Ash Class Rec/Y1
🌿 Welcome to Ash Class
Welcome to Ash Class, our small and friendly mixed-age class for EYFS/Reception and Year 1.
We provide a happy, caring and engaging environment where every child feels safe, valued and excited to learn.
👩🏫 Meet the Team
Teachers: Mrs Gray and Mrs Bond
Teaching Assistant: Miss Carrow
We work closely with families to help every child grow, achieve and thrive.
If you have any questions, please speak to us at the classroom door. For a longer conversation, you can make an appointment or contact us through ClassDojo.
🌟 How We Learn
Our Early Years curriculum is based on four key principles:
Every child is unique
Positive relationships help children feel happy, secure and confident
Enabling environments encourage children to explore and become independent
Learning through play is balanced with carefully planned adult-led activities
Children learn through a mixture of play, exploration, investigation, conversation and focused teaching.
🍂 Autumn Term
📖 English
Our Focus Book: Where the Wild Things Are
This term, we will use Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak to inspire lots of exciting learning, including:
Speaking and listening
Storytelling
Writing
Art and creativity
Role play
Activities within our continuous provision
📚 Author of the Half Term
Our author this half term is Jill Murphy.
We will enjoy sharing some of her much-loved stories, including:
Peace at Last
Whatever Next!
A Piece of Cake
Five Minutes’ Peace
🔤 Phonics & Spellings
Phonics is an important part of learning to read and write.
All children take part in a daily phonics lesson
Children learn new sounds and practise blending them together to read words
Children also learn important tricky words
Year 1 spellings are sent home every Monday and checked on Friday
🔢 Maths
Maths in Ash Class is practical, active and fun. Children have lots of opportunities to explore numbers, patterns, shapes and mathematical ideas through play, games, songs and practical activities.
Please see the maths section at the top of the page to see what is taught in reception and year 1.
🏠 Helping with Maths at Home
There are lots of simple ways to support your child’s maths learning at home.
Try to:
Count everyday objects such as toys, buttons, steps or pieces of fruit
Count forwards and backwards together
Look for numbers when you are out and about
Ask your child to find one more or one less
Sort objects by colour, size or shape
Compare groups – which has more, fewer or the same?
Play simple board games and number games
Look for shapes around your home and when you are outside
Talk about maths when cooking, shopping or setting the table
🎵 Sing Number Songs
Number rhymes and songs are a fantastic way to practise counting and help children understand numbers.
Try singing:
Five Little Speckled Frogs
Ten Green Bottles
Five Little Ducks
Five Little Monkeys
One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Once I Caught a Fish Alive
Ten in the Bed
Encourage your child to use their fingers or objects while singing so they can see what happens as the numbers increase or decrease.
Most importantly, keep maths fun, practical and part of everyday life!
📕 Reading at Home
Reading together at home makes a huge difference to your child’s confidence and progress.
Your child may bring home two types of book:
📗 Reading Practice Book
This book is carefully matched to your child’s phonics level.
Your child should be able to read it with increasing confidence, fluency and independence.
📘 Sharing Book
This is a book chosen for you to enjoy together.
Your child is not expected to read this book independently. The aim is to develop a love of stories and reading for pleasure.
💡 Top Tips for Reading Together
Listen to your child read regularly
Give lots of praise and encouragement
Encourage them to use their phonics
Help them with a word if they become stuck
Talk about the pictures, story and characters
Encourage your child to tell you their favourite part
Keep reading relaxed, positive and fun
You could ask:
What happened in the story?
Who was your favourite character?
How do you think they are feeling?
Why do you think that happened?
What do you think might happen next?
❤️ Enjoying Sharing Books
Sharing books are all about having fun with books together.
Try:
Reading the story aloud
Using funny voices for different characters
Looking closely at the pictures
Predicting what might happen next
Talking about new or interesting words
Exploring facts together in non-fiction books
Most importantly, enjoy the time together.
🎒 Books & Reading Records
A few important reminders:
Reading books are changed every Monday
Please return books before new ones can be issued
Keep reading scheme books safely in your child’s reading wallet
Lost or damaged books incur a £5 replacement charge
Your child has a yellow reading record
Please record the book title when you listen to your child read and add a short comment where appropriate
The reading record will also include the sounds and tricky words your child is currently learning
🌈 Thank You for Your Support
Thank you for supporting your child’s learning at home.
Little and often makes a big difference.
Reading together, counting, singing number songs, playing games and talking about your child’s learning will all help to build their confidence.
By working together, we can help our children become happy, confident and independent learners.
Spelling
Year One children will need to practise spelling the tricky words in their yellow reading records. They will also have weekly spellings sent home on Monday which they will be tested on Friday.