Welcome to Willow Class

 

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

2025-26

 

Welcome to Willow

Week Beginning 26.1.26

 

This week, we have used the story 'Naughty Bus' as a basis for our learning and have compared our own city of Colchester with the capital city of London!  We have been looking carefully at some of the most famous landmarks in the city and discussing our own experiences of tall buildings or long rivers.  The children have continued their excellent work as Talk Partners and are now getting so much more confident at developing a conversation.  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 explored two key concepts.  The first has been capacity and we have specifically focused on weight and the idea of 'heavier' and 'lighter'.  The second has been crossing 5 to identify and represent 6, 7 and 8; we are real experts at showing these numbers in different ways and using our knowledge of 5 to support us.

The children in Willow have been working incredibly hard on their dance over the past few weeks and I just wanted to highlight how well they are doing as a team.  They have created and combined movements to perform wonderful dances in pairs and as small teams, as well as strengthening their balancing skills.  Well done, Willow!

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.