Welcome to Eclipse class-Year 1/2 

Class teacher- Mrs Gainford

Class teaching assistant- Miss Hancox

Welcome to Eclipse'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 Merhten's will be teaching the class every Monday, but Mrs Gainford is available throughout the rest of the week.

Book changing and Maths Passport

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 Reas 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 Maths passport practise will help your child progress further and develop more confidence with reading and number knowledge. If you would like an update on your child’s maths passport target, please send in your home copy to be updated.

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 2

Topic

This term our topic is called 'Fantastic Females' and we will be looking at 4 very important women who helped change their respective fields of interest and pave the way for more people to follow in their footsteps. We will be focusing on Marie Curie, Florence Nightingale, Emily Davison and Amelia Earhart. We will be mainly having a History focus and looking at when they were born for our class timelines as well as learning key facts about them. We will look at how their lives changed their areas of expertise, which were science, health, women's rights and air travel. We will also be looking at some science about materials, road safety in PSHE and some DT just before the Christmas break. We will also be learning and performing our songs for the Christmas Nativity in December.

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 are learning a number a week. We have already covered 11-14, so we will start at number 15 after half term. We will be; representing, comparing and exploring the numbers, looking at one more and one less, doubling and halving numbers to 10 and addition & subtraction within 20. We are also incorporating learning the value of different coins to be able to represent these numbers.

Year 2

In Year 2 we are looking at 3 different units; multiplication & division, money and properties of shape.

Important dates:

Monday 4th November – School starts again

Friday 8th November - Year 1 and 2 Amaze Day (Children can dress up as 'crazy scientists' if they would like to or bring a prop - but no expectation to buy anything!)

W/C 18th November - Class heats for the oracy competition

Friday 29th November - FOBS Christmas Fair (please send in clean 1lbs jam jars with screw lids to KS1 class teachers by Wednesday 20th November)

Monday 16th December - Nativity Dress Rehearsal at 2pm in St. Lawrence's Church

Tuesday 17th December - Nativity Performance at 2pm in St. Lawrence's Church (please do not arrive earlier than 1.45pm)

Friday 20th December - Break up at 2pm