"Follow me and I will make you fishes of men." Matthew 4:19

English - The children have been streamed across all of KS1 to ensure that they are in the best group to meet their needs. These groups will be fluid and will change as and when the children are able to close their gaps and apply their phonic knowledge to their independent reading. These groups will be taught by all the KS1 staff.

We have continued with our phonics learning through our RWI groups. Within these we focus on closing any sound gaps the children may have, developing their ‘speedy’ reading skills and application of sounds to spelling to add and develop their independent writing.

We are also working on the formation of our pre-cursive letters and learning how to read and write the common exception words for Year 1.

Maths - this week we have focused on two digit numbers form 10-20. We have looked at what the digits mean and how we can represent them on our ten frames. We have worked a lot on language this week , focusing on ‘teen means ten’ when we say our numbers and also the tricky numbers of eleven and twelve where we don’t hear that teen.

RE – this week we have been learning all about Mary and Joseph taking Jesus to the temple when He was 12 and Him getting lost. We talked about how the children felt in a similar situation where they have lost sight of their grown-ups. Jesus wasn’t really lost, He chose to stay in the temple and speak to the law makers – we have examined what this story tells us about Jesus.

Geography – this week we have worked on creating our own aerial map of the school and grounds from our, rather chilly, walk last week! The children have made a great start on a tricky task.

Science – this week we continued with our Science topic on Materials by examining a range of everyday items and looking for natural and man-made materials. This created some interesting discussions.

Art – the children have continued with their drawing unit creating different marks inspired by the stories of Hairy McClary.

We were lucky enough to have a visit from Fr Frank on Tuesday who came in to teach Year 1 a special song that they will be asked to sing in on special Ash Wednesday service after the half term break.

Fr Frank Visit

I am delighted to announce this week’s winners….

Golden Award – Dulcie for always showing a caring and compassionate nature to those around her and always being willing to lend a hand.

Writing Award – Quentin for working hard on his pre-cursive handwriting and creating a super poster on ‘Shining my light’ for Jesus.

Maths Award – Heidi for working hard this week to make two digit numbers on her ten frame.

General pieces of information

PE will be on Monday and Friday so please send the children into class in the PE kits on those days. No earrings can be worn for PE so please ensure that they are taken out at home.
Trainers - if your children is wearing trainers with laces for PE they must be able to tie them by themselves. This is a health and safety issue - please ensure your child can tie their laces before sending them in lace-up trainers.
Water bottles - all the children were given a new school bottle this week. This will come home each night to be cleaned and re-filled. Please only use the school bottles and ensure your child brings theirs each day. Lost water bottles can be replaced at the school office, but I am afraid you will have to pay for those. Year 1 have orange tops.
I will not be in class on a Thursday afternoon, as it is my release time. This will be covered by Mrs Connolly and Miss Evans and is also when the children will have Music with Mrs Watson.
Party Invitations - I am afraid that Miss Evans and I will not be able to give out party invitations in class. Please do not send your child into class with them for them to give out - it creates upset and fuss about something that takes place outside of school.Thank-you for your understanding with this matter.
Key Rings - please do not put key rings onto your child’s school bag, it create fuss in class and then upset if they are lost.
School bag - please continue to use the red book bag that your child was given in Reception, we don not have the room to store large bags. Many thanks for your help with this matter.
Homework Expectations - please see the Homework page for what I expect the children to do at home…..don’t worry, it’s mainly just reading!! HOMEWORK EXPECTATIONS - YEAR 1 — Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Primary School (squarespace.com)

Catholic Life of our school.

We are delighted to be able to share with you the Good News Gospel readings for families. Please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Please take a look at these Ten Ten resources to support prayer and worship at home.

https://www.paperturn-view.com/wednesday-word/good-news?pid=MTA101634&v=163.4

PIRATE DAY! Wednesday 11th February

To support our Geography work this half term on Map Making, Year 1 will celebrate with a day dedicate to maps, treasure and all things piratey! On this day I am asking all of Year 1 to come to school dressed as a pirate to add to the fun of the day. Be as creative as you like - although a stripy top, pants and home made eye-patch would be super. Thank-you for your support with this and I cannot wait to see the children all dressed up on this day. Many thanks.

Reading Books – As off next week we are going to make so some changed to the way we send books home and organise our reading sessions. We are currently focusing on RWI and phonics and ensuring that each children is in the RWI group that will enable them to close any sound gaps they may have and progress and the right speed for them. With this in mind, as off next week your child will bring home a paper copy of the book they are reading in their RWI sessions. This will be sent home with your child from their RWI teacher – which may or may not be me or Miss Evans. This book will be changed once the group has completed the book on the book – this will take approximately 4/5days – depending on the group so WILL NOT have a fixed day to be changed. PLEASE KEEP THESE BOOKS IN THE CHILD’S BAGS EVERY DAY AND ENSURE THEY ARE RETURNED TO SCHOOL IN THEIR BOOK BAGS EACH DAY AS THE TEACHER WILL CHANGE THEM AS THEY FINISH IT AND START ANOTHER ONE. YOUR CHILD WILL NOT BRING HOME A NEW BOOK UNTIL THE OLD ONE IS RETURNED. Many thanks with your support on this matter.

Your child will continue to have a reading session with Miss Evans ONCE a week on the same day they do now to change the other books the children bring home. ONE basket book which is the stage RWI level coloured book as the book they are reading in class and ONE reading for pleasure book that your child has chosen for themselves. This may or may not be a book they can read by themselves BUT is a book they have chosen for pleasure.

Please bear with us with us embed these changes with the children. If your child’s group is currently in the mid of a RWI book in their group, your child’s book from their lesson may not come home until midweek when they start a new one. Any questions – feel free to catch me at the start/end of the day.

Please ensure that you sign your child’s reading records as they can have a sticker on their book mark for each day that they read to an adult at home. Once the book mark is full the children will receive a certificate. Also Miss Evans will give out a Golden Ticket every third time your child’s record is signed. These will be added to a draw done at the end of the half term with the chance to find a book themed prize. The more tickets you have in the draw, the more chance you have of winning a prize!!

At Our Lady's we like to support our parents/carers in Online Safety matters.

Keeping children and young people safe online is one of the biggest challenges facing society today and it is all of our responsibility to ensure that children are educated to make positive, informed choices when they are online.

This month’s online safety guide gives helpful advice about…

What Parents and Educators Need to Know about Mental health misinformation online This #WakeUpWednesday guide explores how adults can support children and young people to recognise and challenge mental health misinformation online.

We hope you find these guides informative and helpful in promoting the positive use of technology to make the online world a better and safer place for us all. Thank you.