Term 4

Welcome to Term 4 everybody.  

We hope that you had lots of fun with your grown-ups in half term. 

This term our history focus will be the Victorian era. We will make comparisons between the past and the present and write facts about people from the past.  We will compare and understand the way in which rich and poor Victorian children lived and look at their experiences at school.

In literacy we will look at the story of Little Red Riding Hood.  We will describe characters and settings and adapt the story to make it our own. We look forward to seeing how our Year 1 authors and illustrators adapt this well-loved traditional tale. 

Our maths learning will begin by exploring money. We will also develop our understanding of measurement, which will include, height, length, volume and weight.

Hello everybody, welcome back to school and to Term 3!

We hope that you have enjoyed a fun-filled Christmas break with your families, are feeling well-rested and ready to return to school.

This term in literacy, we will be reading Julia Donaldson's Stick Man.  We will be thinking carefully about the characters, settings and key events, and will be retelling the story, both orally and in our writing.  We will be using exciting adjectives to describe the characters and settings and thinking of different ways to act out the story.  We will also be re-writing the story, before adapting it, to make it our own.  This will include creating new, imaginative characters and settings.

In maths, we will be developing and deepening our knowledge of addition and subtraction, exploring a variety of different methods to complete number sentences and word problems, within 20. We will be looking at place value of numbers to 50 and finding one more and one less than any given number to 50.  We will also be refreshing and expanding our understanding of measurement.

Our topic this term will be, Our World.  We will be investigating and identifying the different oceans and continents.

In DT, we will be looking at bridges, exploring how they are made and having a go at making our own.

We look forward to another exciting term of learning with you Year 1.  We know that you will continue to wow us with your wonderful enthusiasm and continued progress.

Welcome back to school and to Term 2!

We do hope that you were all able to rest and enjoy precious time with your families. 

This term in literacy, we will be learning all about The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child.  We will describe settings and characters, using amazing adjectives and act out this well-loved story.

In maths, we will look at greater than and less than, number bonds to 10 and addition.  We will use a range of manipulatives to explore practically, helping us to develop our knowledge and understanding.

Together, we will discover facts about the Great Fire of London too, your grown-ups will be so impressed when you go home and teach them what you have learnt!

As Christmas is fast approaching, we will also begin learning songs to sing to our grown-ups!

We look forward to an exciting term with you all Year 1 .

Congratulations Year 1, your first term has been a huge success! 

You settled well in your classrooms, quickly building relationships with your new peers and grown-ups and have adapted wonderfully well to our Year 1 routines - we are super proud of you!

Each day has been fun-packed and busy, but you have taken it all in your stride and the progress that you have already made is incredible!  We were thrilled to share your successes with your grown-ups at our Parent meetings and they were equally proud .

We do hope that you enjoy some well-deserved family time during the half term break, and we look forward to seeing your smiley faces on our return to school.

Take care and have fun!

Welcome to Year 1

Dear Year 1 pupils and grown-ups, 

We hope you have enjoyed spending precious family time together during the summer and are now ready to start the new school year.  We are looking forward to getting to know you and working together. We are sure that we will have a very exciting and productive year. We hope that you enjoy the new challenges and approaches to learning that Year 1 has to offer! 

Thank you in advance for your support.

The Year 1 Team

Transition from Reception to Year 1

Our aim is to ensure that the children experience a smooth transition from the Foundation Stage to Key Stage One. The Year 1 curriculum builds upon and extends the experiences that children have had in Reception. Learning through play will continue to be an important part of the school day and the children will gradually be eased into more formal learning as the year progresses, so that they remain motivated, enthused, and eager learners. Please don’t hesitate to come and see us either before or after school if you have any questions or queries.

Reading in Year 1

Your child will be given a book and reading diary to bring home. We ask that, when possible, you support your child to read and then, record a brief comment in the contact book. The expectation is that children will read at least 3 x per week. Pupils will need to bring their reading diary and books to school every day.

The children will also have lots of opportunities to read and enjoy books throughout the week, during our guided reading sessions. You will also have access to these books online (details to follow).

Secret Superstar

Each day, we will award a Secret Superstar certificate and treat to one child.  The certificate will be secretly pre-written, and if the pupil can demonstrate that they have followed the class rules and tried to be the best they can be, they will take the certificate and a treat home!

Star of the week

Every Friday one child will be chosen to be our Nightingale/Goldfinch of the week. This child will be our line leader for the week – a real privilege for a Year 1!

Phonics

Phonics is an incredibly important area of learning in Year 1 and this year, we will introduce the Monster Phonics Scheme.  During week commencing 12^th June 2023, the children will take a National Phonics Screening Check.  Further details will be provided nearer the time, but we can reassure you that the children do not find this at all stressful – in fact they really enjoy their 1:1 reading session!

Homework

In addition to reading 3 x per week, pupils in Year 1 are expected to learn weekly spellings and complete their Numbots minutes. We ask that children complete 15 minutes at home each week, the equivalent of 3 minutes per weekday. Pupils will need to learn to log on independently, as they will also access Numbots in school.

General Reminders

• Please sign up to Marvellous Me so that you can see your child’s amazing achievements!

• The children will be doing PE on Fridays. Kindly ensure your child wears their PE kit to school on this day.  Any changes will be notified via Marvellous Me.

• Please ensure that all clothing is clearly labelled, this can be handwritten with a pen, if easier.

• Any letters or reply slips, which need to be returned, can be handed to your class teacher at the door in the morning/afternoon.

• Please ensure that your child has a named water bottle each day.  Pupils can access these throughout the day and can refill independently.

Our Term 1 Learning

This term in Year 1, the geography focus will be ‘Our Island’.  We will learn to draw and read maps and understand what physical and human features are.  We will use our Minster Muscles to develop our observational drawing skills.

In literacy, we will explore two Julia Donaldson texts; The Smeds and Smoos and Tiddler.  We will develop our handwriting and phonics skills when writing sentences, remembering to use a capital letter, finger spaces and a full stop. We will be thinking about adjectives and using them to describe the characters and the setting.  We will act out the story and take on the roles of the characters.

In maths, we will be looking at place value and reading and writing numerals to 10. We will explore, using manipulatives and number lines to find one more or one less than numbers to 10.  We will be sorting and comparing groups of objects and numbers using symbols < > + to show greater than, less than or equal to.

We will be learning to use the part-whole model when adding and subtracting.

It is sure to be a fun term of learning with our Nightingales and Goldfinches! 

Mrs Pleace, Miss O’Connell and Mrs Brett

Mrs Woodford, Mrs Blackwell and Mrs Groom