Welcome to Class 1 - Jellyfish Class 

Welcome to Seahorses Summer term.

Miss Bramhill teaches with Mrs Robertson, Mrs Sturmey, Mr Barlow and Mrs Dodd as TA's.

Please do not hesitate to come and see us after school if you have any questions or queries or email.

-Your child needs their own named plastic water bottle to keep in class, which they can access and top up during the day using our class jug.

-They may also wish to bring a healthy snack for morning break which they can eat at the beginning of play time. They also will have the option to have a school-provided snack in the afternoon and some have milk.

-Please also label every part of your child's uniform so that if they misplace it, we will know it's theirs. Please also bring wellies labelled for wet weather and muddy ground.

-Your child is welcome to bring a pencil case into school with pencils, rubbers, glue, sharpeners, rulers, but we don't use pens. We have equipment needed in school too.

-Please ensure your child brings trainers every day to change into after the Golden Mile to help keep our carpets mud-free.

Class News and learning topics:

Spellings

-In Spellings, we are practising spelling rules like 'tion' in 'mention', 'station', 'vacation' and 'tial' like 'partial', 'ssion' in 'mission'.

In English, we are looking at poetry, making poems using alliteration, onomatopoeia and similes to create a piece about the Great Fire of London. We will be reading Samual Pepy's infamous diary entries to find out how the Great Fire started and write some insights into how we may have felt during the time the event happened. Then we will do some freeze frames and acting to empathise with people of this time and write adjectives to describe. After that we will write diary entries as if we were there ourselves. We will be using tea stained paper and try to use 'quills' and ink to transport ourselves into the 17th century. Finally, we will create an informative newspaper article and comic strips to explain the events in chronological order once we have been studying the topic in history lessons. 

-You could help your child's literacy skills by recounting what they have done at the weekend, the half-term etc, it helps to verbally recite first and then have a go at writing and after that, redraft to improve, can they add interesting adjectives to describe? Can they form each letter accurately? Can they use conjunctions 'and, if, but, because, so' etc?

In Maths, we will continue to follow White Rose, looking at fractions, mass, capacity, temperature and weight, statistics, time and position and direction. 

Science

Our Science Topic is 'Plants' where we will be exploring different types of bulbs, seeds and what they need to grow. We will be planting our own plants and experimenting with the different factors that we could change and assess how this affects our plant's growth. 

 Whole Class Reading:

We are diving deep into stories including 'Beegu' and 'Vlad and The Great Fire of London', 'Raven Boy', 'Toby and The Great Fire of London' and more exciting texts; which are Topic-related. We will also be starting to read chapter books at story time at 3:00 till 3:15 where some children like to volunteer to read parts ocassioanlly. 

-We are checking our understanding of vocabulary like what does this word mean? We are looking at inference: how must that character be feeling after this event? We will be looking at predicting skills, what might happen next? We will also be looking at explaining, why does this happen, how did that happen? We are looking at retrieval skills, where did that event happen? Which character did that? Lastly, we are looking at sequencing: which order did these events happen in the story?

-These are the kind of questions you should be asking your child when listening to them read in Year Two, to help them get ready for the rest of their education. Comprehension is a huge part of every subject at school and develops transferable skills for their future. 

Topic:

In Topic, we are studying 'The Great Fire of London'. See our plans here: 

Trips/Visits

We are planning school trips and we very much look forward to these, currently organising a trip to the local library and the transport museum to support our learning about The Great Fire of London and to see the evolution after this event of the fire engine with EYFS and Year One!

Class Information
We love to watch the birds outside Class 2’s window. They are very hungry so we would welcome any donations of bird food, seeds etc! 

Homework:

Maths:
We practise mental maths at school, (sometimes just verbally). You can help your child by practising addition, subtraction, times tables including 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's.-You could play number bond 'ping pong'- for example, you say 10 and they say 0, you say 9 and they say 1. You say 20 and they say 0, you say 14 and they say 6. You can also ask them to count to 100, count in 2's, 3's, 5's, 10's, double and half numbers in their heads. 

You could help to teach shapes when out and about, which 3D and 2D shapes can they find? You could identify and count money when at a shop, practice how much change they will get and practise measurements when cooking or gardening etc- they will love this. 

Reading:
Please listen to your child read as often as you can. Just ten minutes every night can really help your child to progress in their reading, it is best to find a routine and try to commit to this.

-In Year Two, the children need to be questioned on their story, how can they link this book to others they have read before, the setting, the characters? Recent DfE Guidance stated that: In age-appropriate books, a year 2 pupil working at age-related expectations should read  words accurately and fluently without overt sounding and blending, at a rate of over 90  words per minute.  

-Each different question type within reading comprehension has its own canine helper to remind children of what they need to  do to answer a question appropriately: 

Sequence Questions with Sequencing Suki  

Sequencing Suki likes everything in order! She will help you sequence  the events in a text.  

Vocabulary Questions with Vocabulary Victor  

Vocabulary Victor will help you to look at how authors and poets have  chosen to use certain words and phrases. 

Retrieval Questions with Rex Retriever 

Rex Retriever will help you to go into a text and retrieve the facts. 

Inference Questions with Inference Iggy 

Inference Iggy will help you hunt for clues in a text about how someone  might be feeling or why something is happening. 

Prediction Questions with Predicting Pip 

Predicting Pip tries to see the future and she will help you work out what  might happen next.

Their fluency will increase as they read more, and it is important to let the child sound out the word they stumble upon and find difficult. You can help after they have had a go themselves. You can write in their Reading Diary any words that they need to practise. Please sign and date their diary or ask your child to so that we can track their reading. 

Reading competition!

We are running a reading competition in Seahorses Class, on the front page of their Reading Diary, there is space for writing the books they read. When they fill that page (18 reads for those who have bigger chapter books), they will get a prize! 

-Also see spellings section below...

Independence:

One of the important roles in Year 2 is to develop your child's independence of dressing and undressing themselves for PE, doing up their own coat. Encourage your child to practise getting dressed on their own at home to help them to get dressed more quickly at school. It is also important to encourage your child to have independence and resilience in general, so allowing them to have the responsibility for their own learning and belongings, taking risks in outdoor play etc.

Summer term timetable:

Wednesday - PE with Mrs Sturmey.

Thursday - ICT with Mr Barlow and Miss Bramhill. 

Please make sure your child has weather appropriate clothing, the correct P.E. kit in school on these days - including short white socks for those girls who wear tights to school. Tracksuit bottoms are an essential during the colder months as opposed to shorts or skirt for P.E. Long hair will also need to be tied back and earrings removed. 

Please do not dress your children in PE for non PE days- ie club days. They can get changed after school for these.

Our class have created Class Promises which all pupils have signed to say they understand and will follow these expectations in school, e.g listening when the teacher, TA or peers are speaking, trying our best with learning, taking care of our belongings and caring for friends. 

In Seahorses Class, children will be rewarded for excellent behaviour with stickers for their charts, house points, behaviour points, letters home and prizes from the cabinet. 

If these class promises are broken more than once, then the parents will be informed, and it is expected that behaviour will improve. Children may be moved away from other children if they need some time to reflect. If a child has not completed learning due to choosing not to do it, they may be asked to finish it during lunch or break time, or the work will be sent home.

The School's Behaviour Policy can be found on the School website.

We will be posting a selection of 20 or so words that the children are to learn this term. This selection is made up of words from either the year 1 or 2 compulsory spelling list or words containing spelling rules which we will be looking at this term. 

Year Two spring term spellings list- (different children are in different groups and have been given their paper copy-they know which colour group they are in) Please practise little and often and again make it fun by practising and showing a teddy/sibling, children can test their older siblings and parents and see if they make any “marvellous mistakes”! You could write them using rainbow writing or bubble writing, make fun rhymes etc. Here is this half-term's list:

We are starting this term by revising alternate ways to spell ‘ee’. They will be mixed up!

These will be printed but often get misplaced so do check on here if you lose the paper copy. 

The children are required to learn and practise these words both at home and in school. There will be a spelling test on the last week before half-term, where the children will be tested on a selection of these words.  

The children will learn a number of strategies to help them remember how to spell a lot of these words correctly. At home, they should be given time to practise using their chosen method, independently, as well as spending time going through them and practising verbally with an adult. This may be drawing it, using rainbow colours, using rhymes like 'Ferraris are speedy together' for the word 'fast'!

This new approach aims to give the children more ownership of their learning and focus more on the rules and strategies of spelling, rather than simply memorising words for a weekly test.

Each year we try to 'hatch' new friends, either chicks or butterflies :

Welcome to Dolphins Class (Year 3 and 4)                                    

Mrs Townshend and Mrs Cattermole teach in Class 3 with Mrs Downey as class TA four days a week. Please do not hesitate to come and see us after school if you have any questions or queries

Your child needs their own named plastic water bottle to keep in class, which they can access and top up during the day. They may also wish to bring a healthy snack for morning break which they then eat at the beginning of play time. 

Class News

Welcome back to an exciting Summer Term. We hope you are refreshed and ready to learn!            

Our History topic this term is Ancient Eygptians and our Science topics are Plants and States of Matter. (Don't forget to use Curriculum Visions for extra research at home-ask if you've forgotten your login)  

In English this term, we will be studying 'The Time Travelling Cat', 'The Egyptian Cinderella', 'Stories From Ancient Egypt' and a short film called 'Treasure' to inspire the children's writing and encourage the children's love of reading. 

In Maths we will continue to follow the White Rose scheme of work and use Times Tables Rockstars to help with learning times tables. All children are required by the government to know their times tables up to 12x12 before they reach Yr 5. We use a 'Rocket' system so that the children know which times tables they are learning next, please feel free to ask more about this system. Times tables tests are on Fridays. On completing a times tables test successfully, the children the move onto the next number but the tests each week also cover numbers previously learnt to constantly consolidate the children’s learning.

Trips/Visits

 Kingswood Residential Centre 19th-21st April 

Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge 22nd June

Class information

  Spellings

Spellings will be learnt in school and will be tested at the end of term We will be revisiting the words regularly in class in order to embed the spelling rules and patterns.

Times Tables
We learn times tables in a certain order. (Please feel free to come in and see our times tables display.) Everyone will start with 2s in September and then move up through the chosen order until they reach 'The Moon'. Children will be tested each week and will move up or be re-tested. Please practise times tables as much as possible over the holidays - car journeys are the perfect time.Times Tables Rock stars is a new and exciting way to learn times tables. Your child has his/her own password.Please encourage your child to use it as much as possible.

Reading
Please listen to your child read as often as you can. Just ten minutes every night can really help your child to progress in their reading. (Even fluent readers may need help with difficult words.)

When you have listened to your child, please sign and date the pages read. Reading diaries will be checked weekly by Mrs Downey and a raffle ticket will be awarded if your child has read five times or more in a week.

Independence
One of the important roles in Class 3 is to develop your child's independence. Being ready for lessons with the appropriate equipment in their own pencil case and having appropriate clothes for the weather that day is all part of this.

PE/ICT timetable

Tuesday - Swimming at Iswim, Clopton

Thursday - ICT with Mr Barlow 

Friday - PE with Mrs Townshend

PE kit. T-shirt in the house colour, navy shorts, navy tracksuit, plimsolls, plain trainers. If your child wears tights to school that day, they will need white socks to change into.Long hair will also need to be tied back and earrings removed.

Please make sure your child has:
1. A book bag/ folder to protect school library books and reading diaries.
2. Sports kit
3. A pencil case with a selection of HB pencils for writing and drawing, a few coloured crayons, ruler, rubber, pencil sharpener etc. Please make sure that the pencil case is small enough to fit in your child's drawer in the classroom.
4. Wellies.

Please make sure that all items of clothing are clearly labelled.

Welcome to Barracuda Class

Mr Hempenstall teaches the Barracudas with Mrs Dod as our class TA. Please do not hesitate to come and see us after school if you have any questions or queries.

Things to Bring

Please make sure your child has :

P.E is on Tuesday afternoons. Children can come to school in correct P.E kit on Tuesdays. Long hair will also need to be tied back and earrings removed. Please make sure that all items of clothing are clearly labelled.

Your child needs their own named plastic water bottle to keep in class, which they can access and top up during the day. They may also wish to bring a healthy snack for morning break which they then eat at the beginning of play time.  

Key Events

On the 26th April, we visited the Science Museum in London where we took part in some explosive workshops and explored some amazing scientific concepts through immersive exhibits. We had an amazing time!

Work has already begun on our Summer production which this year will be:

Our Set Design Team are meeting once a week to design the scenery and make all the props and rehearsals have already started to learn all the wonderful songs. 

The production will be performed on 5th and 6th July 2023 at 6:30pm at Henley Community Centre.

Class information 

Homework 
The children will be given homework every Friday starting from the second week back in September. This will be due in the following Thursday. Homework will always be based their learning in class that week and the children are expected to have a go at completing their homework tasks independently before asking for a helping hand.

Reading

We expect every child in Barracuda class to read every evening for at least 15 minutes. Please keep a record of when your child reads so that we can ensure they are reading regularly and making good progress. We also give prizes out for people reading regularly so the more they read, the greater chance they have of winning prizes. 

Independence
One of the important roles in Class 4 is to develop your child's independence. Being ready for lessons with the appropriate equipment in their own pencil case is all part of this.

Click here for PE & Outdoor Learning Kit required for Physical Activity
 

The Trust's PE & Outdoor Learning Expectations can be found here.

PE Lessons

In school, we have set up a reward system which celebrates the effort, behaviour and resilience of children in school. These are given to children for using good manners, looking out for their friends, helping others, helping visitors etc. Children earn points which then in turn can be exchanged for prizes from the reward cabinet. Prizes have been donated by the Friends of Henley School and are updated regularly to keep up with trends and fads, maintaining the interest of the children.

The behaviour points are also added together for the house totals every half term, together with house points which are awarded for achievement and attainment in class. House points are awarded for academic achievement in school and at home for improvements to work quality, outstanding presentation etc.

As well as these reward systems, staff use sticker charts in class, celebrate with certificates and notes home and our Head Teacher certificates are awarded in assembly each week. Other certificates in school include Accelerated Reader and Maths timetables achievements.

We also have a WOW! Board in the school corridor which celebrates achievements beyond the immediate school environment. Children can bring in photographs of their activities and awards to share their successes at clubs outside of school. These have previously included karate competitions, scouting, ballet and dance shows, beekeeping experiences and music awards.

We really like to see what the children accomplish outside of school and share in their successes and achievements.