Class teacher- Mrs Gainford

Class teaching assistants- Mrs Kelly and Miss Sykes

Welcome to Beethoven's class page. Here we will keep you updated on what is happening both in school and within our class. However, if you have any questions about anything, please feel free to catch up with us at the beginning or end of the school day. Mrs Browning will be teaching the class every Monday, but Mrs Gainford is available throughout the rest of the week.

Book changing and NumBots

Pupils will have the opportunity to change their books twice a week on a Monday and a Thursday. We encourage pupils to read each night and to read the Phonics Read Write Inc books 3 times before they change them to consolidate their knowledge of sounds and build fluency and expression. Once your child has finished the Read Write Inc scheme, they will be assessed on their reading fluency, expression and comprehension and will move on to 'banded books' when they are ready. Your continued support at home with reading and NumBots practise will help your child progress further and develop more confidence with reading and number knowledge. If you have misplaced your child's password, please see Mrs Gainford for a new copy.

PE 

On PE days, if your child has their ears pierced can they remove them if possible or bring tape to cover them for safety reasons. If children are taking their PE kits home to wash on Fridays please can you make sure they are back in school on Mondays. Our PE sessions are on Monday and Wednesday.

Additional Information 

Children are able to access and drink water throughout the day. With the weather still warm it is important that children bring in a refillable water bottle daily. On sunny days a sun-hat is important for when playing outside and participating in sports activities.  Sun cream should be applied before the start of the school day. If you would like your child to re-apply they should do so themselves during their lunch-break and must not share their sun cream with friends.  Sun cream and hats must be named. Due to the heat, children will regularly be removing their cardigans and jumpers. Please can you make sure these are clearly labelled with your child's name so that they can be returned easily if they are misplaced.

Allergies may also increase due to the heat.  If your child has an inhaler, please could you make sure that it is clearly named and in date.  Their inhaler needs to be in school so that it can be accessed at all times.  If your child requires any other medication please could you make us AND the office staff aware. For any medication, a medical form is required to be filled in. You can get this from the school office.

Term 1

Topic

We are starting the new school year with a topic all about Space! The first week will initially be about getting to know each other and our class rules as well as finding out all about who our class is named after! We will then step into Space and learn about Neil Armstrong and Mae Jemison and why they are important astronauts. We will also be making iMovies in ICT and a moon buggy in D&T. We are going to be investigating materials for a space suit as well as using clay techniques to make our own planet!

English

Learning to read is a life-long skill and a key thing your child will learn at our school. Everything else depends upon this skill, and so, at Bourton, we put as much energy into ensuring that every single child not only learns to read but learns to love reading!

Phonics is the key to unlocking reading and writing, and that is why we have chosen to use the Read Write Inc (RWI) phonics and writing scheme at our school. Children have daily RWI lessons, which includes an English lesson (made up of reading and writing) and a Phonics session (made up of sounds, words and spelling). Children are assessed termly to identify their progress. Learning to read is a life-long skill and the most important thing your child will learn; we encourage you to embrace your child's journey with phonics, and have included Set 1, Set 2 and Set 3 sounds below:

          

Those who have completed the RWI scheme and have moved to the literacy groups will be using high quality texts to support both their reading and writing. 

As always, there will be regular reading and handwriting practise throughout the term.

Maths

Our Year 1 and 2 children will be split a little bit this term with regards to their Maths learning.

Year 1

In Year 1 we will be recapping our knowledge of numbers to 10 and then we will be looking at the composition of each number from 11-20. We will spend a whole week looking at each number; how it is represented, what numbers add or subtract to make this number as well as some doubles or halves.

Year 2

In Year 2 we will be starting the year by looking at place value of numbers and then moving on to addition and subtraction.

Important dates:

Wednesday 3rd September - Children return to school

Monday 8th September - First PE lesson for Beethoven Class

Tuesday 21st October - Special Visit to School for Year 1 and 2

Tuesday 21st October - Parents Evening

Wednesday 22nd October - Parents Evening

Thursday 23rd October - INSET Day

Friday 24th October - INSET Day