Year 1 2025 - 2026

Welcome back to the Year 1 blog for the Spring Term! We hope you have all had a Christmas break. It has been lovely to have the children back in school, they had so much to talk about and share with us. Below is an overview of some of what the children will be learning this term.

Our Year 1 staff team are:

Mrs Wolfenden and Miss Jennings class teachers. 

Miss Norman, Mrs Richardson and Mrs Jones.

Religious Education

Our focus will be on stories about Jesus, such as ‘The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple’ and ‘Zacchaeus Meeting Jesus’. We will be listening to these stories and exploring what they mean to us. Through creative activities such as arts and crafts we will explore some of the themes from these stories. We will then reflect how we can live out this learning in our daily lives.

English

The first book we will read this term is Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers. This beautifully illustrated book is full of ‘notes for living on planet Earth’. We will be using this text to explore and explain all about our planet and its inhabitants as tour guides for an alien! We will explore our school and local area writing notes, and presenting lots of facts about our wonderful home Earth.

Phonics

Children will continue to follow the Read, Write, Inc scheme for phonics on a daily basis.

Maths

The children will learn to add and subtract one-digit and two-digit numbers to 20, including zero. We will practise counting to and across 50, forwards and backwards, beginning with 0 or 1, or from any given number. The children will also begin to solve one-step problems involving multiplication and division, by calculating the answer using concrete objects, pictorial representations, and arrays with the support of the teacher. We will continue to learn the names of common 2D and 3D shapes and about their properties. We will use our knowledge of shape, length, and height to help construct a rocket for our visiting alien (see English)!

Science

Our topic this term is Animals Including Humans. To begin with the children will learn about the parts of the body linked to the senses. They have already begun to enjoy our new role play Drs surgery role play area where they are doing a great job checking the new baby dolls’ hearing, eyesight and general health!

We will then move on to learning about animals and grouping them 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 outdoor PE we will focus on different ways to travel including running, jumping and dodging. All our sessions are games based and a lot of fun! In our indoor PE lessons will be with a coach from LFC.

Geography

Our topic this half term is Capital Cities and Countries in the UK. The children will be learning to locate and identify characteristics of the four countries and capital cities of the United Kingdom and its surrounding seas.

The children will be introduced on how to use an atlas to name and locate on a map the four countries and capital cities of the United Kingdom. They have already had a great interactive lesson walking around the U.K on our gigantic floor map in the school hall.

We will talk about a human environment, such as the local area or a UK city, naming some features. We will use world maps to identify the UK in its position in the world. We will use Google Earth to explore our wonderful world

History

Our topic explores the wonderful world of transport. We will learn all about buses, trains and cars and how they have changed over time. We will continue to develop our understanding of simple chronology.

Art

This term the focus will be painting to create patterns, textures and shapes. The children will learn all about primary and secondary colours and techniques such as pressing, rolling, and rubbing.

Computing

This term computing will focus on moving a robot! The children will have great fun experimenting with bee-bot robots learning to input commands such as turn and move. They will learn vocabulary such as command and sequence, algorithm, and debug.

You, Me, Everyone

Our topics this term will focus on recognising special people in our lives, treating others well and saying sorry. The children will learn through class discussions, partner work and role play. They will also learn about how they are special and kept safe within their own family.

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.

Things to remember:

• Children should come to school in their PE kits on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
• We aim to go outside and be active every day. Please make sure your child brings a waterproof coat every day and a pair of wellies which can be left in school.
• 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 day.
• 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.