Welcome to Year 1!!
We hope you have had a wonderful summer holiday. We are so excited to welcome you back to school and we are looking forward to hearing all about your holidays!
This year we will be using Class Dojo to share our fabulous learning, celebrate our achievements and update you on any important messages you need to know.
Miss Eatock and Mrs Clayton-Smith will be the Class Teachers and Miss Carter and Mrs King will be the classroom Teaching Assistants.
Please find below the yearly overview for Year 1 and an example of a weekly timetable for Autumn 1. Please note that on occasions lessons may be blocked or swapped around.
Our PE lessons will be on Wednesdays and Fridays.
How to help your child in Year 1:
- Instill a love of reading. It not only helps your child get ready for new academic challenges in year 1, but is also great for relaxing at the end of a long day at school. Support your child with daily reading at home and encourage them by ticking that you have heard them read in their reading record. Reading records and books are to come into school every day, please.
- Practise focus phonics sounds each day.
- Spellings can be practised using the Spelling Shed website without the app.
- Keep an eye out for posts on this website and also on Class Dojo.
- Encourage your children to practise their number and letter formation as well as using their developing phonics knowledge to help with extra writing practise.
English:
Half term 1:
We will be starting our 'Pirates' unit at the start of this term. We will explore the story of 'Pirates Love Underpants' by Claire Freedman, by learning about adjectives. We will be using adjectives to describe a pirate ship and a setting. We will then learn about the features of a diary and consider the events of the story and how they might be recorded in a diary. We will also look at the features of instructions and write our own instructions to find The Golden Underpants. Finally, we will have a look at letters and respond to a letter from a pirate.
Half term 2:
We will be starting our 'Once Upon a Time' unit for the second half of the autumn term. We will explore the story of 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff' by Stephen Carpenter, by retelling the story with some drama, and then writing the story in our own words. We will be thinking about how to write questions so we can 'hot seat' a character from the story. We will continue to use adjectives to describe the troll and then write an apology letter to the goats from the troll's point of view. Finally, we will have a look at instruction writing and use 'The Little Red Hen' as inspiration to bake our own bread, followed by writing the recipe.
Maths:
At Isleham we follow the Power Maths scheme of work and across the Autumn term we will be covering several units of work, which include numbers to 10, part- whole models within 10, addition and subtraction within 10 (2 units) and 2D and 3D shapes. The overview of the units are shown below and we will be sharing learning weekly on Class Dojo as the units progress.
Art:
Half term 1:
In art during the first half of the Autumn term we will be learning about portraits. We will learn what a portrait is and use of different materials and techniques when making our own. The children will also have the opportunity to explore the work of Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Henri Matisse and Andy Warhol, and create artwork inspired by them.
Half term 2:
This half term we will explore the unit 'Colour Chaos' where we will learn about choosing, using and mixing our own colours to create quality art work that shows progression in skills. The children will have the opportunity to explore the life and work of six key abstract artists and, working primarily in paint, to create pieces in a range of abstract styles.
Geography:
In Geography this term we will be learning all about maps. We will begin by learning what a map is by exploring a range of different types of maps, including looking at atlases, the world map, a map of the UK, pirate maps and OS maps. We will then navigate around maps using compass directions to describe locations of features and routes on a map. Not only that but we will have the chance to construct our own maps and learn about human and physical features.
History:
In the second half of term, we will learn about The Gunpowder Plot. The children will develop their knowledge and understanding of this significant event in British history. The children will increase their awareness of the past by finding out about Guy Fawkes and other significant individuals involved in the plot, such as Robert Catesby and Thomas Percy. They will deepen their understanding of the events of the Gunpowder Plot through sequencing events and looking at what Fawkes may have used in the past and how they may be different now. A lesson on how bonfire night has been celebrated in Britain since the 1930s is also designed to consolidate their knowledge of changes within living memory.
Music:
Half term 1:
In our first unit we will be exploring musical vocabulary with a theme of 'Under The Sea'.
Pupils who are secure will be able to:
- Make movements that are appropriate to the pulse and tempo of a piece of music.
- Choose instruments with appropriate timbre to represent sparkling fishes.
- Respond to dynamic changes in a piece of music.
- Create pitches and rhythms.
- Perform a layer of the music within an overall piece.
- Define all the musical terms from this unit.
PE:
This year we are using 'Real PE' for our indoor PE lessons. In this unit, the children will develop and apply their footwork and one leg balance through focused skill development sessions, thematic stories and games.
In our outdoor lessons we are using Get Set 4 PE (outside). In this unit pupils will develop skills required in athletic activities such as running at different speeds, changing direction, jumping and throwing. In all athletic based activities, pupils will engage in performing skills and measuring performance, competing to improve on their own score and against others. They are given opportunities to work collaboratively as well as independently.
This unit links to the following strands of the NC: master basic movements including running, jumping and throwing. Develop balance, agility and co-ordination, and begin to apply these in a range of activities.
RE:
Half term 1:
This half term in RE, we will be learning why belonging to God and the Christian family is important to Christians. We will learn that Christians believe God created humanity in his image, to be like him. They also believe we are not random beings in a vast universe but created, loved and wanted. They have a strong sense that they belong not just to themselves but to God their creator and he longs to welcome them back to his family, to be enfolded in God’s love and to become the person God intended them to be. We will get a firm understanding that the Christian church (not a building but people) is like a big family of people who have found their way back to God. We will be learning that through baptism, Christians welcome others into God’s family. The ‘belonging’ involved in a baptism is firstly about belonging to God and secondly about belonging to the church.
Key words we will be using are:
- Christian/Christianity
- Belonging
- Baptism/christening
- Welcome
- Congregation
Half term 2:
This half term focussing on Judaism and answering the question "Why is learning to do good deeds so important to Jewish families?” In common Jewish usage, a mitzvah is a charitable act or ‘good deed’. Jewish children are encouraged to ‘do a mitzvah’ e.g. giving charity, welcoming people, caring for the world, sharing food, but these are not just ‘good deeds’. They are seen as ‘‘good’ because they are what the Creator of the Universe wants for his world; they connect people to God. Learning the ‘good deeds’ itself is a mitzvah. We have our own class tzedakah box. For the rest of this term, we will fill the tzedakah box with good deeds that we have done. I am sure it will get very heavy!
PSHE:
Half term 1:
Our first unit is called 'Beginning and Belonging' and we will work together to create some classroom rules and learn how to build positive relationships with others. We will have the opportunity to consider what it feels like to be in a new situation and to develop strategies for managing these feelings. We also want to learn how we can show kindness and help people who arrive new to the school. To help us achieve these, we will develop our own ‘Network of Support’ by identifying trusted adults at home and in school who we can ask for help and support.
Half term 2:
This half term we will be looking at 'Anti'bullying'. In this unit we will develop our understanding of the key characteristics of bullying and explore definitions of bullying to a range of situations including cyberbullying. We will explore reasons why bullying happens, developing our understanding of prejudice driven bullying. We will consider the feelings of children who are bullied, those that witness bullying and those who bully others. Year 1 will also examine the long-term impact that bullying often has on people’s mental wellbeing. The children will explore how the behaviour and response of bystanders can improve or worsen a situation. Furthermore, we will consider strategies for keeping themselves safe from bullying and for befriending and supporting children who have been bullied. This unit will also provide an opportunity for children to consider where bullying may occur in their school and in the local community and to develop strategies to ensure that the school is a safe place where positive relationships are fostered.