Learners Class

Welcome to Learners' class page!

Learners Class currently includes Year 1 and Year 2, where the children are between the ages of 5 years to 7 years old. The class is taught by Mrs Brown and is supported by Mrs Gurney and Mrs Creek.

We teach Maths and English daily and are proud to provide our full and rich curriculum to our children with lots of exciting learning opportunities, including regular visits to our own school forest. We enjoy Collective Worship together each day, where we explore different values each half term. This half term our value is Service.

Each Thursday afternoon, we have IT lessons run by Mrs Gurney, providing us with valuable learning around technology. 

This term we will have PE sessions on Wednesday afternoon led by Hawkes Sports coaches. On Tuesday afternoons we will have dance sessions with Hannah Verity Dance. Please make sure your Learner always has a PE kit in school and that earrings are taken out at home in the morning before school on these days. We will also have swimming sessions on Tuesday mornings. Please make sure your Learner brings a swimming costume and towel with them and again make sure earrings are removed before school.

Learners Class are passionate about reading and enjoy stories and books together daily. Each child has their own reading record diary, which goes between home and school alongside each child's reading book. These are used to record reading at home and are also brought in to school each day to record reading in class. Class reading books are changed regularly throughout the week.

Alongside reading at home, spellings are handed out on Thursday and tested the following Tuesday. Please support your child's reading at home by sharing and enjoying a book together each day - it really does make a difference! Children use the online tool 'Sumdog' to strengthen their Maths skills. On the programme, children have their own character and are rewarded with coins and prizes for completing homework tasks.

For more up-to-date information of what we are learning, please keep an eye on our weekly class blog! 

Best wishes,

Mrs Brown

A Really, Royal week.

Learners have been busy, busy, busy with incredible learning during this four-day week.

We have enjoyed digging deeper into poetry and have delighted in sharing the poems we love. We have explored rhyme and alliteration, alongside our theme of  ‘When I grow up’. This week we have been creating our own poems, each individual to our owns dreams and aspirations for the future. The finished products are sensational and will without a doubt be displayed proudly on the board outside our classroom for all to read – We are going to make a class poem book to put in the School library too. There really is no end to our talents!

In History, we have been learning about Captain Cook and exploring his link to Whitby.

In DT, we have begun to think about where are food comes from and how it gets from farm to fork.

In Music, we are learning a new song. The style of music is soul music, which is prompting lots of musical discussions around beat and tempo.

In PE this week we have enjoyed dance sessions, along with gaining skills around tennis and are looking forward to improving just in time for celebrating Wimbledon!!

In Art this term, we are focusing on collage. Our new focus artist is Kazimir Malevich a famous Russian artist who uses shape and colour to create wonderful art. Learners were inspired by his style and created some amazing art work in their art books.

What a jam-packed week we’ve had, which ended with a wonderful open afternoon on Friday to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles 111. Families joined us in class to make bunting, flags and thought about the rules we would make if we were King for the day? Thankyou to everyone that joined us.

 

Summer term is here.

The summer term is here already and it was lovely to welcome Learners class back into the classroom.

Learners are always busy and have a buzz for learning and this week was no exception.

The sunshine brought great delight and we were able to enjoy playtime on the field at last!

We have begun dance sessions with Hannah Verity this week and are really looking forward to learning some new moves and routines in the coming weeks.

In maths, Year two have started to build on their knowledge around fractions and have enjoyed finding halves of shapes and amounts, whereas Year 1 have been measuring using standard and non-standard measures.

In English, we have been embracing poetry and have enjoyed exploring poems and spotting rhyme and alliteration within familiar poems. We enjoyed sharing our favourites and even brought poems in from home – some made us laugh out loud!

 

Please check out this weeks newsletter, to see up and coming events over the next term.

Learners Class

Spring is on the way.

Learners class have noticed signs of Spring around the school grounds this week. Spring flowers are appearing outside our classroom and we have noticed that the days are getting longer. We have even spotted the odd bee buzzing by.

In the classroom we have been  fascinated to learn more around habitats in Science and are very much looking forward to our trip to Dancy Moors Centre next week, when we hope to transfer our learning to the outdoors in Danby.

In Collective Worship this week, we have continued to focus on our value ‘forgiveness’, thinking about how we can help ourselves to forgive others and how important this is for us as well as for them. This weeks worship prompted some wonderful, open discussions in School.

In Geography, we have have been locating the Equator on the globe and on World maps. We looked at countries nearest the Equator and how they were the hottest places in the world. We were also able to understand why the polar regions were cold places too.

Learners Class have enjoyed sharing stories in class as always this week. We are particularly enjoying ‘A Handful of Buttons; by Carmen Parets Luque, a book around family diversity. This wonderful book is the focus of our writing around biography in English at present.

Please make sure your Learner has a PE in School for PE days.

 

A Really Royal Week

Learners started the week with a drama session with Louise from the Red House Theatre Company. The session was focused around our history topic this term, Kings and Queens. The session was lots of fun and Learners were able to put their knowledge about monarchs into action. Back in the classroom, we have been finding out about the Royal Family and the term abdication. The children had many questions which prompted some wonderful discussions.

In PHSCE we have been learning more about manging risks and used scenarios, both on and offline, to decide when to say ‘yes’, ‘no’ ‘I’ll ask’ and ‘I’ll tell’. Learners approached discussions sensibly and seriously as always.

We are showing some real progress in Tuesday mornings swimming sessions at the pool. Confidence is soaring, as children are jumping in with confidence and retrieving objects from underwater with ease. Water confidence is so important living where we do and it is great to see swimming skills progressing.

Parents evening sessions are taking place this week on Monday 13th and Tuesday 14th March. I am looking forward to celebrating Learners Class’s successes with their families. Everyone should have a time slot, please do let me know if you have any queries.

Mrs Brown  

A Busy Week in Learners Class

Learners have been busy, busy, busy this week. we continue to work hard in maths lessons, this week Year 1’s having been learning to double a number, whereas Year 2’s have been adding equal groups using the multiplication symbol. We have been motivated in English and have produced some great discussion writing answering the question ‘Is there such a thing as a wrong habitat’? Learners are really enjoying this writing unit and have been able to justify their reasons effectively.

On Wednesday, we braved the forest. Dodging the drizzle, we made it down there and collected leaves and sticks to print with in art later in the week. The forest was muddy, but we were dressed accordingly and moved around sensibly!

On Thursday, we celebrated World Book Day 2023. Everyone looked fabulous. We enjoyed sharing stories (even a story from Space), and talked about our favourite stories and authors. We discussed the rights of a reader and were able to articulate our own Learners Class rights of reading!

Please make sure your child has a PE kit in school. Please check kit in the holidays, there are a few complaining that PE shoes are too tight! We are excited for our up and coming trip to Danby Moors Centre on Thursday 23rd March, please check Parent Pay if you haven’t already! As always, please let me know if there are any concerns or questions!

Mrs Brown

Learners are awesome!

Wow, we have had a busy, busy week of learning. 

On Monday, we explored printing in relief in Art. We drew our design on paper first, then etched our design onto a polystyrene tile. Using a roller we applied paint and printed onto our sketch books. We were amazed and excited to see the results.

This week in PSHE we have been learning about the people and services that can help us in an emergency. We found out how to phone 999 in an emergency and what we would need to do if this happened. Learners were very sensible and serious about the discussions around this and understood this would only happen if a grown-up wasn’t around to ask at the time.

We are continuing to learn more about Islam in RE and Learners are confident in articulating their understanding. This week, we have found out that a place for worship for a Muslim is a mosque and looked at the traditions surrounding this. We were also interested to find out about the five pillars of Islam and how these five things helped to make a Muslim a better person. Ask your Learner to tell you wat these are!

Friday lunchtime was the perfect end to a busy week. As well as our usual lunchtime music in the playground, we enjoyed a multitude of bubbles from our new bubble machine! Happy weekend everyone!

Learners Class 

A Silver Award for the Hedgehog Heroes!

We are overjoyed to celebrate our Silver award accredited to Sleights this week. Learners class have delighted in their role as Hedgehog Heroes over the last two years. We have shared posters, lead assemblies, written to neighbours and many other things in our campaign to raise the awareness of hedgehogs in our community. We cheered together and felt very proud as our Silver award was announced! A huge well done Learners Class old and new!

As part of our history work, we have been learning about the different types of monarchy this week. We found out about the differences between absolute monarchy and constitutional monarchy and we decided that a constitutional monarchy was a much fairer way to rule! However, we did enjoy creating our own rules and laws as rulers of an absolute monarchy – this was great fun!

On Friday, Learners class have been printing as inspired by our focus artist Andy Warhol. This week we were concentrating on making a clean print and used a range of hard and soft materials. We are looking forward to looking at more of Andy Warhol’s styles and  techniques.

Come and join us on Thursday 9th February, as we will be opening the classroom doors to families to join us for some storytelling activities. Learners can’t wait to share their favourite stories with you!

Learners Class love to learn!

Learners class really are awesome! We have had another wonderful week of  amazing learning!

We have produced some fabulous newspaper reports this week in English, centred around our very own Parker, who has inspired us all with his caring, eco-warrior determination with his idea to collect for the homeless in our community – a truly deserving newspaper report focus!

On Monday, we had a visit from our very own well-being nurse Mel, to raise awareness of Children’s mental Health Week. This years these is ‘Let’s Connect’. We shared the book ‘The Invisible String’ by Patrice Karst and then we created paper chains to represent all the people, places and pets each is child is connected to. Well-being is so important and we really enjoyed Mel’s activities.

In DT this week, we were able to build bridge structures using only paper and sellotape. Our challenge was to make the bridge strong enough to hold some heavy building bricks. We soon found that we needed to roll, fold or layer the paper to make it stronger and stiffer. We delighted in testing the strength of our bridges at the end of the session.

We are three weeks in to our swimming sessions at the local pool and it is clear that our water confidence and skills are improving! 

We have shared lots of stories this week. We love to discuss our favourite characters and chat about the stories we enjoy.

It is clear to see that Learners Class love to learn!

Happy Lunar New Year

It’s been a cold and frosty week, but Learners have kept busy and cosy in the classroom. 

We have been developing our map skills in Geography this week and have been finding out about the North and South Poles. We found out that these were the two coldest places in the world and really enjoyed researching the different animals we might find in each Pole – Frozen Planet is truly magnificent and we found out lots of information around polar animals and adaptations.

New Sumdog challenges have been set this week in Maths and Learners are working hard to complete their own challenges, using money skills and times tables knowledge. There is some healthy competition in the air!

We ended the week inviting families into Learners Class to join in with Chinese New Year celebrations. The classroom was a hive of activity and a joy to see. Families and children perfected their chopstick skills, wrote messages to each other using the Chinese alphabet, made lanterns and painted blossom trees. 

Don’t forget, it is the rescheduled Christmas disco on Thursday 26th January, KS1 3.30-4.30. I can’t wait to see you all there!

An exciting week for Sleights!

It has been an exciting week for Sleights this week, as we found out that Sleights is to get a new school building. This created a real buzz in Learners Class, prompting discussions of what the new building would be like and things we might like in our new playground. We are so excited to be involved in this new, exciting project!

This week in the classroom (and outdoors), Learners have worked their socks off! We have been using alliteration to help us decide on the headlines for our newspaper report, We have gathered all our information in preparation to begin writing our reports next week and we are now bursting with ideas!

To launch our new history unit Kings and Queens, we have been thinking about the word Monarch. Learners could confidently name our King and knew that he had recently come to the throne. We had discussions about the line of succession and how it was decided who became King or Queen next. Learners were very enthusiastic and can’t wait to find out more about the Royal family. To embed our learning, we made and decorated our own crowns.

On Friday we braved the weather and visited the forest. Our focus was science based, our current topic being ‘Living Things and their Habitat’. Our aim was to spot deciduous trees and evergreen trees. We decided that January was the perfect month to do this, as the trees were easily identifiable. We really enjoyed the freshness of learning outdoors, some found bugs and creepy crawlies, which will aid our discussions next week around things that are alive or not alive.

There is a real excitement for learning in Learners Class!