ROBIN CLASS
Welcome to Robin Class
We are a happy, busy Year 1 and 2 classroom where we encourage children to be curious, independent and enthusiastic learners. Throughout the year, children will take part in a mixture of whole-class teaching, small-group learning and purposeful learning through our continuous and enhanced provision. We deliver high quality teaching and learning through a play based approach in KS1 and have established purposeful, engaging and positive classrooms to meet the needs of our children as well as National Curriculum expectations.
The class teacher for this class is: Miss Lynch
Other adults that usually support in this class are: Miss Lynch, Mrs Harrison and Mrs Peters (teaches Tuesday pm and Fridays)
PE Days:
Monday and Wednesday
Children should come to school wearing their PE kit on these days.
Books covered in class:
Autumn Term - Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell, What the Ladybird Heard by Julia Donaldson, Everything You Need for a Treehouse by Carter Higgins, Vlad and the Great Fire of London by Kate Cunningham, Dear Santa by Rod Campbell
Spring Term - Little People Big Dreams: King Charles by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara, Sir Scallywag and the Golden Underpants by Giles Andreae, Jack and the Beanstalk by Traditional Tale, Jasper’s Beanstalk by Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen, Jack and the Jelly Bean Stalk by Rachael Mortimer, The Castle the King Built by Rebecca Colby, The Smartest Giant in Town by Julia Donaldson
Summer Term - Traction Man Is Here by Mini Grey, Little People Big Dreams: David Attenborough by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara, Lost in the Toy Museum by David Lucas, Tiddler by Julia Donaldson, Seaside Poems by various poets, A Letter from Your Teacher on the Last Day of School by Shannon Olsen
Science Topics this year:
Autumn Term – Plants and Materials
We will explore what plants need to grow, identify the basic parts of plants and carry out simple investigations. We will then explore different everyday materials, their properties and why particular materials are suitable for different purposes.
Spring Term – Humans and Senses & Habitats
We will learn about the human body and investigate our five senses before exploring different habitats and considering how living things are suited to where they live.
Summer Term – Animals and Food Chains
We will learn about different groups of animals, their features and what they eat, before beginning to explore simple food chains.
Books you could enjoy together at home: A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston, The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle, Traction Man Is Here! by Mini Grey, Me and My Amazing Body by Joan Sweeney, Super Senses by Dr Thomas Flintham, The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson, The Big Book of Beasts by Yuval Zommer and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
History and Geography topics this year:
Autumn Term – Our Local Area & The Great Fire of London
We will explore our local area, developing our understanding of the places around us and beginning to use simple geographical skills. In history, we will travel back to 1666 to discover what happened during the Great Fire of London and how we know about events from the past.
Spring Term – Kings, Queens, Castles and Royal Residences
We will explore the lives of kings and queens and learn about castles and royal residences across the UK. We will think about how life in the past was different from our lives today.
Summer Term – History of Toys & The Seaside
We will investigate how toys have changed over time by comparing toys from the past with the toys we play with today. In geography, we will explore seaside environments and their human and physical features.
Books you could enjoy together at home: Vlad and the Great Fire of London by Kate Cunningham, Toby and the Great Fire of London by Margaret Nash, Look Inside a Castle by Conrad Mason, The Queen's Handbag by Steve Antony, Peepo! by Janet and Allan Ahlberg, Dogger by Shirley Hughes, Old Bear by Jane Hissey, The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch by Ronda and David Armitage and Lucy and Tom at the Seaside by Shirley Hughes.
Trips and Visits
Our planned experiences this year include:
Autumn: A walk around our local area
Spring: A visit to Mountfitchet Castle and our Kings and Queens celebration day
Summer: A seaside trip and Teddy Bears picnic
We also have lots of exciting enrichment opportunities planned throughout the year, including our Phonics Café, burning houses experience linked to the Great Fire of London, KS1 Nativity, Maths Café, storytelling carousel, Kings and Queens afternoon tea, Toys Through the Ages Café, teddy bears' picnic, Reading Café and Sports Day.
How to help at home…
Each week we will send home a 'Learning Overview' to share our focussed learning in maths, English, phonics and Topic/Science. This will include practical suggestions of how to consolidate this at home. In addition, you could:
Reading: Read together as often as possible. Re-read your child's reading book to develop fluency and confidence, but also share stories that are above the level they can currently read independently.
Phonics: Practise the sounds and tricky words sent home and encourage children to spot familiar graphemes in books, signs and everyday life.
Maths: Look for opportunities to use maths naturally—for example, counting objects, spotting numbers, comparing quantities, playing board games, recognising shapes and talking about time and money.
Our topics: Talk to your child about what they are learning in school. You could visit the library to find books linked to our current topic, explore the local area together, grow a plant, investigate materials around your home, visit a castle or museum, compare toys belonging to different generations of your family, or explore a seaside environment.
Most importantly: Ask your child questions about their learning! Try questions such as “What did you discover today?”, “What surprised you?”, “Can you teach me something you learnt?” and “What would you like to find out next?”
Communication:
Arbor - This is an admin app used to communicate with the school office. It can be used to book and pay for clubs, trips etc as well as communicate attendance messages with the admin team.
Tapestry - This is used for sharing photos and videos of your child's work at school and at home; a shared learning journey of their academic journey in KS1. Please note we do not use this for comments or written communication with parents (see Dojo).
Class Dojo - This is our main form of communication with your child's class teacher. Please regularly check Dojo for updates and information, and use this to send direct messages to us.