A warm welcome to the second half of the Summer Term in Catkin Class. We hope you and your families have enjoyed a restful half term break.
Turrets and Tiaras
Our theme for the remainder of the Summer Term will be ‘Turrets and Tiaras’. In English we will be sharing a version of the classic fairy tale ‘Rapunzel’ by Bethan Woollvin. Keeping with the royal theme we will also be reading ‘The Queen’s Knickers’ by Nicholas Allen and ‘The Paper Bag Princess’ by Robert Munsch.
In history this half term we will be building on last terms theme of castles by learning about English Monarchs. Focusing specifically on comparing the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria.
In science this term we will be exploring plants and asking the question - What is growing in our gardens? We will be planting seeds, considering what seeds need to grow into healthy plants and looking at the different parts of flowers and trees.
We will also be learning how to care for our new fluffy arrivals and visiting Arundel’s Wildfowl and Wetland Trust to further explore our new fluffy friend’s natural habitat.
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 and Set 3 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 the week beginning 12th 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]