Autumn Term

Welcome

Dear Year 1 Parents/Carers, Welcome to Year 1, this term is a very exciting term as the children will be making the smooth transition from Reception to Year 1. We are building on the Early Years Curriculum with an increasing focus on Reading, Writing & Maths.

English/History/Art

The first half term topic is called The Enchanted Woods. We’ll visit the churchyard and a woodland, observe the wildlife, collect natural objects and take beautiful pictures of the things we see. We’ll learn all about trees and investigate woodland creatures. Throughout the project, we will find out how to recognise different plants and animals and create detailed, observational drawings of them. We’ll build miniature dens, create woodland works of art and construct mini-woodlands from twigs, sticks, pine cones and leaves.

The second half term is Superheroes, we’ll learn about real-life heroes from organisations such as the RNLI or Mountain Rescue and from the past, including Florence Nightingale, Elizabeth Fry and David Livingstone, with a focus on human bravery. As part of this project, we’ll explore our senses of smell, touch, taste, hearing and sight and investigate different foods. We’ll also test our superpowers by climbing, running, jumping and moving to music. There’ll be opportunities for us to create superhero works of art.

In English we are continuing to focus on phonics and high frequency words. We will be writing simple sentences and using a capital letter and full stop consistently. We will enjoy looking at fiction & non-fiction which will have links to our topic. Handwriting will be a daily focus and children will be learning to present their work neatly with correct letter formation. Please keep reading with your child at home – we really appreciate your support.
Don’t forget to visit your local library which should have lots of books that link with our topics.

Science

In Science we will be identifying and describing common plants and trees. We will be studying our bodies and how we use the five senses. We will carry out fun, practical investigations and record our work in a variety of ways.

Maths

Our Maths will focus on numbers to 10 and all the ways they can be made. We will then look at addition and subtraction of numbers within 10. We will learn about shapes and their properties and then about place value of numbers to 20. Our maths teaching will be following the Singaporean maths scheme Inspire Maths which is focussed on the depth of learning about small numbers. We build numbers, we talk about numbers and we write about numbers in each lesson. The skills your child will learn this year are then built on throughout the whole of primary school.

Help your child at home by getting them to explain what they have been doing in class, practising number bonds for different numbers (not just 10), addition & subtraction. You can also have fun using money to help your child understand the value of coins.

Help your child at home

by completing the practice book 1A. Wearing a watch and telling the time. You can also have fun using money to help your child understand the value of coins.

General RemindersGeneral Reminders

• PLEASE NAME all sweaters, coats, gloves, hats, plimsolls etc.
• Please ensure your child has the correct PE kit in school at all times otherwise they will not be able to participate due to health and safety reasons. The children will be doing PE on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
• Any letters or reply slips which need to be returned, can be given to the adults in the class. Parents and children are encouraged to check each day.
• Your child will read with an adult in school once a week and we expect them to read at home with an adult every evening. The most important thing is that this is an enjoyable and special experience so that children really develop a passion for reading! Reading books are changed weekly and your child will receive two books.
• It would be really helpful if you could send in tissues for the class.
• Please bring any cardboard based recycling for our junk modelling activities.
• Please turn off all mobiles before entering the school grounds as we are a mobile free zone.