Welcome to Kingfishers Class

Miss Paterson is our class teacher.

Mrs Harfleet is our Learning Support Assistant and will be working in Kingfishers this year.

Term 1

Amazing Me!

Welcome to Kingfishers Class 2020-2021!

I hope you have had an adventurous summer holidays and made lots of memories with your family and friends. I am so excited to be back at school and cannot wait to continue learning together.

Our first topic in Kingfishers is called 'Amazing Me.' We will be looking closely at what makes us special and unique as a human being including our body parts and senses. We will also explore animals including pets and how similar and different we are to a variety of animals. We will explore lots of fun activities linked to all of our senses such as a blindfolded walk, making pizzas and exploring our sense of hearing.

We will be focusing a lot on key skills to enable all children to catch up any learning they may have missed over the school closure. In English, the whole school will be learning about the book ‘Here We Are‘ by Oliver Jeffers. Our Power of Reading books for this term are “The Emperor’s Egg” and “Grace and Family” which will link nicely with our topics. We will begin writing all about ourselves, our friends, families and summer in our Learning Books.

We will be continuing to teach phonics throughout Year One. We will start off the year recapping phase 2 and 3 sounds before moving onto phase 5 sounds. 

In Maths Mastery we will be focusing heavily on number. We start off looking at numbers 1-10 and taking a mastery approach ensuring we are secure with our understanding of ordering, comparing, number bonds, doubling, halving as well as odd and even numbers. This forms a foundation which we will be building upon throughout the year.

During our Maths Meetings we will be revisiting key concepts from Reception including shape, space and measure as well as problem solving and showing our understanding in a variety of different ways. 

In PSHE this term we will be learning alongside Jigsaw Jack. We will be looking at 'Being me in my world'. This year we will take part in indoor and outdoor P.E every week. In our first term we will explore Gymnastics and Attack, Defend and Shoot.

Reading is a huge priority at Riverside so please continue reading every night at home. Please could you sign and comment in your child’s reading record book when you have listened to them read. We will continue sending home reading books with your child that are appropriate to their level.

We will take our time learning the new rules in Year One whilst also making sure we have lots of fun with the curriculum, being back with our friends as well as learning new knowledge and skills.

Welcome to the journey of Year One – I am sure it will be an exciting one!

Miss Paterson

Key information

We have PE twice a week (days to be confirmed). Your child must have a named PE kit consisting of a t-shirt, shorts and trousers with plimsoles or trainers. A fleece or jacket should be provided in the winter months. Earrings must be removed for PE before school by an adult for health and safety reasons. 

We will continue to visit Forest School this year (day to be confirmed).  It is important that your child has named welly boots in school along with gloves for winter months and a hat for summer months.

Forest School is an exciting part of the school day in which the children will be exploring our topics and other areas of the curriculum, in the outdoor environment.

We are unable to provide plastic cups so it is vital you’re your child has their own named water bottles - even in the winter! Being well hydrated helps us to concentrate and learn.

Your child has the opportunity to change their reading book every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We will be recording who is reading regularly at home and there will be prizes for the top readers! 

We will also continue with Buster Book club where the number of minutes read should be recorded on the Buster Book club bookmark every Wednesday night. In Year One the children have a target of reading for 10 minutes.

Homework is set on Fridays and due in on the following Wednesday. This will consist of either Maths or English. Please help your child to complete their homework and ensure it is in on time. If you have any questions about homework please contact me via Class Dojo. 

Phonics is taught daily with an emphasis on children being able to segment, blend and read words. It is also important that your child is confident putting words into sentences to show they understand their meaning. In Year One, we also practice writing words using our phonics knowledge and putting them into full sentences. Throughout the year, I will be giving out alien and real words for your child to segment, blend and then read aloud. This will prepare them for their Phonics Screening test in June 2021. More information on this to follow. 

Children are not allowed to bring in pencil cases or other objects from home. If they have something they would like to share with the class, please could I ask you to send a photo of it via Class Dojo and we can share the photograph with the children. Toys are not allowed to be brought in. Children should only bring their book bag to school.

Here is a list of useful websites for your children to access at home: