Spring term 1

Welcome back! we hope that everyone had a fantastic break. We are very excited to start the new spring term. We are thinking about lots of new exciting topics such as discovering more about the Polar Regions in Geography and History and keeping healthy in science. 

Spring 1 Term Dates:

6th Jan 2025 - Return to school

24th Jan -  PTFA Family bingo 3:20-4:30 pm, main hall

17th Feb – Fri 21st Half term
28th Feb - Year 2  First Aid training, sports hall
28th Feb - PTFA – Non-uniform day

14th March - PTFA Panto production, evening performance

15th  March - PTFA Panto production, matinee and evening performance

18th March  - Parents evening 5pm – 7pm 

 20th March - Parents evening 4pm – 6pm

25th March - Parents evening 4pm – 6pm

28th March -PTFA Easter tuck shop, 3:20pm

31st  March - Spring Concert, 3:20 – 4:20pm, main hall

April 25

Fri 4th Last day, finish at 2pm

Mon 7th – Fri 21st Easter Holidays

    English:  

 As a school, we use Talk4Writing as a framework- all units are based on this. 

To start, we will return to creative story writing. We will base our learning around the text of 'The Pirates Next Door ' by Jonny Duddle - a  fictional short about a young girl is bored of living in Dull- on-Sea until, one day, a ship of pirates arrives!

Children will continue to work on developing their character and setting descriptions by using adjectives, similes, and adverbs. Children will bring characters to life using descriptive phrases for appearances but also think about how characters feel to extend their creative writing. A new focus in this unit is to start incorporating speech into their fictional writing. We will use the term 'inverted commas' and learn the rules of including speech in texts.

I

We will then move back to non-fiction writing and learn about writing instructions.   Chn will learn to follow a series of simple instructions correctly and can give oral instructions to other members of a small group in the correct sequence.
Children will identify key features of written instructions as part of shared and guided reading.
They will write simple sentences to give an instruction beginning with an imperative verb or a connective indicating the sequence of events such as first, next, then and finally.
we will learn to write a sequence of instructions using consistent tense, detailed diagrams, and numbers or words indicating chronological order. We will be using the book 'How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth' as a text to work from.

• Non-negotiables: Every time the children write, we ask them to make sure that they have put a full stop at the end of every sentence, that they have used capital letters to begin sentences and for names, that they have finger spaces between their words, and that they have used a question mark at the end of a question.  

Cursive Handwriting 

This year we will be teaching joined writing and will be following a new program bought into the school. Children will learn to join letters in a planned sequence and will each use a handwriting booklet to record their work. 

      Reading, Phonics and Spelling :

Phonics/spelling lessons happen every day. We will do this as a class and provide extra support for children who need it.

Practice Reading sessions 

Phonic-based readers -In these small group lessons, the focus is largely on decoding, fluency, and comprehension. The children will read independently and to an adult, within their group. It will be marked in their reading records that they have had a practice reading session with adult support on that day. They will read with adult support  several times a week depending on the week

Once the children have read a book with their reading group at school, they will bring it home for further practice, along with an additional decodable book which will be changed weekly. Please help us to make sure that we can send home decodable books for all the children by returning both your child's reading books every Friday.

Once the children are fluent readers, they will be reading longer books in school and will be able to independently change their home readers whenever they need to. Please continue to send their reading record book to school every day.

Large Group Guided Reading sessions

Fluent Readers - Once the children become ‘fluent readers’ we will be reading whole class texts with the children. They will read more challenging texts, such as chapter books, using a range of skills to discuss and answer questions about the books. These sessions are not recorded in their Reading Records, but they have a Guided Reading book, where they record work relating to the text that is being studied.

 We will endeavor to hear individual readers as often as possible. Children are assessed with their phonics and reading regularly throughout the year.

English Homework:

Reading

We would like the children to read at home at least 4- 5 times a week with an adult. More able readers will then start to read more independently but it is still important for children to read out loud and have the opportunity to ask and answer questions about the vocabulary and text. Alongside reading school books we actively encourage children to read a wide range of books at home.

Spelling

   (link)   (logins in reading records)

Spelling challenges are set every Friday on Spelling Shed .. 

The words will comprise spellings linked to the spelling taught that week alongside some year 2 Common Exception Words. 

We would like children to practice their spelling at least 3 x a week.

Extra English support:

Please take a look at these helpful questions to discuss with your child. They can be used when your child reads to you, when you read to your child or to prompt discussion about books your child is reading independently. 

Reading question stems 

www.oxfordowl.co.uk - Free eBook library when you create a username and password.