YEAR 1
Miss Cresswell
Welcome to Year 1 - Japan
Konnichiwa (hello) from Year One where our learning starts to transition into more structured and independent learning, while still having a heavy emphasis on learning through practical activities and provisions set up around the room to make the step-up to key stage one as smooth as possible.
In our classroom we like to keep our learning as fun and engaging to continue to grow our little people’s love for learning and provide them with plenty of opportunities to enrich their interests! We do this through directed play and role-play/imagination and art, both during our lessons and set-up for children to independently choose and complete around the room during ‘free-flow’ time.
Our class focus is Japan where we look at how life in the suburbs, Ogibuko, is different/similar to life in Hayfield. We look at physical features, continents, languages, religions, culture, food and daily life as well as many more. We celebrate Japan by recreating a Japanese classroom, trying vegetable sushi and noodles and learning some key Japanese phrases.
In Year One we have the statutory screening check in Summer term – the test is designed to check children’s phonics decoding abilities, using both familiar and ‘alien’ words. Reading helps to build children’s decoding and blending skills which builds confidence and provides fantastic practice ahead of the check – as well as develop a love for reading which develops a range of cognitive skills which helps with all areas of the curriculum. For more information on this click the link: Phonics screening check: information for parents - GOV.UK
In English we look at a range of texts and use them as a stimulus to write our own narratives as well as writing instructions, non-chronological reports and recounts. Our key writing focus is dictating sentences before writing, letter formation and positioning (handwriting), using our phonetic knowledge to correctly spell words, capital letters at the start of sentences, places and names, full stops.
In maths we use WhiteRose Education to cover a range of number, geometry and measurement topics; including place value from 10, to 20, to 50 and eventually 100; we become experts and addition and subtraction (within 20), multiplication and dividing in 2s, 5s and 10s, and looking at fractions where we recognise and find quarters, halves and three quarters of a quantity. We also look at 3D shapes, length and height, mass and volume, position and direction, money as well as time. We use a range of resources to support our learners and encourage them to use the resources independently to explain their thinking and deepen their understanding of tricky concepts.
In science we look at humans including animals where we take a look into the different animal groups and identify them based on their unique features; we look at the different types of plants and where they grow, as well as exploring what plants need to grow and survive; We experiment with different materials to identify their properties so that we can suggest what materials certain objects should be made from; we also delve deeper into understanding the changes between the seasons and begin to question why these changes occur. We underpin all of our science lessons by working scientifically through observing over time, spotting patterns, identifying, grouping and classifying, comparative testing and researching.
Autumn:
In our first term we focus on getting the class feeling settled and familiar with the Year One routines/ daily structure. We discuss the importance of belonging and how we all have a role to play within our class as part of our PSHE, as well as understanding and celebrating differences among us. In RE we look at why and how special times are celebrated, which link to the harvest festival where we create and share the meaning of harvest to us, we also celebrate apple day by incorporating art skills such as printing and weaving, as well as having the opportunity to make apple juice with our own school apples - then we prepare for one of our favourite celebrations - Christmas!
Spring:
Our second term works on building meta-cognitive strategies to encourage our learners into working independently as possible and use the resources/support around them to help with their work. We also use sources to work out what life would’ve been like in 1588 and how it would’ve felt to be part of the Spanish Armada in history – which we then narrate and act out using our own Spanish Armada puppet spoons which we make in DT. We also take a look at the countries and cities that make up the United Kingdom, to understand more about the country we live in.
Summer:
In our final term we continue to encourage our learners to work independently using the support and scaffolding provided and review their work, fixing their own work and providing detailed feedback when reviewing their peers work. We also have our phonics screening check this term where we get to show off all of our amazing knowledge! We look at change that happens to ourselves as well as the world around us and get to perform playing instruments to the class, in music. In art we look at a range of pieces from different cultures and evaluate them. We learn about the importance of plants and looking after our planet and make recycled bughouses. Finally, we finish the year with a celebration of everything we have achieved so far, before moving on to a new adventure!
Useful links to help with our learning are attached below:
Websites:
https://www.activityvillage.co.uk - Activities linked to different topics.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zgkw2hv - This BBC website is full of videos, games and reports that engage children and supports children in English.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zjxhfg8 - T his BBC website is full of videos, games and reports that engage children and supports children in Maths.
https://uk.ixl.com/maths/year-1 - This site has many games that help children to improve their math skills.
https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/ - Children can read about the world of animals and find facts out. A useful website to help develop children’s understanding of nonfiction texts.
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk - Online books for children to read.
https://uk.ixl.com/english/year-1 - This site has many games that help children to improve their English knowledge.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies - Games, puzzles and quizzes for Nursery, Reception and Year 1 children.
https://nrich.maths.org/topics-mathematics-primary-students - Fantastic website with lots of activities and practice math questions. Also has information for parents on how we can develop mathematical thinking and fluency etc., worth a read if you have a spare 5 mins!
https://www.funology.com - A website with ideas for arts and crafts as well as fun science experiments that can be carried out at home.
https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources
https://letters-and-sounds.com/phase-4-games/ - Phonics games for children to use to practice new phonemes and graphemes.
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org - Stories to help learn English.
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/Key-Stage-1.html - Activities to help learn English.
https://www.coolmath4kids.com - Lots and lots of games and brainteasers to get you all thinking and looking for patterns in all things mathematical. Alien Addition would be a good game to look at, in particular, for this half term!
https://ictgames.com/mobilePage/index.html - Includes a range of Math games.
*A reminder to supervise children while on websites as there are external ads and ‘pop-up links’.
How can you help your child at home?
Reading
It is important to remember that children are continuing to develop reading skills all the way through their time at primary school. Therefore, in order to help your child, we ask that you:
- Hear your child read at least four times a week and complete their reading diary.
- Read a bedtime story to your child every day, regardless of their age.
- Talk about what children are reading/listening to in order to strengthen understanding.
- Discuss new words and actively aim to increase vocabulary.
- Role model a love of literature (books, comics, newspapers, audio books).
- Read for a real reason – recipes, building a model, checking the sports results etc.
- Visit your local library.
Writing
- Help your child practise writing with their phoneme frames that have been sent home.
- Sit with your child while they write. Encourage a love of writing.
- Encourage your child to play with paper and pencils – notepads, diaries, colouring books.
- Find opportunities for real writing – shopping lists, letters, posters, labels.
