Bearcat Class (Yr 1/2)

Welcome to Bearcat Class!

Our teachers are Mrs Broomfield and

Mrs Banfield

Our Teaching Assistants are Mrs Vickers, Mrs Bond and Mrs Burns

Our Curriculum.

Some subjects, such as English and Maths, are taught on a daily basis; others, like Science, are taught weekly; and some are taught in topic blocks.

In the Autumn Terms we will have a History focus, learning about the nurses Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole and Edith Cavell. Our Science will focus on our bodies and what we can do to keep them healthy, as well as noticing all the signs of Autumn.

If you would like to find out more about what we will be learning across the whole curriculum this term, please see the curriculum map attached below (coming soon!)

Seesaw

We will try to share your child's learning with you on a regular basis via Seesaw. Do ask if you are not sure how to access this as lots of useful information will also be sent this way. You will also be able to send us messages via Seesaw and we will try to respond promptly. It is ideal if you can message both Mrs Broomfield and Mrs Banfield so that we are all informed, even if it is not our teaching day.

For term 1, Bearcat Class PE sessions will be on Mondays and Tuesdays, and we ask that children come to school in their PE kit on those days (house-colour t-shirt and black shorts) and wearing suitable shoes. As well as having our Up-and-Under session on the Monday we are fortunate enough to have a cricket coach working with us on Tuesdays this term.

Snack

All children will be provided with a healthy snack each morning. We prefer it if they have the school fruit or veg option (these are usually one of the following: apples, pears, bananas, clementines, carrots, tomatoes or sugar snap peas) however if you feel they are very unlikely to want it they can bring their own snack- something healthy please!

Please encourage children to bring their water bottle.

Reading

We would ask you to read with your child as often as possible- it really does make a huge difference to their progress. If they are not in the mood to read to you, it is fine to read to them or to take it in turns to read a page each- it should be an enjoyable experience, not a chore! They will bring books home from school, but they may sometimes rather read things they choose at home or at the library. Talking about what they have read or asking questions about a story you have read to them is also invaluable and we are really grateful for your support in this area. For y1s and many of the y2 children, the books they bring home are closely linked to their phonics and will be entirely decodable- meaning they will be able to sound out the words, or recognise any common exception words. We will change their books during weekly guided reading sessions, so they will have opportunities to read the same book several times- building their fluency and therefore their confidence and enthusiasm for reading.

Phonics and Spellings

Children have daily phonics sessions following the ‘Unlocking Letters and Sounds’ programme. Children learn through synthetic phonics, the teaching of writing in which particular graphemes (letters) and their associated phonemes (sounds) are decoded through segmentation to spell words. Children have daily sessions progressing through the phases within the ‘Unlocking Letters and Sounds’ progression document.

In Year 1 through Phase 5a, b and c, children learn any alternative spellings and pronunciations for the graphemes and additional Common Exception Words. By the end of Year 1 children will have mastered using phonics to decode and blend when reading and segment when spelling. In Year 1 all children are screened using the national Phonics Screening Check.

In Year 2, phonics continues to be revisited to ensure mastery of the phonetic code and any child who does not meet age related expectations will continue to receive support to close identified gaps. Once secure, children move on to 'Spelling Shed'. The ‘Spelling Shed’ programme supports the teaching of spelling, embracing knowledge of spelling conventions, etymology- understanding where words come from, morphology- the structure of the word, phonics and definitions. The programme is split into weekly spelling patterns, which are organised by year group; it also includes sessions on the common exception words and challenging spellings. The ‘Spelling Shed’ scheme progresses through the spelling patterns set out in the National Curriculum.

Useful Information: