Year 1/2 Foxes 2021 - 2022

Welcome to Year 1/2 Foxes

A warm welcome to the Fantastic Foxes! In Years 1 and 2 we are firm believers in nurturing the whole child.This means that we offer rich educational experiences through a creative curriculum. There will be times that your child is unaware that they are learning! This is because we provide fun, stimulating and real-life experiences. We use song, dance, crafts, practical resources and stories to embed key skills and knowledge. We believe that everyone is good at something. We cannot wait to discover the individual talents that the children in our class posess! 

Teacher

My name is Mr Mail and prior to training as a teacher, I worked all over the Globe as a sports coach and English teacher! I enjoy swimming, playing guitar and spending quality time with my wife and children!

Teaching Assistants

In Foxes we have Miss Baguley.

Creative Curriculum

Autumn Term

Gift of Colour

This term is geography focused with a study of Africa. The children will be learning the continents of the world along with the major oceans. We will learn about human and physical geography using Africa and our local area to help us understand what they are. We have learned about simple direction and are beginning to learn the four points of a compass. In English our work has been based on African stories including The Ghanian Goldilocks. In art we learned how to create simple, repeated African patterns and also looked at the artist Tinga Tinga and created our own pieces inspired by him. In RE we will be taking a closer lok athe Jewish faith and exploring the story of Jesus before Christmas. In PSHE our focus will be rules and friendships.As part of Black History month we will be learning about Nelson Mandela.

Sring Term

Dungeons and Dragons

This term is going to be spent looking at a period of time known as the Medieval period of British history. We will be exploring castles in the United Kingdom, looking at where and why they were built, and other excitng activites like how to attack and defend them. We will be exciting the children's imagination by going on a castle visit to Skipton Castle! Our English texts are linked to our topic and include 'The Knight and The Dragon'. In Art we will be making our own Paul Klee insired castle pictures (using shapes) and we will also be doing some printing! In RE we will be learning about what makes a place sacred. We will be visiting a local church (Saint Elizabeth's church) and spend time talking to the vicar about their place of worship. Our focus in PSHE will be new beginnings and healthy eating. In science and DT we will be exploring materials and their properties.

Summer term

Secret Garden

In this term, we will have a Geography focus and will be looking at the local area of Reddish.  We will be making maps and plotting routes using keys and symbols. We will also look at how the area has changed over time and identify significant historical events, places and people such as local artist, Kate Kelly.  We will use her ideas and art work to inspire our 3D junk modelling sculptures based areound plants and animals.   In Science,  we will observe seeds and bulbs growing into mature plants and we will work scientifically to investigate how healthy plants grow.  In PSHE, we will be discussing our feelings and identifying strategies to help us manage them in a healthy way.  We will also think about how others might be feeling.  Our music unit will be based around 'friendship' and we will be using our voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes. In PE, we will be playing team games using simple tactics and working on our throwing and catching skills.  Finally, our big question in RE is, 'How should we care for others, and the world and why does it matter?'

Important Notices

The children will have PE twice a week, once with the class teacher and once with the coaches. The children will have PE on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon. The children should come to school wearing their PE kit and they will stay in their kit all day. PE kit must be a white t-shirt, black shorts and pumps/trainers. 

Homework

Children receive spellings, maths and literacy homework weekly which will be based around key skills such as addition and subtraction.

Reading books are changed weekly and these are linked with the Read, Write Inc groups children are placed in for phonics lessons.

Newsletter

Please download the latest newsletter at the bottom of the page to see what we will be learning about this term.

Year 1 and 2 Spellings

Below is a list of spellings children in Year 1 and Year 2 should know how to read and write by the end of the year. Please practise these where possible. All will be sent throughout the year as weekly spelling practise and repeated to store them to memory. 

Rewards

In Foxes we have 'Secret Student' where a child is picked each day and the name hidden in the special folder. If at the end of the day that child has been following the school and class rules they get to pick a treat from the class treat box. The name is then revealed to the class. If not the name is taken away but not revealed to anyone. We also have a recognition board at the front of the classroom where the children's picture will be placed if they are following the rules of the day.

Class Dojo/Contact

At Abingdon we use Class Dojo which is embedded within every year group. We use Class Dojo to engage parents by sharing photos and videos of exciting moments in the classroom. It is also an effective way for parents and teachers to communicate. I will replay to messages within school working hours.