Class information and routines

The Dove class team 2023-2024

Class teacher: Mrs Chloe Woollard

LSA: Mrs Jessica Crow (Monday-Thursday mornings)

LSA: Mrs Claire Peacock (Thursday pm and all day Friday)

LSA: Mrs Rachel Haldane (Tuesday pm)

LSA: Mrs Sharon Walker (Wednesday pm)

On a Friday morning I (Mrs W) will be out of class for my planning, preparation and assessment time, therefore, Mrs Welch will be doing music with the children first and then after break to lunch Mrs Wilkinson will be having the class for phonics and then ICT. If you have any questions about this please come and see me 

PE

In Doves class we will have PE every Friday afternoon. All children will get changed at school, so they will be able to leave their PE bags on their named pegs in our cloakroom. Our first lesson will be on Friday 8th September 2023, and I will send them home to be washed every half term. Our PE should consist of a white T shirt/polo shirt and black/navy shorts. In the winter months your child will need black or navy joggers and a hoodie or jumper. Trainers can be worn instead of plimsolls if you would prefer this  Please ensure long hair is tied back, earrings are removed and the correct kit is in school each week. 

Many Thanks! 

Swimming

Our swimming lessons in Doves class will take place every Wednesday afternoon. The first session should be on Wednesday 6th September but I will confirm this at the beginning of the week. Our last lesson will be in October before the half term when we finish for the winter months. Children will go for their swimming lesson in small groups and an adult will be on hand to help with changing. If you can volunteer to help with changing please let myself or our office staff know. Once your child's swimming lesson is finished, they will get changed and then join me back in the classroom for their learning. 

If you have any questions about swimming then please come and see me or dojo message me. 

Homework

Homework will be given out on a Friday and then expected in again the following Friday morning (although if it is completed beforehand your child can put it in our homework box). The homework will either be a piece of English or Maths to complete and these will alternate weekly. All children will be given a homework wallet/folder to keep everything in neatly and I will mark each piece  Although homework is not compulsory, it will be based on what we have been learning in the classroom and it will benefit your child to recap. I always try and set homework that your child can do unaided and encourage the ownership of this. I also have a homework dojo worth 3 points to give out to everyone that has a go at completing their homework!

Spellings

Spellings will be given out as part of homework each week. The children will be working on these spellings every morning as soon as they arrive in school as part of their early morning work. We call these our 'focus five'. There will be 5 spellings which will be taken from our our phonics or SPaG learning and the year 1 and year 2 common exception words. Every Friday morning the children will have a mini assessment on their spellings and if they get them correct they will move onto the next set of spellings. If your child doesn't get a spelling correct this word will just roll over to the next again week which of course is absolutely fine and it just means we will give some extra support to your child for that particular phonics sound or spelling rule. 

Reading 

Reading is a huge focus in year 1 and year 2 as the children will be completing their phonics screening check or end of key stage one assessments at the end of the year. In Doves class we have a star reading chart where children can move their star up to how many times they read at home. As a school we would expect your child to read at least three times at home in a week, but this doesn't have to be a school book, it can be one from home, a comic, a magazine, or it can be a bed time story that you read to your child. Over the years I have seen some children that prefer to read to siblings, family members, pets and as your child progresses with their reading, particularly in year 2 a lot of children can read freely by themselves. Life is busy, so if you do not manage to write in your child's reading record, I always say to the children to write their name in themselves. We will continue to use VIPERS for our reading skills lessons and I will post on dojo each week what strand we are focusing on if you want to do this at home. VIPERS dojos are given out for comments doing this and there is unbelievable progress made in children's reading comprehension in this strategy 

We also have our whole class reading assemblies each term to celebrate the children's reading and love of books. 

50 times= Bronze

100 times= Silver

200 times= Gold

Over 200= Platinum (a £5 book voucher is given for this achievement). 

TT Rockstars

We use TT Rockstars to help support us with our times tables and it is fab! I will set weekly homework on here and would advise 5-10 minutes per week, but lots of children enjoy playing it at the weekend and want to up their points! The main times tables for year 1 are the 2,5 and 10 times tables. For year 2 it is the 2, 5, 10 and 3 times tables. The children love showing off their rockstars in our mini maths lessons throughout the week and Mr Forster does a fantastic assembly each half term where we pretend to be actual rockstars and we see who has earned the most points! This won't be set up straight away, but as soon as we hit the multiplication part of maths in the autumn term we get practising! I will send more info out on this once it is launched in class. TT Rockstars is accessible on any device at home and the children's log ins will be stuck in the back of their yellow reading records.