Chestnut Class – Year 1/2
Welcome to Chestnut Class! We love playing and learning together, exploring and discovering as we go...
Our Long Term Plan…
https://www.stjuliansprimary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Cycle-A-LTP-1.pdf
Our learning in Term 1.
This term in Geography, we will be focusing on learning about the countries of the United Kingdom, our capital city, and the surrounding seas. In DT, we will be developing our sewing skills as we design and create a very special Christmas decoration. For our learning in Computing, the children will try some basic coding. In Music, we will continue to expand our understanding of beat and rhythm while learning all the songs for our Nativity performance — which we cannot wait to share with you! Lessons in Science will explore everyday materials and how we use them in our daily lives. ‘Celebration’ is our Jigsaw theme for this term. This focuses on being our brilliant selves, understanding what makes us unique, and recognising and valuing our differences. In RE we will be exploring the question “What do Christians believe about the incarnation?” We will also celebrate Christmas in church with our Nativity and carol services, and warmly invite parents to attend. Within school, for children and staff only, we will also enjoy a whole-school Christmas lunch.
In Maths both year groups will continue to work on place value, addition, and subtraction. Year 2 will then move on to learning about shape and money. We will continue to focus on fluency to support understanding, followed by reasoning and problem-solving activities to consolidate learning.
In English Year 1 will focus on creating well-structured sentences, with an emphasis on using full stops and capital letters correctly. Year 2 will build on this by writing longer sentences and including exciting noun phrases, developing their understanding and use of adjectives.
Phonics will begin again for Year 1, along with reading groups, while Year 2 will focus on Spelling and Whole-Class Guided Reading using a range of texts.
Important dates:
- Monday 3rd November – First Day back to School
- Wednesday 5th November – Flu Vaccinations/Nasal Sprays
- Wednesday 12th November – Mobile Library
- Thursday 13th November – PTA Quiz Night (tbc)
- Monday 17th November – Parents’ Evening 1
- Wednesday 19th November – Parents’ Evening 2 (& SEND Appointments)
- Tuesday 25th November – Local Governing Body (LGB) Meeting
- Wednesday 26th November – Mobile Library
- Tuesday 2nd December – PTA Wreath Workshop (tbc)
- Friday 5th December – Christmas Show (parents do not attend)
- Wednesday 10th December – Mobile Library
- Wednesday 10th December – Oak & Chestnut – Nativity Performance (2pm tbc)
- Monday 15th December – Oak & Chestnut – Father Christmas Letters (2pm tbc)
- Wednesday 17th December – Christmas Jumper & Lunch Day (parents do not attend)
- Wednesday 17th December – KS2 Carol Concert (2pm tbc)
- Friday 19th December – Last day of Term 2
Please note:
- Our PE lessons for this term are Mondays and Thursdays (where we will be covering a dance unit at the start of the week and then a whole afternoon of Forest School.) Please send your child wearing PE kit on these two days. They will also need to have a pair of welly boots and waterproof trousers in school on that day in order to take part.
- Children need to have in school every day a spare pair of shoes or wellies as well as waterproof trousers for our adventure play and paddock areas in wetter weather.
- It is important that children always have a coat in school as we will be outside as much as possible in all weathers.
- Contact books/reading records are required in school every day.
Weekly Home Learning Tasks
It is really important that children spend some time at home each week consolidating their learning at school and it is helpful if they have a quiet space to do so. You can find a copy of our Home Learning Expectations on the policies section of our website. In our class the expectation is:
- Two reading books – linked to current phonics phase or book level and one to share together. Reading one or both of the books 5 times per week at home with a greater focus on the levelled phonics phase book.
Reading, Spellings, Phonics and Times Tables:
Year 1:
Children will bring home two reading books. One book will be fully decodable and chosen by an adult to increase fluency. This book will be sent home on Wednesdays and will need to be returned to school on Mondays. This book will be familiar as we will have read the book three times in school before going home. They should be reading the book fluently, with 90% of the words being read without the need to segment. As a result of this increase in fluency, speed and accuracy, comprehension improves as cognitive overload is reduced. The second book the children will bring home will be a ‘sharing book’. This will have an ‘s’ sticker on the front. This is a book chosen by your child to encourage a love of reading and can be changed at any time. This book will not be fully decodable, therefore this is a book you can read together. Please ensure you sign the purple home-school contact book/reading record each time you read with your child.
At the beginning of the term we will send home a list of the phonemes covered each week in our phonics sessions. We will also send home a list of words containing these phonemes. Children can then practise reading these words at home.
Year 2:
Your child will have two reading books that they use at school. One will be a levelled scheme reading book that will go home and be brought into school every day. The other will be a book that they keep at school to read for pleasure. Your child will be assessed on their book level by the class teacher and teaching assistants at regular intervals throughout the term. We will listen to your child read individually or within a small group every week.
Reading books need to be in school every day and this will be changed weekly if the book is finished. Please add the signature of parent to confirm your child has read the entire book at home, and do add any useful comments.
At school all children receive discrete spelling and grammar lessons every day. Each week focuses on a specific spelling pattern or rule.
You may have noticed Spellings are no longer part of our home learning expectations. However, we realise that many families like to complete additional work at home by practising the week’s spelling rule or pattern. Therefore, every week a list of spellings will be stuck in the Home Contact Book.
Year 2 children will be taught and assessed on their times tables alongside their Maths lessons so will not have a regularly scheduled times table test. By the end of this year, children in Year 2 are expected to know and recall at speed the multiplication facts in the 2, 5 and 10 times tables.
Login information for any online resources has been stuck into the inside cover of your child’s reading record.
What we have read so far….
Chestnut Class Teacher:
Mrs Moss
HLTA: Miss Lindsay
PPA Cover:
Covered by Miss Lindsay
Week A: Every Thursday & Week B: Every Thursday
YEAR 1 MORNINGS ONLY
Class Teacher:
Mrs Parker
HLTA: Miss Lindsay (Mon – Fri AM )
TA: Mrs Tiley (Mon-Wed) Mrs Ward (Thurs-Fri)
TA: Mrs Winchester (Mon- Fri AM only)
If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact Miss Webb on Class Dojo. However to report absences, illness or update on medical appointments or results, please phone or email the school office.
Helpful links:
BBC games both aimed at improving Maths and English skills.
Small Town Superheroes
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zd63xyc/articles/zncgvk7
Karate Cats Maths
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zwdvwsg/articles/zdp4pg8
Times table practice x2, x5 and x10:
