Welcome to Fountains Class

Academic Year 2023 - 2024

This web page is a fantastic way to keep up to date with lessons, activities and events in school.  Please check regularly for exciting updates!

Summer Term 1 2024

Who were the Victorians?

Fountains Class are going back in time to the Victorian Era this half term. They will first find out why this period of time is the called the Victorian Era. Then they will learn about Queen Victoria and how life in Britain changed during her rule.  The children will focus on the life of children and the jobs that poor children had.  They will also have the opportunity to experience a Victorian School day and will find out about the past from different sources such as photographs, paintings, written records of the time and artefacts.

Key Vocabulary

artefact, childhood, Victorian

Art this half term is a focus on mark making. We will use different line types and mark-making techniques in drawing; enhancing our ability to describe lines, control drawing materials like pencils and chalk, and experiment with various media, while responding to music.      

Key Vocabulary

cross-hatch, diagonal, charcoal 

Science this term first involves finishing work on ‘Animals including Humans.’  Life cycles, growing and changing and the basic needs of animals are some of the areas we will look at, along with exercise and healthy eating.  We will then start a unit of work on Plants.

Key Vocabulary

herbivore, carnivore, omnivore

Religious Education this half term is the second part of our work on ‘Who is a Muslim and what do they believe?’ This involves finding out about a Muslim place of Worship and some of their key festivals and celebrations.

Key Vocabulary

Mosque, Qur’an, Ramadan

In Computing the children will be continuing to look at Pictograms. They will begin to understand what the term data means and how data can be collected in the form of a tally chart. They will then progress onto presenting data in the form of pictograms and finally block     diagrams. Children will use the data presented to answer questions.  This is then followed by a unit of work about Making Music using Chrome Music Lab.

Key Vocabulary

data, pictogram, attribute

PSHE  first involves finishing  a focus on Citizenship. In this unit of work children will focus on caring for animals and younger children. The final part of the unit focuses on democracy and the work of the school council.  As always, our PSHE follows the age appropriate North Yorkshire Council PSHE Guidance.

Key Vocabulary

responsibility, vote, unique

PE

This term we will be focusing on Gymnastics and Target Games.  We will have to continue to be flexible with our PE sessions this term.  Please ensure that your child has a PE kit in school all week, and that they have both indoor and outdoor clothes – just in case!

Maths

The children will first be  learning about  Mass and Volume.  This is then followed by a unit of work on Multiplication and Division.  Any practise with counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s will help your child.

Key Vocabulary

groups of, divide, volume

English

All children will be having a 20 minute Read Write Inc reading and phonics session daily. 

This term we will also be trailing a new  writing programme, to help us with our  writing and Spelling and Grammar knowledge.

The book for our first unit of work is The Dragon Machine by Helen Ward.

Spring Term 2024

Autumn Term 2 2023

2022-2023

Summer Term 2   2023

Autumn Term 2 2022

School Year 2021-22

Summer Term 1 2022

Spring Term 2 2022

Autumn Term  2 2021

Would you like to have lived in Victorian times and celebrated a Victorian Christmas?

Autumn Term 1 2021

Would you like to have lived in Victorian York?

This fantastic chalk board was made at home!

Academic Year 2020-21

Summer Term 2, June 2021

Off on holiday!

Island Explorers!

Our main topic “Off On Holiday!” continues

but now we are focusing further away from Yorkshire as we will be  Island Explorers. We will be investigating the features of the coast on the Island of Coll, in Scotland and then comparing it to the Galapagos Islands.  We will be locating these places on maps and using terms such as the four compass points, equator, North and South Pole.

Our Art and Design and Technology work is linked to the theme as we will be finishing  our moving under water scenes using  simple mechanisms such as pulleys.  We will also be using clay, and using a view finder to focus on a specific part of a seaside scene and animals just like the Naturalist and Artist Charles Darwin did, when he visited the Galapagos.

The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch will also lead on to making food such as a sandwiches!

Computing will have a focus on using various IT packages to produce seaside themed Art.

Science involves a look at plants, bulbs and seeds.  As well as labelling the parts of various plants, the children will be naming a variety of common plants found in the local area.  This is something you can all help with, in your garden or on walks around Wistow, Cawood and Selby. We will also be looking at the life cycles of plants and what they need to grow.  No work on plants is complete without trying to grow some from seed,  so  fingers crossed!

Religious Education this half term is “What is the good news Jesus brings?” This involves looking at the stories Jesus told and how Christians use these in their day to day lives.  Themes such as forgiveness, saying sorry and showing love and care to those who need it are all part of this.

English

English this term involves creating our own information and explanation texts, related to creatures, who live by the British coast and far away islands.  We will also be  reading ‘The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch’ and the Katie Morag stories and using these as a base for a recap of the genres we have covered this year.

Read Write Inc.  continues daily for some Year 1 children, with either Mrs Legg or Miss Senior.

Maths

Year 1  This half term involves an introduction to time to the half hour and then numbers and place value to 100.  There is than a focus on money.

Year 2  We will start by finishing work on time. This is then followed by measurement including weight, length and capacity. Finally there is problem solving using all the knowledge we have already learnt this year,

Summer Term  2021

We are being optimistic in Fountains Class this term, as our main topic is “Off on holiday!”

This involves investigating the British coast and seaside, past and present. A great way to help your child at home is to talk about the seaside trips the children, parents and grandparents have had!  You could even get out a photo album and look at the times you have visited the seaside.

We will be investigating the features of the coast and seaside and also finding places on a map.

Our Art and Design and Technology work is linked to the theme as we will be looking at some famous sea scapes by JW Turner and Katsushika Hokusai.

Our science work is based on Animals including Humans this term and we will be able to link this to sea creatures too!

English this term involves a couple of new genres—stories by the same author and information texts. We will first be looking at stories of by Julia Donaldson linked to the sea and seaside  We shall also be creating our own information and explanation texts, related to creatures who live by the

British coast.

Read Write Inc  continues daily for some Year 1 children, with either Mrs Legg or Miss Senior.

In Maths we will be focusing on the following:

Year 1- Counting in 2's, 5's and 10's.  An introduction to multiplication and division, doubles, halving and grouping.

Year 2- Finishing work on fractions, including 1/4's, 3/4's and equivalent fractions.  This is then followed by measurement, including weight, length and capacity,

Any practice of quick recall of number bonds to 10 and 20 will help.

Year 2's can start to learn their 2,5,10 and 3 times tables and division facts.

Our work in RE focuses on "What makes some places sacred?"

We have been working really hard to draw self portraits.  

Spring Term 2  February-March 2021

It's a new half term and a new topic for Fountains Class.

Our main theme will be "The Great Fire of London." 

Our science work is based on the uses of everyday materials and we will be investigating which materials will be most suitable for making buckets to help put out the fire!

Our art work will focus on Spring and the work of famous artists such as Claude Monet.

In Maths we will be focusing on the following:

Year 1- Counting in 2's, 5's and 10's, Measurement- Length, height, weight and volume.

Year 2- Properties of shape and then fractions.

Any practice of quick recall of number bonds to 10 and 20 will help.

Year 2's can start to learn their 2,5,10 and 3 times tables and division facts.

In our English work Year 1's will continue with Read Write Inc and the Year 2's will be focusing on diary and letter writing.  We will also be writing Spring poems.

Our work in RE focuses on Lent and Easter, and also the natural wonders of Spring.

Spring 2021

It's a new year and a new topic for Fountains Class.

Our main theme will be "Would you like to an Antarctic Explorer?" We will be finding out about the adventures of Ernest Shackleton and start by focusing on the key places visited on his travels. 

Our science work is based on everyday materials and we will be investigating which materials will be most suitable for an explorer to the Antarctic, to wear.  

Our art work will focus on snowy landscapes and colour mixing using different media.

In Maths we will be focusing on the following:

Year 1- Place valve to 50, addition and subtraction.

Year 2- Multiplication and division, followed by Statistics.

Any practice of quick recall of number bonds to 10 and 20 will help.

Year 2's can start to learn their 2,5,10 and 3 times tables.

In our English work Year 1's will continue with Read Write Inc and the Year 2's will be focusing on fantasy stories ( especially those involving dragons), stories from another culture and letter writing.  

Our question in RE is "Who is Jewish and what do they believe?" We will also be meeting our friends Bumble and Tweet again.

Christmas 2020

Fountains Class had lots of fun in the run up to the Christmas holidays. We performed our Nativity brilliantly and had a Christmas dinner in the classroom.  We even had a special visit from Father Christmas during our Christmas party in our bubble!  Thanks to a generous donation, we also had the opportunity to grow a snowman!

Autumn Term 2020.

"Wistow" is the first main theme for our work this term. We will be finding out about or village, including its physical and man made features, how it has changed over time and important landmarks. This will lead on to work on maps! We will then move on to work about Christmas and of course, the Nativity!   This year we are performing Toby's Drum by Out of the Ark Music.

Our science this term initially involves a focus on the seasons and living things and their habitats.  We will be looking closely to see what is living in the school grounds and the local area before focusing on habitats in other countries. 

Our art, design and technology work is also linked with our local area and we will be trying our hand at collage, observational drawing and sewing.  We will also be making natural art sculptures inspired by Andy Goldsworthy.

In Maths we will be focusing on the following:

 Year 1- Shape and place value.

Year 2- Money.

Any practice learning number bonds to 10 and then 20 will help.  

Using coins and playing shops at home is a fun way to help too.

In our English work Year 1's will continue with Read Write Inc and the majority of Year 2's will be focusing on Autumn poetry, stories with familiar settings, traditional and fairy stories. 

Our question in RE is " Why does Christmas matter to Christians? Hopefully we will be able to visit both the church and chapel. We shall also be meeting our friends Bumble and Tweet again.

September 2019-2020

Summer Term 2020

"Who was Mary Anning?" is the main theme for our work this half term. We will be finding out Mary, her life and how she changed science, especially the study of Evolution due to her amazing fossil finds in Lyme Regis. This will lead on to work on dinosaurs!

Our science this term initially involves a focus on the seasons.  This will also help us with our poetry writing.  We will then begin a focus on 'Animals including Humans.'

In Maths we will be focusing on the following:

 number and measurement, multiplication and division, geometry and time.

Year 1 need to tell the time to the half hour and Year 2 need to know the time to the quarter hour and five minute intervals.

Year 1's will focus on multiples and Year 2's their times tables.

Any practice learning number bonds to 10 and then 20 will help.  

Using coins and playing shops at home is a fun way to help too.

In our English work Year 1's will continue with Read Write Inc and Year 2's will be focusing on poetry, diary writing, explanation texts and fantasy stories. 

Our question in RE is related to having a wider understanding of the beliefs of others.  Who is a Muslim and what do they believe ? We shall also be meeting our friends Bumble and Tweet again.

Training to be nurses

We have been very busy training to be nurses just like Florence Nightingale did when she went to Germany and France.  We learned about the need for clean hands, clothes and bedding.  We practiced putting slings and bandages on our friends.  We even made beds and cared for our patients!

Victorian Toys

This week we have been making replica Victorian toys.  We have used pegs, fabric and wool scraps to make peg dolls.  We have also been using hack saws safely to cut wooden dowel for axels for toys carts.  

Maths Open Lesson

We were delighted to have our parents join us for Maths on Friday morning. We did lots of work learning about the properties of 3D shapes and using terms such as edge, face and vertices. 

A few of our favourite things!

We all enjoyed sharing what we learnt about chocolate and our favourite toys during our assembly on Friday.  If anyone has any toys from past we would love to see them.

Interviewing the mice!

We have been reading Kipper's Toybox and thinking about the characters and their actions.  This week we tried some 'hot seating' when we pretended to be the mice.  We all wrote questions for them.

Special Visitor

Mr Smith, from Nestle, came to visit us this week.  He told us about the history of chocolate in York.  We found out about how chocolate is made and even got some chocolate to take home!  It was a great end to our topic about York!  Thank you Mr Smith.

PSHE Day  Keeping myself safe

On Friday we found out many ways to keep ourselves safe including when crossing the road.  We also focused on dangers at home and when using our tablets or parents' phones.  We had a very busy day!

City of York Badges

We have designed and then made our own badges to represent the city of York.  We have all been practising our sewing skills.

Conker Tree Corner

Fountains have been busy writing character descriptions of Bumble the bee and Tweet the robin who live at Conker Tree Corner.

Look back soon to see our pictures of them!

Busy writing!

Making Templates

We have been busy making paper templates for our badge designs.

Our Pumpkins!

Have a look at how our pumpkins are doing!

Living Things

This week we have been focusing on whether something is living, dead or has never been alive in science.  We have been exploring our outside area to find as many different living things as we can.

September 2018-2019

A very busy day!

Fountains class have had a very busy day! 

We've had a wedding to prepare for. 

As part of our RE work on sacred places and celebrations, we had a pretend wedding in church. The Reverend Terry came to help us all with the service.  We spent the day preparing food, including making delicious sandwiches and decorating biscuits all ready for the celebrations. We made enough for the whole school.

The Deep

We have had a fantastic trip to The Deep and saw many amazing sea creatures.  Here are a few photographs but go to the Gallery page for more! A huge thank you to all our parent helpers who came with us. Another huge thank you to FOWSA who contributed towards us all having a pencil and notebook.

Creative Sea Creatures

We have started to design and make models of strange new sea creatures found at the bottom of the ocean.   Have a look at our work so far...

Becoming an active citizen.

On our latest PSHCEE day we focused on becoming an active citizen. We first tried to improve and care for our own outside area.  We planted seeds, redid the planters, weeded and even sanded the shed.  A huge thank you to all our parents for helping us.  We also thought about recycling and what other steps we can do to help such as switching off lights, walking to school and using less plastic.

Performing Poetry

We've been busy preparing for our class assembly by practising performing a few of our favourite animal and ocean themed poems.

Salvation

Salvation is the theme of our RE work this term.  We focused on the events of Holy Week and looked at various images related to these.  We then began to create our own art work.

Blast off into space!

During our Literacy sessions we are travelling into space.  We are using exciting adjectives to describe the setting of Q Pootle 5.  We are now going to create and describe our own story settings in space.

We have had a very busy week. 

On a sunny afternoon we went looking for signs of Spring and then produced some careful observational drawings. 

Fabulous fun with fractions!

We had lots of fun on Shrove Tuesday.  We found out about the celebrations of Shrove Tuesday in different countries.