100 DAY!

We celebrated 100 day in Giraffes by doing lots of fun activities that helped us count to 100 in 1s and in 10s.  We went outside and paced out 100 'fairy steps', we made cheerio necklaces with 100 cheerios divided into 10s and we sang counting in 10s songs.  We are now great at counting in 10s!

Toys Day

We had a fantastic time on Toys Day with History off the Page.

Take a look at our photos and see what we got up to.

Thanks to all the parents who helped out on the day and all those parents who contributed financially to make this day possible.

Welcome to Giraffes!

It is hard to believe that the Summer is nearly over and it is time for Hedgehogs to become Giraffes. We are really excited to welcome your children into Year 1 and we hope that your children are looking forward to coming back to school, catching up with their friends and learning new things.

Our topic for this term is Toys, a theme I'm sure your children already know lots about!  We will be learning about the history of toys, what they are made of and be undertaking art and design tasks linking to toys.  We have booked a special Toys Day on Tuesday 27th September, for which we are requesting a parental contribution, to engage your children with a hands on, practical learning experience.  Please look out for a letter in your child's book bag during the first week of term. 

In English we will use toy texts such as Kipper's Toy Box and Nothing, as well as films such as Toy Story, to stimulate our writing.  We will be consolidating our ability to read, write and understand numbers to 20 in maths, using practical resources and applying our understanding to real life situations.  In RE we will be finding out more about the Christian church and we will visit our local church after half term.

Your child will read weekly with an adult at school, sometimes individually, especially during the first couple of weeks when we will be checking your child's book level, and at other times in a group.  We will write in the reading log when we have read with your child.  We will check your comments in the diaries and count your child's reads weekly - we look forward to seeing how much you have enjoyed reading with your child and to seeing their cars zoom along our reading road!  Your child will also have daily phonics lessons and we will closely monitor your child's progress through our phonics scheme.

PE will be on a Monday and Wednesday afternoon but please ensure that your child has indoor and outdoor PE kit in school at all times as sometimes we may need PE shoes or kit for other activities.  We will be swimming after Christmas.

Homework will be handed out on Wednesdays and should be handed in on Mondays (not the first week of term).  Work handed in after Monday may not be marked until the following week.

We will ask you to supply the following items for your child this term: an old sock; a favourite toy that your child has had for a little while; and an old toy (theirs or yours) to help us with our non-fiction writing and to go in our class museum before half term.  Watch out for notes in book bags explaining when we need these items.

We really look forward to getting to know you and your children better as the term progresses. If you have any comments, questions or concerns we are always available in the Giraffes' outdoor area from 8.50 in the morning and we can chat after school when we have said good bye to the children.  Please bear with us at home time as we get to know your faces and those of friends and family who pick up your child.  It might take a little while for us to check that each child is going home safely with the correct person at the start of term.

Here's hoping for a sunny September and lots of fabulous learning experiences!

Mrs Stewart