Westonzoyland Primary School ‘Achieving, Learning and Growing Together’
Buzzard – Miss Evans & Mrs Crowe (Year 1/2)
Buzzard Class (2023-2024) 🙂
Welcome to Buzzard Class
Ever wondered what your children are up to all day in school? Do they come home and tell you that they have done 'nothing' every day?! This page was created in order to give you an insight into what we do in Buzzard class, the things we are learning about and a peek at your childrens' incredible learning!
If you have any further questions that have not been covered on this page, please use the contact form at the bottom of this page for further details :)
Buzzard Class Teaching Team
Miss Victoria Evans Mrs Rosie Crowe Mrs Janene Hall Miss Martha Saunders Class Teacher (Mon - Fri) Class Teacher (Thurs) Class LSA (Mon & Tues) Class LSA (Weds-Fri)
Writing
Using story maps, actions and role-play, children learn a wide variety of stories and text types using these as a basis to create their own! In Buzzard class, we immerse children in a text to help them with their writing.
There are high expectations for the children in terms of content and presentation. Correct letter formation is key to this in order to aid writing fluency and stamina.
Books we have used to inspire our writing:
Spring Term:
Term 1:
Buzzard class have enjoyed exploring information books all about Rainforests. We have learnt about the features of an information book and have found out some amazing facts about rainforests, the animals and their habitats linking our learning to science.
Focusing on character's feelings, we have explored two 
wonderful picture books.
We have compared both stories, decided on our favourite one and written our very own book reviews.
Autumn Term:
Term 2:
The excitement has been 'eggcellent'.
An intrepid explorer delivered an egg to Buzzard class and asked us to look after it for a while. We drew what we thought might hatch from the giant, blue egg and thought of many descriptive words to use.
We finished the term, not only writing letters to a friend of the school who helped us rescue a baby hedgehog, but writing the Nativity story in our own words.
Term 1:
We turned our focus to a book with no words.
Journey has been an exciting adventure where we have used predictions, character descriptions and spent time imagining what we would do if we had a magic crayon!
Finally we spent some time creating poems about the seasons.
We have been linking our writing with the first
few days in our new class. We have thought
about how we felt starting in a new class and
encouraged our dragon friend to be brave and
join in the fun, even writing about our wishes
for the new term! We have thought about all
the different people who are in our class and
how we can make sure everybody is welcome too!
Photo Gallery of our English learning: Coming soon...
Twinkl Phonics
Twinkl Phonics is a DfE validated full systematic, synthetic phonics programme that allows us to deliver phonics teaching to children from the very beginning of learning to read and write, to full fluency.
Year One children will demonstrate their Phonic knowledge by undertaking a phonics screening in June. We will be working towards this throughout the year to ensure that children and confident and fluent in phonics.
Reading
Reading allows us to be transported from our own world to another. Between the pages of a book, we can become immersed in the lives of fictional characters and learn about a culture entirely different from our own. We can also learn new words and phrases, experience a range of emotions, and acquire skills and knowledge.
Because of the learning potential, the effects of reading on child development are vast and multiple studies have highlighted its benefits. As such, teachers and parents are in a great position to ensure reading is a key part of children’s daily routine. We ask that all parents read with their children at least 5 times per week and build it in to children's daily routines.
The Top Ten Benefits of Reading for Children who read regularly
- Their vocabulary is larger and more extensive.
- They perform better academically in all subjects, not just English.
- Their imagination can run wild.
- Their creativity skills develop.
- They develop empathy.
- They gain a deeper understanding of their world.
- Their concentration levels improve.
- The parent and child bond improves.
- Their cognitive development is supported.
- Their social skills and interaction improve.
How to Read with Your Child
Reading aloud is an enjoyable activity that both parents and children alike can enjoy. Additionally, it is an activity that teachers find fulfilling and that they should encourage regularly, both at school and at home.
If you read with your child at home, then you are supplementing what they learn in the classroom as well as giving them additional one-on-one support that the classroom cannot give. To have successful and effective reading sessions, consider the following:
Start young. Even during infancy, a child can look at pictures and listen to your voice. Read aloud to your child and point to the pictures on the page, saying the name of the objects that appear. This provides your child with two sources of information: an understanding of real-world objects and an understanding of the importance of language. Even when your child can read by themselves, you should still read aloud together for practice.
Make it part of your routine. Try your best to read to your child every day and keep it consistent. Incorporate this into your, and your child’s, daily routine until it becomes as much of a habit as them brushing their teeth. However, try not to be discouraged if you miss a day – just pick your routine back up as normal when you have time.
Encourage variation. Try to vary the books that you read to your child as much as possible. This will open their eyes to a range of different worlds, cultures, and characters, and allow their imagination to be stretched and thrive.
Have patience. Sometimes we can forget what it’s like to be that age and what we were like. As an adult we take reading for granted, but it’s easier to be patient with a child when we remember how much they don’t know yet. For example, how is a child going to know to read from left to right until you point at the words as you go? How are they to know that each scrawl on the page represents a word? Take your time and be patient if they don’t understand.
Continue the discussion. After you’ve finished reading a story to your child, consider trying to keep it going. Age depending, you could ask them questions about what they’ve just read. For example, “Did you enjoy that story?”, “Who was your favourite character?” or “Why do you think the prince was happy at the end?”. However, don’t feel that this is necessary for every single story you read. If your child enjoys the book, it will develop a love of reading anyway, even without the conversation.
Maths
At Westonzoyland, we use our school calculation policy as the basis of our maths teaching. This is a hands on, practical approach to maths that enables the children to build a deeper understanding and fluency.
We follow a logic sequence that builds on children's knowledge and allows them to rehearse their skills.
Maths gallery - coming soon.
Our Class Curriculum Overview
Our School curriculum was adopted in January 2024 - Please find the Year 1 & 2 overviews for Buzzard Class.
Please note- Our School curriculum was adopted in January 2024. Therefore, children were accessing our old topic based 'complete curriculum' prior to this. Class teachers have liaised with Key Stage and Subject Leads and have used their discretion to choose a relevant starting point to transition to the new curriculum for their class based on prior knowledge and coverage.
Autumn 2 & Spring 1 2023/2024
Rainforests
Autumn 1 2023
Carnival
Science – We will focus our attention to the seasons, exploring the differences in nature as well as how it affects our daily lives. History – We will look at the history of Carnival with a focus on the connection to Guy Fawkes, and how Carnival has been important locally for so many years. Geography – We will be focusing on our geographical skills and our immediate area including some map work of the school and the village. Art – Our focus will be on experimenting and creating art, including painting. DT – We have an exciting construction project linked to Carnival which will focus on our skills to design, make and create some fantastic creations. RSHE – We will be making sure that we know how to be safe on the internet and focusing on our mental wellbeing. Music – We will be looking at rhythm in music, exploring different ways we can create a rhythm with a variety of musical instruments. Computing – We will be learning how to use a computer through our topic work. PE – We will be learning about the skills needed for a variety of physical activities and sports. We will be thinking about teamwork and how to co-operate with others. |
PE and Outdoor Learning
We are passionate about keeping the children active in Buzzard class. Our scheduled PE lesson is on a Tuesday afternoon, and Outdoor Learning is scheduled on a Friday afternoon. This is the minimum amount of time we will spend undertaking these activities. We have an incredible outdoor learning environment and can often be found exploring or participating in sports and games outside of these times!
Outdoor Learning and PE gallery: coming soon
Any questions? Please drop us a line.
In line with school guidance and staff wellbeing, emails will be responded to within 2 working days.