Parents’ Welcome Meeting September 2016 Years 1 & 2

A Timetable for the week Numeracy and Literacy every day in some form, though lessons are sometimes blocked. P.E. twice a week Fit for learning daily PPA – Applying maths skills with Mr Fisher, music with Mr Iles and games and activities with Onside Coaching.

Literacy Literacy is taught in weekly blocks and includes speaking and listening, reading and writing. We begin with Letters and Sounds (a daily phonics programme) and will then move on to Read, Write Inc. spelling rules. Just before half term we will start to send home weekly spellings in your child’s home learning book. These will link to the letters and sounds and/or Read Write Inc. teaching of that week. Handwriting is practised daily with a focus on correct letter formation and moving onto joining letters. At home practise is also highly valuable!

Reading in Year 1/2

YR

PHASE 3 TRICKY WORDS he she we me be was you they all are my her YR

YR + YR1 Phase 4 – No New Sounds Consolidation of phases 1-3 PHASE 4 TRICKY WORDS said have like so do some come were there little one when out what Phase 4 – No New Sounds Consolidation of phases 1-3 (especially spelling) YR + YR1

Y1 + Recap oh their people Mr Mrs looked called asked could PHASE 5 TRICKY WORDS oh their people Mr Mrs looked called asked could Y1 + Recap

Phonics for Early Readers Hearing children read at Milverton Y2 + Recap Phonics for Early Readers

Hearing children read at Milverton Choosing a Book: Best fit Books The Five Finger Rule Will you like it? Read the blurb and cover. Is it a good fit? Try the five finger rule. Will it help? Check the contents/ Index pages 10

The Key Skills of Reading

The Key Skills of Reading

The Key Skills of Reading

The Key Skills of Reading Question Bookmarks

Reading assemblies this term: 17th October 5th December Hearing children read at Milverton The Reading Record Date Book and Page Number Comments and Signature 09/09/16 The Ghost Ship – Page 1 Read well with expression. Struggled with the o_e phoneme. Questions: Why did Ernie sneak through the fence? Because he was late for school. How do you thin he was feeling? Scared that he might get in trouble. *mention volunteers Your child will have their school reading scheme book changed weekly. You are welcome to (and we would encourage you to!) supplement this with books from home, from our library and/or the local library. Please let your child’s class teacher know the titles of any books you borrow until we have our librarians* in place.

Reading is fun! Extreme Reading Variety is the spice of life! Read all about it! Big Books of Cool Stuff Choice Extreme Reading Reading Role Models You’re never too old for a story! Role models – family and friends – recommendations and swaps 16

How do we teach spelling? Where do your areas of improvement lie?

Useful Strategies

Fun & Games Write a short story or a rhyme using all of your words. Use each of your words in a silly sentence. Underline the word used. Illustrate your words with alternate meanings. e.g. Earwig! Play hangman with a partner using your words. Write a mnemonic for each of your words. Play ‘Guess the Word’ Make your spellings out of pipe cleaners or cubes. Write your spelling words into a rap/song/ cheerleading chant to perform. Play a vocabulary challenge. http://freerice.com/levels

Fun & Games Use giant alphabet letters. Read a word aloud while your partner spells it out by stepping on the letters in the correct order. Swap over. Play word Tennis using your spellings. Play countdown – practise making words. http://www.purely-games.com/countdown.html Write out your spelling words, graffiti style. Make the tricky parts stand out. Create anagrams of your spelling words for a partner to solve. Play letter blocks – how many words can you find? http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/word_games/spelling-games/spelling-letter-blocks.html Have a game of scrabble http://www.hasbro.com/scrabble/en_US/scrabbleGame.cfm Eat your words! Practise using look, cover, write, check.

Good spelling websites to try http://tutpup.com/plays/20913215/play 5 levels – spell the word spoken – time limit http://www.eastoftheweb.com/games/Eight1.html like Countdown - how many words can you make http://www.fekids.com/kln/games/whomp/whomp.html - like Boggle http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/spellits/home_flash.shtml http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=alienhangman http://www.harcourtschool.com/menus/auto/18/54.html http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/book_buddy/arthur/skill.html - adding prefixes and suffixes

Maths We follow the National Curriculum and we plan in weekly units. We use the Busy Ants maths scheme and supplement and amend it according to the needs of each class. Practical learning Applying maths skills with Mr Fisher Problem solving and applying learning is a focus for our teaching and is immensely important. There will not be written evidence in books of all the learning that takes place in class; sometimes activities are evidenced through photographs. Parental involvement aids learning.

Other subjects Your child will be taught skills and knowledge in science, art, design technology, ICT, history, geography, R.E, music, PE and PSHE. Wherever possible we link the learning covered in these subjects to our topic. Our topics this term are “The Rabbit Problem” and “Entertainment”.

Home Learning Home learning books are sent home on Thursday and should be returned to school on Tuesday. Spelling tests will begin after we start to send home weekly spellings and will take place on Monday mornings. Home learning activities are linked to curriculum learning the children have been doing at school. Home Learning tasks are not designed to cause stress or have an negative impact on family home life – if this is happening please speak to your child’s teacher. At the bottom of each piece of home learning will be a ‘parent feedback box’ – please do use this for communications regarding weekly tasks.

E-Safety @ Milverton

Relationships and Sex Education Year 1 and 2 In recent years the RSE policy, planning, teaching and learning has been reviewed by Milverton teachers, parents and governors based on government recommendations. We have made lots of positive changes which include:- - Specific RSE resource boxes Cross curricular linked work Additional safety learning included Taking Care Project has been introduced and will be taught this term.

Relationships and Sex Education Within year 1 and 2 RSE is taught in a cross-curricular way. RSE is taught within the science topics; Health and Growth Variations Ourselves Plants and Animals (including Humans) in the Living Environment. RSE is taught in all PSHE topics

The Taking Care Project A Countywide wide programme for children learning about protective behaviours to help prevent abuse and harm. There are two themes in Protective Behaviours: We all have right to feel safe all the time There is nothing so awful we can’t talk about it with someone. Children will be engaged in a series of planned lessons in which they complete structured activities involving discussion, role play and creative work. We will be completing this work next half term.

Science based learning Year 1 and 2 Year1/2 PSHE based learning Year 1/2 Science based learning Family - Who is in my family? How are other families similar or different to mine? Myself and others and body awareness - changes to our body from baby to now Everybody needs caring for - What does my family do for me? What can other people do to make me feel good? Who do I look after? Body awareness and naming body parts Friendships - What do I like about my friend? What does my friend like about me? Why shouldn't I tease other people? Differences between males and females Choices - Who can I ask if I need to know something? Who can I go to if I am worried about something? Looking after the body and hygiene Safety – what do I do I am worried about something? Safe touches Differences between boys and girls - Stereotyping 29

Children have access to filtered water throughout the school. Water in School Children have access to filtered water throughout the school. We encourage children to have a water bottle in school (separate to the water bottle in their lunchbox) which they can fill up and access during lessons. This must contain water and not squash.

Home School Agreement We are required to have a home school agreement that details expectations of how home and school work together. 2 copies of the Home School Agreements will be sent home on Friday 16th September – please sign both copies and return one to school.

Other Reminders….. Please make sure all items of clothing are NAMED! Please make sure that your child has arrived on the school playground by the time the bell goes at 8.55am. On Mondays and Wednesdays assemblies take place in the hall at the end of the day. Children must return to their classrooms before going home with their parents. We welcome reliable parent volunteers getting involved in ‘school life’ in many different ways – you must have an up to date DBS check through the school. If you wish to speak to your child’s teacher about something that is not urgent please do so at the end of the school day.

Targeted Support   One way of providing additional support in school is through targeted support groups. In these cases a teacher or Teaching Assistant will work with groups of pupils to achieve specific targets which have been set by their class teacher. These sessions will happen in school time unless you are told otherwise. Each term the progress and attainment of pupils is assessed by teachers. Teaching teams work together to plan additional support for pupils where there is a need.

Please speak to class teachers if you have any questions.  Targeted Support   Additional support may be required to bridge a gap in pupils’ knowledge or understanding of a particular subject area, to assist with the consolidation of their knowledge or skills or to stretch them in their understanding in a particular subject. From time to time pupils are selected to be ‘positive role models’ within a group which may assist with the development of their confidence in a particular area. Please speak to class teachers if you have any questions.  There are many reasons why pupils are selected to participate in targeted support (previously intervention) groups in school, this does not necessarily mean that they are falling behind in their attainment or progress.

Assessment Changes The New Curriculum represents a change for all schools – there will be no more levels as of last September! Why? Because success will be measured in terms of how well you can do something not how quickly you can achieve it.

Getting a level was like climbing a ladder with the aim being to get up as quickly as possible. The new curriculum is like a tour with the aim being to see and experience as much as you can along the way!

This year we will not be reporting levels, instead you will learn whether your child is working below, in line with or above the ‘standard’ for his/her year group. Year 1 Maths Above the year group standard Met the year group standard Working Towards the year group standard Year 1 Writing Above the year group standard Met the year group standard Working Towards the year group standard Year 1 Reading Above the year group standard Met the year group standard Working Towards the year group standard

Children will stay within their year group targets and most will move up each year. When the children have met the standard, they will be challenged to become a ‘master’ at that standard. This will involve applying skills to a full range of contexts and purposes. For example: applying reading skills to more complex texts; applying Maths skills to larger numbers and harder problem solving challenges; and applying writing skills to a full range of genres and purposes.

SATs will still happen at the end of key stages 1 & 2 KS1 *Teacher assessments will be informed by the following tests: *Two reading tests (one short extracts and one complete text booklet) *Two maths tests (arithmetic and mathematical fluency, problem solving and reasoning) *One grammar paper comprising of contextual grammar questions, a short writing task and a spelling test *There will be new performance descriptors for maths, reading, writing and speaking and listening . The overall outcome will be reported in terms of achieving the National Standard and will use terminology such as: below, working towards, met, mastery. *Science will be reported as met the standard or has not met the standard. KS2 *Children will sit the following tests: *One reading test (covering all elements of the standard) *Three maths tests (one arithmetic and two papers covering mathematical fluency, problem solving and reasoning) *One grammar paper comprising of contextual grammar questions and a spelling test *There will be new performance descriptors for writing. The overall outcome will be reported in terms of achieving the National Standard and will use terminology such as: below, working towards, met, above, mastery. *Science (TA), maths and reading will be reported as met the standard or has not met the standard. *Children will receive a scale score converted from their raw test score – parents will receive a copy of their child's scale score, the school, LA & National average score. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum-assessments-2016-sample-materials

Learning Skills Targets 2016 Last year individual target sheets were replaced by classroom learning walls. If you would like to find out what your child is currently learning, just pop in and have a look! The walls will have examples and resources that will support learning and will be updated every time the learning changes!

Extra Curricular Clubs and Music Lessons Many clubs taking place this term and through the year. Mrs Ryan, Clubs Co-ordinator, is available in the school office from 2.30pm. Letters relating to clubs are available from the school office if children have not brought them home. Parents need to have returned a permission slip (and payment) to the office before a child starts a club. Please try and ensure that your child is signed up to the club before the first session. Please contact the office if your child is signed up for a club and is in school but will not be attending the club eg. attending another activity on the day. Make sure you know on what days the club is running and when the last session of the term is – this can vary with different clubs.