Year 1 2021 - 2022

Year one is the beginning of Key Stage One where we begin to access the National Curriculum 2014.  Many subjects are taught through a half termly theme to help make the learning more meaningful for the children.

Dear Parents and carers,

We have an exciting half term planned for Year 1 as we move onto our new topic 'Handa's Surprise'.  I think the children will really enjoy this topic.

  As always, please come and ask if you have any questions. 

We are happy to help! 

Mrs Cheadle 

Our new topic is...

We will use the following text and a selection of non-fiction books to help fuel our learning.  This will help to provide us with different writing opportunities and give an excellent starting point for our Foundation subjects.

We will find out...

Where in the world is Africa?  

How is life in Africa different from that in the UK?

What is the weather like in Africa?  

What animals live in Africa and how are they adapted to such extreme temperatures?

How do the animals camouflage themselves?

Which African animals are carnivore, herbivore or omnivore?

In Design and Technology, we will safely and hygienically prepare fruit and vegetables to create a 'Fruit and Vegetable Kebab'.  The children will be encouraged to explore different fruits and vegetables using their senses.  We will look closely at the fruit and observe the pips, seeds, stones, peel, flesh and leaves.  

In Art, we will use our skills of observation to draw different fruits using sketching pencils.  The children will begin to learn how to shade an object to give it the three dimensional quality. They will learn how to make an African mask and recreate some traditional African patterns.  We also celebrate African culture through music, dance and art.

Our Science topic, will focus on the weather as we measure the rainfall, explore shadows at differents times of the day, forecast the weather using symbols and find out about extreme weather.  We will also learn about the changes in weather due to climate change.  The children will reflect on the different seasons and will talk about the weather they might expect to see at different times in the year.

In Maths, we will continue to use White Rose resources to support our learning as we explore measure, place value (within 100) and simple fractions.  We will continue to skip count in twos, tens and fives to 100.

Staff

Who is who in Year one?

Class Teacher: Mrs Cheadle

Training Teacher: Mr McNeal

KS1 Teaching Assistant: Mrs Newbould 

Welfare Assistant: Miss Such (returned from maternity leave)

PE

PE lessons will be on Monday and Thursday.  Children need to come to school wearing their PE kits on these days.  Children may also wear a track suit or joggers (as we may need to go outside due to hall restrictions).

Long hair should be tied back and children should not wear jewellery, for health and safety reasons.  Earrings should be taken out or covered with micropore.  (Children should arrive with earrings already covered or taken out as staff can't assist with this.)   Please ensure children are wearing suitable footwear.  Ideally, these should be pull on or have velcro fastens if your child can't yet manage their own laces.  It is very time consuming fastening 30 pairs of laces when they inevitably come undone during the day!

Refreshments

Children need to bring fresh water in a labelled water bottle every day.  The children are encouraged to have regular drink breaks and can have their bottles refilled when needed.  Please do not add juice to their water bottles.

Children will need to bring in a healthy breaktime snack as the kitchen will not be selling snacks for the moment.

During afternoon break, your child will be offered a piece of fruit.  This fruit is funded by the government healthy eating initiative.  

Maths homework

A maths based activity will be set on Seesaw every Monday.  The children will have a week to complete the task.  

By the end of Year 1, children need to be able to count (in ones) to a hundred.  Please make sure your child is secure counting forwards and backwards with numbers to 20, then to 50 and then to 100.  Skip counting in tens, fives and twos is also a great thing to practice when you have a few spare minutes now and then.

The children also need to record numbers, from memory, using the correct formation.  Numbers should be of a consistent size.  

Click the formation paper below if you like.

Reading

In Year 1, the children will bring home books related to our Read, Write Inc. programme.  These books need to be returned on the following Monday so new ones can be issued.  Please return them in the Read, Write Inc. folder provided.  The children can also choose books for enjoyment from our story baskets on Mondays and Fridays.

The children are encouraged to take books home from our new school library.  They will have our library time on Wednesday so library books should be returned on this day.  The library books can be identified by the Excalibur Library sticker on the back cover.

Are you ready for some extra home learning?

Try the games below for some learning fun.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ordering-and-sequencing/caterpillar-ordering

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/helicopter-rescue

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Flash.aspx?f=PostSortingcalculationsv2