Year 1 Spring 2 Curriculum Information

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

English:

We start off by looking at ‘The Way Back Home’ by Oliver Jeffers. The children will start off by writing about their own rocket, what it looks like and where they will go before we encounter the story. We will then follow the story of the book acting out some of the scenes and using our oracy skills to help us write sentences that have more detail and context. We will also be working on our handwriting skills.

We will then turn our attention to a text called ‘The Flower’, this links nicely with our science, where we look at how we can take care of the Earth and the living things that are among it. It will also help us to understand the importance of this and what life would be like wihtout plants.

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. 

As we read to and with the children we continue to work on our oracy skills, 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.

Maths: In maths we will be looking at length and height. The children will be working practically to measure and items and then swiftly move on to mass and capacity. Again this will be a mixture of practical and theory based learning and the children will understand how they can weigh items and identify when an item is heavy, light or balanced.

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

We will travel back in time and look into some of the Kings and Queens from the past, as well as our current King, King Charles III. 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?

We are 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 and the importance of protecting our wonderful planet.

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.

Music: We will be continuing with our Ocarina music sessions with Leicesterhsire Music Hub. The children worked really hard last term and learnt how to play the notes A and C. They will continue to develop their skills and learn some songs ready to perform to you on Tuesday 4^th March. We hope to see you there.

P.E.: We are looking forward to teaching the children skills in order to play both target and invasion skills, which will prepare them as they go further through the school to play in competitions such as basketball, netball and dodgeball. More importantly it will teach them how to work part of a team and how communication is key for the team to be successful and to work together in order to get results.

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. Don’t forget to practice your phonic booklets that Miss Purse has made for your child to help them with their individual phonic journey.

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 Greensmill - Nottingham – We are looking forward to this school trip. The children will learn about how they turn grain into flour, make their own bread, which they can bring home and climb all the way to the top of the mill tower to see views of Nottingham. In the Science Centre they will discover the story of George Green and experiment like a scientist with light, electricity and magnetism.

Thank you for your continued support.

Miss Evans & Miss Purse

Year 1 Spring 1 Curriculum Information

Happy New Year! I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas and Santa was good to you all. We are so pleased to have you all back and to continue our learning, feeling well rested and refreshed.

This term in Science we will be exploring how the weather changes throughout the seasons. We will belooking at weather forcasting, the different types and clouds and how we can record the weather using graphs.

 This also links to our English, where we will be looking at a non-fiction text that will allow the children to use their knwoledge and  create sentences about the different seasons using previous skills by adding in adjectives and similies.

We will also look at a text called ‘Our Trip to the Woods’. This compliments our previous text allowing the children to build on their creative writing skills and independence.  

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.

We will also be looking at other books that capture our diverse curriculum. We will be sharing our thoughts o them as we develop our oracy.

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 – 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 they must remind them what God is like and how they remember God in different ways. We will also be celebrating World Religion Day, looking at different religions and their beliefs.

Music: Leicestershire Music Hub

We have the fortunate opportunity to learn how to play the Ocarina’s, starting Tuesday 28^th January. After 6 weeks, the children will then put on a performance, alongside Year 6 who are learning to play the clarinets, and our show will take place on Tuesday 4^th March (AM). We hope you can join us.

Finally, we will be talking to the children about how to stay safe online during the ‘Internet Safety Day’ and we will also be talking to the children about our local history in Melton Mowbray in celebration of ‘Local History Day’.  

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 track of when your child has read at home.

Final reminders:

• P.E days are Monday and Wednesday – we will be learning more about gymnastics and dance.
• Please make sure that all children are in the correct uniform for P.E. and non-P.E. days.
• Please make sure coats, jumpers, cardigans and water bottles are labelled.

Looking forward to another fantastic half term with you all.

Miss Evans Miss Smith

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!

During our behaviour boost day on our first day back, we will be discussing our ‘community pledge’ campaign. We will be designing invitations to invite families within the school to join a the charity ‘care4calais’ that have organised a fun day to encourage a safe and social community. This will promote an ‘everyone is welcome’ approach within our community inside and outside of school and that as a society we should be inclusive to all.

For English we will start with the famous traditional 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 continuing to use their phonic knowledge, capital letters, full stops and fingers spaces.

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.

Finally we will be looking at toys from the past and some traditional tales. We will finish 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.

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. The children 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: We have a couple of DT days coming up. We will be making a windmill for a little mouse, thinking carefully about our design and the materials we will need to help us.

Christmas: Yes, it will soon be here, and we can’t wait! We will have lots of exciting events such as Christmas Jumper Day, Christmas Bizarre where we will make our own crafts for you to purchase and not forgetting NATIVITY! Rehearsals will be starting shorlty, 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 keep 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! We are thoroughly excited to be your class teachers this year. We 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 to 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 with 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 in 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 them every 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 to build and design their own robots. They can also compete against themselves and their friends to win stickers and certificates!

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

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