Welcome to Willow Class

  Classteachers: Miss J. Dandy/Mrs. L. Dhanak

2025-26

Welcome to Willow

Week Beginning 12.1.26

This week, we have continued our work based on the story 'Be Wild, Little One' and the children have been deeply reflecting on character and setting.  They have thought carefully about the emotions the main character might feel at different points in the book and related these to their own experiences, using their gestures and actions to communicate the emotion they are feeling.  As the week has progressed, the children have started to see themselves in the text and think about how they might create their own characters...and 'scary' settings! Whenever you notice your child looking at someone when they speak to them, or turning their body to face who they are talking to...or even asking a question such as 'Do you agree?' or 'What do you think?', do praise them for this, as these are just a few of our first oracy targets.  We are very excited to develop this oracy framework across the school, starting with our Birch and Willow superstars!

In maths, we have started our work on one more and one less.  The children have also been consolidating their counting and subitising knowledge by looking at arrangements of objects and identifying where they CAN see a given number and, just as importantly, where they CANNOT.  Do look at the video below which explains the concept of subitising and why it is so important that we embed this skill in our youngest mathematicians!  

The children have been so excited to hear the news of two very important visitors to school next week!  We are looking forward to welcoming some sports stars and have been creating a list of questions we can ask them about their early experiences and what (or who) inspired them to follow their path.

Subitising - Why It Is Important

A video which clearly explains the concept we are instilling in Maths at school.  The KIRFs (Key Instant Recall Facts) your child has brought home are also included in this page's attachments and run beautifully alongside the message you will hear in the video.  

Support for Phonics at home

Please CLICK HERE for videos showing the sounds we teach in Autumn and Spring terms.  There are also really handy guides to accompany what the children will be learning in school and might be useful for when the children bring home decodable reading books.