Welcome to Moonstone Class!
Moonstone Class is made up of 25 wonderful Year 1 children and our class teachers are called Mrs Keenan and Mrs Robinson.
(Mrs Robinson teaches us every Monday and every other Tuesday, and Mrs Keenan teaches us the rest of the days).
We are very lucky across Year 1 to be supported by lots of fabulous teaching assistants at different times during the week, and these are: Mrs White, Miss Hawkins, Mrs Dowthwaite, Miss Gaunt and Miss Bossman.
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.
We hope you enjoy seeing all of the fantastic things that we do in Moonstone Class.
Feel free to send me a message any time on Class Dojo, or through my school email:
ghardaker@dovedale.derbyshire.sch.uk
(I got married last year but I still use my old email address!)
Key Dates
- Monday 23rd February - Back to school
- Thursday 5th March - World Book Day
- w/c 9th March - Celebration Week and Science Week
- Wednesday 18th March - Expert Group Afternoon
- Friday 20th March - Red Nose Day
- Friday 27th March - Break up for Easter
- Monday 13th April - Back to school
PE Days
Our PE Days for Spring 2 are as follows:
Outdoor PE - Every Monday afternoon
Indoor PE - Every Wednesday morning
The PE kit should include:
A plain red/white t-shirt (with or without the school logo)
A plain black sports jacket
Plain black or navy joggers or shorts (weather dependent)
Trainers or plimsoles
Reading
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 library 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 4 to 6 days.
Please note:
- Some black and white storybooks have a space for the child's name. Please leave this blank as these are not personal copies, and will be re-used.
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
After the first few weeks of school, your child will receive weekly spellings to learn at home. We don't start them straight away as we want to give your child time to settle into Year 1 life before throwing something else at them! Once we start spelling tests, please support your child with practising their spellings at home so that they are ready for their weekly spelling test. The spelling test will take place every Friday. We don't try to 'catch the children' out with the spelling tests - we help/support them (especially at the start) and we use them as more of a learning point!
When we give the children the spelling booklets, the children will also receive log in details for a website/app called Spelling Shed. Spelling Shed is used across the school and it allows the children to practise their weekly spellings in a fun way. The children love using Spelling Shed.
Please see the link below for other fun ways to practise spellings at home.
Maths We will start the half term finishing our Place Value to 20 learning block. They will use number lines and estimate where numbers sit on each number line. Children will also compare numbers using greater than, less than and equal to. Following on from this, we will revisit addition and subtraction but with numbers within 20. Children will practise using a range of different methods to add/subtract e.g. cubes, pictures, number lines and counting on/back in their heads.
Science - This term, the children will delve deeper into the Plants knowledge block. In Autumn 1, we started with trees linking to the seasonal changes that happen in Autumn . This half term, we will revisit that block with a specific focus on plants/flowers. The children will get to explore a range of wild plants/flowers and investigate the most common wild plants in our school environment. Children will be challenged to continue this investigation in their local environment as a homework. They will be able to identify and recognise garden plants/flowers and they will use this knowledge to design their own garden. Children will discuss and label the different parts of a plant and compare this to different parts of a tree. They will group plants/flowers and compare and contrast. They will continue exploring how plants/trees change throughout the year.
RE (Religious Education) - Our key question that we will explore in our RE lessons this term is 'How and why do we celebrate sacred times?'. We already considered this question during the Autumn term 2 when we were looking at Christians. We explored sacred times (such as festivals/celebrations) important to Christians. Now that we have completed learning around the religion Islam, we are revisiting this key question and exploring sacred times for a Muslim. The children will explore the sacred time of Ramadan and the importance of this within the Islamic faith. They will be able to explore Eid and traditions that Muslims have in this sacred time. The children will then be able to compare/contrast sacred times within both religions. We will end the half term with an Easter celebration due to the upcoming Easter week and learn about how Christians celebrate this sacred time.
PSCHE (Personal, Social, Citizenship and Health Education) - This half term we are exploring the knowledge/skills block - Being Responsible. The children will explore and understand that everyone has responsibilites. They will reflect on responsibilities that they have in school and at home. The children will explore the rights that they have as children such as the right to an education and the right to be heard. They will explore what is fair/unfair, kind/unkind and right/wrong before considering the importance of rules.
Geography - The geography theme this term is ‘physical and human’. The children will be learning about the seasons and identifying physical and human geographical features of Long Eaton. The class will also compare buildings in Long Eaton and the Lake District and will start to understand that geographical features can change over time.
Computing - Our learning block for this half term is Computing Systems and Networks - Technology around us. During this block, children will explore technology in our classroom and using computer technology. They will develop their mouse skills and use a compute keyboard.
Children will also consider how to use technology responsibly. Every Wednesday's assembly will focus on Online Safety to enable children to stay safe growing up in this digitally-rich world!
Art - The art theme this term is ‘drawing’. The children will explore Ester Mahlangu's artwork noticing the colour, line and shapes that she uses. Using her artwork and a variety of medium, including sketching pencils, colouring pencils and oil pastels, the children will draw from observation before creating their own piece of artwork inspired by Ester Mahlangu.
Indoor PE - Our indoor PE this term is Tai-Chi. The children will get an insight into the history of Tai-Chi and will learn moves/sequences.
Outdoor PE - Our outdoor PE this term has a focus on 'Striking and Fielding'. The children will take part in a range of games/activities such as egg hunt, sweep the floor, hole in one and 3 ball rounders. This will encourage practise of having the correct grip/stance with a range of equipment, learning how to stay safe when others are using striking equipment, pick up and throw a stationary ball in one movement and strike a ball accurately along the floor.
