06/09/2019

The children have been super during their first full week in Year 1. It's such a leap for them as they get used to new routines and a more formal way of learning. We are really proud of them for trying so hard to learn about life in Year1. Their manners have really impressed us and we have some fantastic tidy uppers! We often talk about 'The Meadowdale Way' when listening to each other, lining up and walking around the school. They certainly have taken this concept on board.

Each child will have come home with a reading book today (or in some cases, earlier this week). We have heard all of the children read. Some children have stayed on the same colour book band that they left EYFS on. Others have moved on to the next level and some have temporarily moved back to a lower band. Over the summer holidays, some children briefly lose some of their reading fluency and just need a few weeks to build this back up. We will have time each morning for children to change their reading books with our LSA, Miss Palmer. In an ideal world, children should read most days at home with the minimum expectation being three times each week. We will discuss reading further at our first Open Evening in a few weeks but, in the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to be in touch.

We would very much welcome any support you could offer us in school to hear readers. We are very proud of the progress that children make with their phonics and reading in Year 1 and this is, in no small part, due to our small army of helper adults. If you have a spare hour or two during the week to help, please let us know and we will deliver a brief informal training session in a couple of weeks.

This half term our learning is based on the topic of 'Me and My School'. The children have drawn pictures of their families and next week we will be learning about our senses. In English, we will reading 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea'. In Phonics, we are learning ways to spell the /ae/ sound e.g. ai, ay, a-e and ea. Then, later next week, we will be looking at the /ee/ sound spelt, e, ea, ee, ey.

In Maths, we have been learning about numbers to 10 before going on to look at numbers to 20.