Year One Curriculum Letter - Terms One and Two 2021

In Year 1 pupils will find the structure and content of their day rather different from that of the Reception class. To aid transition we will continue some child-initiated activities. The children will be given ‘Rainbow Challenges’ in the morning to support their English and Mathematics work. In addition to our learning in the afternoons, they will take part in 'Plan, Do, Review' activities where they will be encouraged to link their plans and activities to the themes we are studying in class.

The children will be in reading, writing and mathematics groups, these groupings are flexible and are there to support the development, progress and learning needs of each child.

Pupils will receive daily teaching in Maths and English, with a daily phonics and handwriting session. All activities will take account of their age and expected concentration span and will involve plenty of physical activity and learning through music, speaking and listening and carefully chosen educational toys and games.

Learning in Year 1 progresses from the E.Y.F.S to the New National Curriculum for Key Stage One and, as such, children will learn about Science, Computing, History, Geography, Religious Education, Physical Education, Art & Design, Music, Personal, Social & Health Education Religious Education and Design Technology. Children will be taught in subject specific lessons as well as cross-curricular themes in a manner more appropriate and meaningful for younger children.

The points listed below may help to answer some of the day to day queries about life in Year 1.

Home/school communication:  Home/School Contact books will be checked by one of our Teaching Assistants every morning so you are welcome to continue to use the books to communicate brief messages. If you have a concern or a more detailed query, it is preferable to speak to us after school or at another mutually convenient time.  Please also use our class email for communication. Any urgent messages, such as a change in collection arrangements, please email the school or telephone the school office as we are unable to check our class email during teaching time.

Homework – This will be set throughout the year. We start gradually with a spelling investigation linked to our class phonics/spelling focus for the week and a Maths, Topic or other curriculum related activity. Homework will be sent home on a Friday.

Spelling test –The spelling words will be given every Friday. There will be an informal assessment of these spellings on the following Friday.

Handwriting – The children will continue to learn the cursive style of handwriting. We begin by progressing through the alphabet, teaching children the lead-in and lead-out stroke for each letter, which will eventually guide them towards joining their letters fluently and correctly. All children will be introduced to this system but we fully appreciate that some children will need greater support with pencil control and exercises to help them achieve in this area. We will also send handwriting templates home to reinforce this cursive handwriting style.

P.E. – Please ensure your child comes to school dressed in their PE kit on PE days.  PE lessons will be on Wednesdays.

Clubs-  If you child is attending a club where they will need to change into different clothes, please check that these are brought to school clearly named. Thank you.

Library – The children will visit the school library on Thursdays and will choose a book to bring home. Please return the book by the following Thursday so that they can change it a bring a different book home each week.

Reading scheme books – All children will continue to read the scheme books at school, on a one to one basis, with the teachers and teaching assistants. These books will be changed on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Reading comments – Please sign or initial your child’s reading record so we know that your child has read to you. A brief comment on their reading experience is useful but is not always necessary. Please encourage your child to share a book with you every day to ensure they progress well.

Good behaviour – This is encouraged through praise and reward such as through team points, classroom rewards, ‘Golden Time’ on Friday afternoons, stickers, Gold Star Awards in Celebration Assemblies and Termly Head Teacher Awards.

There are sanctions if our Class Rules are not obeyed which include warnings followed by missing a proportion of Golden time if children do not heed the warnings. This system is clearly explained to the children at the outset and adhered to consistently by all Year 1 staff.

Phonics screening - This statutory assessment takes place in June. We have put information on the website about this, however you will receive more information nearer the time.

Our Learning in Year 1

A brief description of the Year 1 curriculum follows. However, please note that our assessments guide our planning and teaching for the class so some pupils may require further support with the Reception objectives before they can successfully access the Year 1 curriculum, whereas others will need extending and challenging.

Autumn Term

English - Our Literacy texts include stories with familiar settings and those with predictable and patterned language. This term in English the children will be learning to say a simple sentence to prepare for writing sentences. We will be introducing capital letters and full stops. At the end of Term 1 we will focus on a core text related to out theme ‘Knights and Castles’. The children will explore the story through drama and their writing will be supported by the ‘Talk for Writing’ approach.

Phonics - Phonics work will involve word building, hearing and building rhyming word families and alphabetical order. Pupils will be encouraged to know the sounds and the names of all the letters of the alphabet. We build on the Letters and Sounds scheme alongside Monster Phonics. This links with our grammar work which focuses on sentence building strategies and demarcation. Pupils will have the opportunity to work in a role-play situation and take part in various drama activities.

Maths - Our daily Maths lessons will focus on numbers to twenty, adding, subtracting, finding less and more than a number, partitioning numbers, making sequences and patterns and applying this knowledge to real life situations. We will also study 2-D and 3-D shapes, we will name and sort shapes as well as making patterns with them.

Science - The Science module for the term is learning about ‘Animals including humans’. The children will identify and name a variety of common animals that are birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. They will identify and name a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. They will describe and compare the structure of a variety of common animals (birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals, and including pets). They will also identify, name draw and label the basic parts of the human body and say which parts of the body is associated with each sense.

Computing - Computing will be used to support all curriculum areas whenever possible and will be available for children to use in child-initiated activities. Children will develop their programming skills through using Beebots.

History-  We will be learning about ‘Knights & Castles’ and exploring the wonderful castles we have around us. This will also be linked to our school trip, where the children will have the opportunity to visit one of these. We will also be learning key events such as ‘Bonfire night’ and ‘Remembrance Day’ and the key issue and events behind these.

Geography- We will be studying ‘The Four Seasons’ and observing the changes around us.

Music- We will be listening, composing and performing together. Our theme is ‘How Can We Make Friends When we Sing Together?

RE - Our theme in Term 1 is ‘Our Wonderful World.’ We will be exploring creation stories. In Term Two our theme is ‘Why Do Christians give gifts at Christmas?’ We will also look at Autumn and Winter festivals such as Harvest and Diwali.

PE- Our P.E work will focus on Invasion Game Skills and Infant Agility. The children will be given the opportunity to work on skills they will need for playing team games, such as developing their skills and working as a team.

Art and Design - Our Art work will focus on drawing and painting. The children will be making their own models out of Junk Modelling. This will be related to our topic theme. We will, of course, also be making various Christmas decorations!

Design and Technology- Our work will focus on the topic ‘Eat more Fruits and Vegetables.’ The children will have opportunities for planning their work, making a product and evaluating it.

Personal, Health and Social Education: Throughout the year, we will be following the SCARF scheme. Our themes will be ‘Me and my Relationships’ and ‘Valuing difference.’ The children will have opportunities for discussion, asking and answering questions and talking about their feelings.

As you can appreciate, rehearsing and preparing for the Christmas play does take up a considerable amount of time in Term 2 but does provide great opportunities for the pupils speaking, listening and singing skills to be put into practice.

Thank you very much for all your support so far. We very much look forward to working with you and your children this year.

With thanks

Miss Dargie and Mrs Hilden