Year 1 Summer 1  Curriculum Information

Hello, I hope you all had an Eggcellent Easter break and enjoyed some time with family and friends.

This term we are going to be delving into the ocean and and looking across the world at the Seven continents.

English: We start off by looking at a classic story by Julia Donaldosn ‘The Snail and the Whale’. This links brilliantly with our Geogrpay topic this term, as we will be following the Snail and the Whale on their jounrey around the world. We will be looking at writing postcards, their purpose and using plot points from a map to create our own exciting adventure to retell on a postcard to a friend or family member.   

Our novel this term is the contemporary story of ‘Libby and the Parisian Puzzle’ written by Jo Clarke and Becka Moor. The children will follow the adventures of Libby who is excited but nervous when she is sent to join her aunt Agatha’s extraordinary travelling school in Paris. This story is packed with vivid characters which will really support the children’s creative writing and storytelling abilities.  

Geography: Hot and cold places – Where would you rather live?

This is a question that we will be asking the children this term. Our English texts link superbly to our Georgraphy. We will be looking at the world map comparing the seven continents of the world: Europe, Afirca, Asia, Antartica, Australia and North and South America. The children will go on a journey and discover the conditions of each of these places and decide where they would rather live if given the choice.

Science: Are all leaves the same?

Well, are they? The children will be discovering as we turn our scientific minds to Plants. The children will discuss what plants need to help them grow, the different parts of plants, how plants start off as a seed and grow – they will have a go at planting some plants/flowers of their own. The children will also discover which plants they can eat. Yum or yuck?!

Maths:

In Maths this term we are going to be looking at multiplication and division. We will look at how we can count in 2’s, 10’s and 5’s to help us count quickly when dealing with larger numbers. We will also look at how we can share and group numbers – the first steps to dividing.

Phonic Screening:

We will continue to have a strong focus on our phonics over the half term to help support your child pass their phonic screening test in June.

We have been looking at Phase 5 this last half term and we will be moving on to consolidate our learning and start to focus on the Phonic families that we have started to make links to.

As you are aware, for part of the Phonic screening, we also look at ‘Alien Words’ -words that don’t make sense. I like to tell the children that these are the names of different Aliens.

Again - Please help your children with their phonic homework each week to practice some of the sounds and words they have learnt.

Trip to Cow Close Farm, Oakham– to support our Science topic, we shall be visiting the farm to develop our knowledge of arable and livestock. The children will spend the time stroking and grooming the ponies, meeting the sheep and (usually) baby chicks and lastly learning a little bit about the crops. The itinerary might change a little depending upon what is happening on the farm that week, but there will be lots to learn for sure!

Home learning – Please make sure that you carry on supporting your child with their home learning and make sure that homework is completed and handed in on time.

Please can you write inside their reading records, so that we can keep track of when your child has read at home. Please spend some time looking at the 100 high frequency words and Year 1 common exception words ready for our competition in May!

When reading at home, please help your children with their reading comprehension by asking them appropriate questions about the text.

Thank you for your continued support.

Miss Evans & Mrs Morris

Year 1 Spring Term 2 Curriculum Information

Hello, We have another fun filled half term for you!

We are going to be learning all about Kings and Queens.

We start off by looking at a lovely book called ‘The Queen’s Hat’ by Steve Antony. The children will explore London through this book as the Queen’s hat has been whipped away by the wind. They will also explore London through some virtual clips. We are having a big focus on developing our writing and becoming more independent.  

Our class novel this half term is ‘Adventures of the Wishing Chair’ by Enid Blyton. Throughout the story, the children will be invited to embark on a magical adventure alongside the main characters. It revolves around Molly and Peter, two curious siblings, as they discover the extraordinary powers of their enchanted Wishing-Chair. 

During our class novel read as a class we have a main focus on new vocabulary and we ask questions to support the children’s reading comprehension. We do this in all our reading sessions. This helps to develop our BRAVE ethos of Reading and Vocabulary.

History: Why should we consider all opinions when making a decision?

History links to our story ‘The Queen’s Hat’ very well as we look into some of the Kings and Queens from the past. Children will learn that Kings and Queens have ruled for many years, how Parliament was used to make decisions and some Kings didn’t want to listen to Parliament’s decisions. The children will also learn how making decisions is important and that we shouldn’t just go solely on one opinon, but think carefully about them all. This links to PSHE and our school values that everyone is entitled to their opinion and that we are respectful of others.  

Science: How and why is my local environment changing?

I’m really looking forward to our Science topic this term. The children will be thinking carefully about how we can take care of our planet ‘Earth’. They will learn the importance of recycling – hopefully we can start to build our plastic bottle greenhouse – thank you for all the donations made so far!

They will also learn about how pollution is caused by people, that it is harmful to the environment and what they can do to help reduce this.

Phonic Screening:

We are going to be having a strong focus on our phonics over the next few terms to help support your child pass their phonic screening test in June.

We have been working hard at our Phase 3 and 4 phonics and have started looking at Phase 5.

For part of the Phonic screening, we also look at ‘Alien Words’ -words that don’t make sense. I like to tell the children that these are the names of different Aliens.

Please help your children with their phonic homework each week to practice some of the sounds and words they have learnt.

Home learning – Please make sure that you carry on supporting your child with their home learning and their reading. Please can you write inside their reading records, so that we can keep a track of when your child has read at home.

When reading at home, please help your children with their reading comprehension by asking them appropriate questions about the text.

Trip to Melton Carnegie Museum – to support our History topic, we shall be paying a visit to our local museum during the first week of the half term. We are very excited about this trip because, amongst other things, the Carnegie Museum has lots of local historical artefacts and exhibitions for us to explore and learn about. We look forward to sharing some pictures from our trip, so keep your eyes peeled!

Thank you for your continued support.

Miss Evans & Mrs Morris

Year 1 Spring 1 Curriculum Information

Happy New Year! I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas and are feeling well rested and refreshed. We are so excited to be starting a new term with you all and to build on our learning from the Autunm term.

This term we are looking at Seasons. We will be exploring how the weather changes throughout the seasons in Science. This also links to our English, where we will be looking at a non-fiction text. The children will learn about the seasons and types of trees, creating sentences about them using previous skills adding in adjectives and similies.

We will also look at a text called a ‘Our Trip to the Woods’. This complements our previous text as we will have done some previous learning on trees and the children will be able to use their prior knoweldge to support them.

Our Novel this term is an absolute classic ‘The Wind and the Willows’ by Kenneth Grahame.

This book is about friendship. It highlights the importance that we are all different and we need to except each other’s differences no matter how big or small. Being kind is at the heart of friendship. This reflects our school values and our BRAVE ethos of Amazing Attitudes.

Geography: Where can we go in the UK?

The children will be travelling around the map of United Kingdom. They will discover the 4 countries in the United Kingdom – England, Scotland, Wales and Nothern Ireland. They will look at the capital cities, flags and landmarks that distinguish them. They will also understand what the Union Jack flag represents and learn about the seas surrounding the United Kingdom.

R.E: Who is Jewish and how do they live?

The children will learn about some of the Jewish stories and the celebrations. This will remind them what God is like and how they remember God in different ways.

P.E – The children will be exploring movements through our dance topic. They will develop skills based on an ‘animal safari’ where they will be selecting and applying their choice of actions whilst considering movement within a space, dynamics, and relationships.

Home learning – Please make sure that you carry on supporting your child with their home learning, Numbots and their reading. Please can you write inside their reading records, so that we can keep a track of when your child has read at home.

Looking forward to another fantastic half term with you all!

Mrs Morris and Miss Evans

Year 1 Autumn 2 Curriculum Information

I hope you’ve all enjoyed the half term break and are feeling refreshed ready to continue your Year 1 journey in the run up to Christmas. What an eventful term we have got planned!

This term we will be looking at toys from the past and some traditional tales. We will start the term off with writing a report and exploring current and old toys. We will also be having a teddy bears picnic for part of this as teddy bears are a toy that have not aged and they are still loved and enjoyed by us all today. We will also be lucky enough to have the CLS bring a travelling toybox to us, which will help us to explore and learn about toys from the past.

We then move on to look at the CBeebies clip ‘Poppies’, a moving and important English unit as we look back at the history of those who fought in the war for us. Again, the CLS are coming to do a whole school assembly on ‘Least we Forget’. An important part of our history and even current today as we remember those that did and are fighting for us.

We then end of our English unit with the famous story of Little Red Riding Hood, where will then write our own version of events and explore how creative we can be with our writing.

Our class novel this term is ‘Angel on the Roof’ by Shirley Hughes. In this heartwarming Christmas story, by celebrated author Shirley Hughes, a young boy called Lewis Brown is looking out of a window and wishing that someone might notice him. Then he spots a single golden feather floating down from the heavens and discovers an angel on the roof. And so, begins a great friendship, as the angel takes Lewis under his wing on an adventure that will change everything, and allow Lewis, his family, and his friends, to start to see the world around them for the better. Within the book we will explore different vocabulary with our new friend ‘Concept Cat’.

Maths: We will continue our work on addition and subtraction. We will be taking the methods of fact families and part whole models to help us explore number bonds to 10, taking away numbers from larger numbers and looking at 2D and 3D shapes. We will also incorporate some artwork to support us with our shape knowledge.

History: How does your family tree compare to that of Queen Elizabeth 11?

Not only are we lucky enough to have the Creative library Services to come and talk to us and have a Mrs Twiggy Winkles, washing day, which will show us how clothes used to be washed, but we will also be discovering what history is. Mrs Cheeseman will be looking at family trees, understanding what an archaeologist is and even looking at some of our local history around the town.  

Science: Which animal would make the best pet?

I can’t wait to explore our science topic this term as it’s all about the wonderful world of animals! We will be looking at which ones would/wouldn’t make the best pets and thinking about how we might describe some animals. 

R.E: Why does Christmas matter to Christians?

The children will look at the story of ‘The Nativity and discuss why Christians use this to help them guide their beliefs and actions at Christmas time. Children will have the opportunity to discuss those that aren’t Christians how Christmas might differ for them.

Creativity: In music we will continue to learn various songs and play instruments alongside to help us clap and tap out the bead and use our bodies to help us feel the rhythm of the music. We also have a couple of DT days coming up. We will be making a windmill for a little mouse. We will be thinking about designing our windmills and the materials we will need to help us.

Christmas: Yes, it will soon be here, and we can’t wait as we will have lots of exciting events such as Christmas Jumper Day, Christmas Bizarre where will make our own crafts for you to purchase and not forgetting NATIVITY! I can’t wait for the rehearsals to start, and the children will have a great time performing it to you 😊.

Home learning – Please make sure that you carry on supporting your child with their home learning and their reading. Please can you write inside their reading records, so that we can keep a track of when your child has read at home.

There will be lots going on this term, especially towards the end as we get ready for Christmas! Please you’re your eyes peeled on Dojo for any story updates and notifications that may go out.

Looking forward to another super half term with you all.

Year 1 Autumn 1 Curriculum Information

Hello! I’m really excited to be your class teacher this year. I hope you’ve had a great summer and we have lots planned for you this year, so let’s find out what we are doing this term.

Our class novel this year is ‘The Twits’. Mr and Mrs Twit live together in a brick house without windows. They continuously play nasty practical jokes on each other (such as worms as spaghetti, frogs in beds etc) out of hatred for one another. They also keep a family of pet monkeys, the Muggle-Wumps. Now I know what you’re thinking, those two revolting humans, that play tricks on each other – what sort of tricks will my child end up playing on me? Please do not worry, this won’t happen! They will learn how we can overcome our differences and achieve common goals by being kind to one another.

We will continue this theme in our literacy where we will be looking at the texts ‘Ruby’s Worry’, which helps us to understand that You are not alone; everyone has worries. Ignoring your feelings can increase your worries. Sharing your worries helps you manage your anxieties, instead of bottling them up.

We then move on to a Poem ‘When I am by myself’, which helps the children to understand their own uniqueness and diversity in others. As well as self-respect and seeing the positives in themselves.

During this half term we will be looking at several Big Questions in our curriculum.

Science: What super sense would you choose?

The children will be exploring the human body. Looking at body parts in details such as our eyes, ears, nose etc. and how our senses help us to interpret and interact the world around us.

They will also learn about Helen Keller, who was the first deaf and blind person to gain a degree. This imbeds into our curriculum and school ethos that no matter who you are, your disability, background etc., the world is your oyster, and you can achieve anything you want to if you put your mind to it.

Geography: What do I need to draw on a map?

In Geography the children will be introduced to the concept of aerial perspectives.

They will look at maps, and how our view can change depending on the way we look at it. They will also understand that maps can show features such as the coast, towns, villages. Landmarks including churches etc. This will also link to our math’s curriculum as they look at positional language based on a compass and moving in different directions on a map and learning the compass points: North, East, South and West. This will be great, as the children will be able to explore our local town ‘Melton Mowbray’ and have a go at drawing their own maps based on their learning.

R.E: Does God want Christians to look after the world?

We will talk about the importance of the world and how God created it. Children will be making their own creation and thinking carefully about who they can trust with it and why. Why is it important to take care of things that matter?

Art and Music – Just like any other subject art and music are an important part of the curriculum. They allow the children to express themselves in other ways and they also learn about different cultures. The children will learn about Artists such as Van Gough, Monet and Brugel and many more as we explore the skill of colour and how this can be portrayed through different media.

In music, the children will look at how we can make a beat and move and tap out a rhythm to different songs. Our focus on music this term is linked to our Science and PSHE themes of ‘All about me’.

We are also going to be coming together as a whole school in our singing assemblies, where we will be learning a variety of songs – including some traditional hymns such as ‘All things bright and beautiful’. If you have a musical talent or your child takes music lessons, we’d love to hear about this and share this with the rest of the class/school.

Did someone say fancy dress? Well, Roald Dahl is on 13^th September and Mrs Cheeseman has prizes for the best fancy dress! We can’t wait to see which character you’ll come as!

Home learning will be sent out this term based on our Little Wandle Phonic scheme, which we are pleased to introduce to the children this year in school too. Please make sure that you are sharing and reading your child’s book with theme very night to help them become more confident and fluent with their sounds and reading.  

Numbots is a great number app you can play at home and in school. We would love for you to get signed up and practice your math skills to build your fluency. Please encourage the children to play this regularly. The children will love this game as they collect coins in order to build and design their own robots. They can also compete against themselves and their friends in order to win stickers and certificates!

Please keep your eyes peeled on Class Dojo for any messages we may share.

Looking forward to my first half term with you all. We are going to have a great time! We’ve got this Year 1!