Well back to the second part of the Autumn Term. I hope you all had a great half-term. Thank-you so much for all the lovely photographs you have sent through Class Dojo, the children and I have loved looking through them all and seeing what everyone got up to! It isn’t too late to send your picture in. A bog thank-you for taking the time to get to grips with Dojo and for sending your photos through the PORTFOLIO section - I would like to use this more in the future as it creates a lovely folder of your child’s photos and work. (My screens are different to yours, so if you have found it tricky to find the portfolio section, ask a friend to help as lots of parents have posted into this section.) As I have said before, this is a secure site, so your child’s photos are safe her. Many thanks to you all for taking the time and trouble to send in a picture.

We have had a good first week back, focusing on how we would like to be treated and also how we treat other people. The key to be treated well is to always treat others kindly too - Year 1 have worked really hard on this during the week and I have seen them being kind and helpful to one another; a delight to see.

This week we have been learning..

English - we have continued working in our RWI groups on our Set 1, 2 and 3 sounds. We have also continued our work in phonics, handwriting, spelling and punctuation in our own sentence construction. We are focuisnf hard our won cursive handwriting and starting each letter on the line, along with our reading work.

Maths - this week has all been about the part, part whole model. This helps us to see a number as the whole and think about the two parts that make up that number and how that can be different. for example if 7 is our whole then our parts could be 3 and 4 or 4 and 4 or 5 and 2 or 2 and 5 and so on. We have used counters and our part part whole models to help us with this and the children have made good progress over the course of the week.

RE - this week we have continued to learn about Mary and how special she is, particularly to us as the Patron Saint of our school. Mary is the Saint we focused on on Monday, which was All Saints Day. The children are making fabulous progress with learning the Hail Mary prayer and we will continue to say this pray each day throughout this half-term as Mary will be our focus through November and December.

Science - this week we re-focused our attention on animals and grouping them according to their observable features. The children worked in groups to make a big poster showing all the different groups and then in their independent work thought about how we now that an elephant is a mammals and a penguin is a bird.

Topic - this week we started our Under the Sea theme and started by looking at atlas and world maps to find the five main oceans of the world.

Art - this half term we will be focusing on Textiles and each of the children will have the opportunity to work with Mrs Veasey to sew a sea creature! This week all the children started their sewing work with a piece of binka to work on their running stitch. Great fun had by all!!

All the children have made super start to the half-term, but these are the ones we have chosen to celebrate this week…

Golden Award - Matilda for being a super role model in Year 1 - always ready to listen and learn with beautiful manners. (And for fabulous sewing work yesterday!)

Writing Award - Archer for super work in phonics - knowing his sounds and using them in his spelling work.

Maths Award - Luna for super work using the part part whole model

Unfortunately, Covid 19 is still very much with this and the spread without our society shows no sign of going away. Please help us to do all we can to keep each other safe by keeping your child at home if they are unwell or showing ANY of the symptoms of Covid 19. If anyone in your household tests positive for Covid 19 you must all go for a PCR test. If a child from a household where there is Covid 19 tests NEGATIVE then they can come into school, but we would ask that that child tests daily using lateral flow tests to ensure they remain negative and do not pass the virus onto others. Thank-you for your help with this matter - we must all remain vigilant to keep each other safe.

If your child is isolating from school due to Covid 19 and they are well enough to work, you can find their work on the HOME LEARNING page of the Year 1 section of the website. I have using Oak Academy units as they all contain a little video and a task for the children to complete that does not require you to print anything - your child just needs a piece of paper and a pencil!! And maybe some colours for the art activities! https://www.ourladyassumption-sch.co.uk/yr1-home-learning

Please DO NOT send the work into school with your child on their return, but send photos of it through Class Dojo and add work to your child’s profile. You will each get an invite to this through the email you gave to school when your child was in Reception.

If your child is off school, please inform the office and NOT the Year 1 email or Class Dojo. Many thanks

Any questions or queries either catch me or Mrs Veasey at the gate or email using year1@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk.

Things to note…

Children should have their water bottles each day
PE is Monday and Friday
Earrings cannot be worn for PE
Earrings should only be small, plain, gold or sliver studs
Children should have long hair tied back for school
School bags should just be the red book bags you were given in Reception
Please keep reading folders in the children’s school bags so that they have them on the right day - many thanks.

As we approach Armistice Day on Tuesday 11th and Remembrance Sunday on the 14th, poppies will continue to be on sale in school. If you would like your child to buy a poppy in school, then please send them to class with 50p and we will ensure they come home with a poppy. Many thanks.

One last thing…..you may find the following link useful, this website offers parenting advice from mental health experts with practical tips to support behaviour.

https://parentingsmart.place2be.org.uk/