welcome to DRAGONFLY class (Year 1)

• Mastery Approach – Our maths curriculum is centred around a ‘Mastery Approach’. The aim is to ensure pupils have mastered and understood key concepts before moving on: using more difficult/higher numbers does not mean a child has a better understanding; rather, it is best that the child is able to access the learning in a wider range of contexts, the child can give detailed explanations and approach problem-solving tasks.
• White Rose – We follow the White Rose scheme to sequence maths lessons. This ensures that there is a progression of skills within the academic year, but also across all years. On the curriculum overviews, which are shared with home at the start of each module, the maths skills we are focusing on can be seen. On the White Rose website, there are home learning videos which show you clearly how to help your child complete the activity. If we have been learning number bonds to 20,for example, you will be able to find an equivalent video to support further at home.

Click here to view the year 1 home learning videos

• Maths Champions – This scheme has been designed by High Halstow staff. The scheme maps out individual targets which the children can work on at home. Children are set their targets by their teacher and are assessed on the target by the teacher to move on to the next target.

click here for more information

• The children’s individual targets can be found on the Dragonflies Google Classroom. Click here to go to the Classroom, then follow Classwork > Home Learning > Maths Champions Target.
• Maths Masters – This is an additional 10-15 minute focus on maths which happens outside of the main daily maths lesson every day. The focus is on arithmetic and recall of basic skills such as number bonds and doubling of numbers. We also revisit some of the key learning from previous lessons to secure and embed understanding.
• Numbots- This site supports children with their number bonds and addition and subtraction. Children have login details and these are at the front of the school link book.

Click here to go to the Numbots website

• Targets – In the front of each child’s English book, they have an individual target. Pupils should be aware of their target and so should know what they need to work on. This is updated when enough evidence of success is seen in their books to move on to a new target.
• Core texts – Click here to view our core texts.
• Reading – It is important for children to read daily however this does not need to be for a lengthy amount of time or a strenuous task. Conversation around the text is just as important as word reading in order to help support comprehension.

click here for suggestions of the types of questions to ask your children

• Buster’s Book Club – an initiative that encourages the children to read at home. The class works collaboratively to be the class who has read the most minutes in the school. It encourages the reading of any reading material, not just the children’s banded reading book.
• Phonics – In school, we follow the Phonics International programme. Children’s books are matched up according to their phonic knowledge and reading fluency. The learning in class can be supplemented with games such as phonics play and phonics bloom. The units in Phonics International are different to phases used on other websites. At this stage, the children have been exposed to all the sounds featured up to phase 5.
• EdShed – This is a site/app children can use at home to support with spelling practise.The children now have login details to access this site, they are at the front of the home link book.

click here to go to the edshed website

Check at least weekly for updates on the Google Classwork for suggestions of work to do at home to support your child.

In the event that the academy cannot open for any reason, lessons would be available remotely via Google Classroom