Class 1 is a Reception and Year 1 group this year. The class teacher is Tom Ottewell-Taylor, who is supported by teaching assistants Hilary Walker (Tuesday-Friday), Sharron Wilde (mornings only) and Heather Thomson (Mondays) . Mr Ottewell-Taylor can be contacted directly at drop off and pick up time or by email: TomTaylor@harrowbarrow.cornwall.sch.uk

Hello again,
Please find a second take of last week’s video which now includes all the gorgeous pictures which were sent to me. I apologise for the terrible video quality. For me to upload onto Tapestry and the class webpage the videos have to be below a certain size which means that the longer the videos are the worse the quality becomes. Nonetheless, I hope your children enjoy it!
Thank you again to all of the families that provided photos for this week’s video, I’ve included all the ones I’ve received. A big thank you too to Mrs Walker, Mrs Wilde and Mrs Thomson for their fabulous videos, I’m sure you will agree that it’s lovely to see their faces.
Mr O-T x

 

ADDITIONAL HOME LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope this message finds you all happy and safe. I hope also that you are beginning to see the light at the end of this lockdown tunnel. I really look forward to welcoming some of your children back to Class 1 in the coming weeks.

In the next few weeks, home learning may begin to look a little bit different to how it has done over the past few months. This is so that it can tie in to learning which is taking place in school.

As with previous weeks, I am going to list various activities linked to the EYFS objectives for literacy and maths. I also wanted to remind you that the most important thing about this current home learning is making it a positive experience for both you and your child so please do find a happy mix of the below activities that work for you and your family.

A rough overview of what this week’s learning opportunities will look like is available below;

  • Literacy will consist of the following elements, completing all of the elements would be ideal however I would urge you just to find which elements work best for you and your child.
    • Guided reading; Over the past few months I have provided links to a lot of eBooks, unfortunately I am rapidly running out of these eBooks which can be accessed for free and are of an appropriate level. I would urge you to find your own at the following link; https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/ (you will need to sign up for a free account, if the below links to specific books don’t work you can find every suggested book on the eBook library page). There is also a list below of some of the books which have been recently suggested, you may find some there that you haven’t yet accessed. Alternatively, please do spend some time with your child reading their own favourite stories and picture books.
      • The library service are running their usual Summer Reading Challenge online this year, there are many books that can be accessed as eBooks; https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/  
      • For those interested, particularly those with slightly older primary aged children, JK Rowling is releasing a chapter a day of an original (not Harry Potter related) bedtime story she wrote years ago for her young children. It might be worth a read; https://www.theickabog.com/home/
    • Talk for Writing Home-school booklet- Mavis the Magical Cat can be accessed here. As these seem to be very popular, you can access a second, third, fourth and fifth booklet here; The Amazing Adventures of Max, here; Mouse’s Adventure, here; Max’s Jungle and Adventure, and here; Rainy Day Rabbit. These are schemes of work designed specifically for home learning for children in their first year of school. They are devised by Pie Corbett’s Talk for Writing scheme which is a fabulous resource both in and out of school. The booklets are lengthy documents but do work through them as you wish. I’d recommend completing a few pages a day.
    • I will continue to provide a short sentence to consolidate previous sounds as these seem to be very popular. These daily sentences will form a short story by the end of the week so it would be a good idea to record these together. Some of you may like to make your own storybooks with 1 sentence on each page alongside a picture!
    • www.phonicsplay.co.uk is still a great and enjoyable resource.
    • In addition to all of the above, the DfE are providing daily phonics lessons on YouTube for anyone who is interested. More information from the DfE is available here.
  • Daily maths opportunities will consist of a link to the White Rose Maths Hub Home Learning Page. This is NOT a prescriptive computer based activity. Most of the day’s maths learning starts with a short video based around a popular children’s book followed by suggestions for simple and easy to follow play-based maths activities.
  • In previous weeks I have provided a topic based activity linking to either Understanding the World or Expressive Arts and Design. I have noticed that these activities aren’t being used as much as the literacy and maths however I am seeing evidence on Tapestry of a wealth of your own very creative learning opportunities through gardening, art work, physical exercise, etc. I would urge parents to continue with their own creative projects at home and continue to keep me updated with them as I love seeing the photos and videos on Tapestry. And please don’t forget to keep me updated with how your various seedlings are getting on, the evidence of plant diaries that I have seen has been gorgeous!

MOST IMPORTANTLY, I have been so pleased to see the great learning opportunities going on at home already. Most of which have been incredibly creative and demonstrate much deeper and more memorable learning than I could ever suggest you complete from across the internet. Please DON’T let any of the week’s suggested activities come at detriment to the great work that is already going on at home.

 

 

Monday 6th July

  • Letters and sounds-
    • A choice of eBook from the above list.
    • The first sentence to form part of this week’s Toy Story short story, words in italic are tricky and will need extra support;
      • The clock on Big Ben stopped ticking.
    • Please see the above link for Mouse’s Adventure, Mavis the Magical Cat or Amazing Adventures of Max. Please work through a few pages of the booklet.
  • Maths- Summer Term- Week 10- Day 1-Oliver’s Vegetables

 

Tuesday 7th July

  • Letters and sounds-
    • A choice of eBook from the above list.
    • The second sentence to form part of this week’s Toy Story short story, words in italic are tricky and will need extra support;
      • Buzz Lightyear zoomed up and sat on number three.
    • Please see the above link for Mouse’s Adventure, Mavis the Magical Cat or Amazing Adventures of Max. Please work through a few pages of the booklet.
  • Maths- Summer Term- Week 10- Day 2- Oliver’s Vegetables

 

Wednesday 8th July

  • Letters and sounds-
    • A choice of eBook from the above list.
    • The third sentence to form part of this week’s Toy Story short story, words in italic are tricky and will need extra support;
      • Woody and Rex went up the stairs to get to the top.
    • Please see the above link for Mouse’s Adventure, Mavis the Magical Cat or Amazing Adventures of Max. Please work through a few pages of the booklet.
  • Maths- Summer Term- Week 10 Day 3- Oliver’s Vegetables

 

Thursday 9th July

  • Letters and sounds-
    • A choice of eBook from the above list.
    • The fourth sentence to form part of this week’s Toy Story short story, words in italic are tricky and will need extra support;
      • Buzz took the batteries from his backpack and put them in the clock.
    • Please see the above link for Mouse’s Adventure, Mavis the Magical Cat or Amazing Adventures of Max. Please work through a few pages of the booklet.
  • Maths- Summer Term- Week 10- Day 4- Oliver’s Vegetables

 

Friday 10th July

  • Letters and sounds-
    • A choice of eBook from the above list.
    • The fifth and final sentence to form part of this week’s Toy Story short story, words in italic are tricky and will need extra support;
      • Tick tock tick tock tick tock. Big Ben was fixed.
    • Please see the above link for Mouse’s Adventure, Mavis the Magical Cat or Amazing Adventures of Max. Please work through a few pages of the booklet.
  • Maths- Summer Term- Week 10- Day 5- Oliver’s Vegetables

 

 

 

 

 

 Information from the teacher 

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

Our topic for the spring term is Space, a rough outline of what this term will consist of is available here. Please note that all plans are subject to change depending on the children’s interests, weather, etc. You can also view a copy of our weekly timetable here (this is something which we will be gradually building up to). Your children are more than welcome to bring in any Space related items from home (especially books) to show the class.

Our show and tell timetable for the Spring term is available to view here, as well as on the cloakroom wall. On their allocated day your child will be welcome to bring in an item from home to show their friends. Alternatively photos can be emailed to me at the above address and I can project these for your child to talk about. Show and tell is a great opportunity for children to develop their speech and self-confidence and self awareness whilst discussing something which they are very interested in.

It would be great if parents could fill in WOW bricks to celebrate their child’s achievements at home. Additional sheets can be downloaded here, if you are unable to print any out then please help yourself to the sheets attached to the Wow wall in our cloakroom. You are more than welcome to email me photos, etc. linking to your child’s wow brick at tomtaylor@harrowbarrow.cornwall.sch.uk. The children love to share these wow moments with their peers, the bricks are then attached to the board in our cloakroom for everyone to celebrate.

I will be providing Melissa Meerkat for children to take turns in looking after over the period of a week. With Melissa Meerkat, I have attached a scrapbook so children can write/draw about their week at home with her, and attach photos, etc. if they would like. I have put up a blank timetable for you to fill in on the right side of the cloakroom wall; this is for the whole year in the hope that Melissa Meerkat will be able to join you on any exciting excursions/events/holidays you already have planned. This is not compulsory but as mentioned during our learning together meeting; this is a great opportunity for your children to share Melissa Meerkat’s adventures with the rest of the class.

All children will now be receiving reading books and work to be completed at home soon. This will be in the form of short, simple activities related to the week’s phonics learning. These will be stuck into your child’s phonics book (which will go into your child’s book bag) every Friday to be completed by the following Thursday. Your child will also begin to have high frequency word flashcards attached to their book bag.  I hope that you will find the opportunity to share these with your child throughout your daily routines. These words must be learned by sight, Mrs Walker will informally check how your child is getting on with these cards every Thursday/Friday, remove words that your child is confidently recognising and replace with new words. A rough overview of reception children’s phonics learning throughout the year can be viewed here. When your child begins to receive reading books please note that it is the expectation that these are to be read at least 5 times a week. This will give your child the chance to apply their phonics knowledge that they are working on in school. Children in Year 1 will be continuing with home reading, phonics homework and high frequency word flashcards/sheets. Year 1 children are all now receiving number bond challenges to work on at home. These should be practised at short intervals during the week. I will work with your children on Wednesday’s to see how they are getting on with these and move them onto the next challenge as appropriate.

For those new to the school, here is a quick reminder of the morning routine. The classroom will be open at 8.40am (please do not arrive before this) for children and parents to leave belongings. Book bags and liaison books can be placed in their labelled boxes. Children are to find their name card and attach it to the rocket. Any other belongings can be placed on or under pegs. P.E kits should be left on pegs throughout the week (P.E is  on Wednesdays). Wet weather gear should also remain on your child’s peg at all times. All children are to then make their way to the covered playground.

Please can I also remind parents that all children must be bringing a name labelled water bottle into school. These should be filled with water only, and not fruit juice or squash.  Children are provided with a fruit snack for break time by the school therefore snacks coming in from home are unnecessary. If the weather is sunny please can you ensure your child brings in a sunhat daily. Sunglasses are not appropriate for children in Class 1 as they very often get damaged. High factor sun cream should be applied before coming to school as we are unable to apply it during the school day. Please note that this is essential as children in Class 1 have access to our outside area for the majority of the day. All sunhats, coats, hats, scarves, gloves, etc. must be labelled with your child’s name. A copy of the letter about uniform you received can be viewed here.

Thank you for your continued support. If you ever wish to speak to me about any questions or concerns you may have please do not hesitate to approach me before or after school. You are also welcome to write any messages to me in your child’s liaison book. Alternatively, I can be contacted at tomtaylor@harrowbarrow.cornwall.sch.uk if necessary.

 

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