Welcome to Cedar Class – Year 1
Welcome back to school, I hope you and your families have enjoyed a restful summer. I, Mrs Holmes, will be your class teacher in Year 1 and Mrs Tricker our class teaching assistant. We are really lucky to have Mrs Tricker fulltime in our classroom and we are both really looking forward to hearing all about the exciting things you have been doing in the holidays!
We have an exciting term planned for Cedar Class, with lots of learning and fun activities to keep us all busy.
Your children will line up on the playground in the morning, opposite the Year 1 garden. Mrs Tricker and I will then take them into the classroom. At the end of the day, I think it will be easiest if parents/carers wait on the playground and we will dismiss the children from near the garden fence. Hopefully this should be easier and safer. Please let us know if your child is due to be collected by somebody else as we will need to check this, before letting children go.
Start of day: 08.45
Collect: 3.25
We have a little competition in school where the class with the highest attendance receives ‘Pumpkin’ (a soft toy). It is awarded to the class with the highest percentage attendance for that week. Hopefully Cedar Class will be able to receive the award during the year. We understand that there are times when your child is unwell and the best place for them is at home. However, if they are struggling for whatever reason, please make sure that you speak to us so that we can support you and your child.
Now that your child is in Year 1, we will slowly start to introduce slightly more formal learning as a whole class. We are very much guided by the needs of the children and will have plenty of opportunities (as they did in Acorn Class) to learn through play as well as more guided adult led activities. Within our classroom we will use ‘continuous provision’ to enable the children to work independently, exploring and investigating, enabling them to direct their own learning whilst developing their skills and understanding further. Mrs Tricker and I will be working closely with the children, particularly during the first half of the Michaelmas term, to ensure that all children are able to access the learning environment fully and ensuring high expectations of behaviour for learning.
PE will be on a Monday morning with Mr Entwistle so please make sure that your child has a named PE kit in school. We will also have music lessons with Miss Dalton on a Monday morning. Mrs Carr will teach the children on a Wednesday afternoon in the Art studio.
In Cedar Class we will continue to have daily phonics lessons. Your child will bring home a book, closely matched to their reading/phonics ability. Please could you make sure that this remains in your child’s book bag as it will be collected each week. Children will put their book bags into a box as they come into the classroom, ready to read with an adult. Different groups change their books on different days, it won’t necessarily be a Friday. It is important that children read little and often at home, as well as in school. The children can collect certificates that are presented in assembly for 25, 50 and 100 reads.
We will continue to develop children’s writing skills, ensuring that they develop the correct letter formation. We will send home a sheet at the start of term to help with this.
In Maths we follow the White Rose maths scheme. We will be looking closely at place value. Please encourage your children to look for numbers in their environment and to practise counting and recognising numbers.
Checklist for Cedar Class
- Everything needs to be named please – ideally labels as biro washes out!
- Named water bottle
- PE kit (named) with plimsolls and joggers for colder weather (black)
- Book Bag
- Coat, as we will be outside in all weathers
Mrs Tricker and I are so looking forward to getting to know your children and working with you. We will use Class Dojo so that you can see how many ‘dojo’ points your child is receiving for good effort, kindness and work. You can also contact me using Class Dojo. If you have any questions or concerns, please do get in touch.
Many thanks
Mrs Holmes – Class Teacher Mrs Tricker – Cedar Class Teaching Assistant