Yr1 Curriculum Update -27/09/19
Working together to achieve success for every child
Transdisciplinary learning – it’s all connected
It has been a very busy and productive time in Year 1 over the last fortnight. We have all met our new Year 5 buddy class and are excited about working with them for the whole year. Some of us have been using the big blue blocks with our buddies, or using a new computer program and learning about the skills of co-operation while respecting ourselves, others and the environment. At each snack playtime a different year 5 class will join year 1 & 2 on the playground so we can further develop these positive relationships with our new buddies.
Some of us have had a visit to the Access Centre and met the wonderful staff who work with different children in our school. We were able to visit the different rooms in the centre and explore the toys and other equipment, and we learnt that different support is offered to students, for example friendship club at playtime. Students may have another opportunity to visit the centre at different times in the school year. Mrs Blackshaw especially liked the quiet room, so if she goes missing, that’s probably where we’ll find her!
In literacy we have continued to explore different books by different authors who are very good at showing emotion in their illustrations. We now know that a book needs to have a front and back cover and we can show a lot of detail in our pictures to help the reader understand what the story is about. We also had an author, Reena Bhojwani who is an ex KJS student, come and visit our school. She read us one of her books and then we played a game about kindness and learned how we can offer help to our teachers and friends when they need it.
The children are now getting used to changing their home reader each day and have been trying a variety of books from the different baskets in our classrooms. We understand that it isn’t always possible for your child to read to you each night because of work commitments, so we would appreciate if they could read to another person in your house, so they can have a rich experience with many books each week. Remember our focus is on storytelling and writing through pictures so please encourage your child to tell you as much as they can about the pictures in the books they bring home.
In mathematics we have been continuing to explore how we can show the value of numbers. We are experimenting with math tools in the classroom to gain a better understanding of how we can use them to show amounts. We have also been making our own maths books to show different ways to represent numbers using craft materials, pictures, stickers and drawings.
Sustainability
This month’s goal = To reduce our waste and become a greener school.
This week we have been discussing how we can reduce our waste in our classroom and school environment. We noticed that there are alot of paper towels being used in the bathrooms and outside near our balcony sink. After much discussion, we have decided that we do not need to have paper towels in our bathrooms because we also have them in our classroom. Our goal is to only use one paper towel after we wash our hands, or alternatively use hand sanitizer (also in our classroom). We are going to collect our used paper towels for our compost bin. On that note, we have had to order more compost tumblers because we have so many fruit and vegetable scraps each day. Go Year 1!
We have also been discussing in our classrooms the importance of eating a healthy balanced diet and have been very impressed with the lunches that the children have been bringing to class each day. We discovered that fruit and vegetables are a great snack that makes our brains and body happy. However we need to remind you that children should only bring water in their water bottles, keep the milk and juice for home, as well as sweet and sugary foods. We would love to become a Nude Food school, with no plastic wrappers in our lunchbox at all. Our focus is to reduce single use plastic, therefore we are going to send home all plastic wrappers for your bin. We appreciate your support.
How you can help at home.
Talk to your child about the importance of eating a healthy balanced diet and ask them to choose some healthy snacks for their lunchbox each day. Choose lots of food from the bottom part of the healthy food pyramid, as these are best for our little brains and body to learn at school. Challenge yourself to have no plastic wrapping in your child’s lunchbox and help KJS become a Nude Food School.
The Green Dragons gardening club (Y4-6) is working on 3 projects this term and we need some support to help make these projects a success. We are looking for plant pots to be donated, new or old, large or small. All donations can be placed in the box outside the ground floor office. The Green Dragons sincerely appreciate your generosity to help them grow vegetables, herbs, and air purifying plants.
Dates to note:
Friday 30th September: ESF CPD. School closed
Monday 1st October: National Day. School closed
Monday 7th October: Half Term Week Holiday
Monday 14th October: School resumes
Information about your child’s learning (Unit of Reporting) will be emailed to parents on Friday 18th October
