ELM CLASS - YEAR 1 & 2
Elm Class is our Key Stage One class, which is home to years 1 and 2 children. The class is taught by Mrs Bilal. Also, working in the class are Miss Virgoe and Mrs Griffin. The class is a safe, warm, welcoming learning environment for all children to develop their acedemic, social and emotional skills. Teaching mixes the demands of the National Curriculum with meaningful learning through practical activities.
We have introduced continuous provision into the timetable to support our Year 1 children with their transition from the Early Years curriculum in Reception to Year 1. This enables all children to learn in a free- flow way and promotes pupil choice and agency.
Maths Development and Key Instant Recall Facts
This term the Year 1 children are learning Place Value within 10. This includes learning number bonds by using 10s frames to support visual recall of the bonds. Year 2 children are learning number bonds within 20 and partitioning numbers within 100. The children are taught to use different models to support their mathematical development. We use White Rose Maths Scheme which teaches children to move through stages of maths concepts and skills: Fluency-Practical application 'make it' using maths manipulatives; 'draw it' drawing manipulatives to show their understanding; 'Explain it'- mathematical reasoning and explaining their understanding; mastery challenge where they are demonstrating a greater depth understanding of the mathematical concept.
As part of the daily maths, lesson children practise Key Instant Recall Facts (KIRFs):
What are KIRFs?
To develop your child’s fluency and mental maths skills, we are introducing KIRFs (Key Instant Recall Facts) throughout school. KIRFS are a way of helping your child to learn by heart, key facts and information which they need to have instant recall of.
KIRFs are designed to support the development of mental maths skills that underpin much of the maths work in our school. They are particularly useful when calculating, adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing. They contain number facts such as number bonds and times tables that need constant practise and rehearsal, so children can recall them quickly and accurately.
Forest School Sessions
Every class has foresrt school sessions. The children in Year 1 and 2 really enjoy participating and learning outdoors. They engage in learning activites that help to foster an appreciation for the natual world; develop team work skills; cooperation and perseverance.
English Autumn Term 1
Autumn Term Term 1: our theme is communities, environment, human impact on the world and children as change agents.
The children will study 3 class picture books in depth and use these as a springboard for their own writing: These are: In Our Hands- Lucy Farfort . Dinosaurs and All that Rubbish, Dear Earth-Clara Anganuzzi.
They are learning sentence grammar, structures and punctuation through exploration of the texts and be explicitly taught how to apply grammar and punctuation to their own writing. In year 1, children will work hard on writing simple, compund and complex sentence and how to link their ideas to create a sustained narrative. They will draw on their prior learning in phonics, reading and writing from Reception and their new learning in Year 1 to create longer pieces of writing. They will learn how to structure their writing to show an understanding of different genres: recounts, diary, narratives and fact files.
Similarly in Year 2, the children are learning to use new taught vocabulary and a range of sentence types in their writing: questions, statements, commands and exclamations. They are learning features of story narrative, letter writing and non chronological reports and how to apply year group grammar and spelling to their writing. The children are taught how to edit ther writing for additions and how to proof read it for corrections to promote self-assessment.
All Children have regular spelling lessons, Year 1 children also have daily phonics lessons ( Little Wandle, revised Letters and Sounds). This helps them to develop their phonetic, spelling knowledge and skills. To support the children with transcription they are taught precursive letter formation. Cursive letter formation helps to develop muscle memory and makes the mechanics of early writing more fluent and easier on children's wrist muscles. We also use pencils which encourage a tripod grip.