Year 1 2023 - 2024

Welcome to Summer term 2024!

Meet the Year 1 team:

1B - Mr Briscoe, Miss McCobb and Miss Whiteside

1W - Mrs Wolfenden and Mrs Snow

What are we learning about this term?

Come and See

The topic at the start of this term is Pentecost – Serving: Holidays and Holydays. The children will learn about the special celebration of the gift of the Holy Spirit, through whom the risen life of Jesus is given. They will learn to recognise that holidays are different to ordinary days. We will talk about God’s promise of the Holy Spirit and how we recognise a holy day is different to a holiday.

English

We start the term with a fun story called I Want My Hat Back by the author Jon Klassen. This fun story is a delight for the children to explore and predict what may happen!

We then move to the wonderful book by the late Benjamin Zephenhiah. This beautifully illustrated, joyful book is a celebration of the world around us. This book will remind us of all we are learning about seasonal change in our science lessons and take us into our imaginations exploring the natural world.

The Queens Handbag is a fun story and links to our History topic on Kings and Queens. This book is written by Steve Anthony as is another of our texts Unplugged where we will explore the notion of digitally detoxing and connecting with our world in other ways.

Phonics                                   

Children will continue to follow the Read, Write, Inc scheme for phonics. We will continue to work on applying our phonics learning throughout reading and writing opportunities in our wider curriculum.

Maths

We will continue exploring multiplication and division, applying our knowledge to using money. We will look at telling the time to the hour and half hour, learning to draw the hands on a clock. The children will continue to build on their skills with addition by adding and subtracting one-digit and two-digit numbers to 20, including zero.

The children will learn about fractions and how to recognise, find and name a half as one of two equal parts of an object, shape or quantity, and how to recognise, find, and name a quarter as one of four equal parts of an object, shape or quantity.

Science

Our topic is Animals including humans and the children will have fun learning to group animals into specific categories such as amphibian, mammal, reptile, bird, and insect based on their characteristics and features. They will also focus on what they eat and will become familiar with vocabulary such as herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores. We will also continue our learning about seasonal change. We have some lovely outdoor experiences planned which will support the children in their learning.

PE

In PE we will be focussing on invasion games and all the skills needed. We will also introduce lots of different yoga moves as our indoor PE topic. We are also delighted to have the assistance of some coaches from Liverpool Football Club to enhance our learning with invasion games.

Geography

Our topic in Geography is hot and cold places. The children will learn about the equator and the northern and southern hemispheres. There will be a focus on Antarctica and the specific features that make this one of the coldest places on the planet. The children will look at key vocabulary such as blizzards, deserts, and mountains to help them explore and understand these wonderful parts of our world.

History

Our topic in History is Kings and Queens. Through this topic the children will learn about a monarchy and the role of a monarch. They will learn to sequence some events or 2 related objects in order of time – up to 100 years (intervals of 10) and use words and phrases: old, new, young, days, and months. They will begin to gain knowledge and understanding about the past in different ways (e.g. role play, drawing, writing, talking)

Art

In Art our topic is textiles and collage. We will revisit our learning about primary colours and mixing to produce secondary colours. The work of German artist Gunta Stolzl will be our focus and the children will use textiles to create a piece of work depicting a type of weather.

Computing

In computing we will introduce the concept of labelling and grouping objects based on their properties. We will develop an understanding of how objects can be given labels, which is fundamental to their future learning concerning databases. We are going to make use of both our science topic and outdoor learning opportunities to support this learning.

Music

In Music we will learn about timbre and rhythmic patterns through fairytales! The children will use instruments to help to recognise how timbre is used to represent characters in a piece of music.

You, Me, Everyone (PSHE)

This term the children will learn about the different communities that they are part of, both local and global. They will think about what it means to belong to a community and the rights and responsibilities that come with it. Children will also learn that how they act can help or harm their communities. We will think about our neighbours Through the story of The Good Samaritan, children will learn who their neighbour is – everyone! They will have an opportunity to reflect on what this means for them and their communities. A visit from Merseyside Police will be an exciting enhancement to our learning when we can interact with those that help to serve our community.

Important!

Daily Reading – It’s really important that you read every night for at least 10 minutes.

Children will bring home their book bags with a reading for pleasure book on a Monday on this should be returned on a Thursday. This is a book that could be read to your child at bedtime or something they could share with you by telling you the story through the pictures.

Book bags will also go home on a Thursday with 2 phonics books. These should be returned no later than the following Monday. The books will be matched to your child’s reading level and will help them consolidate the sounds and tricky (red) words learnt that week. It will help your child to read these books more than once to help improve reading speed and expression.

*Please can you sign your child’s reading record to show they have read when book bags are returned on a Monday and Wednesday*

Some reminders:

• Children should come to school in their PE kits on Monday and Tuesday.
• We aim to go outside every day for breaktimes plus our PE lessons and other activities. Please make sure your child brings a waterproof coat every day.
• Please send a fresh bottle of water labelled with the child’s name (not juice, squash or energy drinks) in each day.
• The children are offered a fruit snack every morning break time.
• Please ensure that all jumpers, hats, coats etc are clearly labelled with your child’s name.
• Children are not to bring in items from home (such as pencil cases, footballs, small toys etc).
• If you need to speak with your child's teacher, please approach us on the playground and we can arrange a time. We would ask that you kindly wait until we have seen all of the children safely to their parent or carer before speaking to your teacher and we will be happy to chat. Alternatively, you may wish to ring the school office.
• Remember book bags and books. See above - Important!