldson read the story and Axel Scheffler brought the characters to life with some live illustrating. It was inspiring to see an illustrator at work and watch his drawings appear right in front of us.

We really enjoyed discovering this new adventure and finding out more about the Gruffalo Granny. It was a lovely way to end the day and well worth the wait!

Reading – Collins Hub eBooks

This week, children will be able to access their reading book at home using Collins Hub.

The eBook your child is assigned is the same book they’ve already read four times with an adult at school during our Reading Practice sessions. This means the book should feel familiar to them. Reading it again at home is a chance to celebrate their hard work and for them to proudly show you what they’ve been practising at school.

Please make sure you’re able to access Collins Hub at home. If you have any problems logging in, accessing your child’s book or have any questions, please contact me and I’ll be happy to help.

Some children may have been assigned a wordless book. Wordless books are really valuable for developing storytelling, vocabulary, comprehension and confidence with books. You can support your child by:

• Letting them tell the story in their own words using the pictures.
• Asking, ‘What can you see happening on this page?’
• Encouraging them to use full sentences to describe the pictures.
• Asking, ‘What do you think might happen next?’
• Talking about how the characters might be feeling and what clues in the pictures tell us this.
• Looking closely for small details and talking about why they might be important.
• Reading the book again and encouraging your child to tell the story with even more detail.

Help at home by asking your child to be the reading expert! Ask them to share something they remember from their Reading Practice sessions at school.

Science – Parts of the Human Body

This week in science, we became biologists. Biologists are scientists who study living things.

Our focus this half term is the human body and our senses. We started our learning by looking closely at the different parts of the human body and learning how to name and label them.

We learnt that most bodies have lots of different parts, including:

• a head, neck and chest
• two arms, two elbows and two hands
• ten fingers
• two legs, two knees and two feet
• ten toes
• two eyes and two ears
• one nose and one mouth

We had fun thinking about how many of each body part most people have. We counted and compared different parts, noticing that we usually have one nose but two eyes, two arms and ten fingers!

To put our learning into practice, we drew around some of the children to create life-sized body outlines. We then drew and labelled the different body parts we could identify.

We’re looking forward to building on this learning as we begin to explore our five senses and how they help us understand the world around us.

Help at home by playing a quick body-part challenge. Name a body part for your child to point to, then swap roles and let them test you. You could also challenge them to tell you how many of each body part most people have.

Living and Learning – I Follow the School Rules

This week, our Living and Learning statement was: ‘I follow the school rules.’

We talked about why rules are important and how they help everyone to learn, play and get along. Rules can help to keep things fair and make sure that everyone feels safe and knows what’s expected of them.

We revisited our three school rules:

• We’re respectful.
• We’re ready.
• We’re safe.

We discussed what each of these rules might look and sound like in different places around school. The children came up with lots of examples, such as listening when someone else is speaking, having everything ready for learning, walking sensibly around school and using kind words with others.

We also thought carefully about how following our rules is something we can show through our actions every day, whether we’re in the classroom, on the playground or moving around school.

Help at home by talking about the rules you have at home or rules you follow when you’re out and about. Why do you have them? Can your child explain how a rule might help to keep people respectful, ready or safe?

Welcome to Year 1

What a brilliant first week back at school! Year 1 have settled in so well and I’ve been so impressed by how enthusiastic, confident and ready to learn the children have been. It’s been wonderful to see lots of happy faces around the classroom helping to make our school a happy and healthy place to achieve and believe.

There are lots of differences between Reception and Year 1 but the children have taken everything in their stride. They’ve worked incredibly hard to learn all the little things that help our school days run smoothly – moving around the classroom, getting ready for different activities, keeping everything tidy…

One thing that has really stood out to me is the care and pride the children have already shown towards their learning. They’ve been keen to have a go, eager to share their ideas and have made such a positive start.

If this is what we can achieve in our first week, I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

A few reminders

Reading books

We’ll continue to use the Collins Hub e-book platform for reading. The children have new login details this year which will be sent home on Friday (04.09.26).

NumBots

With this week’s homework, you’ll receive login details for your child to access NumBots, a fantastic resource for daily practice of number facts.

Reading Records

Please return a signed reading record by Wednesday each week ready to be sent home again on Friday. Please write a short comment about your child’s reading (something that’s gone well, something they’ve enjoyed, something you’d like more support with). This is a valuable stream of communication. I’ll set a target for your child each week which can help to give your home learning a focus.

Library Books

Your child has (almost!) free rein of our school library. We have a huge variety of books for you to enjoy at home. We’ll help steer your child towards something that is age-appropriate and will encourage them to engage with something they’re passionate about. Enjoying library books at home is a brilliant way of learning ‘book behaviour’.

• Exploring books physically – turning pages, engaging in conversation about pictures, some independent reading
• Preference – help your child to develop likes/dislikes in genre, illustration, repetition and rhyme, relatable characters
• Impact – vocabulary, listening skills, developing fluency, link reading to being fun (not just school!), bonding through shared reading

Year 1 will visit the library to return books (and select a new one) every Friday. Please return library books to school by the end of the week – this helps us to smooth out the returns process and makes more time for loving books!

PE days

Our PE days this year are Monday and Thursday. Guidance for PE kit can be found here.

“Advisors recommend no earrings are worn for PE; therefore, we will ask your child to remove earrings before the lesson and put them back in after the lesson. This will be carried out by the child. If they are unable to remove or put their earrings back in by themselves, they must not wear them on the day they have PE.”

Water bottles

Please send your child into school with a clean, labelled water bottle every day. Water bottles should come home each evening so they can be cleaned and refilled ready for the next day.

Uniform

It’s been lovely to see children looking so smart and ready for school. We’ve already had plenty of jumper and cardigan detective work! Please make sure all uniform is clearly labelled. It makes life much easier when things inevitably find their way onto the wrong peg!

If you need any additional support, please email me at ajnash@spherefederation.org.

Help at home

Take a moment this weekend to celebrate what a fantastic start your child has made to Year 1. Ask them what they’ve enjoyed, what they’ve learnt and what feels different from last year.

You could ask:

• What is your favourite thing about Year 1 so far?
• What new routines have you learnt?
• What have you enjoyed learning about?
• What feels the same as last year?
• What are you looking forward to next week?

D&T – Puppets

This week, in Design and Technology, we’ve proudly finished making our puppets. It was fantastic to see everyone’s ideas come to life after carefully following the designs they created.

Throughout the project, we developed lots of practical skills, including:

• using running stitch or overstitch to join fabric together
• choosing and attaching decorations including felt, buttons and googly eyes
• evaluating our finished puppets against our original designs

The children showed great perseverance as they learnt new sewing skills and solved problems along the way. Every puppet was unique and reflected the creativity and imagination of its designer.

Help at home by encouraging your child to develop their fine motor skills through some simple craft activity