Leaving the Foundation Stage and moving into Key Stage 1

As your child develops, they will move towards a more structured curriculum which will be topic based.

There will still be some play based and independent learning and your child will continue to learn through practical experiences.

Foundation StageYear 1

Play without adult support

Child initiated play

Focused learning – adult guided, playful,

experimental activities

Structured learning – little

play

Morning routines

We take the children around from the front playground for wake and shake at 8.35am.

If you are running late please say goodbye to your child at the corner and let them come

and join their line.

The back door is only open until 8.45am. After that time children need to come in

through the main entrance.

Reading •It is really important that your child reads their book every day (little and often) to practise the reading skills they have been taught. The more they practise the less likely they are to encounter problems.

•Please write in the reading diary each time your child reads. Also don’t forget to regularly recap the sounds learnt so far as this is crucial to reading (see sounds page in the reading record book).

These are the sounds that your child learns in phonics. The Y1 screening check assesses how well your child can blend these sounds to read words. This is done with real and made up words.

Year 1 phonics screening

Towards the end of the year, all children will be screened to assess their phonic understanding.

Children will be asked to read a variety of decodable words both real and pseudo.

catshootrainlightthunder

gaxbaimjighthorden

Spellings

Spellings will be linked to the phonics phase that your child is working in.

Your child will be given a spelling sheet with words for them to learn over several weeks linked to what they have been taught.

There will be a mixture of tricky and decodable words.

Each week, your child will be assessed on 10 words from the most recent sheet.

After a few weeks, they should be able to spell a greater proportion of the words.

Red spelling books will be used for the assessments and sent home each week. Please keep these in your child’s reading folder.

You will see in their spelling book the words that your child is confident with and those which they need to practise further.

Example Spelling Sheets

Spellings

Learn to read and spell each tricky word

Use the look/copy/cover/write/check method(decodable words can be sounded out)

Copy Copy Cover & write Check

Spelling

List

it it it and and and

Maths homework

Your child will usually receive a short piece of maths homework each Friday to be completed and returned by the following Thursday.

This will support the work we have been doing in class that week. Sometimes it will be a worksheet but often it will be a practical activity for you to do with your child.

Website for Parents

www.hamiltonathome.org.uk

General Information:

If your child brings dinner money please could you ensure that it is in a named purse.

Water bottles – children do not need to bring water bottles to school as they have an individual cup and access to water. They can still bring bottles to drink at lunchtimes.

Please ensure that your child has a PE kit every day. We will send them home each half term unless they need washing before hand. Please ensure your child has shorts for indoors as well as trousers for outdoors.

Please ensure that your child brings their reading folder and a school bag every day. All of your child’s belongings must be named clearly.

Collecting children: Please could you make eye contact with the teacher and let us send them to you rather than calling your child over so that we know your child has been collected safely. Additionally please let your child’s teacher know if they will be collected by someone different or if they are going to Pebbles.

On Fridays children can bring one toy from home to play with in Golden Time. This should fit in a bag and please don’t send anything too precious!

Thank you for your continued support.

If you have any further questions, please ask!