A very warm welcome to Owl classes home page!  We are now 2 terms into the children’s journey into year one! Where does the time go?

The Owl class team consists of:

Ms Proctor – who teaches the class Monday-Wednesday

Mrs Green – who teaches the class Thursday and Friday.

Miss Hoogen – LSA who supports the class Monday – Thursday

Mrs Leggat – HLTA who supports at various times during the week

Wishing you a very ‘Happy New Year!’  We hope that you have had a wonderful Christmas and a happy, healthy start to the New Year!  We are looking forward to an engaging and exciting Curriculum this term, with new topics for us all to get our teeth stuck into! The children have settled so well into the expectations of year 1.  We are very proud of them and pleased to continue with them on their journey.  There will be a slight change to the teaching team this term.  Miss Proctor will be teaching Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Mrs Green will now be teaching all day Thursday and Friday.  Miss Hoogen and Mrs Leggat will continue to support the class during the week.

Children in Year one continue to develop their phonetic knowledge using the schools personalised approach – Reading Writing Excellence.  We carefully group the children so that each child is being supported, yet challenged, ensuring excellent reading progress.  Children will bring a book home daily to support the phonic learning that they are engaged in.  We use Power Maths as the main driver in our Maths Learning, but this is backed up with a range of practical activities to ensure that each child has a secure understanding of the concepts taught.

In term three, we will be exploring the following:

English –Reading Writing Excellence will continue. This term Children in Bumblebees and Owls will be merged, then grouped based on their phonics assessment, to ensure that each child is taught at the right level.

In Maths we will be completing the unit on shape – we will be exploring 2d and 3d shapes, learning the names of shapes and thinking about their properties as well as looking at patterns. After this we will be focusing back on out number work and looking at numbers to 20… and beyond.

In Science we will be continuing the unit on materials. We have already looked at how absorbent different materials are and only last week poor teddy asked owl class to help him. Every time he went out in the rain he got soaking wet! We explored the different materials that might help him stay dry – every group found that plastic was the most waterproof. Soon we will exploring what materials melt. After this we will be moving onto the unit – Animals including humans. In this Unit we will be learning how animals are grouped and what features they have, as well as learning about the human body and the senses that we use.

History will see us looking at key events in History.  We are starting with the Great Fire of London. The children are really excited about this topic and have already learnt some key facts and produced some wonderful Art work

In computing we will be continuing our work on algorithms. We will also be practicing our keyboard skills and learning how to edit text on screen.

In PE we will be putting on our dancing shoes and exploring movement and pattern.

In PSHE we will be thinking about how to keep healthy. Owl class already have some super ideas, such as get enough sleep, eat well and exercise. This links nicely with our Design Technology unit on healthy eating, what would your healthy lunch have in it?

In Art we will be thinking about texture. There is texture all around us and we can use our senses to explore textures (which we are learning about in Science!)

How can you support your year 1 child?

There are many ways that you can support your child to have a healthy,
fun filled year 1!

• Please make sure that they are on time, have the correct uniform and have had a healthy breakfast.
• Read!  Listen to them read, read to them, let them see you enjoying reading
• Please ensure that they have the correct PE kit in school each day.  PE is normally Tuesday, but we may have the opportunity to have an extra session some weeks
• Please provide appropriate clothing for outdoor learning, we will not let the weather stop us!  We are also needing to keep the room well ventilated, so an extra layer, or a blue fleece may be appreciated as the weather gets colder.

Covid

We are still operating under some restrictions due to the Pandemic. 

• Windows and doors need to be open to provide ventilation
• We have a one way system in place around the school
• There is heightened hand washing
• The only whole school Assembly is on a Wednesday and is to celebrate Excellence
• Parents are now allowed on the playground to collect their children, but face to face contact is still restricted and we strongly encourage parent to wear a mask.  If you are unable to talk directly to a member of the team, please use the families email address and the message will be passed onto us.

families@bethersden.kent.sch.uk

Very best wishes

The Owl Team

The Owl Team