Tyneham Class

Welcome to our Class

Our class is taught by Mrs Brown in the mornings, with Mrs White and Mrs Stevens helping us. In the afternoon we join in with the Year 2 children and are taught by Mrs Critchell or Mrs Brown.

For information regarding our activities during the first half of the Spring term, please see below:

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

Homework

Books will continue to come home for reading and can be changed throughout the week if read and commented on. On a Friday, the children will bring home a maths game to play with you as well as some spellings to learn. Please can these homework activities be completed and returned to school by the following Thursday. The children may need support from you to complete their homework but please do not be tempted to do it for them!

Jeremy Bear

Jeremy is still with us in Tyneham Class! He will go home with somebody each week and we ask that the children make an entry into Jeremy’s diary.

Bringing things from home

The children are encouraged to bring in items from home that relate to the topics that we are learning about in class. The same rule applies to toys from home as well. Toys should only be brought into school if they are to contribute to the class topic and they will not be taken out at playtime.

P.E Kit

We have our P.E lessons on a Tuesday and Thursday but the children should have their P.E kit in school at all times.

Leaving and meeting the children at school

We would like the children to line up in the playground at the start of the day and come into school independently. If they wish to put things in their tray or on their peg before the start of the school day that is fine but they should return to the playground so that they can line up with everyone else when the bell rings. At the end of the day the children will meet you in the playground and will come out through the door next to the office.

Special Book

In our class we have a Special Book to show how proud we are of ourselves. If your child has a special photo, piece of work or something that can be entered into the book then we would love to have it as part of our special things.

We hope this information has been useful to you. If you have any concerns or would just like to have an informal chat then our door is always open.

Mrs Brown, Mrs White and Mrs Stevens