English

Pupils will build on the work they did last term, writing story beginnings and endings; we will also develop the skills of writing sentences. Our work begins looking at story themes and characters. This will encourage children to use their imagination and experiences, as well as ideas from books they read, to write their own stories. We revisit story settings which will again stimulate ideas for the children's own writing. Our work on alphabetical order and using a dictionary will encourage pupils to develop the skills of working independently. We continue to focus on phonics, and ‘magic e' is explained, as well as many other important rules. Pupils were introduced to vowels last term, and we continue this work, looking at the difference between short and long vowels. Handwriting involves learning the remaining correct letter formation using entry and exit flicks and using them in all their written work. Daily reading, both at school and at home will continue to be of great importance. Weekly spellings and the various other pieces of work sent home are all part of developing a good homework routine and parents' support once again is so appreciated.

English

We begin our new term by reviewing the knowledge gained previously. As new targets are met pupils become more able to practise their skills through simple reading and writing exercises and it is very important to continually reinforce what they know while meeting new challenges. Pupils are encouraged to ask and answer questions during our speaking and listening lessons to develop their vocabulary and build confidence in a group situation. We will revise known letter sounds and our new ‘sound of the week' will be sent home at the start of each week. This gives pupils an opportunity to become familiar with finding words in a variety of situations and parents are also able to be involved with this process. We begin reading and writing upper case letters and pupils are engaged in various exercises to help them remember when to use a capital letter. Writing sentences and making sure they make sense is a very important part of our grammar work, pupils will also learn about nouns and try to recognise them when reading. Story settings and completing familiar stories and rhymes are all part of our comprehension work this term. Daily handwriting exercises are important; these activities are designed to encourage smooth pencil control, establishing the best foundations for a clear handwriting style.

Years 1,2 and 3 worked extremely hard to produce a lively and imaginative display based around the theme of Noah’s Ark for the Summer Arts Festival and Open Day.

Year 1 enjoyed studying the work of Renoir and looked in detail at his work “Les Parapluies”. They painted their own version of the picture and then used marbling and bubble painting to create their own raindrops.

Year 2 helped to bring the display to life by making some realistic 3D animals and a large ark for Noah and his wife. Their pastel drawings depicted key elements of the story and a large rainbow helped to bring all the work together.

English

This term, pupils will be continuing to develop their phonic awareness through our sound of the week, spelling test, school reading books, library books, homework, and various pieces of work enabling them to put into practice what they have learnt. They will also continue to build on previous terms' work, involving writing sentences that make sense, using capital letters and full stops and developing the skills needed for story writing. It is important to establish the rules of grammar and we continue to highlight verbs and nouns in reading and in written work. Introduced this term are: plurals, speech marks and question marks, and we use a variety of exercises to develop their ability to use alphabetical order and begin to use a simple dictionary. We also continue to place great importance on developing correct letter formation with entry and exit flicks ready for joined up handwriting. We will focus on factual writing this term, thinking about how we can select the important facts from a text. We will make a non-fiction book, write a plan, find out how to use the contents page, and look at information books and writing questions. Finally, we continue to develop comprehension skills through whole class lessons and individual pieces of work.

On Friday 9th February Mrs Brenda Pullen from Alton Library Services visited the school, explaining to children from Nursery to Year One how they could borrow books and the types of books that they could borrow. She read each of the classes several stories of their own choice, which the children thoroughly enjoyed.

I got at my Christening a Christening bear and it has a Christening dress on. God gave us a special kind of present and the present God gave to us was Jesus.

My Grandad gave me a scooby do. He is big. A special gift that God gave to the world it is Jesus. God gave us baby Jesus at Christmas. Thank you.

Examples of pupils' work...

Year 3: Spent a number of weeks designing, making and building their own kites, culminating in a kite-flying afternoon on the field. An expert was invited to demonstrate some of his own stunt kites and gave some valuable tips on how to fly them. The children were overjoyed to find that their own kites flew well and that their hard work had paid off!

Year 2: Have been enjoying designing and making models from the storybook "The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch". One challenge that particularly fuelled their imagination was to design a working boat model to get the Lighthouse Keeper from his cottage to the lighthouse. The children used sails and simple motors to power their boats, and most reached their target.

A visit from Birdworld Outreach gave the boys and girls from years 1 and 2 a day to remember. Fur, feathers and scales were all in evidence as the animals involved ranged from a giant tarantula through snakes to a smelly ferret! The children were entertained and became totally absorbed by the experience, particularly enjoying the discoveries that snakes are not slimy and that parrots seem to enjoy perching on teachers' heads.