• How can I help my child?
• Keeping the body and mind active
• Useful Links to Websites

Teacher: Miss Helen Maddocks

Teaching Assistants: Mrs Mossford, Mrs Jamieson and Mrs Perkes

Welcome to Otters' class!

In Otter class, we chose this Psalm to show what it means to be in our class. It also links to one of our favourite books.

Below you'll find our newsletter that contains information about our curriculum. 

PE Days: Tuesdays and Fridays

Our Curriculum

Here at Tarporley we follow the BOOKS approach to our curriculum. We want to be/have:

Bravery                                        Otters brave the rivers and seas together

Outward-facing                           Otters look out to the world around them

Opportunities                              Otters take advantage of the opportunities that come their way

Knowledge and skills                 Otters seek out knowledge and skills

Spirituality                                   Otters are spiritual

Our Curriculum 

English 

Core text for autumn 1 Year 1 and 2: Meesha Makes Friends by Tom Percival which will inspire us to write a diary entry in the first person (Meesha) based on events in the story.

Core text for autumn 2 Years 1 and 2: The Great Fire of London by Emma Adams and James Weston which we’ll use to develop our knowledge and skills by writing a fact sheet about the events of the fire.

Key skills that will be taught

• use subordination (because) and co-ordination (and) 
• use expanded noun phrases to describe and specify 
• use punctuation correctly - full stops, capital letters 
• use co-ordination (but, or)
• add -ly to turn adjectives into adverbs 
• use commas to separate items in a list 

Maths 

Place value to 100
Addition and subtraction 
Money

Science – Living Things: Habitats

We'll learn to discover plants and animals in a range of habitats. The children will be able to give examples of how animals use their habitat for food and shelter, be able to name living things that are producers and use arrows to show the order in a food chain.

Science – Living Things: Microhabitats

In this unit of work, we will build on existing knowledge of habitats and explore how microhabitats meet the needs of minibeasts. We will begin to ask questions about minibeasts and use scientific enquiry methods to find answers.

Religious Education – Judaism

Answering the questions What do Jews believe about God? and How do Jews show their faith through practices and celebrations? will be the focus of our learning this term.

History – How am I making history?

In this unit, we’ll focus on investigating the past within living memory by exploring personal chronology and using photographs to ask and answer questions about the past.

Geography – Where am I?

Our learning will help up to recognise physical and human features of our locality, use directional language to describe the location of objects in the classroom and playground, respond to instructions to follow routes and recognise features from an aerial perspective and the purpose of symbols on a map.

Art and Design – Explore and Draw

Our artwork will introduce the idea that artists can be collectors: they go out into the world, look at things in new ways, and bring things back to inspire their art. The children will explore observational drawing and experimental mark making, and think about how they can use composition to create their artwork.

Design and Technology - Free Standing Structures

Our D&T learning will focus on designing and making London Bridge using a range of different materials. We will test the strength of our bridge and evaluate our finished structure against our success criteria and discuss next steps. 

Music – Keeping the Pulse
In this unit, children will explore keeping the pulse together through music and movement, by exploring their favourite things. 

Music – Tempo 

The children will use bodies and instruments to listen and respond to pieces of music with fast and slow speeds and learn to perform a rhyme and song focusing on fast and slow.

Computing

Pupils will learn how to keep themselves safe in a Digital World as well as experimenting with the Purple Mash programmes to create their very own tunes and beats. They will explore how to edit the tempo and volume to change the mood and affect their music.

PE

Pupils will have the opportunity to develop their throwing and catching skills in different sports as well as being introduced to different invasion games. 

On your child’s PE day, your child should come to school in their kit and remain in it for the whole day. Our PE kit is red school logo PE shirt/plain red t-shirt, black shorts/joggers and pumps/trainers. Football kit should not be worn. PE days are:

• Otters – Tuesday and Thursday

If this changes, we will message you. PE will continue outside even in cold weather, so please make sure pupils are dressed appropriately.

Expected Homework

Expected home in KS1 is reading. Please read as often as possible. Children will bring home a different Little Wandle book each Wednesday to read at least 4 times over the week. This will need to be returned the following Wednesday before a new one is issued. Please continue to record reading via the Learning with Parents app and keep this Little Wandle book in book bags so that they can be used in school if needed.