Welcome back to the Spring Term and the start of a brand new year - Happy New Year to you all! We have welcomed in 2023 in class with a super start to the new term. The children have settled back into class, they all have new talk partners to work with and/or new places to sit and they are already working hard. This week has been all about the Three Wise Men and the gifts that they brought for Jesus - we have asked ourselves in class, what can we bring to the baby Jesus?

English - we have continued on with our RWI lessons. During these sessions we all focus on phonics, reading, spelling and sentence development. We have also been working on our pre-cursive handwriting in which we focus on how to write our letters, starting on the line. We are continuing to work hard on our common exception words, reading them in class every day!

We have had a bit of a change around with our groups this week, with Mrs Veasey and Miss Sanderson changing the groups that they lead and a couple of children moving groups too!

Maths - this week has all been about subtraction, part part wholes and fact families. We have used the three numbers from a part part whole to write two addition and two subtraction questions - making a little family of facts! We have used our ten frames and coloured counters to show what this looks like.

RE - this week has been all about the gifts that we can bring to the baby Jesus - the children have amazed me with their wonderful responses - giving themselves to the Lord. We have celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany by going to Mass as a whole school today.

Science - this week we have a review of our work before the holidays and the children did some independent work to show me what they had learnt.

Geography - our focus for this half term is all about maps and the various pieces of information that different maps provide. We started by looking at a variety of maps and then made our own treasure maps and directed our partner around it using the compass points.

ICT - this week we started our programming unit by using the Bee Bots and reminding ourselves of how these work.

Art - this week the children have continued with their sewing of a sea creature - they are looking good!

Golden Award - Nina for being extremely kind and understanding of the needs of others. I have been so impressed and very proud of you this week Nina.

Writing Award - Luke for super independent writing all about the gifts he would bring the the bay Jesus.

Maths Award - Amelia for super fact family work this week, using her ten frame to support her learning.

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.

Water bottles - 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.
I will not be in class on a Thursday afternoon, as it is my release time. This will be covered by Mrs Veasey and Miss Sanderson and is also when the children will have Music with Miss Hope
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!! Yr1 Homework — Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Primary School (squarespace.com)
PHONICS Support - take a look at Oxford Owl for information about how you can help your child at home with their phonics and reading. This is is a great site in general but the page linked has a super little video showing how the sounds should be pronounced. See how many sounds your child knows! How can I support my child with phonics? - Oxford Owl for Home

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 newsletter gives helpful advice about…

the online game Minecraft, a game that remains popular amongst children,
how to set up parental controls on your WIFI/broadband - most providers include these for free as part of your broadband package.
WhatsApp, a free messaging app that allows you to send messages, voice notes, photos and videos. You must be at least 16 years old to register for and use WhatsApp; however, we are aware in school that many of our older children use this app and so the guide will give helpful advice about its features.
and links to further information regarding online safety.

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

Online Safety Newsletter January 2023

This half term we will be learning all about Baptism. If your child has been Baptised, please could you send in a picture of their Baptism for our display board. You can either send in a copy or email me one to year1@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk. Many thanks.

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. https://www.paperturn-view.com/uk/wednesday-word/faithfulness?pid=MTA101634&v=74.6

Once again we would like to take this opportunity to say a very big thank-you for the many cards and gifts received by the Year 1 team at the end of last term- we are extremely grateful and touched by your generosity. Many thanks.