In Windmill class we do English, Maths, Phonics, Handwriting, Guided Reading and Reading for Pleasure every day.

We then do Art, Geography/History, PSHE, P.E (twice a week), Science and R.E and most of the time we block teach ICT, D/T and Music.

In Windmill Class we like to celebrate all of the positive behaviours the children have towards their learning. This year we have named our tables (as voted by the children) after under the sea animals. We have jellyfish, starfish, dolphin and stingray table. They earn marbles for listening, tidy tables, contributing to carpet time, fantastic work and many other attributes. These marbles link with the school values of: compassion, curiosity, courage and community.

Each week the table with the most marbles gets to go in the prize bag. This encourages the children to work together as a team and be supportive of each other.

You may have already heard your child talk about ‘Learning Power Hero’s’. This is a very exciting role in our class and one each child will earn (more than once). This person has to have shown a fantastic attitude towards their learning, really tried their best and persevered. They may have overcome a challenge they’ve found tricky or simply supported others at their table and been a good friend. This person gets to sit on the learning throne all day, and help with all the everyday jobs, including taking the register down and leading the line.

The expectation is that you read with your child 5 times a week. That’s including weekends so 5 out of 7 days.

 

We are only going to be sending 2 books home because reading the same book multiple times encourages children to engage with in a story and every time they read it they take more away from it. Re-reading the book encourages children to develop a range of different skills that together combine to make them fluent and confident readers. Re-reading the text also allows them to have a greater capacity for paying attention and making sense of WHAT they have read.

Can you write into the child’s home reading record what book it is they are reading and when they read, please 

Children will change their books on different days of the week. It’s really important that they bring their reading books every day.

In regard to bags, there is limited space in the classroom, so please be mindful of the size of bags being sent into the classroom.

Maths:

Ways to help at home:

• Counting forwards and backwards from 100.
• Counting in 2’s 5’s and 10’s and in 3’s for the Year 2’s.
• Help them to get their numbers written the right way around
• Counting to 50 for year 1 and 100 for year 2
• Learn what the numbers look like (0-50 year 1, 0-100 year 2)
• Look at coins and notes with them and play shops

Please can we ask that nothing gets brought in from home, and things only get brought in if they are a celebration of an outside achievement: for example, if it’s a sponsored bike ride or a swimming certificate.

On Wednesdays, I like to do ‘book recommendations’. If any of the children have read a book, they would like to share with the class please can they bring it in and have prepared what they would like to say about it. Nothing huge. Just ‘I liked this character, this is my favourite picture, I recommend this because…' etc.

Book talk and excitement about books from each other really helps share a love of reading in our classroom.

We have a book corner in our classroom which the children are thoroughly enjoying already.

 

Here is a timetable of who will be in the classroom and when (on a normal week) 

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Miss Massey	Miss Massey	Miss Massey	Miss Massey	Miss Massey
Miss Massey	Miss Massey	Miss Massey	Mrs Fox	Mrs Blundell

Kind Regards,

Miss Massey