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Dear Parents

I hope you have all had a lovely summer and your children are looking forward to returning to school.  This term our main topic will be looking at “People”.  We shall be following the National Curriculum Programmes of Study.

In English we will continue to look at books as a class and in small groups.  Over the term we shall look at different types of poems and stories with familiar settings.  We shall also look at non-fiction books and writing, particularly focusing on how instructions are written.  To support our work in school you could help the children to follow instructions such as recipes, instructions for games or how to make things. The children will still have home-school diaries and it would be very helpful if you could record pages read and add any comments about the reading your child has done at home or write about any discussions you have had together after reading the book.  To encourage the children to read every night there will be a chart for them (not grown ups!) to tick to show when they have read at home to earn rewards for regular reading.

In Maths we are going to continue to develop skills and understanding in counting, addition and subtraction.  I shall be encouraging the children to explore and add to their mental strategies to solve problems.   Later on we will also look at using money and solving ‘real life’ problems using money.  If possible please try to allow your children to use money and give change for small amounts or try seeing how many different coins you can use to make different amounts. The children will cover topics such as telling the time, multiplication and fractions, making estimates and measurements.  These areas of maths will be revisited over the year so that the children can revise and increase their knowledge and skills in these areas. 

In Science we are focusing on the body, how the body changes as we grow, the five senses and how we can keep our body healthy. During the second half of term we will be looking at forces and movement.

In Art we will continue to develop our skills in colour mixing, painting and drawing by creating our own self-portraits in the style of Picasso and Matisse. 

In Design and Technology we shall be making our own toys that use a simple winding mechanism.

In History we shall be looking at famous people from the past such as Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole and Louis Pasteur.  In Geography we will be looking at life on the Island of Coll and comparing it to our lives here in Kineton. This will be done partly through looking at the stories of Katie Morag, who lives on the imaginary Isle of Struay -  based on the Isle of Coll.

In Music we shall be looking at long and short notes and exploring pulse and rhythm. We will be learning new songs and experimenting using musical instruments.  This term in PE we shall take part in a combination of games, dance and gym.

In RE we will be looking at people in stories from the Christian, Hindu and Muslim religions.  Later in the term our focus will be Festivals of Light for these religions, including Divali and Christmas.  In our PSHE time we will think about what goes into our bodies and the use of medicines including how to keep safe and well.

In ICT we shall be developing our skills in finding information from CD ROMs using indexes and encyclopaedias.  We shall also be using software to help us ask and answer questions and collect data in simple databases.

I shall continue to set homework once a week on a Friday to be handed in by Thursday in addition to weekly spellings which will be given on Monday and tested on Friday. Please continue to encourage children to read to you as often as possible – it makes a huge difference to their progress if they practise regularly at home.

To help with some of our activities later in the term can I ask you to start saving pictures from magazines of as many different sorts of food as possible.  Also we shall need pictures of faces that are about A4 size. 

Thank you to everyone who sent in presents at the end of last term – they were much appreciated! As you know, I welcome parents who would like to help in the classroom, so please let me know if you have some time to spare (bear in mind, if you have not already helped in school you will need to be police checked). There are many activities, which are helped by an extra pair of hands. Please do not hesitate to come in for a chat if you have any concerns or problems.  The sooner I know about them the sooner something can be done.

As you will already know I had to have a small operation at the end of the summer term and unfortunately have had to take the first two or three weeks off work. Mrs Locke will be covering the class until I get back

I look forward to seeing you all soon and a good term ahead!

Yours sincerely

Alison Sayer