Wren Class

Autumn Term 2023

Welcome to Wren Class. We are a mixed class of Year 1 and Year 2 children

WREN CLASS STAFF:

Mrs Berkley - Class Teacher  and Mrs Martin-Class Teacher

Mrs Coduri-Dunn - Teaching Assistant

Mrs Kent - Teaching Assistant

Mrs Kerry - Teaching Assistant 

Mrs Edhouse - Teaching Assistant

LEARNING: 

We hope that you’ve had a lovely summer holiday and were able to enjoy some relaxing family time. We are delighted to welcome you all back to the start of our new autumn term and are excited about the learning that will be taking place.

This term, teaching will be shared between the two of us, with Mrs Berkley teaching Monday – Wednesday and Mrs Martin, Wednesday – Friday. More details can be found on the class timetable which is on our class story on Class Dojo. We can both be contacted via Dojo at any time and will respond during the school day to any messages sent but any messages sent after school hours may be read but not actioned until the next day.

We have a fun term ahead of us with lots of exciting lessons planned.

This term we will be learning about ‘Amazing Animals in our geography-based topic and “Florence Nightingale” in our history-based topic. We are looking forward to a visit to Banham Zoo which will support not only our topic lessons but will also help the children with their science. Further details about this trip will be sent out soon. We also hope to have a dressing up day linked to Florence Nightingale, so look out for information regarding this nearer to half term.

In science, we will be investigating the animals around the world with a focus on safari animals and animals found in the outback of Australia. We will be thinking about animal behaviours and diets and exploring how our own bodies work.  We will begin using scientific vocabulary and skills more fluently this year, and will gain an understanding of how to follow, and being to plan, our own science experiments.

In Art the children will be investigating spirals through drawing, collage and utilising sketchbooks to record their work. In DT the children will be designing and constructing a windmill for a client (a mouse) to live in, inspired by the song, ‘Mouse in a windmill’.

 In RE we will be learning about the Jewish religion and investigating Teshuvah and how and why Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are celebrated. In the second half of the term, we will be learning about why Jesus was given the name saviour and alongside this, the children will be able to celebrate the birth of Jesus through our Nativity play (more details of that to come later in the term).

 In maths both year groups will be revisiting place value and number during our first few weeks. The children will continue to improve their skills and knowledge this term by using objects and pictures to consolidate their learning. Our maths lessons will be largely practical, with a written task included to check understanding. The children will be learning how numbers and maths fit into our world and how we can see maths everywhere.

In English both year groups will be developing their English skills through becoming familiar with texts selected from the Write Stuff scheme, particularly benefiting from the vocabulary -rich learning it provides. The first book of the term that we will be using to support the children’s creative writing is called ‘Wombat Goes Walkabout’. The theme of Australian animals features heavily and will compliment learning in topic and science. In addition, all children will be either learning new phonics sounds or recapping on those learnt before and finding ways to remember these in their writing.

In Music this term, we will be linking our learning with our topic by following a unit called ‘Animals and story time’. The children will be exploring pitch and sounds. We will think about the timbre of a variety of instruments and begin to learn musical terms for different pitches.

PE will remain on a Friday afternoon and children should continue to come into school in PE kits on Fridays. Please make sure your child is dresses appropriately for the weather for these lessons as Mrs Coduri-Dunn hopes to do lessons outside with them whenever possible.

In PSHE we will continue to follow the ‘no-outsiders’ scheme and alongside this the children will also follow a programme called ReflectED in which they will reflect on what helps them learn best, including developing a  ‘Growth Mindset’ or positive attitude towards overcoming challenge etc.

Reminders for this half term: Please could homework be completed and back in school by Wednesday. Reading books should be brought into school every day but especially on Friday when they will be changed. PE is still on Friday so children will need to come in their PE kits on this day.

We look forward to helping the children through their learning journeys