Tawny Owls Y1

Year One Phonics Screening 

Dear Parents,

Statutory phonics screening for Year One children will take place in the week commencing 6th June. Please find a selection of practice resources below that the children may like to work on at home. We will also be sending home a 'Homework QR code slip' for the next few weeks; you will be able to scan the code on your smartphone and a practice test will appear so that you can support your child with reading the words. We have done this in an effort to go paperless and to hopefully make the practice straight forward and enjoyable. Some of the resources below could be used on screen whilst others need to be printed; if you would like anything printed in school, then please let us know. For further information on how the phonics screening will take place, please refer to the parent booklet below.

Thank you for your continued support,

The Tawny Team

Monday 25th April 2022

Welcome to the Summer Term!

We hope you all had a lovely Easter break and enjoyed some yummy treats! Here we are in the summer term with lots of exciting learning ahead of us. Our topic for terms 5 and 6 is Royal Owls which will centre around learning about Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as well as learning about castle life in Medieval times. For further information, please see our topic web and the new homework grid in the 'useful documents' section above.

P.E days this term will be Wednesdays and Thursdays. For the Wednesday session, children will go out promptly at 9am, so please ensure they are on time and ready to get moving!

Parent-Teacher Consultation Meetings will take place this week. Please book an appointment to meet with us online (Wednesday) or face to face (Thursday). We look forward to speaking to everyone and sharing progress so far this year.

Best wishes for a great term ahead,

Mrs Ray, Miss Taylor, Mrs Sansom, Mrs Fairfax, Miss Putt and Mrs Harris

Welcome to Term 4!

Monday 28th February 2022

Teachers: Mrs Ray (Mon-Wed), Miss Taylor (Thurs-Fri)

Teaching Assistants: Mrs Sansom, Miss Putt, Mrs Fairfax

World Book day!

We have an exciting week of events planned to celebrate the 25th anniversary of World Book Day! See above for some fun links to join in the fun! You can click on the ‘gallery’ link above to see some fun ‘Extreme Reading’ photos.

Topic

Our topic this term is 'On the Farm’ which is perfect as Spring grows ever nearer and the world around us begins to come alive! Please see the topic web above which details the areas of learning which the topic encompasses.

Educational School Visits

We are very fortunate to have been invited by the Putt family to visit their farm and see the animals this term! We have popped the visit in the school diary for Thursday 7th April. We look forward to getting together with Mrs Putt in the next few weeks to plan the day together, as well as complete all the necessary risk assessments. We will be in touch to ask for volunteers who can help on the walk to and from the farm, as well as supporting learning activities whilst there. The visit offers lots of curriculum links to our farm topic, Easter and Spring.

In addition to the farm visit, Mrs Green is looking into a Key Stage One Earthtrust visit which we hope will include a visit to the lambing sheds. We will let you know when we know more details regarding this visit. We are excited about being able to get the children out and about learning in different environments!

Drop off/ pick up

Drop off continues to be 8.45- 9a.m. We would prefer if this could be before 8.55am on a Thursday this term as the class has P.E with Mr Sykes which will start promptly at 9am. Pick up is at 3.30p.m. Please enter the playground through the blue gates and come and stand near our cloakroom door so that we can send everyone home safely. 

Reading/ Changing books

Please continue to read with your child as much as you can; daily if possible. This will help them to consolidate the skills they learn in school. Now that the children are into a good routine, we encourage them to be independent in changing their own reading books as often as they need to. The children have easy access to the book shelves within the classroom and are given a daily reminder and time to exchange books. We are on hand to support the class with selecting appropriate titles/ colour bands.

Homework

Homework has been amazing so far this year! Thank you for your continued efforts with this. The new homework grid for term 4 can be found above under ‘helpful documents’ and we will send a hard copy home in folders. Handwriting features more heavily this term and supporting documents can also be found above. We have allocated some more Abacus Active Learn games too, so there are lots to choose from!

P.E/ kit

P.E this term will be taught by our specialist P.E coach, Tom Sykes on a Wednesday afternoon (2.30-3.30pm; therefore he may send the class home). and a Thursday morning (9-10am). Please ensure your child comes to school in full kit, including a warm top and joggers/ leggings. It would be helpful to send a change of clothes (for after the lesson) so that the children are comfortable, especially if they have been outside. Your child will need to keep a pair of wellies in school to change into at break and lunch times and should wear a warm coat to school each day.

With our very best wishes for the term ahead,  

Mrs Ray, Miss Taylor, Mrs Sansom, Miss Putt and Mrs Fairfax

Welcome to Term 3!

January 2022

Teachers: Mrs Ray (Mon-Wed), Miss Taylor (Thurs-Fri)

Teaching Assistants: Mrs Sansom, Miss Putt, Mrs Fairfax

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2022! We hope you all enjoyed a lovely festive break. A huge thank you for our very thoughtful and generous gifts; we really do appreciate your kindness. We are all very excited about the term ahead and being all together again as a class. A very warm welcome to Gabriel who is a new member of Tawny Owls' this term!

Topic

Our topic this term is 'People who help us.' This is a really fun focus and we will be inviting members of the local community into school to talk to the children about their roles. Please see the web above which details the areas of learning which the topic encompasses. 

Drop off/ pick up

Please continue to arrive each morning between 8.45 and 9a.m. The children can come through the blue gates where a member of staff will be there to meet and greet them. The teaching staff inside the classroom will continue to support the children to have a smooth transition from home into the classroom. Pick up is at 3.30p.m. Please enter the playground through the blue gates and come and stand near our cloakroom door so that we can send everyone home safely.

Reading

Please spend a short while listening to your child read on a daily basis. This will provide them with the opportunity to practise and consolidate the skills they are taught in school. If they are particularly tired one day, then read to them; sharing stories is equally important! As well as reading in phonics, English and throughout the school day, the children will continue to take part in a daily ‘reading workshop’. During this time, they will do the following:

• Read individually or as part of a group to an adult.
• Spend time in our reading area, enjoying and sharing books.
• Play games and complete reading activities.

We help the children to change their reading books every time we hear them read. We also remind everyone and support them to change their books on a daily basis (if they are not reading with an adult that particular day).  

Homework

Please continue to support your child in selecting an activity from the new topic web above each week. We love seeing what the children get up to at home, so please do continue to send photos via the school office for us to share in class. We have allocated new maths games to the children's Abacus Active Learn accounts so this is always a fun and valuable homework option.

P.E/ kit

P.E this term will be taught by our specialist P.E coach, Tom Sykes on a Wednesday and a Thursday. Please ensure your child comes to school in full kit, including a warm top and joggers/ leggings. It would be helpful to send a change of clothes (for after the lesson) so that the children are comfortable, especially if they have been outside. Your child will need to keep a pair of wellies in school to change into at break and lunch times and should wear a warm coat to school each day.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support. We are very proud of how well the children have settled back to school this week after the holidays. Please get in contact if ypou would like a chat or to discuss anything.

With our very best wishes,

Mrs Ray, Miss Taylor and the Tawny Team

W.b. Monday 11th October

In English this week we will take an Autumn nature walk around the school grounds and then write a recount about what we found. We will use adjectives to describe the 'treasures' we find out in nature. In maths we will be finding one more/ one less than a given number; starting with single digits numbers and moving into 2-digits.

W.b. Monday 4th October

In English this week we will be reading the story of Katie-Morag and the two Grandmothers by Mairi Hedderwick. We will be comparing the characteristics of the two grandmothers, ordering events in the story and describing the setting. In maths we will be reading, writing and ordering numbers with a big focus on how we form our numbers.

Welcome to Term 1!

September 2021

Teachers: Mrs Ray (Mon-Wed), Miss Taylor (Thurs-Fri)

Teaching Assistants: Mrs Sansom, Miss Putt, Mrs Fairfax, Mrs Green

Welcome to Term One everyone! We are really looking forward to an exciting year ahead with our lovely new class. Please check this page regularly as this is where we will communicate anything important you need to know that is specific to our class.

We hope the information below is helpful at the start of a new year and term.

The school Day

Morning drop off is at the blue gates between 8.45 and 9.00a.m. each day. A member of Tawny Owls’ staff will be there to meet and greet you and your child. You can also pass on any messages at this time (but if you need a longer chat, then please ask for one of us to call/email you). Collection time will be 3.30p.m. on the playground for all children. Please enter the playground via the blue gates and we will bring the children out to you. 

As the children transition from Reception into Year One, we will begin to teach more discrete lessons. Though we will be teaching English, Maths and Phonics each morning from week one, this will be interspersed with opportunities for play and independent learning, so that the children continue to have the rich and varied experiences they benefitted from in Elf Owls. The children will have morning, lunchtime and afternoon play outside, as well as further opportunities to access the outside area throughout the day.

Reading

Please spend a short while listening to your child read on a daily basis. This will provide them with the opportunity to practise and consolidate the skills they are taught in school. If they are particularly tired one day, then read to them; sharing stories is equally important! As well as reading in phonics, English and throughout the school day, the children will take part in a daily ‘reading workshop’ after lunch. During this time, they will do the following:

• Read individually or as part of a group to an adult.
• Spend time in our reading area, enjoying and sharing books.
• Play games and complete reading activities.

Book Bags and Changing Books

Please send your child to school with their book bag every day. We will use this to send home any letters and homework, as well as books. In the first couple of terms we will support the children to change their book daily (if necessary). As the year progresses, we will encourage the children to become more independent in changing their own books. Please use the yellow reading record book/ diary to communicate anything about your child's reading with us, or simply to praise their efforts - we will do the same!

Topic

Our topic this term is 'Island Hopping' which encompasses subjects across the curriculum. Please see our class topic web above which details the exciting learning we have planned!

Homework

You will find a pdf copy of the Topic Homework Grid above. Please support your child in selecting one activity per week from the grid. You will see we have included English and Maths, as well as other activities linked to areas across the curriculum. We will send home individual log-ins for Abacus Active Learn shortly so that the children can enjoy practising their maths online. Homework should be handed in on (or before) Wednesdays and folders will go back out again on Fridays. You can also send in photos via email and we will enjoy sharing them in class on the big screen! We have tried to make the homework fun and varied, but do let us know if you need support in any way.

P.E/ Forest School

Forest school will be led by Mrs Howlett on Wednesdays this term and P.E will be on Thursdays with Mr Sykes (P.E specialist coach). Please ensure your child comes to school in full kit, including a warm top and joggers/ leggings as the weather turns colder. It would be helpful to send a change of clothes (for after the lesson) if the day is looking particularly wet so that the children are comfortable. Your child will need to keep a pair of wellies in school to change into at break and lunch times.

We hope the above gives you some helpful information. We are always available at the end of the school day if you need to talk to us or you can email the office and we will be happy to give you a ring or return your email.

We look forward to getting to know you and your children better over the coming months. 

Warmest wishes

Mrs Ray, Miss Taylor and the Tawny Team