Studland Class

Welcome to our class.

Our class is taught by Mrs Critchell in the mornings. In the afternoons we team up with the Year 1 children and work with either Mrs Critchell or Mrs Brown. Mrs White and Mrs Stevens help in class.

The following will give you some information about the first half of the Spring Term:

Happy New Year and

Best Wishes for 2012

We hope that you have all had an enjoyable Christmas holiday and are well rested and looking forward to starting a new term. This half term we will be learning all about ‘Space’.

We will be kick starting our topic with a visit to the Space Dome on Tuesday 10th January which is a mobile planetarium where the children will learn about star constellations and the planets.

Back in school, the children will learn about space through scientific investigation and enquiry whilst also developing their understanding of forces. The children will place significant events of space exploration in chronological order. They will write a class information book about space and will write up the results of their scientific investigations to show what they have found out. In groups, the children will use their knowledge to design and make a rocket which will be launched. They will also read and write fantasy stories set in space. PE will link to the subject with the children choreographing a Space Dance.

We are going to have an Art Day on Tuesday 31st January where we will be making satellite sculptures out of plastic tubing. Please could you send in any pieces of ribbon, wool, pipe cleaners or string as these items are used to secure and decorate the sculptures.

You can help by:

Bringing in any space stories, information or artefacts that we can use in school.
Help on our Art Day.
Bringing in items for the Art Day.
Supporting your child in their home learning task.
Ensuring that your child always has their reading books and diary with them.
Making sure that P.E kit is named and in school.

Home Learning
It is still important that you hear your child read at home on a regular basis and we remind you that children can change their books whenever they need to. In addition to reading and the normal maths homework, during this topic, we would ask you to do some ‘Home Learning’ with your child. We would like them to keep a ‘Moon Diary’ over one lunar month to see how the visible shape of the moon changes.

Instructions for completing the moon diary
Each evening, look at the moon and record it’s shape on the next space available in the moon diary.

Write the date, shade in the circle, leaving the section that you can see white. Write down if it is a full moon, half moon or crescent moon. If it is too cloudy to see the moon then just record this by drawing a cloud across the circle.

The topics cover skills from many subjects in the National Curriculum. However, subjects which are not specifically covered in the topics such as Maths and PSHE (personal, social and health education) will be taught in separate lessons.

P.E will be taught twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday. It would be helpful for the children have their P.E kit in school throughout the week. Shorts, t-shirt and plimsolls are essential, but a tracksuit is also advisable for cold weather.

I hope that this newsletter gives you an overview of what your child will be experiencing in class this half term but if you would like any more information about the curriculum or anything else, please do not hesitate to speak to one of us.

Thank you for your continued support,

Mrs K Critchell and Mrs R Brown
Studland and Tyneham Class Teachers

If you have any questions or queries at any time, then please feel free to call in and see us - our door is always open!