Welcome to Year One

PE

Our PE days are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Please come to school on these days dressed in your PE kit. Please also ensure long hair is tied back and earrings are removed before school.

Homework

Online homework will be set on a Friday each week on MyMaths and Spelling Shed. Aim to go on Spelling Shed regularly throughout the week and MyMaths by the following Friday. If you found any of the questions trickier on MyMaths, you are able to try again, with a slight change of questions to try and improve your percentage score. Try to aim for 75% or above. Activities will be shared with children each Friday so they are aware of what is set. Please also continue to access Numbots to reinforce key number facts. You may also wish to take a look at TTRockstars as we begin to count in 2s, 5s and 10s in class.

In addition to these online platforms, there are 6 assignments set on Teams. Please choose and complete at least 4 of these over the course of the half-term. Some will link to our current learning and some will act as pre-learning for future weeks. You can find these attached as separate assignments. You could attach photos, videos or word documents and hand these in for us to take a look at in class. The children really look forward to taking a look at what has been sent in and enjoy discussing what they have been up to at home.

Class Teacher

Miss S Sowray
Miss S Sowray

Class Agreement

Summer 1

This half term we will begin our History/ Geography topic of Explorers. Through this topic we will learn about significant events beyond living memory and about significant explorers in history including Neil Armstrong, Valentina Tereshkova and Christopher Columbus. We will also continue to develop our locational knowledge in Geography and will locate and name the 7 continents of the world.

Also linking to this theme, we will base our English learning around the book, ‘Man on the Moon’ and will imagine what it would be like to explore space. We will also read a range of stories and texts, both fiction and non-fiction, linked to space travel and aliens.

In Maths, we will continue to embed our strategies for addition and subtraction and begin to solve problems involving numbers with 50. We will also carry out lots of measuring and learn about weight, volume, height and length.

6 new tasks have been set on Teams. Aim to complete 4 out of the 6 over the course of the half-term. Remember to attach any work or photos and return the assignments to us so we can share what you have been up to at home. In addition to these tasks, please continue to complete tasks set of Spelling Shed and MyMaths. You may also now wish to have a go at TTRockstars.

We are really looking forward to this half-term and cannot wait to get going!

Spring 2

We move onto our new topic of Plants this half-term. We will learn the names of a variety of common plants, including trees and will be able to label their basic parts. We will also learn the functions of each of these parts. We will discuss the difference between evergreen and deciduous trees and will identify some of these trees in our local environment. Perhaps most exciting is that we will be growing our very own beanstalks and will also carry out an experiment to see which location cress will grow best in.

This topic will also lead a lot of our English learning this half-term. We will be reading various versions of Jack and the Beanstalk and will rewrite parts of our versions of the story. We continue to develop our abilities to write in full sentences – ensuring we include capital letters, finger spaces and full stops in the correct places. We will also write instructions so others know how we planted our beanstalks.

In Maths, we will now be applying our knowledge of number, addition and subtraction to numbers up to 20. We will learn to partition numbers into tens and ones and write these as additions and subtractions. We will also learn to count in steps of 2,5 and 10 to help us count grouped objects more efficiently.

In our Enrichment time this half-term we will develop our knowledge of colour mixing. We will learn to mix secondary and tertiary colours and use our new skills to match colours to objects and images. We will also study the work of Jacques Nimki.

In Music, our theme is Round and Round. Within this we will discuss key musical terms and will have the opportunity to compose our own rhythms using untuned instruments and the glockenspiels.

Spring 1

A very happy new year to you all! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break and are feeling refreshed ready for some more exciting learning this half-term.

We will become historians over the next 7 weeks. We will learn all about the royal family, including the late Queen Elizabeth II and her significance in history. As part of this we will also apply and continue to develop our knowledge of the UK and London by taking a look at where the King lives in Buckingham Palace. Later in the half-term, we will also learn about the four seasons and how these affect the weather and how some animals hibernate during the winter months. Linked to this, we will write our very own season poems as part of our English learning.

In our Enrichment time this half-term we will begin by learning about healthy eating and will develop some key food preparation skills. Later in the half-term, we will use this time to develop our computing skills through the use of digital media to create our very own photo stories.

In maths we will develop our understanding of teen numbers and use this knowledge to help complete additions and subtractions. We will also be learning our number bonds to 20.

Please continue to read daily with your child at home and ensure you write in reading logs. We will be continuing to learn some more of the Phase 5 alternative sounds this half-term.

We were really impressed by the amount of Teams homework completed last term and the children really enjoyed looking at what one another had been up to. I have set 6 more tasks for this half-term. Please aim to complete at least 4 of these at home.

We look forward to getting going with this new learning

Autumn 2

We are so proud of how you have settled into Year 1 and have tackled your new learning. There will be plenty of new learning this half-term too as we make our way towards Christmas!  

As well as our Maths and English learning this half-term, we will be exploring both a Science and a Geography topic. In Science, we will explore a range of everyday materials and will talk about their suitability for different jobs in terms of their properties. In Geography, we will begin by exploring key human and physical features in East Bierley before looking at where Braford lies in the UK. We will be learning about each of the countries in the UK and the waters which surround them. We will also be exploring a range of printing techniques in Art and perfecting our sewing skills in DT. Plenty to keep us busy!  

We will also begin the next phase of phonics (phase 5) which will introduce alternative graphemes and pronunciations for sounds and letters we already know.  

We are looking forward to another successful and enjoyable half-term.

Autumn 1

A big welcome to Year 1!  

Our first topic is ‘The History of Shopping’. We will begin by discussing what is meant by ‘the past’ and will look at changes to shopping within living memory and how shopping has changed since our parents and grandparents were younger. This will involve the increase of technology and the rise of supermarkets. As part of this learning we will also discuss how toys have changed over time and will have our very own role-play toy shop in the classroom.  

Phonics is a key focus this year in order to ensure children are confident to blend and recognise words independently. We are now following the ELS scheme for phonics. Information will be shared at the parent’s meeting on Thursday 8th September. Reading books will be swapped every Friday. Children will receive two books - one closely matched to the weekly phonics learning in class and one which will be a reading for pleasure book. Please leave books in book bags as we will be hearing readers throughout the week.