A warm welcome to the Summer Term in Catkin Class. We hope you and your families have enjoyed a wonderful Easter break.
You may have noticed prior to the Easter break that our Catkin’s team has grown with the arrival of Miss Marshall. Miss Marshall is in her final placement of her teaching PGCE at the University of Chichester. We are lucky enough to have her with us until the end of June. As part of her placement she will be actively involved in planning, teaching and assessing. I know she is looking forward to getting to know our Catkin families and I hope you will join us in welcoming her to Slindon!
Who lives in an egg like this?
Our theme for the first half of the Summer Term is ‘Who lives in an egg like this?’ To support our learning we will be starting the half term with a visit to Goodwood Farm. We are also hoping to hatch some chicks in class this term!
In English we will be focusing initially on reading and writing non-fiction. We will be writing diaries and creating a fact file about caring for chicks. We will also be exploring the beautifully illustrated text ‘Croc and Bird’ by Alexis Deacon.
In the run up to the historic coronation of King Charles III in May, our History and Geography topic will be Castles and Knights. We will further explore the royal theme in the second half of the summer term by comparing monarchs from the past.
In science this term we will be exploring seasonal changes. We will be building a weather station and conducting experiments into measuring rainfall and wind speed.
Read Write Inc
We will be resuming daily phonics sessions this half term. The Reception children will be reviewing and consolidating their set 1 single letter speed sounds and diagraphs [sh, ch, th, qu, ng and nk]. They will then move on as appropriate to start learning set 2 sounds.
The Year One children will continue to build upon their current level of phonic knowledge. The aim for the year one children this term is to have consolidated the set 1, 2 and 3 sounds in preparation for the Phonic Screening due to be delivered in June.
Home Reading
Your child’s home reading books are linked to the sounds they are working on in their phonic group. Home reading is therefore a great opportunity for you to practice these sounds at home with your child. We would recommend that you take time to read with your child daily to support with fluency. Please sign your child’s reading record after each read to indicate that your child has read with you at home.
In school we will aim to read with your child individually at least twice a week. We would therefore ask that your child brings their book bag along with their reading book and reading record to school every day. We will change your child’s book every Tuesday and Friday.
You may recently have noticed a red heart sticker on some of the reading books that your child brings home. These have been added to books to indicate to the children that they may not be fully phonetically decodable at the child’s current reading level. Please be assured the children are free to choose one of these texts which we refer to in school as ‘Love for reading books’. If your child brings one of these books home they may just require a little extra support to decode some of the text. These books are ideal for parent / carers to share together to promote a love for reading!
If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to catch me on the playground at the end of the school day.
With best wishes,
Mrs Merrett, Miss Marshall and The Catkins Team [Mrs Parsons and Mrs Puttick]