Turtle Class
Welcome to the Turtle Class web page for 2024-2025!
A very warm welcome to our home page!
Turtle class comprises of Year 1 and Year 2 children. We cannot wait to see what Term 1 has in store for us as we begin our journey as Turtles.
This page will be updated throughout the year with information regarding our topics and learning for the term ahead. You can find all relevant information regarding out latest term below.
Class team
Class Teacher: Miss Sammy Hughes (Mon-Thurs)Class Teacher: Mrs Michelle Price (Fri)
Learning Support: Miss Lynne Davis and Miss Shelley Simpson
Useful web links
Turtle Class
Our learning
As a school, we follow the Cornerstones Curriculum. Each ‘long’ term (so 3 times a year) the topics change. There is always one main topic (driver project) and several companion units.
In Terms 1 and 2 the driver project is a History unit called ‘Movers and Shakers’. This project teaches children about historically significant people who have had a major impact on the world around us. Individuals such as Neil Armstrong and Christopher Columbus. We will learn to use timelines, stories and historical sources to find out about these individuals and use historical models to explore their significance.
The companion units for this project are ‘Let’s explore the world’ (Geography), ‘Exploring colour’ and ‘Still life’ (Art and Design), ‘Habitats’ and ‘Human survival’ (Science) and Remarkable recipes (Design Technology). The latter will allow us to explore sources of food and tools used for food preparation.
English
Children in Turtles will continue to develop their phonetic knowledge using Read Write Inc. (RWI). We carefully group the children according to their phonic knowledge. This ensures each child is being supported, yet challenges, aiming for excellent reading progress. More information regarding RWI can be found under our Phonics and Reading area here on the website.
Children will have RWI lessons from Monday-Thursday. These lessons are followed by a whole class English lesson, where we will continue to focus on reading skills as well as developing our writing skills. Our English lessons are driven by The Power of Reading – a whole school learning and teaching approach which engages teachers and children in the English curriculum through the use of high quality texts and proven teaching approaches. These texts will vary and change across the terms. On Fridays alongside our whole class English lessons, we will also have a focus sessions on Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG), as well as dedicated handwriting and dictation sessions.
Reading
Children will have access to two books to read at home. One will be an eBook set by their RWI leader to match their phonic ability. These will be set on Thursdays. Each eBook will be accompanied by a quiz, which provide opportunities for children to apply their phonic knowledge, as well as developing their comprehension skills. Children will also have a RWI Book Bag Book, a physical book that they will take home that is matched to the phonics they are learning. Book bag books are changed accordingly every Monday and Thursday. Therefore each eBook and Book Bag Book will stay with each child for a few days and should be re-read to support fluency in reading.
For those children who have completed the RWI scheme, they will then move onto reading AR (Accelerated Reader) books. These books are equally matched to the child’s reading ability, as an initial quiz provides each child with a reading level. The children will then get to choose a reading book within their book band levels, providing each child with autonomy over their reading.
Maths
We use Power Maths as the main driver in our Maths learning at Bethersden, supported with a range of practical activities to ensure that each child has a secure understanding of the concepts taught. We will be teaching each year group in isolation across the year, teaching the Year 1s and Year 2s separately.
Before each Maths lesson we have dedicated time to practise and develop our maths fluency. We will be using the Mastering Number program to do so, which aims to secure firm foundations in the development of good number sense for all children from Reception through to Year 1 and Year 2. A key resource we will be using throughout these sessions include tens frames and counters and rekenreks.
Term 1 coverage
English – Our core text across this term is ‘Look Up’ by Nathan Bryon. We will explore, interpret and respond in a variety of ways to this picture book – using artwork, drama and role-play to support our understanding. We will use this text to explore a variety of writing genres including stories, lists and poetry. This book links beautifully to our History project ‘Movers and Shakers’ as the main character wishes to become an ‘astronaut, star-catcher, space-traveller’ like African-American astronaut Mae Jemison.
Maths – For the first term our Year 1s will be exploring numbers to 10 as we learn to count forwards and backwards, to count on from any number. As well as exploring concepts such as one more, one less. A key resource we will be using in this unit is the tens frame – linking nicely to our exploration in Mastering Number. Whilst our Year 2s will be exploring numbers to 100 during the first term. They will continue to build upon skills learnt in Year 1, counting in 10s and 1s. They will also continue to explore partitioning into tens and ones using a place value grid.
Science – In our first unit ‘Habitats’ we will learn about them and will determine what a habitat needs to provide. We will explore local habitats to identify and name living things and begin to understand how they depend on one another for food and shelter.
History is our main unit within our Cornerstones curriculum, with our driver project ‘Movers and Shakers’. This project teaches children about historically significant people who have had a major impact on the world around us. Individuals such as Neil Armstrong and Christopher Columbus. We will learn to use timelines, stories and historical sources to find out about these individuals and use historical models to explore their significance.
Art – Our first Art unit ‘Exploring colours’ will continue to teach children about colour theory by studying the colour wheel and colour mixing. It includes an exploration of primary and secondary colours, hues and how artists use colour in their artwork. We will look closely at artists such as Piet Mondrian and Wassily Kandinsky.
DT – During our first unit ‘Remarkable recipes’ we will learn about sources of food and tools used for food preparation. We will discover why some foods are cooked and learn to read a simple recipe. These skills will help us build towards choosing a making a new school meal that fulfils specific design criteria.
PSHE – Across Term 1 we will be exploring the theme of happy and healthy friendships. We will continue to discuss the big question ‘what makes a happy friendship?’, as we also begin to recognise and identify personal boundaries and worries.
Computing – We will ask the question ‘how is information technology (IT) being used for good in our lives?’ We will initially focus on IT in the home, as we explore how IT benefits society in places such as shops, libraries, and hospitals. Whilst discussing the responsible use of technology, and how to make smart choices when using it.
Home Learning
Here at Bethersden our home learning tasks are set each week on Tuesday via Google Classroom. Each child has their own login details to access this (which includes an email address and password – these can be found in their yellow reading records). Once set every Tuesday, the tasks will typically be due the following Monday. Each week we dedicate time to sharing and celebrating completed home learning tasks, something we and the children always look forward to. The tasks will range from physical activities, discussions, questions to explore – all activities we hope you will enjoy!
Alongside tasks set on Google Classroom, there will also be a weekly spelling ‘assignment’ set on Spelling Shed. We would also encourage children to practice their Maths skills using NumBots. Links to both of these sites can be found here on our class page. All login details can also be found in their yellow reading records.
We are looking forward to continued support with home learning this new academic year.
How can you support your child?
There are many ways that you can support your child to have a healthy, fun filled year in school!
- Please make sure that they are on time, have the correct uniform and have had a healthy breakfast.
- Read! Listen to them read, read to them, let them see you enjoying reading – reading in any form will help foster a love of books – something that we are passionate about at Bethersden Primary.
- Please ensure that they have the correct PE kit. Our PE day is on Friday, so please ensure your child comes into school on Fridays wearing their PE kit.
- Provide a water bottle (hydrated brains are happy brains!) - Please make sure these are filled with water only and not squash/juice.
- Please provide appropriate clothing for outdoor learning, we will not let the weather stop us!
Contact us
We are always available after school if you need a quick catch up. If you need a longer or more private meeting, please book this in at the office and we will be happy to accommodate.
If you have a non-urgent message for the team you could email the families email on the address below. This is checked regularly and the message will be passed on to the class team.
families@bethersden.kent.sch.uk
We cannot wait for a successful year in Turtle Class – the first with our rebranded classes!
Very best wishes,
The Turtle Team
