Welcome to Year 1

Teacher: Mrs Dunn/Miss Kozij

Teaching assistant - Miss Moran

Summer 1:

Welcome to Year 1 class page! Please read below to find out information about important dates and what you will be learning about this term!  

English

Our literacy focus for the start of the Summer 1 half term will be based on the book 'Handa's suprise'. We will be continue to use the following steps to success of 

- Capital letters

- Finger spaces

- Phonics

- Full stops

-Tall and small letters 

And begin to learn about expanding our sentences and adding in more information by using the following key skills: 

- Conjunctions to extend our sentences 

- Adjectives

- Expanded noun phrases

- ?

During our Literacy lessons this half term, we will be focusing on forming our small letters, full stops, capital letters and correct spacing between words.  Throughout the unit we will then move onto writing our sentences independently by thinking of our sentence first, saying it out loud, writing it and then checking it. We will also look at using conjunctions such as 'and', 'but' and 'because' to extend our sentences and using expanded noun phrases to add detail to our writing. 

Maths

Our first unit during summer 2 half term is addition and subtraction to 20. In this unit, children learn to add and subtract numbers within 20 using practical resources such as counters, number lines, ten frames, and part–whole models to help them understand how numbers work. They will practise number bonds to 20, learn to add by counting on and by making 10, and subtract by taking away, counting back, and finding the difference. Children will also explore fact families to see the link between addition and subtraction, and solve simple word problems while explaining their thinking using mathematical language such as more, less, add, subtract, and difference.

• By the end of the unit, children should be able to: add and subtract within 20, recall key number facts, use different strategies to solve problems, and explain how they worked out their answers.

Topic

In this history topic, children learn about the artist L. S. Lowry and why he is important. They will find out that he was born in Stretford in Manchester and lived in the North West of England, and that he became one of Britain’s most famous artists. Children explore what life was like in the past by looking at his paintings, which show busy industrial scenes with factories, mills, and working people. They will learn about “working class” jobs (people who worked with their hands in places like factories) and recognise Lowry’s famous “matchstick” figures. The children will use his artwork to ask questions about the past and talk about what they can see.

• By the end of the topic, children should be able to: say who L.S. Lowry was, describe what he painted, recognise his “matchstick” style, and explain what his paintings show about life in the past.
•  

Science

In this science topic, children learn about plants and how they grow. They will identify and name common wild and garden plants, including trees, and begin to understand the basic parts of a plant such as roots, stem, leaves, and flowers. Children will explore how plants grow and what they need to stay healthy, including water, light, and suitable conditions. They will also observe changes over time by planting seeds and watching them grow, helping them to develop their scientific skills of observing, questioning, and recording.

• By the end of the topic, children should be able to: name common plants and trees, identify the basic parts of a plant, describe what plants need to grow, and talk about how plants change over time.

Religion - To the ends of the earth...

This half term in Year 1 we will be learning all about the events following on from the resurrection of Jesus. Drawing on the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, children will hear how the earliest followers of Jesus came together in community to carry his work 'to the ends of the earth'.  This unit explores how the apostles carried the work of Jesus into the world. Drawing on the words Jesus gave to his disciples, this unit focuses on the work of the earliest communities, and the church, past and present. 

As part of our Catholic ethos. we love to involve family life within our school life and may ask you for photos of special events or people, such as baptism, Christmas and other important celebrations to reflect upon in our weekly Collective Worship sessions. 

PE

This half term you will need to come into school wearing your PE kit on our PE day which is a Monday. In PE you will be learning about invasion and team games skills with Mr Casey outside and circuits skills in the hall. 

Homework

Reading – 10 minutes a night

Listening to your child read for 10 minutes a night makes a significant difference in their progress and attainment. It helps them practice key reading strategies and skills, develop their comprehension skills and supports their overall fluency and accuracy, which are vital skills they need for the future. Every Friday an eBook will be assigned to your child’s online account based upon the sounds they have learnt in phonics that week. The children will have practiced this book in their guided reading sessions so will be familiar with the text. The purpose of them practicing it again at home is to become more familiar with these sounds and fluent when reading them.

Your child will also choose a reading for pleasure book. This is a book that you can both read and enjoy together and encourage reading for pleasure. This will be a physical book that your child takes home and they will be given the opportunity to choose and change every Friday. As it is a reading for pleasure book, it is not necessarily aimed at your child’s reading level, therefore can be challenging, which is why we are asking for an adult to read this and your child to join in where possible. The reading for pleasure book is important as it is how we will help build a love of reading together.   Please ensure your child brings this back to school every Friday ready to change in our school Library.

Reading eggs – once a week      https://readingeggs.co.uk

Reading eggs makes learning to read interesting and engaging for kids, with great online reading games and activities. Children love the games, songs, golden eggs and other rewards which, along with feeling proud of their reading, really motivate children to keep exploring and learning.

My Maths and Mathseeds – once a week       https://mathseeds.co.uk/

Every Friday, your class teacher will set home learning for your child on MyMaths.co.uk. This will be based upon what they have learnt that week so your child can practice the skills taught at home to reinforce key strategies.  

Mathseeds is an online website that your child can use to develop pupils’ confidence and fluency in Maths and the interactive lessons provide step-by-step examples to break down learning into manageable chunks. The log in for this is the same one you use for reading eggs.

Phonics home learning – once a week

Every Friday, we will send home a phonics learning log in your child’s book bag for them to practice over the next week. The sheet in their book each week will have the list of sounds your child has learnt that week, words and sentences for them to read and write with these sounds in and then a list of tricky words that the children need to know. These words will be familiar to them and ones they have practiced in phonics sessions.

You can then practice these sounds further on fastphonics (www.readingeggs.co.uk/fast-phonics-games), which is the same log in as reading eggs.

Learning logs – Autumn  2, Spring 2 and Summer 2

Last year we introduced our project-based home learning to replace the homework board we previously used. Pupil, parent and teacher voice all showed that project based home learning was the preferred style of home learning as it gave children more freedom to learn about real life world events, share personal experiences and it has helped motivate them to engage in home learning as it is child managed. It encourages the children to be more independent, inquisitive and provides more opportunities for outdoor learning together. This can be completed in your learning log, a scrap book of your choice or it can be uploaded onto Seesaw.

Instead of completing these every half term, we have reduced this to three half terms a year to make it more manageable. They will therefore be given out on the first Monday of Autumn 2, Spring 2 and Summer 2.  We ask that their project is brought into school on the last week of that half term to share and celebrate with their peers. You will be given a sheet of paper that will be stuck in your child’s learning log that will outline what the project is and ideas of activities you can do.