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!