Welcome to Penguins 

Class Teacher - Miss Hine

LSP - Miss Cook

email:  class.penguins@burnttree.sandwell.sch.uk

Our learning

Spring Term

Our learning

Maths

This term our learning focus is for the children to practise counting to 100, building on their prior knowledge of place value in the spring term. They will have the opportunity to learn patterns of the sequence of numbers, count forwards and back, use representations while counting and learn the written numerals of greater numbers. We will continue to develop mathematical vocabulary and answer reasoning and problem-solving questions every day.

In addition to this, children will have the opportunity to learn about money.  Pre-money counters are used in steps to support the children's understanding. They will explore the different values of coins and how to represent these independent of size, shape, colour and mass. They will continue to explore and recognise the value of different denominations of coins. Once this has been understood, the children will further develop their understanding of notes.

Our final learning focus for the summer term will be the introduction to time. The children will have the opportunity to learn time-related vocabulary, and understand in context everyday-related events such as days, weeks and months. From this we will develop an understanding of hours, minutes and seconds through practical investigations.

We will continue to encourage the use of the CPA (concrete, pictorial and abstract) approach in our maths lessons. This is where we use a mixture of resources that will enhance your child's mathematical understanding. We will continue to consolidate our knowledge from our previous learning while developing previously taught skills in arithmetic quizzes.

Reading/Phonics

We will continue to use the Read Write Inc phonics scheme to promote and further develop reading and writing. This scheme teaches children the sounds in English, the letters that represent them and how to form them correctly. The Phonics screening check will take place after the half-term break, during the week of Monday 9th June. It involves children independently reading 40 words aloud to check and assess a child's ability to decode words using phonics skills.

In this half-term, the children will be assessed and then split into appropriate groups ready for transition to year 2.  The children will continue to be provided with an appropriate book to read at home to improve their fluency and speed in reading. The children will be encouraged to use the skills developed from phonics in all other curricular lessons.

In reading, we will continue to learn about a range of authors. This develops a fun, rich and enjoyable reading culture, which is crucial to developing language, vocabulary and a love of reading. We share reading at the end of each day, through topic lessons and phonics groups. The children also have the opportunity to choose a home reading book to share and read at home. The class and school library areas encourage children to read for pleasure, to extend their love of reading and select books of their choice. We encourage you to take your child to the library and read a range of stories written by her or similar novelists.

English

In writing, children will have the opportunity to further explore texts; fiction and non-fiction, to develop their creativity and understanding through writing descriptions, instructions and recounts.  Writing opportunities will allow children to communicate and express their ideas, developed through phonics sessions, and to write simple and dictated sentences.  Throughout the term we will continue to develop the children's spelling, punctuation and grammar skills.

Science

Working scientifically, in Science this term we will be studying plants. The children will learn about the structure of a plant, its function and properties. They will learn about gardens and wild plants, including trees.  They will be immersed in a rich vocabulary and begin to ask and answer questions. 

Throughout the topic, the children will have the opportunity to recall information taught through retrieval questions, maintaining and deepening their understanding. Using knowledge from previous learning in Reception, we will recall information and record what they have found, working scientifically. As young scientists, children will explore the real world, and they will have the opportunity to develop scientific skills that provide an opportunity for continued understanding and progression.

Throughout science in year 1, children will be exposed to many scientific methods, processes and skills to improve their learning. There will be plenty of opportunities for children to ask questions, take part in observations, perform simple tests, and gather different types of data. As the seasons change throughout the school year, we will also continue to observe all different types of changes in the weather and environments across all four seasons.

History

This half-term, we will be focusing once again on history. During these lessons, the children will thinking about how explorers have changed the world, learning about explorers from the past, thinking about how time has changed beyond living memory. The children will once again develop their understanding of time using timelines from the 1920’s to the current time. They will learn about Dame Ellen MacArthur, Matthew Henson and  Christopher Columbus and explore how they travelled the world. They will consider how transportation has changed comparing it to current times. They will sequence events and photographs on a timeline and link knowledge of geography to understand places beyond the United Kingdom. The children will recall events previously taught using retrieval questions.  They will be immersed in rich vocabulary through fun activities and videos while having the opportunity to build on these through reading.

Geography

The theme for Geography in the summer term will be what it is like to live in Shanghai, China. The children will show on a map which continent they live on. They will locate two of the world's seven continents on a world map, continuing to use an atlas. Children will learn to identify and recognise their local area, drawing a map sketch and recognising human and physical features. They will name some key similarities of a small local area to a non-European country. 

Art and Design

In the summer term, the children will continue to follow a scheme of work to develop art skills -woven wonders. They will begin to ask: Is it Art or is it craft? They will explore textiles and create a loom box. The lessons will allow the children to work in groups and focus on techniques such as threading, weaving, knotting and plaiting.  They will find elements tricky but understand the work of artists like Cecilia Vicuña. It emphasises skills such as measuring, choosing materials, and resilience in artistic creation, catering to children's creative and cognitive development.

Design and Technology

This term, through (DT) Design Technology, children will have the opportunity to learn about and design a windmill.  The children will build on the skills taught in the autumn term following a design process for a specific purpose and meet the needs of a user. The children will research, plan, create, test and evaluate their work. After this, they will have the opportunity to develop their product and improve their design.

The children will continue complete activities through a mini-topic book, learning about influential people, British Values, Black History Month and understanding online safety - IT. 

Music

In music this term, we will be taught how to use our voices in different ways. They will learn how to sing together in time with the music. The key vocabulary for these lessons will be: pitch, tone, voice, music, high and low. We will perform our music at school at the end of the half-term! 

Physical Education (PE)

Our weekly, high-quality, PE educational lessons will take place on a Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. We want all of our children to develop the competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities and field games. The theme this half-term will be sport-related, focusing on send and return, a skill taught in many field games. The children will showcase their learning to the other groups.

 The children will continue to know the importance of staying fit for our future health and wellbeing. They will learn about flexibility, stretching and curling and work in pairs to develop safe gymnastics skills.  The children will also take part in activities to enable them to catch, throw and retrieve a ball in a fun and supportive environment. The children will learn to work together in teams, and if they encounter a problem, learn to carry on moving forward to solve it. 

Computing

In computing this term, children will have the opportunity to use technology safely, and understand how to create photographs through a storyboard.  They will learn to use the iPad to research topics and develop their IT skills to make an image move and change its size, cropping and editing the image. Children will begin to think about how we use technology in the home and in educational settings, such as saving and naming a file.

RE

In Religious Education (RE) this half-term, the children will learn about Islam and the Muslim faith. Children will be able to understand the importance of Islam, including the key places of worship. We will share images and artefacts, along with videos of stories told.  They will learn about Muslims within the local area, including the school community. We will explore how Muslims celebrate special times, what they wear and what they eat. We will explore this by food tasting in the afternoon.

At Burnt Tree Primary, the children are taught to be highly respectful of different faiths, listening to each other, showing love, kindness and respect at all times. 

PSHE

In our school, we follow the scheme 'Jigsaw' and the theme for this half-term will be dreams and goals. This will help children to understand why having aspirations is important and how they can work towards them.

The children will continue to learn how to sit in a circle and take it in turns speaking and listening. They will voice their opinions whilst also acknowledging that their friends may have a different opinion. They will learn how to be responsible and know their actions have consequences. 

Look what we have been doing...

History Showcase

 

   

On the afternoons of 5th and 6th December, we invited parents and carers into school to look at, and hear about, our amazing History learning.

 

 

We have made some lovely artistic work over the last couple of weeks! Have a look :)