Summer Term 2023
The Butterfly children have, again, come back to school full of enthusiasm. It’s wonderful to see how tall they are all getting in this final term as Butterflies.
This letter will give you information about what your children will be learning this term, as well as a reminder of the routines for life in Butterfly Class.
Mrs. Fouché will continue to teach this term on Monday, Wednesday Mornings and Fridays. Mrs. Travers will continue to teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Mrs. Walker will continue to work in class throughout the week and Mrs. Symmons will continue to take the class into the Wildspace on Wednesday afternoons.
Maths
In our Maths lessons this term we will be focusing on the topics of Length/Height and Mass, Capacity and Temperature, Time, Fractions, Statistics, Position and Direction and Times Tables.
Alongside these main topics, we will continue to give the children the opportunity to develop a range of mathematical skills, through our Mental Maths sessions, Morning Maths sessions, reasoning questions and SATs practise questions and quizzes.
It will really support your child’s learning in Maths if you can try to give them opportunities at home to practise the following:
- using money (looking at coins and notes and talking about their value; finding totals of coins etc)
- looking at analogue and digital clocks with you to talk about how we tell the time.
- Times Tables (especially 2s, 5s and 10s)
Last term we introduced the Sumdog Maths Website to support the children's learning in Maths. All of the children have login details for Sumdog glued into their Reading Record books. They will be using this website in school but we will be encouraging them to use it at home too. We would recommend short sessions as often as possible. Here is the link: https://www.sumdog.com/en/
In addition to this, the White Rose App supports our learning in school and is straightforward and simple to navigate. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whiterosemaths.oneminutemathsks1&hl=en_GB&gl=US
English
Our English will be based around the texts George’s Marvellous Medicine, The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark and Malala’s Magic Pencil. The children will continue to explore spelling and phonics as part of our Sounds-Write scheme. They will also continue to bring home spellings books with spellings in them that are linked to our learning in phonics. We encourage the children to practise writing the words, put them into sentences, group them depending on how the sound in the word is spelt etc. Do let us know if you have any questions about this. The children will be taught grammar in discrete sessions but these sessions will be linked in with the English, so that the children have lots of opportunities to put their learning in grammar sessions into practice.
As the children’s SATs are approaching, we will be looking at examples of reading paper questions, the layout of the papers and how to answer a range of reading comprehension questions. This practise will hopefully ensure that the children’s confidence in their question answering skills will grow and they will be able to answering a wider variety of questions on a range of tests independently.
Reading books will continue to go home every day. These books will be matched carefully to the children's progress in reading to ensure that the books are a suitable match for their level. It is essential that the children read to an adult at home every day. We cannot emphasise enough how important this is! Could we also ask that the adult who listens to this reading always puts a brief message in the Reading Record book to let us know what has been read?
The Butterfly children have really enjoyed borrowing books from our class library as part of our emphasis on ‘reading for pleasure’. They have been selecting books that interest them and have been very good at taking responsibility for ‘signing out’ the books.
Geography
This half term in Geography we will be learning about Northern Europe, focusing on the countries in Northern Europe and their geographical features.
After half term, in History, we will be learning about Powerful Voices, looking at people such as Gandhi, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King and Local: David Attenborough (to name a few).
R.E.
In RE, we will be exploring two Christianity topics. In the first half of term we will be investigating how Pentecost is a reminder to Christians that God is always with them. In the second half of term we will be thinking about why Christians trust and follow Jesus.
Music
Our music learning this term will give the children the opportunity to listen, sing, play musical instruments and to engage with a wide variety of music. Please make sure recorders and recorder books are in school on Tuesdays and ensure they are named! It would be wonderful if each child could find a little bit of time each week to practise their recorder at home.
Art
In Art, we will be looking at History Painting, basing our work on the Greek myth Theseus and the Minotaur. We will then be looking at Murals and Tapestries, including looking at Frescoes – Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel; Crivelli’s Garden – Paula Rego and The Last Supper by Leonardo Di Vinci and creating our own class mural.
D.T.
In D.T. we will be looking at designing models with moving parts. The children will be learning about the different stages of the design process as they make their models. Our DT lessons will be taught in a block rather than spread out over the term.
Science
In our Science lessons this half of term we will be studying Materials and Matter in the first half term. We will be investigating what matter is and how it forms the objects we are surrounded by in everyday life. We will be using microscopes and magnifying glasses to have a closer look at the structure of the materials we are investigating
In the second half of the Summer term, our Science topic will be astronomy. We will be finding out about the planets of our solar system.
P.E.
PE takes places on Tuesday afternoons. On this day the children will need to wear their full PE kit to school and will wear it all day.
Our P.E. topic in the first half term is Striking and Fielding where we will look at the skills required to strike and to field. We will then apply these to two specific sports, cricket and rounders.
Our P.E. topics in the second half term will be Tennis and Athletics. We will also look at sports day events and practise key skills for these, such as sprinting.
Children will also take part in additional physical exercise throughout the week in the form of the Daily Mile.
Computing
This term in our Computing lessons we will be learning about Spreadsheets. In the second half term, we will be learning about Presenting Ideas. We will be using Purple Mash to support our learning.
P.S.H.E.
Children will take part in weekly P.S.H.E. lessons. This term our sessions and conversations will be centred around the two topics Managing Safety and Risk and Drug Education. Our drug education will be centred on the idea that some substances that we call drugs are medicines which are used to make us better when we are ill.
In the second half term, we will be basing our sessions and conversations around Healthy and Safer Lifestyles.
Alongside the regular PSHE lessons we will, of course, have impromptu sessions to address any important issues as they arise. Internet safety will be taught as part of our PSHE lessons as well as during our Computing teaching.
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/ is a useful website for parents to visit.
Each child will continue with their allocated day for Show and Tell. It will be either a Tuesday or a Friday. The Summer term is always particularly busy so we will be keeping the Show and Tell sessions quite brief. As usual, items can be brought into class and/or photos and information uploaded on to Tapestry.
We continue to use Tapestry in class on a regular basis. We love getting feedback from parents on our posts so please continue to ‘like’ and comment!
Please do catch us at the end of the day if you have any concerns or questions. We really value the opportunity to communicate with you, particularly if you or your child have any worries or concerns. If it is something that needs a longer discussion, we can arrange a meeting at another time and ask that you arrange this through Mrs. Baron.
Thank you for your continued support.
Mrs Travers and Mrs Fouché
The Butterfly children have come back to school full of enthusiasm. Its super to see how well they have adapted to the changes this term, as Mrs How has taken on her role as head teacher and we have welcomed Mrs Travers to the Butterfly teaching team.
This letter will give you information about what your children will be learning this term, as well as a update of the routines for life in Butterfly Class.
Mrs Fouché will be teaching this year on Monday, Wednesday Mornings and Fridays. Mrs Travers will be teaching on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Mrs Walker will be working in class throught the week and Mrs Symmons will be taking the class into the Wildspace on Wednesday afternoons.
In our Maths lessons this term we will be focusing on the topics of Money, Multiplication and Division, Length/Height and Mass, Capacity and Temperature. However, alongside that we will continue to give the children the opportunity to develop a range of mathematical skills, through our Mental Maths sessions, Morning Maths sessions and other activities.
It will really support your child’s learning in Maths if you can give them opportunities at home to practise using money (finding totals of coins etc) and to look at clocks with you to talk about how we tell the time. We have found that these are areas where support at home can be particularly beneficial.
This term we have introduced the Sumdog Maths Website to support the children's learning in Maths. All of the children have login details for Sumdog glued into their Reading Record books. They will be using this website in school but we will be encouraging them to use it at home too. We would recommend short sessions as often as possible. Here is the link: https://www.sumdog.com/en/
In addition to this, the White Rose App supports our learning in school and is straightforward and simple to navigate. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whiterosemaths.oneminutemathsks1&hl=en_GB&gl=US
Our English will be based around the texts The Day the Crayons Quit, The Tear Thief, Tell Me a Dragon and The Rainbow Bear. The children will continue to explore spelling and phonics as part of our Sounds-Write scheme. They will also continue to bring home spellings books with spellings in them that are linked to our learning in phonics. We encourage the children to practise writing the words, put them into sentences, group them depending on how the sound in the word is spelt etc. Do let us know if you have any questions about this. The children will be taught grammar in discrete sessions but these sessions will be linked in with the English, so that the children have lots of opportunities to put their learning in grammar sessions into practice.
Reading books will continue to go home every day. These books will be matched carefully to the children's progress in reading so as to ensure that the books are a suitable match for their level. It is essential that the children read to an adult at home every day. We cannot emphasise enough how important this is! Could we also ask that the adult always puts a brief message in the Reading Record book to let us know what has been read?
The Butterfly children have really enjoyed borrowing books from our class library as part of our emphasis on ‘reading for pleasure’. They have been selecting books that interest them and have been very good at taking responsibility for ‘signing out’ the books.
This half term in Geography we will be learning about The British Isles. After half term, in History, we will be learning about the Tudors.
In RE, we will be learning about the importance of mercy and compassion in the Muslim faith and continuing to explore Christianity.
Our music learning this term will give the children the opportunity to listen to and respond to a wide variety of music. Please make sure recorders and recorder books are in school on Tuesdays – and please make sure they are named! It would be wonderful if each child could find a little bit of time each week to practise their recorder at home.
We will continue to build on our knowledge and skills in art this term as we study and create portraits and self portraits and then landscapes and symmetry.
In our Science lessons this half of term we will be studying how we can use electricity and will be creating electrical circuits. In the second half of the Autumn term our Science topic will finding out about the features of plants and what they need to grow.
PE takes places on Tuesday afternoons. On this day the children will need to wear their full PE kit all day. They will also take part in daily physical exercise in the form of the Daily Mile. This term in PE the children will be developing their gymnastic and dance skills.
This term in our Computing lessons we will be covering a few units – Making Music and Coding Aside from our Computing lessons will be using the Ipads regularly to develop the children’s computing skills and to support learning in other areas of the curriculum. Each child will be reminded of their logins for Purple Mash. Purple Mash can be used to practise different skills at home.
We will be teaching weekly PSHE lessons. This term our sessions and conversations will be centred around learning about the importance of communities and celebrating what makes us special and unique within our community. We will have RSE week towards the end of the first half of term. A letter will be sent out closer to this time explaining more about our plans for RSE week.
Alongside the regular PSHE lessons we will, of course, have impromptu sessions to address any important issues as they arise. Internet safety will be taught as part of our PSHE lessons as well as during our ICT teaching. https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/ is a useful website for parents to visit.
Each child has already been allocated a day for Show and Tell. It will be either a Tuesday or a Friday. We would love for you to encourage your child to do this. It really improves their confidence and speaking and listening skills by taking part each week.
We continue to use Tapestry in class on a regular basis. We love getting feedback from parents on our posts so please continue to ‘like’ and comment!
Please do catch us at the end of the day if you have any concerns or questions. We really value the opportunity to communicate with you, particularly if you or your child have any worries or concerns. If it is something that needs a longer discussion, we can arrange a meeting at another time.
Thank you for your continued support.
Mrs Travers and Mrs Fouché
We have had a fantastic start to the term! It has been wonderful to welcome the children back as Year Twos and they have been working so hard already!
This letter will give you information about what your children will be learning this term, as well as confirming routines for life in Butterfly Class.
Mrs How will be teaching this year on Monday and Fridays. Mrs Fouché will be teaching on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Mrs Walker will be working in class as our teaching assistant and Mrs Symmons will be taking the class into the Wildspace on Wednesday afternoons.
In our Maths lessons this term we will be focussing on the topics of Place Value, Addition and Subtraction and Shape. However, alongside that we will continue to continue to give the children the opportunity to develop a range of mathematical skills, through our Mental Maths sessions, Morning Maths sessions and other activities.
It will really support your child’s learning in Maths if you can give them opportunities at home to practise using money (finding totals of coins etc) and to look at clocks with you to talk about how we tell the time. We have found that these are areas where support at home can be particularly beneficial.
Here are some links to websites that you can use to support your child’s learning in Maths. Do let us know if you have any questions about them.
https://www.nctm.org/Classroom-Resources/Illuminations/Interactives/Ten-Frame/
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/116/telling-the-time
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/money/toy-shop-money
In addition to this, the White Rose App supports our learning in school and is straightforward and simple to navigate.
Our English will be based around the texts The Last Wolf, The Pea and the Princess, Rapunzel and The Night Before Christmas. The children will continue to explore spelling and phonics as part of our Sounds-Write scheme. The children in Year 2 will continue to look at alternative spellings of different sounds.
Later this half term, children will bring home spellings books with spellings in them that are linked to our learning in phonics. These are not to simply learn off by heart – we will not be doing spelling tests in school as they have been proven to have very little impact on a child’s learning. We encourage the children to practise writing the words, put them into sentences, group them depending on how the sound in the word is spelt etc. This will hopefully support your child’s learning in school without becoming overwhelming or stressful for them or for you. New spellings will be issued fortnightly – more details to follow.
The children will be taught grammar in discrete sessions but these sessions will be linked in with the English, so that the children have lots of opportunities to put their learning in grammar sessions into practice.
Children will continue to bring a reading book home every day. This will be matched carefully to their progress in reading so as to ensure that the books are a suitable match for their level. It is essential that the children read to an adult at home every day. We cannot emphasise enough how important this is!
We are also going to encourage the children to borrow books from our class library as part of our emphasis on ‘reading for pleasure’. The children will be free to take home a book from the class library which they can keep for as long as they like. They may wish to read it themselves or they may wish to share it with an adult. We will ask the children to take responsibility for ‘signing out’ the books.
This half term in Geography, we are going to be learning about maps, building on our knowledge from Year 1 and honing our map drawing skills.
After half term, we will be learning about the Romans in Britain in history. Excitingly, we will be visited in December by History off the Page (https://www.historyoffthepage.co.uk/) who will immerse the children in learning about the Romans. Details about the Roman day, together with information about payment, will be shared nearer the time.
In RE, we will be learning more about Judaism – specifically the Jewish idea of Repentance – before moving on to learn about Jesus as a Saviour during the build up to Christmas.
Our music learning this term will give the children the opportunity to listen to and respond to a wide variety of music. They will have the opportunity to create their own compositions using the classroom instruments, including our wonderful new set of glockenspiels paid for by the PTA. The children are really enjoying learning to play the recorder. Please make sure recorders and recorder books are in school on Fridays – and please make sure they are named! It would be wonderful if each child could find a little bit of time each week to practise their recorder at home.
We have already had lots of fun exploring colour in art this half term. We will later be looking closely at artwork by Paul Klee and Alexander Calder. After half term we will be thinking about colour, shape and texture.
In our Science lessons this half of term we will be studying the human body. We will be learning about the skeletal system and the digestive and the circulatory systems. The children will spend time thinking about how they can keep their bodies healthy through exercise and healthy eating. In the second half of the Autumn term our Science topic will be Living Things and their Environments. In these lessons the children will be learning about the features of a variety of habitats and the creatures that live in them.
PE takes places on Tuesday afternoons. On this day the children will need to wear their full PE kit all day. They will also take part in daily physical exercise in the form of the Daily Mile. This term in PE the children will be developing their fundamental movement skills (balancing, running and jumping) and their object control skills (throwing, catching and striking).
The children will be learning some French phrases through song and simple conversations on Thursday mornings. They will start off this year by learning greetings and how to introduce themselves.
For our DT lessons we have a number of exciting projects planned. We will be teaching these lessons in a block, over the course of a few days. Our project this term will be to design some yummy food for Christmas and we hope that you will have the opportunity to enjoy some of the fruits of the children’s labours!
This term in our Computing lessons we will be covering two units – Online Safety and Effective Searching. Aside from our Computing lessons will be using the Ipads regularly to develop the children’s computing skills and to support learning in other areas of the curriculum. Each child will be reminded of their logins for Purple Mash. Purple Mash can be used to practise different skills at home.
We will be teaching weekly PSHE lessons. This term our sessions and conversations will be centred around new beginnings and belonging and how we can work together to tackle bullying as part of anti-bullying week. Alongside the regular PSHE lessons we will, of course, have impromptu sessions to address any important issues as they arise. Internet safety will be taught as part of our PSHE lessons. https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/ is a useful website for parents to visit.
Each child has already been allocated a day for Show and Tell. We would love for you to encourage your child to do this. It really improves their confidence and speaking and listening skills by taking part each week.
We continue to use Tapestry in class on a regular basis. We love getting feedback from parents on our posts so please continue to ‘like’ and comment!
Each child has a Purple Mash accounts – password reminder will be sent home in reading records.
Communication is so vital between parents and teachers so please do catch us at the end of the day if you have any concerns or questions. If it is something that needs a longer discussion, we can arrange a meeting at another time.
Thank you for your continued support.
Mrs How and Mrs Fouché
