Our Year 1 Class    

A very warm welcome to our Year 1 class page. In Year 1 the children make the transition from Foundation Stage to the National Curriculum.  The children's confidence blossoms as they quickly develop the skills to become even more independent in their learning. We learn through practical and concrete activities and work as a team to develop our knowledge and understanding.  The staff within the classroom are committed to providing the best learning experiences possible and are always on hand if you need them.

We look forward to a very busy and fun year where we will all have our time to shine!

Our Year 1 Class 2024-2025

Class Information

Who's Who

Mrs Clarke- Year 1 Class Teacher

Miss Taverner- Teaching Assistant

Mrs Bent- HLTA

Mrs Baines- HLTA

Mrs Cartwright- Inclusion Teaching Assistant

Miss Williams- Inclusion Teaching Assistant

English 

In Year 1 we hope to embed a deep love of reading and therefore base all of our learning around a key text each half term that can be both fiction and non - fiction. We teach writing using 'The Write Stuff.' This focuses on the mechanics of writing as we teach the children how to write with an awareness of audience, purpose and context, whilst increasingly developing new and wide vocabulary. As we work through our focus texts each half term, we will use the writing rainbow lenses to construct our writing and form our narratives. We also encourage a love of reading by sharing a whole class text each term, which we read daily together. 

The Phonics Scheme we use in Year 1 is:

Read, Write Inc

Each day we undertake a RWI lesson. During this time, we review the set 2 sounds learnt in Reception and will learn a new Set 3 sound each day. After the Speed Sounds lesson, we look at a key text for the following three days. RWI is really helpful for embedding spellings and during each lesson we come across new 'Red Words', which we learn how to spell and are encouraged to use in our independent writing. We really enjoy our RWI time (particularly the partner work, actions and rhymes!)  

Mathematics 

In Year 1 we use Power Maths. The aim of Year 1 is for the children to become secure with basic number skill, being able to; confidently count forwards and backwards within 100, count on and back from any given number, identify one more and one less than a given number to 100, add and subtract one and two digit numbers within 20 and be able to recall number bond facts to 10 and 20. We enjoy learning through lots of practical activities and embed our skills through daily reasoning and problem solving activities. 

It is important to keep working hard both at school and at home with Maths, so don't forget there are lots of online sites such as 'Topmarks, ICT games and Numbots' to keep our Maths brains active!  

Homework 

At the beginning of Year 1 your child will be given a packet that will be used as both a homework and reading packet, homework will be given out each Friday.  

• Spellings will be sent home on paper and will be added to Spelling Shed so you can choose which way to learn these words.
• Handwriting will be sent home in a small yellow book, each week your child will have different letters and words that need to be practised and written out.
• RWI Speedy Sounds videos will be added to watch at home with your child.
• A maths number bonds sheet will be sent home  to work on mastering basic number facts. Maths practise can be completed on Numbots.

Evidence for all homework needs to be added to Seesaw by Thursday each week so that dojos can be awarded to your child 

Reading 

As you are aware reading is high priority for us in school, particularly in Year 1, as this is the crucial time in which your child will become an independent and fluent reader! Please make sure you read 5 times a week with your child at home. 

We change reading books once a week on a Thursday. The children will be given either the RWI book read in school that week or the one read the previous week and either a non-fiction book or another related story from the same level. Remember to fill in the reading diary with the name of the book, the pages you have read and any comments each time your child reads at home that week so that they can receive their reading stamp each week. 

It is really important that we see evidence of your child reading across the year and I love to watch and hear them reading at home, so please remember to upload videos as often as possible!   

Seesaw 

We love Seesaw in Year 1 and it is our key tool for observations. Your child will upload their independent learning we do as rainbow challenges throughout the week and I will post things we have been learning in class, so remember to check it regularly! It is also important that just like in Reception you continue to contribute to your child's learning journey by sending regular observations of your child's home learning and experiences.  

This half term.... Spring Term 2 (February - April 2025) 

Over the next half term our topic will be: Hot and Cold Places. 

• Literacy - This half term we will be looking at a non-fiction text. By studying a report about protecting the world's sea life, we will find shapes to help us remember the layout and features of the text. Linking to our Science topic 'Types of Animals' we will use this model to produce a report about zoo animals. We will revisit verbs, alliteration and similes; and study superlatives using the suffixes -er and -est. Starting with 'Lost and Found', we will study the author Oliver Jeffers in our whole class reading sessions.
       
• Maths -We will begin the half term by continuing to add and subtract with the numbers to 20 before the children will start counting to 50 and looking at the numbers to 50. We will look at tens and ones again to help us to know how to represent each number to 50. By comparing numbers to 50 and ordering them we will gain a deeper understanding of each number. Moving on to length and height the children will look at standard and non-standard units of measurement. Continuing with measurement we will study mass and capacity
        
• Geography -This half term we are studying 'Hot and Cold Places.' We will begin this unit by finding where the hot and cold places are in the world and discuss how these areas are most affected by climate change. By looking at what it is like in the world's hot and cold places the children will be able to recognise the features of hot and cold places. Looking at detail into the physical features they will learn about how the animals adapt to their environments and know what to pack if they visited each place. They will write a postcard as if they had visited one of the places telling their friends all about it!
     
• Science -We will begin our unit 'Types of Animals' - Looking at lots of different animals the children will be able to recognise different animals in different environments. They will recognise similarities and differences within and between animals, classifying animals according to their characteristics. They will collect data in tables, Carroll diagrams and bar
  charts, using these to ask and answer questions.
     

• DT- This half term will be looking at mechanisms. We will learn what sliding mechanisms are and how to create them. By using stories we have read, we will design a picture based on sliding mechanisms. After constructing it, we will test and evaluate our mechanism.
  
  

• RE -This half term we will be looking at a unit called ‘What do Christians believe God is like?’ First, we will look at the parable of the lost son and what we can learn from this. We will then look what happens when we get things wrong . Finally. we will look at the story of Jonah and the gib fish linking to the emotions of happy, sad and worried.
     
• Computing-  Showcase Skills: The children will be developing keyboard and mouse skills by designing rockets, creating digital materials lists, using drawing software and recording data.                
                                                                           
• Music- High and Low - The children will start to play tuned percussion instruments. They will explore the difference between high and low sounds through games and songs and be able to show this using instruments. They will play as a class, following a conductor. The children will be given the opportunity to be the conductor and lead others. They
  will be shown how to hold a beater correctly and play a note accurately.
      
• HEARTSMART/PATHS-Don’t Hold on to What’s Wrong!' In this unit we will learn that being Heartsmart means learning how to let the bad feelings out of our hearts so we can feel happy again.  In PATHs we will recognise the emotions curious, bored, frustrated and disappointed.  For each emotion, we look at pictures of people’s faces so that we know what faces look like when people feel that way. We also talk about handling disappointment.
                                                          
• Indoor PE - Gymnastics - We will work on developing our technique and control when performing shape jumps and barrel, straight and forward rolls. When we have developed our rolls, we will create a sequence by linking gymnastic actions.
• Outdoor PE - Invasion Games -In this unit, pupils develop their understanding of the roles of defenders and attackers. Pupils will recognise who to pass to and be able to move towards a goal with a ball. They will also support their teammate when playing in attack. When defending, they will move into space showing an awareness of other defenders and learn to stay with a player.
  
  
• PE days are on Monday and Fridays so ensure you arrive to school on these days wearing your PE kit.                                                           
• Our sporting value this half term is RESPECT.
  

Spring Term 1 NEWS! 

In English, we focussed on the Jane Considine unit ‘The Queen’s Hat’ by Steve Anthony exploring Buckingham Palace and the sights of a London linked with our geography work on the United Kingdom. We learnt how to join sentences with the conjunctions and/but and about writing asking sentences called questions. Using our senses of hearing and sight we explored what the Queen would have seen chasing after her hat. As a class we enjoyed lots of Paddington Bear stories as he visited different sights in London. After reading the story ‘I Wanna Iguana’ the children wrote persuasive letters.
In Maths, we studied the numbers to 20 before we develop our addition and subtraction skills using numbers within 20. Within this unit, the children used the vocabulary ‘tens and ones’ and learnt the basics of place value such as learning how every number can be made, partitioned and represented in different ways. 
In Geography, we studied our very own country England along with the other three countries: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which make up the UK. Using maps and atlas' we  located and named each country, discovering the capital city of each country and named the seas which surrounded them. By understanding the difference between human and physical features, we described the features of each country  identifying their characteristics. 
In Science, we continued our topic on materials by recapping the common materials and identifying materials that would not be used to make certain objects. We had lots of fun investigating liquids and powders in addition to testing which material would be best to keep a hollow chocolate safe from breakage in the post.
In DT, we investigated windmills.  We designed our own windmill structure, adding weight to make it more stable. We learnt how to assemble each part carefully using a range of tools and tested how well our windmills worked.
In RE, we looked at what is precious to Jewish people and discovered what a mezuzah reminds Jewish people about. We looked at how and why Jewish people celebrate Shabbat before finding out what stories Jewish people tell from the Torah. Finally. we looked at the story of Chanukah and what it might make Jewish people think.
In Computing, the children developed early programming skills by using Bee-Bot. Children recognised cause and effect when pressing buttons on a Bee-Bot. They discussed and demonstrated how Bee-Bot works, creating a short video to inform others. They gave a number of short clear instructions which programmed Bee-Bot to reach a destination. They started to identify and correct mistakes in their programming.
In Music, we listened to a body percussion rainstorm, then created our own. We played claves in time, and created a rainstorm using our bodies, before leading our own group creating a rainstorm. We created our own rainstorm pictures.
In 'HeartSmart' we learnt that just as we are important, other people around us are important too. We became aware of the people around us and considered their needs as well as our own. We learnt that it is through doing this that our and their hearts strengthen.  In PATHs we learnt why manners are important. We learnt to recognise the emotions surprised, confused and embarrassed.  For each emotion, we looked  at pictures of people’s faces so that we know what faces look like when people feel that way. We also talked  about the things that make us feel that way.  We continued to reinforce the Turtle technique.  
In PE, we loved our dance specialist from Wiggle dance teaching us a dance about exploring London. We copied movements in time to the music and explored different pathways. We worked in pairs and groups to create our own moves, performing to others. In our work on ‘Target Games’, we used both underarm and overarm actions to throw at a target.  We had to select and apply the appropriate action for the target considering the size and distance of the challenge. 

Autumn Term 2 NEWS! 

In English, we looked at Jane Considine’s poetry unit 'Firework Night' using a variety of lenses to produce a guided poem about fire work night. The children then used the same structure of noun, verb to write their own poem all about Christmas. We then looked at the Mog stories first retelling Mog’s Christmas as a guided write, followed by 'Mog’s Christmas Calamity’ as an independent write. We focused on the sentence structure of Who? What doing? Or What? What doing?
In Mathematics, the children used the part whole model to add two numbers below ten together, learning techniques to add more and find a missing part within an addition sentence, find number bonds to numbers within ten and solve word problems practically. Within subtraction the children learnt how to; find how many are left, subtract by breaking apart, explore related addition and subtraction facts, subtract by counting back, find the difference and problem solve. Finally they learnt all about 2D and 3D shapes. 

In History, the children looked at who Guy Fawkes was and the story of the gunpowder plot. For Remembrance Day, they looked at the life of local hero Alfred Wilkinson, learning about his life as a soldier and how soldiers are important to us now in the modern day. The children really enjoyed studying 'The Great Fire of London', discovering how it started, how we can be sure what happened, why so many buildings burnt down and how London would be best rebuilt.
In Science, the children described the physical properties of a variety of everyday materials. They compared and grouped together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of their simple properties. They described the properties of different materials, for example wood, metal, plastic, rubber, fur, towelling, nylon, wool, sponge, cotton wool, paper, card, brick, ceramics and rock. They had lots of fun carrying out simple comparative tests exploring different slimes,  testing whether materials floated or sank and which paper floated for longest, as well as testing materials for transparency.

In RE, they talked about the key events from the Christmas story in more detail, found out about how Christmas is celebrated today and began to consider which traditions are secular and which are religious.
In Computing, the children learnt that some devices are input devices and others are output devices. They learnt that decomposition means breaking a problem down into smaller parts and use decomposition to solve unplugged challenges. The children developed the skills associated with sequencing by following a basic set of instructions and assembled instructions into a simple algorithms, learning to debug instructions when things go wrong.
In music, the children learnt to mark the pulse to a variety of pieces of music; both whilst listening and singing.  They learnt to play a beat using their bodies and then on a percussion instrument in time to music.  The children moved rhythmically in time to music and to songs.

In Heartsmart, the children learnt how to let love into their hearts through kind words and actions. In PATHs, we learnt to recognise the emotions angry, scared and afraid.  For each emotion, we looked at pictures of people’s faces so that we know what faces look like when people feel that way. We also talked about the things that make us feel that way.  We also learnt how to do the  Turtle which teaches the children how to calm down or gives a signal that we need help with our feelings.

For indoor PE, we looked at two themes, weather and pirates. They began to understand why it is important to count to music and use this in their dances. They copied and repeat actions linking them together to make short dance phrases. They worked individually and with a partner to create ideas in relation to the theme. Year 5 also came to support us with creating our own dances based on the weather. In outdoor PE, we explored and developed our fundamental ball skills such as throwing and catching, rolling and dribbling with both hands and feet.

Autumn Term 1 NEWS! 
In English we read the poem 'When I'm by Myself' looking carefully at rhyming words and using the different shapes to structure our poem, we wrote our own version of it. We started to explore the writing rainbow through the story 'The Train Ride.' we looked at the basic lenses of noticing for nouns and action for verbs. The children were guided through writing their own version of the story selecting words from our list of new vocabulary delivered by Grandma Fantastic. We then read the story ‘The Naughty Bus’ and retold the story independently.
We have been working hard on mastering the numbers to ten. We have been writing the numbers in numerals and words daily and ensuring we understand the number system by recalling one more, one less and equal to. We used the greater than and less than signs to compare numbers and started to grasp the number line.
In Geography, we learnt about the weather and seasons. We practised daily the months of the year song and the four seasons and looked at different photographs we to look for the signs of each season. We looked at different articles of clothing and decided which season we would wear each in. We learnt the weather symbols so we can record the weather daily and keep track of this all year.  We also visited the park to find the signs of autumn.
In Science we are explored animals including humans. We learnt the body parts by labelling life size versions of ourselves, thinking about each body part and how we use them. We discovered that we have 5 senses and learnt all about what these are, what part of the body they are linked to and how we use these to do basic daily tasks. We explored the question 'Are humans animals?' We learnt about the different types of animals and the groups that they belong to and compared them to ourselves. 
In art, we explored mark making and lines, working and experimenting with different materials through observational and collaborative pieces of art.   
In RE, we looked closely at the question, 'Who do Christians say made the world?'. The children learnt the creation story from Genesis retelling it in picture form. They discussed what they would praise God for and looked at the festival of harvest. We made stained glass windows which could be found in churches depicting the story.
In Computing, we looked at improving our mouse skills. The children learnt how to log in and navigate around a computer, developing their mouse skills. They learnt how to drag, drop, click and control a cursor to create works of art inspired by Kandinsky and create a picture from a story.
In Music, we focused on finding our singing voices.  The children learnt to pitch-match by copying the teacher making lots of different sounds and sound patterns.  Some children took on the role of leader and created their own sound patterns for the class to copy.  The children song a variety of simple songs and were taught how to stand and sit properly when singing.
In Heartsmart, we learnt about how we are in control of our heart and how to make healthy choices. In PATHS,  we learnt why rules are important, we were introduced to the characters that will help us to learn about our emotions. We continued to look at compliments choosing our pupil of the day and learnt how we can recognise the emotions happy and sad. We then looked at friendships and how to make and keep friends.
In PE,  we looked at Gymnastics, exploring and develop basic gymnastic actions on the floor and using low apparatus. We learnt the basic skills of jumping, rolling, balancing and travelling and used these to create movement sequences. Outdoors we looked fundamental skills, by exploring the skills of balancing, running, changing direction, jumping, hopping and skipping.