Teaching Team: Mrs Pring, Mrs Tompsett, Mrs Packham, Ms Williamson and Mrs Bullen

willow@st-barnabas.kent.sch.uk

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Term 5! The adults working with your child this term will be Mrs Pring, Mrs Tompsett, Mrs Packham, Mrs Bullen, Ms Williamson and Mrs Chadwick.

Our topic for Terms 5 and 6 is ‘Exploring the World’ and this will form the basis for our Time and Place work, some of our English and Communication work and some of our Science learning.

As part of English and Communication, we will be using story and information texts to link to our learning about ‘The World’.  We will develop our writing skills using fictional texts to help us describe parts of an imaginary journey. We will use our oral story telling skills and role play to recount some traditional tales from around the world. In Term 6 we will be reading and writing poems.

In our Time and Place lessons, we will be learning the names of the four countries which make up the United Kingdom and will locate them and their capital cities on a map. We will also be learning about the compass directions: North, South, East and West. We will also be learning about the locations and names of the 7 continents of the world and the world’s 5 oceans. We will then learn more about each continent’s key human and physical features.

In Science lessons, we will be learning about plants and trees. This will include identifying and naming a variety of common wild and garden plants, including deciduous and evergreen trees. We will also identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including trees, and will observe and describe how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants. We will also be continuing our work on seasons and will be observing and describing changes in our local environment, the day length and the weather as we enter summer.  

In our Design and the Arts lessons, we will be looking at the work of Andy Goldsworthy and his use of natural resources to make land art. We will create our own artwork using natural resources and clay, individually and in groups. We will also be looking at the artwork of Katerina Apale, who uses bright colours, flowers and animals as a basis for her work, and creating some art inspired by that.

In Maths this term, we will start by learning to count in 2s, 5s and 10s. We will then move on to making equal groups of objects, making arrays and doubling numbers. This term we will also be learning fractions (halves and quarters) and describing position and direction. In Term 6, we will learning about place value for numbers up to 100, money (including recognising coins and notes) and time (including sequencing the days of the week and telling the time to the hour and half past the hour). 

In our RE lessons, Willow Class will be learning about stories from different faiths. This will include Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist stories. We will also talk about each religion’s Holy Book and their beliefs about God. In Term 6, we will also learn about Aboriginal dreamtime stories and the Shinto creation story.

In our Sport, Exercise and Health lessons, we will be developing our athletic and games skills.

In our Computing lessons in Term 5, we will be learning to use a computer keyboard and mouse to write and edit text. In Term 6 we will be programming animation on the laptops.

Please support your child’s learning with:

Reading – In Willow Class, we expect pupils to read at home for at least 10 minutes, 5 times per week. We ask that parents sign the reading record each time their child reads and indicate when a new reading book is required. We will change pupils reading books three times each week- on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. However, we ask that book bags and books are brought to school every day. If there is a problem with your child’s book, reading record or reading in general, please contact us via the class email address.

Home Learning Books: Each week, we will send pupils home with a Phonics activity and a Maths activity to complete in their home learning book. In Willow Class, home learning books will generally be handed out every Thursday and collected every Tuesday.

Wider Curriculum Activities - A wider curriculum activity matrix is currently being created for your child. When it is complete, we will stick a copy into your child’s home learning book and add a digital version to the Willow Class Blog. Completion of these activities is not compulsory and families can choose how many of these activities they complete each term. If your child would like to share a completed wider curriculum activity with us, they can put it into their home learning book and hand it in or send it in via the class email address.

Just a few reminders:

PE Kits - PE lessons are on Tuesday afternoon and Thursday morning.  Ideally your child’s PE kit should be in school every day. PE Kits should include a house T-shirt, shorts and plimsolls or trainers, which are labelled clearly with your child’s name. Long hair needs to be tied back for PE, so please ensure your child wears a hairband to school. Earrings need to be removed or covered with tape during PE lessons. If your child is unable to remove their own earrings, please provide some microporous tape to cover their earrings.

Water Bottles - Please make sure that your child brings a labelled water bottle to school with them every day. We kindly ask that bottles are filled with water only rather than juices or squash. Please do speak to us if this is an issue.

Toys and Games - We kindly request that toys and games from home are not brought into school. 

If you have any concerns or queries about the information in this letter, please contact us via the class email address: willow@st-barnabas.kent.sch.uk. 

Many thanks for your continued support,

Mrs Pring and the Willow Class Team