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Year 1

Welcome to Year 1

Spring Term 2024

Areas of study for Year 1*


English 

This term, the children will continue to practise their handwriting in English lessons. They will be exploring a wide range of texts and genres including: diary, story, instructional and non-chronological writing. There will also be an opportunity for the children to reflect on their own personal experiences of heroes when writing. They will then be writing about their favourite toys using the past tense ending of -ed. The children will also be looking at types of sentences including questions and when to use a question mark in their writing. The children will have the opportunity to listen to a variety of stories to help inspire their own writing.
Children will be encouraged to develop their sentences further by using conjunctions such as ‘and’ and ‘because’ as well as adding adjectives to make their writing more interesting.


Maths

This term, the children will be focussing on the numbers from 0 to 20 and 0 to 50. They will be solidifying their understanding of the value of these numbers by sorting them, counting forward and back, partitioning and finding one more and one less than a number. Children will also look at addition and subtraction using concrete and pictorial resources. The children will explore the value of money. They will be looking at length and height as well as weight and volume, measuring in standard and non-standard units.

Reading

The children will continue to read books appropriate to their phonic stage with adults throughout the term. This will usually be on a one to one basis or within a lesson as a shared read. They will also be exposed to engaging texts by being read high quality texts on a daily basis. They will have the opportunity to read for pleasure by having access to a wide range of books in their class reading corner and having regular opportunities to use it. They will be taught word-reading skills daily in phonics lessons and reading will be integrated into other subjects, such as reading about events and important people in history and becoming familiar with different types of book, such as atlases in geography lessons. This will give children the opportunity to practise their decoding, fluency and comprehension skills in a meaningful way throughout the day. We will also continue to spend time working exclusively on the children’s inference skills in short regular sessions this term, encouraging pupils to back up their thoughts with evidence from images or text.

Phonics*

We will continue to work on the children’s ability to recall the different sounds up to and including Phase 5 in daily phonics sessions. The children will be identifying, using and applying these sounds throughout the day in reading and writing tasks. They will be learning how to blend in order to decode words and to segment in order to spell words in their writing. The children will explore and learn to spell tricky words that cannot be sounded out. All year, the children are supported to learn to read and spell high frequency words. 


RE

This term the children will be exploring different religious beliefs and beliefs in God. The Children will look at three of the world religions: Sikhism, Hinduism and Christianity. They will explore their different beliefs in God. They will also look some of the religious stories from these religions including the Christian story of Adam and Eve.
During the term the children will also learn about the religious festival of Holi and towards the end of the term Easter.

PSHE/RSHE

In PSHE this term, the children will be learning about the different communities they belong to. They will learn about people who live in the community and their different needs and how we care for different living things, such as animals. They will also look at how people have different strengths, interests and jobs within the community. This topic will also lead on to how people within a community use the internet to find out information and how we can look after our area by recycling.
In the second half of the term the children will build on the media literacy skills and understand how to use computers safely.

PE

In PE lessons this term, the children will be becoming dancers. They will be observing, exploring and describing different movements. The children will be listening to the beat and the rhythm of the dance to support their movements as well as learning to turn, jump and move to the music. They will be exploring how to make different shapes with their bodies and how to work with a partner to create a short sequence of movements. They will develop their artistry techniques using their bodies to move in a variety of ways.

Science

In Science this term, the children are going to explore materials. They will identify and name a variety of everyday materials, such as wood, plastic and glass. They will look at the physical properties of different materials and conduct experiments to see whether a material is absorbent and floats or sinks. The children will then revisit their learning on seasons exploring the changes that have taken place over the last few months. They will make observations and record their findings as well as going on a ‘Spring Walk’ in the local area to observe these changes.

History

For the first half of the term the children will be exploring toys past and present within our topic ‘Toys in the Attic’. The will compare toys old and new and create a timeline of toys showing how toys have changed. The children will have opportunities to ask older members of our community what the toys they used to play with were like and the materials they were made from. The children will have opportunities to play with some of the older toys and even make their own simple toy in Design & Technology.
In the second half of the term we will be exploring heroes throughout time. The children will look at Florence Nightingale and begin to understand the impact she has had on nursing in modern times. They will do this by exploring a range of historical sources to gather information about Florence Nightingale.


Geography

Geography this term will closely link with our science topic of Seasonal changes.

Music

In music lessons, the children will be learning about beat, ostinato and pitched/unpitched patterns. They will be exploring chants through football, learning to echo sing, compose short word patterns and playing a percussion ostinato. They will look at pitched and rhythmic patterns. This will culminate in the children performing their own chant in a small group.
In the second half of the term the children will explore the music from Benjamin Britten specifically ‘Dawn’ from Sea Interludes. They will listen to music inspired by the sea and create a moving, musical picture.

Computing

This first half of the term will see children developing their photography skills by taking pictures of their favourite toys. They will learn how to use a device to take pictures and begin to consider focus and composition. In the second half of the term, the children will be using the internet to research Florence Nightingale and find out facts about her. They will also learn about how to conduct this search safely and the importance of online safety.

Art, Design & Technology

In Design & Technology this term, the children will be making a cup and ball toy with a moving part. The children will also have access to a wide variety of junk modelling materials to make and create their own toys as well as being inspired by a sculptor’s art work to create their own sculptures. 
In Art, the children will be painting their own superhero as well as drawing a front cover for a superhero story. They will look at a variety of examples to inspire their own superhero story covers. 


* * To teach phonics in Key Stage 1, we use the Twinkl Phonics scheme and Rhino readers. These are organised systematically and carefully matched to the child’s phonic stage, to ensure that all of our children develop the skills they need to become fluent and confident readers.


**To teach reading in Key Stage 1, the children learn the sounds they need to decode words and read texts that are linked closely to their phonic knowledge. Alongside daily phonics sessions, the children participate in guided reading sessions to focus on their comprehension skills. They are encouraged to become reading VIPERS and focus on the key objectives of Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval and Sequencing. We read the children a wide selection of engaging and entertaining real books to inspire in them a love of reading and develop their language and understanding.


*If you require additional information relating to our school curriculum, please ask at the school office or the class teacher.

TopTips

  • Read, read and read!
  • Share books with your children- you read to them, they read to y
  • Discuss books and stories — characters, events, endings etc.
  • Make suggestions for a different ending, new character etc
  • Join the local library & encourage your child to choose their books— this helps to develop preferences etc.
  • Don’t forget rhymes and poems!
  • Encourage your child to write shopping lists, notes, postcards, diaries.
  • Encourage correct letter formation — this will help with cursive writing later.
  • Play I spy using phonic/sounds- don’t forget endings!
  • Practise reading and spelling keywords.
  • Have fun!