Mrs Paganuzzi and Ms Shorthouse (Class Teachers)
Miss Harvey and Mrs Sweeney (Support Staff)
Autumn 2021
Year 1 have settled wonderfully back into school and are looking forward to an exciting half term ahead. They have been looking at labels and captions for books with an animal theme and writing lists about what animals need. Later on, the children will be looking at stories with a familiar theme and using them as a basis for their writing work.
In maths the children have been using positional language to describe where objects are and learning how to remember which is left and right. They have enjoyed using lots of practical equipment in our lessons. They were brilliant at sorting objects into different groups and representing numbers up to 10 in different ways. They have also been practising their subitising skills.
In their history the children have been thinking about how they have changed so far. They will use pictures of babies and toddlers to show how children become more independent as they get older. We will link this to work on toys from the past and present.
In science the children have been naming and labelling different parts of the body. They loved going outside to draw around each other and label the parts. They have also been singing some songs to help remember the names and playing ‘Simon Says’.
In PE the children have been practising getting changed for PE and making sure all their clothes and shoes are kept together. They have impressed us with how well they followed the instructions. Some of the children have even been trying to fold their clothes! They have enjoyed travelling around the playground in different ways.
In art we have been exploring patterns around us and in nature. This will be the basis for our work using printing and painting.
The children have also loved exploring the shoe shop in the role play area, building masterpieces using the Lego and developing their fine motor skills with threading, colouring and cutting and sticking activities.
What a fantastic and fun filled start to Year 1!
Summer 2021
Welcome back. We hope you and your family kept safe and well during the Easter break.
This half term we will launch our ‘Flourishing in the Sun’ topic and have lots of exciting learning coming your way.
In Geography we will be learning about the human and physical features of the seaside. We will be finding out about the similarities and differences between seaside resorts and our own locality.
In History we will be studying the life Grace Darling. We will be investigating where she lived and finding out about her heroic rescue of the paddle steamer passengers.
We will then look at seaside holidays of the past. We will learn about the way in which people travelled to the seaside, the clothes they wore and the activities they took part in. We will then compare these with seaside holidays today.
As designers we will make our own boats or lighthouses. We will develop our cutting skills and will use a range of shaping and joining techniques when constructing our models.
In Science we will focus on the process of growing, exploring native trees and wildflowers. We are looking forward to utilising our local environment wherever possible. We will identify different plants and think about why plants grow in different areas. We will be busy planting our own seeds tending and caring for them in the classroom and quad. We will observe closely and take care to document the growth of our plants. It will be exciting to see our plants grow! We will be introduced to a variety of new vocabulary linked to our plant life topic.
This term, we will also continue our ongoing learning on the seasons. We will explore how our environment changes as we move into Summer recapping and reviewing the investigative work we have made through the year.
In art, we will be getting creative with our paintbrushes to make still life paintings of flowering plants. We will enjoy mixing primary colours to create secondary ones. We will be using powder paint to paint our plants and will use fine paint brushes to add detail.
In Phonics we will be focusing on applying some of our phase 5 alternative spellings in our writing. We will also learn to add suffixes where no change to root word is needed.
In English we will be recapping what we need to put in our sentences to make them more exciting to a reader. We will continue to place importance on accurate punctuation every time we write. Our first text Jack and the Beanstalk will lead to writing our own fairy tales.
In Maths, we will start using the language of problem solving to solve problems with the whole or part unknown e.g. 13 + ? = 19. Later in the term, we will be learning about multiplication and division in our maths. We will introduce the concept through repeated addition. We will learn how to divide and use the terms ‘share’ and ‘equal groups’. We will have lots of hands on exploration so that we can explain our learning to each other.
