Year 1

Welcome to Year 1

Mrs Ndisi, Mrs Walker, Mrs Good

We hope you’ve had a lovely half term break and that the children are ready for a final busy half term of learning in Year One.

Where could we go for a

great day out?

Our theme this half term is called ‘Where could we go for a great day out?’. During this theme, we will spend our Geography lessons discovering more about the four countries of the UK and learning about their unique geographical features whilst considering the days out we could have there. In our History lessons we will find out about some famous inventors from Coventry including Frank Whittle and James Starley. In some of our English lessons we will be thinking carefully about what we need for a great day out, planning all the details including the journey and costs before going on a great day out ourselves!
 
English

In English this half term we will start by looking at the book “Mr Grumpy’s Outing” which is a story about a man who goes on a day out but, as different characters join him along the way, things don’t go quite as he planned! We will be using this story as a stimulus to write about great days out we’ve been on and new places we’d like to go. We will also start planning our own great day out. We will be making predictions about what might happen in the story and writing questions we’d like to ask the main character before writing diary entries in the role of Mr Grumpy himself. We will be thinking about what the different animals in the story might be saying to eachother and practise using speech marks to write some of these conversations. For the last few weeks of half term we will be focussing on non-fiction texts linked to our theme of a great day out. We will explore lots of different leaflets, brochures and websites to discover exciting places we could go for a day out. We will spend some time identifying the features of non-fiction texts, annotating them and understanding their purpose. We will then try using some of these in our own non-fiction texts.

Phonics and Spelling

In Phonics and Spelling sessions this half term we will have lots of continued practice of all of our sounds and we will spend some time looking at alternate spellings for the same sounds. We will also concentrate particularly hard on learning all of our tricky words and making sure we can both read and spell them. We will also be incorporating some spelling rules into our phonics lessons by exploring prefixes and suffixes including ‘un’, ‘ing’, ‘er’, ‘ed’ and ‘s/es’.  We will then practise applying what we learn into our independent writing during English lessons.

Maths

In Maths this half term we will be covering three maths units. We will start off by looking at ‘Money’ and during this unit we will be identifying the physical properties and different values of coins and notes. We will compare different amounts of money and solve addition and subtraction problems using the context of money. We will also try calculating change from different amounts of money. We will then move on to ‘Multiplication and Division’. During this unit we will be doubling and halving in the context of money, multiplying using repeated addition and equal groups and using these strategies to solve multiplication problems. We will also practise division as sharing and grouping, explore arrays and develop our part - whole understanding of halves and quarters. Finally we will be learning about ‘Capacity and Volume’ and we will be comparing the capacity of different containers and volume using non-standard units. We will also apply our understanding of halves and quarters to capacity and begin to use standard units of measure. We will finish off the unit by practising application of our measuring skills in a real life context.

Science

In Science this half term we will be covering the unit “Animals including humans”. We will be exploring lots of different animals and using the correct scientific language to identify and name them before describing and comparing their structures. We will sort them into classes of reptiles, amphibians, fish, birds and mammals and discuss whether they’re herbivores, carnivores or omnivores. We will investigate how different animals move and have a go at copying different movements.

P.E. and Forest School
PE this half term will continue to be on Thursdays and Fridays and Forest School will be as normal on a Friday. Please can we ask that all children have the necessary kit in school on these days as otherwise they miss out on important learning.

Core Skills

In Core Skills this half term, the whole school will be focussing on ‘Speaking and Listening’. In Year One we will be trying particularly hard to demonstrate that we are listening to a speaker by using eye contact, nodding and body position and to show that we can take turns when speaking in large groups or with the whole class.

Show and Tell

Show and Tell this half term will continue to be on a Thursday afternoon and the children will take it in turns each week. I will continue to write which group’s turn it is on the weekly letter every week. Please could I remind everyone that Show and Tell is a speaking and listening exercise and if children choose to bring something in then it needs to be linked to our learning and they should be ready to talk about their item and answer one or two questions about it too. Achievements from outside of school, such as dancing, football, gymnastics awards are always welcome!

Home Learning

Weekly letters and weekly homework will continue to be sent home on a Thursday during this half term. It will continue to be collected back in and reviewed on a Wednesday and will be as follows:

Maths – Schofield and Sims book – 2 pages

Reading – 3 times a week with an adult along with discussion using question bookmarks and completion of activities from the grid.

Spellings – Daily practice using the look, say, cover, write, check method.

Thank you for your continued support

If you have any questions about any of the information above or about your child’s learning and progress I am always happy to chat at the end of the day. If this isn’t possible then please do make an appointment with the office and I’d be glad to speak with you another time.