Welcome to Year 1

We are so excited to welcome all of the children to year one. We have so many fantastic topics to look forward to. Classes 3 and 4 are going to have a brilliant year!

Meet the Team for

2023-24

On a Tuesday, Mrs Pile will be teaching our Jigsaw (PSHE) lessons and Mrs Maker will be teaching our Art lessons.

Key Information 

PE Uniform days Summer 1:

Please send your child to school wearing the appropriate PE kit on PE days (please take into consideration the weather).

Monday - Indoor

Wednesday - Outdoor

Supporting your child at home

Reading

The most important thing you can do with your child is listen to them read and find the time to share books together. Below you can find the video links to all of the sounds covered in the rocket phonics books. As a guide, your child should be on yellow books in the Autumn term and green or orange books by the end of the summer term. Please also find a document with the common exception words below.

An introduction to phonics and the alphabetic code - 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyGQY_GHtoQ 

Pink A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX7dmuB4fNg&list=PLkCyTyvoxZztJbDs1Sp3-9MoywMKBhhwp&index=1

Pink B

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_HW2_Y5OEE&list=PLkCyTyvoxZztJbDs1Sp3-9MoywMKBhhwp&index=2

Red A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xIkatg0YIA&list=PLkCyTyvoxZztJbDs1Sp3-9MoywMKBhhwp&index=3

Red B

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZrP6Z-Kahw&list=PLkCyTyvoxZztJbDs1Sp3-9MoywMKBhhwp&index=4

Yellow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf0pWl_Joj8&list=PLkCyTyvoxZztJbDs1Sp3-9MoywMKBhhwp&index=5 

Blue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuPUrPNrhOg&list=PLkCyTyvoxZztJbDs1Sp3-9MoywMKBhhwp&index=6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuPUrPNrhOg&list=PLkCyTyvoxZztJbDs1Sp3-9MoywMKBhhwp&index=7

Green

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJKxyNkr9MM&list=PLkCyTyvoxZztJbDs1Sp3-9MoywMKBhhwp&index=8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox31Y7HX9D0&list=PLkCyTyvoxZztJbDs1Sp3-9MoywMKBhhwp&index=9

Orange

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bL3C8EGuk0&list=PLkCyTyvoxZztJbDs1Sp3-9MoywMKBhhwp&index=10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bL3C8EGuk0&list=PLkCyTyvoxZztJbDs1Sp3-9MoywMKBhhwp&index=11

Maths

In year 1 we really embed the basics to become confident in all areas of maths. We are beginning to use Key Instant Recall Facts (KIRFs) to ensure your child has speedy recall of essential maths facts. Your child should know them quickly as they will help them in all areas of maths. Please find the KIRFs for year 1 below with some helpful hints. In the Autumn term we are focussing on knowing our numbers to 10, their value and how to write them in numerals and words.

Week 2

22.04.24

We have had a lovely week in Year 1! 

In our maths we have been learning to count in 2's, 5's and 10's, the children have done so well! Please keep practising this at home as it will help the children to memorise the numbers.

In our literacy, we drew our text map for our instructions. We also looked at 'bossy verbs', we had a great time looking for lots of bossy verbs around our Year 1 learning area. It was fun to use these bossy verbs to tell each other what to do!

In our phonics we have looked at the letters 'se' making the 's' sound (as in house) and 'ea' making the 'e' sound as in (bread). We also practised our common exception words 'one', 'some' and 'said'.

In our RE learning, we learned about Jesus 'calming the storm'. In our computing, we practised turning on and off the computer and being able to type our own names on microsoft word. In PE, we developed our football skills and moved our bodies in dance to show how a beanstalk would grow.

Week 1

15.04.24

Welcome back Year 1! It has been so lovely to see you all again after the Easter holidays.

We introduced our new topic 'Grow Your Own' with our WOW day, the children did an amazing job at producing their own sunflowers inspired by Vincent Van Gogh. We also designed and made our own fruit salads - they were so yummy! We then ended the day with a fieldwork challenge where we used a map of the school to help us find some important vocabulary!

In our maths we have been learning about capacity, we predicted and measured the capacity of different objects. In our literacy we have been learning to write a poem all about Spring, we used our 5 senses to help us. In Science we planted our our bean, we can't wait to see it grow!

We started our PE with some football this half term so we can develop our ball skills.

Summer 1 - 

In Summer 1 we will be learning about different plants and trees.  Our literacy text is 'Jack and the Beanstalk' and in maths we will be working on numbers to 100. We will also be learning to count in 2's, 5's and 10's! 

Please take a look at our knowledge organiser for this half term below.

Week 6

25.03.24

A very busy and fun filled week!

We finished off our DT project with Miss Agyakwa - we hope you love the treehouses!

In maths, we have been measuring weights using the balance scales and the vocabulary heavier and lighter.

In our phonics, we have begun 'orange' sounds starting with the alternative soft 'c' sound eg (city). 

In our writing we have performed poems thinking about our expression and actions to engage our audience.

The children produced some beautiful topic double page spreads to celebrate their learning this topic. On the last day of term Year 1 made us proud with a super visit to the library. One child said "this is the best day ever".

We also had our reward time for earning 100 proud points and finished the day with our OPAL play afternoon.

Week 5

18.03.24

What another fantastic week we have had!

We gathered all of our penguin facts to help us write a non-chronological report. We used question marks, adjectives and joining words to make our sentences exciting. In our maths, we have been learning how to measure using a ruler and we have been practising our measuring by finding the height and length of different objects. We also learned that cm means centimetres. In our phonics, we learned that the 'augh' can make the 'or' sound as in 'daughter'.

As part of our DT project we added cladding to our treehouses and painted them to make them unique. In our PE, we developed our tennis and gymnastic skills. 

In our Geography, we learned the four countries that make up the UK and we learned about the capital city of England. We really enjoyed looking at the different landmarks in London and finding out what they look like.

Thankyou so much to those who attended our parent workshop! It was so fabulous to see you collaborate with the children and come up with some amazing structures.

Week 4

11.03.24

We have had a very fun week in Year 1!

On Monday as part of our DT project we continued with the building of our treehouses. We also experimented with paper to see how we can make it stronger.

The children have worked really hard this week with their Spring assessments, we are very proud of their resilience! In our Geography we learned the points of a compass and how we can use them, we had a great time using the compass in the classroom trying to find where North is.

We had a really fun time on Friday taking part in our Red Nose Day activities, we took part in a fun run around school and an orienteering activity. It was so much fun trying to find the clues around our school.

Week 3

04.03.24

Another fantastic week in Year 1!

On Monday we started to build our own tree house. We learned about different foundations and how we can make our tree house nice and strong!

In our maths we have been finding one more and one less of numbers to 50! In our literacy, we have been learning lots of new facts about penguins! We have used this information to write all the facts we know about penguins whilst focusing on our capital letters, full stops and using the conjunction 'and'. 

In phonics we learned that the 'ore' and 'our' can all make the 'or' sound (as in snore and four).

We had a great time in our Geography lesson learning about the continent Antarctica, the equator and the North and South Pole. We listened to a story about the ice melting and we discussed ways to help our world!

We also had a fantastic time celebrating World Book Day! We got to search for our own sticks to make our own stick men with, we then used them to act out the story.

Week 2

26.02.24

What another fabulous week we have had in Year 1!

On Monday we started our new DT project - our focus this half term is different landmarks from around the world. We had a challenge to build the tallest freestanding tower out of straws and tape. It was tough but with some teamwork the towers turned out great!

In our maths we have been learning about numbers to 50, we have been learning how to partition these numbers and identify how many tens and ones make up a number. In our literacy, we have learned so much about wombats! We have used this information to create our own report that we got to perform to the class and we also got to write our text map. 

In phonics we learned that the 'ore' and 'our' can all make the 'or' sound (as in snore and four).

We had a great time in our Geography lesson learning about the weather in Australia and performing our own weather forecast - it was so fun to use the green screen! In PE, we have been practising our tennis and gymnastics skills. 

Week 1

19.02.24

What a fun week back we have had!

We had a great day on Wednesday where we 'flew' to Australia as part of our WOW day. We got to decorate some biscuits, look at Australian objects, listen and find out more about different Australian animals, make our own Aboriginal Art and even look at (and play) a didgeridoo!

In our maths we have been learning about our number bonds to 20, we had a go at making these with numicon. In our literacy, started looking at our new text which is a non-chronological report about wombats!

In phonics we learned that the 'ere' 'ear' and 'are' can all make the 'air' sound (as in where, bear and care).

Parent Workshop

9th February

Thankyou to those of you who came to our creative parent workshop. The children were really excited to show off all of their creative projects. We are very proud of the work they have produced this half term and we can not wait to see what they will produce next half term!

Week 5

05.02.24

What a fantastic, busy and fun filled week we have had!

We started the week creating our class collaborative story, we came up with so many ideas which we then drew to make the story for our very own crankie.

Then all of the toys from our classroom went missing! We came into school on Tuesday and saw a 'lost toy' poster. Luckily we managed to find the toys apart from one - Jigsaw Jack! It was then our job to create a missing poster for Jigsaw Jack. Finally, thanks to our amazing posters Mrs Kelly was able to find Jigsaw Jack and he is now safely back in our classrooms! In maths we have been practising subtracting numbers within 20, we have used lots of different methods to do this to become more confident with taking away. In our phonics we have learned that the 'eer' and 'ere' can make the 'ear' sound (as in deer and hear). We also learned that 'ear' and 'or' can make the 'ur' sound (as in earth and world). In our indoor PE lesson we started to learn the rules of the game dodgeball. We had a go in small groups and had lots of fun playing the game together.

We have also loved seeing the creative homework that your children have brought into school - they should be very proud of what they produced!

Week 4

29.01.24

What a fun filled week we have had!

We started our week finishing our moving toys in DT, we are really pleased with what we have made and can not wait to show parents our creations next week. 

In our maths we have been learning how to add numbers within 20, we have used lots of different methods for this such as using a number line, counting in our head and with our fingers and adding numbers together by drawing circles. In our literacy we have been writing our 'losing toy' story and we have worked very hard on making sure our sentences have capital letters ad full stops. We also got the chance to practise our speaking and listening skills - we had some great discussions!

In our computing lessons we had a go at trying to program our Beebot to move to a certain position on the map, it was tricky but we did not give up! In PE we learned how to shoot a ball with a hockey stick and also had lots of fun playing some indoor games with beanbags. We had lots of fun in our science lesson looking at and identifying the different materials toys can be made from, we also had a look around the classroom to see if we could identify any of these materials!

Week 3

22.01.24

At the start of the week we started to create our making toys, we had a fun time designing what our moving toy would look like. We also refined our split pin and lever skills by making another design with two squirrels.

In our maths we have been learning more about our numbers to 20 and have been practising finding one more and one less of a number. In literacy we created our own 'losing story' and planned our own story about our toy going missing. In phonics this week we have practised a lot of our common exception words and learned that the 'au' can make the 'or' sound as in 'astronaut'. In PE, we have had a great time practising our hockey skills, learning how to dribble the ball and pass it to a partner. In music we had a great time playing the glockenspiels! It was so much fun trying to recreate the twinkly sounds along with the song we were learning. In our computing we looked at how BeeBots move and noticed how they only move a certain distance every time.

Week 2

15.01.24

We had a great start to the week continuing with our DT project, we made our own levers with split pins and card!

In our maths we have been learning more about our numbers to 20, we have been practising ordering and comparing numbers. In literacy we have been having lots of fun acting out the story Dogger and writing the story in our books. In phonics this week we have learned that the 'ou' can make the 'ow' sound as in 'cloud and the 'oy' can make the 'oi' sound as in 'toy.  In our computing we were human computers and practised using commands to give instructions. In PE, we have had a great time learning new hockey skills and have also worked super hard in some circuit style training.

Week 1

08.01.24

We have had a fantastic start back after the Christmas break. Children loved bringing their favourite toys to show and share with their friends and we also got to look at a variety of toys from the past and we discussed why they look different to our toys now. We kickstarted our DT project with our resident engineer - the children LOVED discovering how different toys move and we were really impressed with the curious questions children were coming up with. 

In our maths we have been learning about our numbers to 20, with a big focus on how many tens and ones make up a number. In literacy we have read our new text 'Dogger' and children have been writing their own story about losing a toy. In phonics this week we have learned that the 'er' and 'ir' and both make the 'ur' sound (as in herb and bird). In our computing we have started a new unit of learning based on robots, in our school we use 'Beebots'. The children were great at exploring how the Beebots work and how they can make them move using a command.

Spring 1 - A Toy Story

In Spring 1 we will be learning about toys from the past and how/why they have changed over time.  Our literacy text is 'Dogger' and in maths we will be developing our knowledge of numbers to 20. Children will be taking part in an exciting DT project with an engineer from the University of Nottingham where they will create their own moving toys. Our PE days will now be on a Thursday (outdoor) and Friday (indoor).

Please take a look at our knowledge organiser for this half term below.

Week 5

04.12.23

The children in Year 1 have worked very hard this week! In our maths we have been learning how to subtract numbers by drawing circles and crossing them out. In our literacy we have been planning our own story for Plop the owl and discussing which different nocturnal animals he could meet. In our phonics we have been learning the letters 'ue' can make the 'y-oo' sound as in 'argue' and that the 'ue' can also make the 'oo' sound as in 'blue'.

Week 4

27.11.23

Thankyou for taking the time to do the creative homework with your children, we have loved to see the different creativity!

In our phonics this week we have been learning that the split digraph u-e can make the (y-oo) sound as in 'cube' and we have also learned that it can make the (oo) sound as in 'flute'. In computing we had a great time using the iPads and computers to create our own sunflowers inspired by pointillism - it took a lot of patience and practise but it was worth it! We also had a fantastic time in our PE lessons this week, we learned lots of new dance skills and even started to learn a new dance. 

Week 3

20.11.23

What another great week we have had, it has been filled with lots of different learning. In our maths, we have been learning how to add numbers and have used lots of different methods to help us add numbers together. In our literacy, we have been writing about Plop the owl and how he was afraid of the dark - we used the class text map to help us. In our phonics, we have learned that the 'u' can make the 'y-oo' sound as in 'unicorn' and we have also learned that the 'u' can make the 'oo' sound as in 'pull'. We had a great time in our computing lesson learning about Henry Matisse and using his artwork to inspire our digital paintings using shapes and colours to create a pattern. Our science learning was very interesting as we learned what makes an animal a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore! In our RE lesson, we spoke about the celebration Diwali and made our own lamps.

*We have a workshop coming up on December 18th. Please see the letter that was sent out.*

Week 2

13.11.23

We have had a super week in Year 1! We have been learning our number bonds to 10 and practising different ways to help us remember them. In phonics we have learned that the 'y' can make the 'ee' sound as in 'happy', we have also learned that the 'ey' can make the 'ee' sound as in 'key'. In our literacy we have started to read 'The Owl Who Was Afraid Of The Dark', we have started to learn all about the owl Plop who does not like the dark! We had a lot of fun acting out the story and we really enjoyed being Plop. Please take a look at the creative homework letter in your child's bag, this is a project related to this story. 

In our computing we have created some amazing pieces of art work using digital lines and shapes, we were inspired by the artist Piet Mondrian. In our history learning we found out all about Guy Fawkes and why we still remember him now. We say "Remember remember the 5th of November" to help remind us of the date.

Week 1 

06.11.23

Welcome back everyone! 

What a busy week we have had, we kicked off our week with our WOW day. We had a great day discovering what our next topic will be about - The Night Adventure. We got to make our own sparklers which we really enjoyed!

In our maths we have been learning about 'part- whole models', we have been practising using them all week to help us with our addition. In our literacy we have been learning about poems, we then wrote our own fireworks poem! In phonics we have been learning that sounds 'oe' as in 'toe' and 'o' and is 'piano'.

In our Science lessons we had a great time learning about the different seasons, we discussed which season is our favourite and why. In our computing this week we used the iPads to create our own Bonfire scene, we tried hard to use different tools on the paint app and painted pretty fireworks.

The Night Adventure

Autumn 2

In Autumn 2 we will be learning about the important historical figure of Guy Fawkes. We will develop our understanding of animals, when they sleep and what they eat. Our literacy text is 'The owl who was afraid of the dark' and in maths we will be developing our knowledge of addition and subtraction. We will be inviting parents in to join us for a Happy Maths session which is a new initiative we will be taking part in. Our PE days will be changing - 

Outdoor PE - Wednesday

Indoor PE (dance specialist) Thursday

SUPER ME!

Here is our maths organiser for place value up to 10.

Week 7 

15.10.23

Our final week of the half term has been another busy one! In our literacy we have been writing our innovation story about Super Bat. In phonics we have learned about the o-e and ow digraphs for spelling the 'oa' sound in boat. In maths we have found out about how number lines help us to count. We reflected on our learning this half term in topic and celebrated our highlights including making our wormery, seeing the model skeleton and making braille. In art we learned how to thread a needle and used it to sew a simple stitch. We have loved using the Paintz App website in computing to paint pictures. On Friday everyone got to wear red to show 'racism the red card'. 

Week 6

09.10.23

This week in our writing we have been writing our 5 sentence stories all abut Superbee. In our maths, we have been learning how to order numbers and objects by size. We have been using the words greatest and smallest to help us order.  In our phonics, we have been practising blending and segmenting more of the 'i' family. We have learned the digraph 'ie' as in 'pie' and the 'y' as in 'spy'. In our Science, we sorted materials into categories by what they are made from. It was a great investigative lesson! We really enjoyed using the computers this week to develop our mouse and keyboard skills, we had a go at painting a picture of ourselves and typing our own name.

Another fabulous and full week of learning! 

Week 5

02.10.23

Another fantastic week in Year 1!

This week in our writing we have been planning our own 5 sentence stories about 'Superbee'. In our maths, we have been learning how to compare numbers with the symbols <, > and =. We have also been using the words 'greater than', 'less than' and 'equals to' to extend our maths vocabulary. In our phonics, we have been practising blending and segmenting more of the 'i' family. We have learned the split digraph 'i-e' as in 'time' and the 'i' as in 'child'. In our Science, we had lots of fun digging and searching for worms to make our own class worm world, we can not wait to see what the worms get up to! In our PE, we have been practising more of our ball skills and enjoyed the challenge of rolling different sized balls through targets. 

Well done for your hard work this week Class 3 and Class 4! 

Week 4

25.09.23

What a fabulous week we have had in Year 1! In our writing we have been using adjectives to desribe lots of different animals and objects. We have also used adjectives to write some great sentences about bees. In maths we have been learning to find one more and less of a number. In small groups with Miss Hillery, we were using cubes to help us show one more and one less. In our phonics we have been practising blending and segmenting the digraph 'ie' making the 'ee' sound eg. shield and 'ea' making the 'ee' sound eg. peach. In our RE learning, we have been learning about who cares for us and how we care for others. We also listened to the story of the Good Samiritan and The Lost Sheep and identified who cares for us and who we care for. In our PE lesson we did a great job at practising to stop a ball with the sole and insides of our feet.
We also ended the week with some Roy Lichenstein inspired Pop Art!
Well done for your hard work this week Year 1!
 

Week 3 

18.9.23

It has been another busy week in year 1. In our writing we have been building up our sentence writing skills. We have written some super sentences about Super Worm! In maths we have used tens frames to represent objects as numbers. In phonics we practised blending and segmenting the letter 'a' making an 'ai' sound e.g. in acorn and 'e-e' making the long ee sound in theme. In our afternoons we visited the computer suite to learn how to log on to the computers. For our science topic, we found out about what Braille is and tried to spell our own names in braille. We also did a fantastic investigation afternoon using all of our senses to see, hear, touch, smell and taste different things. Opinion is still divided on whether green or red apples taste the best. Well done year 1 for being such fabulous learners!

Week 2 

10.9.23

This week we have been busy bees and we have begun learning our maths and writing units. In literacy we have been performing Superworm, making text maps, writing labels and even independently writing about Superworm. In maths we have been finding out more about numbers to 10, how to write them and count them correctly. In phonics we have recapped the a family with the spellings 'ay' and 'a-e'. We learned how to write and spell 'come, do and so' as well. In topic we were wowed by the full skeleton model! It was a really amazing moment. We have been drawing around our classmates to label their body parts. In music we have been enjoying our musician of the month, Kate Bush! 

Week 1

04.09.23

What a fantastic start to Year 1 we have had!

Children have been excellent adapting to their new classrooms and moving around the school.

We have had a great few days getting to know our classroom and trying hard to complete different challenges.

We kicked off our topic 'Super Me' on Wednesday with our fantastic WOW day, Year 1 loved making their own superhero masks and superhero cuffs! We discussed what we will be learning in our topic this half term - we are very excited to make our own wormery!

We started phonics again this week and recapped the ph and wh digraphs. In our maths lesson we practised the correct number formation for digits from 0-9. We have been very impressed by how well year 1 can write their numbers! Everyone was assessed to check they have the correct book banded book and they then got to take home their new books.

Next week we are starting our literacy unit on Superworm so prepare to learn all about this superhero worm!