Roald Dahl class is made up of 30 wonderful Year 1 children and our class teacher is called Miss Blake. We are also lucky enough to also be taught by Miss Cholerton every Monday and every other Tuesday. Our fabulous teaching assistants support us at different times throughout the week, across all of Year 1, and these are: Mrs Wilkins, Mrs Salt and Mrs Dowthwaite.
On our webpage you will find some important information such as our spellings and any important dates for your diary. These will also be communicated on Class Dojo where further regular updates will be shared so please make sure you are connected. Feel free to send me a message any time on Class Dojo, or through my school email:
cblake1@dovedale.derbyshire.sch.uk
We hope you enjoy seeing all of the exciting and 'phizz-wizzing' things we will get up to on our learning journey this year in Roald Dahl class!
*Please ignore the part that says packed lunch needs to be in a disposable bag! I edited it out too late!
Important dates:
Tuesday 7th June - Return to school
w/c 20th June - Celebration Week / National Sports Week
Wednesday 29th June - Class Swap morning
Friday 8th July - INSET Day
Wednesday 13th July - KS1 Trip
Thursday 14th July - Meet the Teacher
Friday 15th July - Sports Day (KS1 am). Reports home.
Wednesday 20th July - Reports parent drop in for questions/queries.
Friday 22nd July - Last Day - Break up for Summer.
Reading Books.
Your child will receive a reading diary and a wallet containing 2 books. The first book is a black and white ‘storybook’ – this will be a copy of the book your child has learned to read in their Read, Write Inc phonics group. They will know this book and should be able to read it fluently – this is their book where they can show off their great reading skills to you! The second book is a ‘Book Bag Book’ – this book will be matched to your child’s phonics knowledge. Although they will not have read this book in school, they should be able to read it quite easily. This book enables your child to apply their phonic skills independently and for this reason, this is the book we encourage you to focus on at home. 
Soon the children will be receiving a third book. This will be a book to share together at home. We promote a love of books and reading at school and would like to encourage this at home. We do not expect children to be able to read the sharing book themselves, but we do expect them to enjoy listening to it, learning from it and talking to you about it!
In order for our phonics teaching to work effectively, it is essential that all books are returned to school. After hearing your child read at home, or sharing a book together, please make sure all books go straight back into their reading wallet / bag so they are always readily available at school. Depending on their phonics group, children will be given new reading books every 3 to 5 days.
Please note:
- Some black and white storybooks have a space for the child's name (as per the example above); please leave this blank as these are not personal copies, and will be re-used.
- We are in the process of organising our 'books to share' and we expect them to be available within the next few weeks, please bear with us.
Finally, a reminder that we ask for you to hear your child read at least 3 times each week. Please sign your child’s reading diary after each read and include any comments you would like to make. If your child has read at least 3 times each week their name will get entered into our Reading Raffle!
Spellings.
In Year 1, our spellings are linked to the phonics sounds your child is currently learning, high 
frequency words and tricky words to aid them with their spelling during independent writing. At the beginning of every half term, children will be sent home with a booklet contianing all of the weekly spellings for that half term. The booklet states which week each set of spellings relates to and which date the children will be tested. Spelling tests will generally always take place on a Wednesday.
Please find resourced below a copy of this half terms spelling booklet, as well as a range of different ways to practise with your child. As a school, we highly recommend Spelling Shed which the weekly spelling lists will also be added onto so your child can practise in the form of an online game. Please find your child's log-in information on the first page of their Reading Diary.
PE
PE days for the Summer 2 are Mondays (indoor) and Thursdays (outdoor).
On PE days, children are asked to wear their school PE kit to school. Please note that the school PE uniform is changing from September to a plain red t-shirt with or without the school logo, plain black sports jacket/zip-up jacket and plain black or navy joggers/shorts.
Maths
The maths units this term are:
Geometry (Position and Direction)
The children will describe position (including position on a grid) using the vocabulary left, right, above and below. They will follow, describe and give directions using left, right, forwards and backwards. They children will identify turns using 'quarter turn, half turn, three quarter turn and full turn'.
Place Value (to 100)
The children will learn to read, write and count to 100. They will recognise the place value of any two-digit number.
Measurement -Money
The children will recognise the value of coins (1p to £2). They will add together money totals and start to solve simple problems relating to money (including change problems).
Measurement -Time
The class will order events using time order words and learn the days of the week in order. They will learn to tell the time to the hour and half past.
English
In English this half term, the children will be exploring both of the Year 1 class names' Authors - Roald Dahl and Beatrix Potter. We will spend the first few weeks focussing on Roald Dahl. We will learn all about Roald Dahl, read some of his fantastic books and listen to some of his 'Revolting Rhymes'. The children will have a go at writing their own Roald Dahl inspired poetry and will write a set of instructions on how to make their own 'Marvellous Medicine' using lots of rich vocabulary. For the second half of the term, the children will explore the author Beatrix Potter. The children will learn all about Beatrix Potter's life and read some of her lovely stories. The children will explore descriptive writing (character and setting) and using adjectives.
Science
In Science this term the children will finish off their 'Animals including Humans' learning block by exploring the diets of different animals through dissecting poo - it's not as gross as it sounds I promise! They will find out whether the poo came from a carnivore, a herbivore or an omnivore. The children will explore the 5 senses by taking part in a 'senses' investigation working out what they can smell/taste/feel/hear etc. We will be going on a Minibeast hunt to use observations to compare and contrast animals first hand. Throughout the rest of the learning block, the children will continue their learning around the seasons with a specific focus on Spring/Summer. They will observe changes in surroundings, temperature, rainfall, day length and will make tables and charts. The children will also explore how to stay safe in the sun as we move into Summer.
Religious Education (RE)
In RE this term the children will continue to explore the key question from last half term 'What does it mean to belong to a faith community?'. This half term we will delve even deeper into the question. The children will build on their knowledge by discovering how Christians and Muslims welcome a new baby into their faiths. They will explore traditions within Baptism/Christening/Aqiqah ceremonies/celebrations and the importance of these within each religion before comparing the two welcoming ceremonies to find similarities/differences. Children will then explore traditions and the importance of Weddings within the Christian religion. They will explore why making promises to other people is important within a Christian Wedding. The children will get to act out and be a part of a Christian Wedding.
PSCHE (Personal, Social, Citizenship, Health, and Economic Education)
Throughout this term, the children will be exploring the knowledge and learning block 'Bullying Matters'. Throughout the sequence of lessons the children will explore what bullying is and how it can hurt other people. They will recognise that their behaviour can affect others. They will identify different types of bullying including physical, emotional and online and they will understand that all of these are unnaceptable. The children will learn how to recognise when people are being unkind to them or others and who to tell and what to say - identifying how to get the help and support that they need. They will explore what it means to be an upstander and a bystander in bullying situations and they will be able to identify strategies to resist teasing/ bullying if experienced or witnessed.
Within the last 2 weeks of this half term, our PSHCE lessons will largely focus around keeping ourselves safe especially with the Summer holidays fast approaching! The children will explore how to keep safe around roads, trainlines, water, fire and the sun. They will also explore what to do in an emergency and dialing 999.
Geography
The unit in Summer 2 is focused on fieldwork skills. The children will be learning to draw simple maps and describe routes. They will identify physical (eg. stream, trees, field) and human (eg. house, shop, factory) geographical features during fieldwork.
Computing
Art
In art the focus this term will be on materials and sculptures. The children will:
· Explore sculpture using malleable media.
· Experiment with, construct and join recycled, natural and manmade materials.
· Explore shape and form.
Learn about artists work eg. Henry Moore, Marcel Duchamp.
PE
Our 2 blocks in PE this term are 'Athletics' and 'Sending and Receiving'.
Athletics - Within athletics this half term, the children will practise adjusting their running pace smoothly, demonstrate a variety of jumping styles, feel the effect of throwing from sitting, kneeling and standing, perform hop and jump combinations with balance and control and will throw and retrieve equipment safely. To practise these skills the children will be taking part in a range of games/activities such as stuck in the mud, cops and robbers, frogs and grasshoppers, toad in the hole and walk the plank.
Sending and Receiving - Within sending and receiving this half term, the children will practise dribbling a ball, passing a ball, receiving a ball and shooting at a target using rolling and kicking. To practise these skills, the children will be taking part in a range of games/activities such as alien invasion, rob the nest, space invaders, animal dribbling and cannon ball collect.