Welcome to Year 1!

Our Year 1 classes are:

1JM - Miss McCracken (teacher), Mrs Kitson (TA), Miss Ainsbury (1:1 TA)

1AW - Miss Walker (teacher), Miss Freeman (TA), Mrs Hayward (1:1 TA)

1AS – Mrs Shepherd (teacher), Mrs Clarke (TA), Miss Cutts (1:1 TA)

Autumn Term

Me and My Town

Our topic for the first half term is ‘Me and My Town’. Through history, we will explore the local history of Bedworth. We will be researching Nicholas Chamberlaine and why he is so important to Bedworth and our school. We will compare the Almshouses from past to present. In geography, we will locate Bedworth on a map, and research the local area. We will read ‘Oliver and Patch’ by Claire Freedman and Kate Hindley to explore characters’ feelings about moving to a new town.

Wonderful Weather

In our ‘Wonderful Weather’ topic during the second half term, we will explore the different weather types and seasonal changes through science. We will become expert weather forecasters and will also create our own season tree calendar. We will explore work by the author ‘Shirley Hughes’ and there will be a focus on poetry. We will create our own poems about weather and learn nursery rhymes involving weather, for example incy wincy spider.

In maths, there is a strong focus on number and place value and addition using maths equipment within the classroom. We will focus on learning the number bonds within and to 10 and becoming sound with addition of numbers to 10. We will learn how to discuss our answers and explain the methods we use. We will continue to represent numbers in lots of different ways and work on improving our number fluency. We will build on our existing mathematical knowledge to explore addition and subtraction and will explore 2D and 3D shapes. We will move onto numbers within 20, focusing on place value talking about tens and ones.

In RE we will learn all about the creation story and discuss our own beliefs. We also learn all about the Harvest festival and what this time means to Christians, in class, through collective worship and through practising our Harvest assembly. In Autumn 2 our focus is Incarnation. We will begin the half term by observing Remembrance, talking about its importance and the children’s experience of it.  As we move through the term we will look at the Christmas story and discuss why Christmas is a special time for Christians.

In computing, we will begin the year naming the parts of a desktop and laptop computer. We will learn how to use a mouse and keyboard on a desktop computer, and practise these skills when entering text into a word document. After half term, we will be introduced to the online platform ‘Purple Mash’ and use our mouse and keyboard skills to create artwork, enter text and create pictograms on Purple Mash.

In music, we will continue learning about the characters in Stave House and use them to read standard notation on tuned and untuned instruments.

Spring Term

Moon Zoom

Within this half term the focus of our writing will be: full stops, capital letters, finger spaces, question marks, commas, conjunctions, adjectives and adding s and es onto words. We will focus on a text throughout the term, improving our inference skills to understand what characters are feeling at different points of the story and we will create lots of written work around this book. This term we will study science by researching the everyday materials. We will study the history of space travel, using the non-fiction book ‘The Usborne Book of The Moon’ and make their own timeline of these events. In Design Technology, we will design and make a moving slider picture of a space scene.

Enchanted Woodland

To engage us with this topic, we will be having a traditional tales dress up day where we will be exploring lots of different stories. Within this half term the focus of our writing will be; full stops, capital letters, finger spaces, retelling known stories, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, prefix- un and the suffix - ing, ed. We will study ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, ‘Hansel and Gretel’ and ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ looking at settings, characters and the features of traditional tales. Through science we will learn all about plants. We will identify and name British plants and trees including examples of deciduous and evergreen. We will plant our own beanstalk and observe its growth over time. Within art lessons, we will sketch plants that we will find in our school garden.

In maths over spring term we will be looking at addition and subtraction. We will then begin to explore numbers up to 50 and problem solve with these numbers. We will also be learning about measurements of length, height, weight and capacity.

In RE during spring term we will be looking at Gospel and the parables that Jesus told. We will focus our learning on the key Christian values including friendship, forgiveness and peace, and we will look at community projects that also follow these values. In Spring 2 we will learn all about Lent within class and assemblies. We will also learn the Easter story by eating hot cross buns, making crosses, acting out the story and writing the story. By the end of the term we will take part in an activity called ‘The Stations of the Cross’, which involves a walk around the school grounds learning about Jesus’ journey with the cross.

In computing, we will learn what an algorithm is and begin to think logically when writing their own algorithms. We will find out what is meant by a ‘bug’ and understand that if our algorithm has a bug, then it needs to be ‘debugged’. We will then apply this knowledge when writing simple algorithms to move a screen sprite through a maze in Purple Mash.

In music lessons, we will be exploring percussion instruments and creating our own compositions using both graphic and standard notation.

Summer Term

Adventures in London

This half term we will learn all about our capital city ‘London’ through the story of ‘Paddington’ by Michael Bond. We will be planning and having a teddy bears’ picnic where the children will bring in their own teddy bear. In geography, we will identify and locate the four countries of the UK and its features including the flag and flowers. We will look at the human features of London and be able to use a simple map to locate these. We will also learn about ‘Peru’ and describe its physical features before comparing it to our local area.

Paws, Claws and Whiskers

Throughout this term, we will research different types of animals and will write fact files about some of them. This learning will give us opportunities to explore non-fiction texts. We will also learn about different fables then learn and retell a modern fable, ‘A Crow’s Tale’ by Naomi Howarth. We will also learn about a variety of animals that are carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. We will learn to identify and classify animals (including ourselves) just like proper scientists. Through art we will create different patterns for different animals using different media. We will use our growth mindset to improve sketches of different animals.

In maths, we will be focusing on multiplication and division and simple fractions. We will also look at position and direction. We will focus on number and place value to 100, money and time. We will also revisit other the areas of maths we have covered through the year.

In RE, we will be looking at another faith – Islam. We will learn about what a Muslim is and what they believe. We will learn about a Muslim festival. In Summer 1 we will learn about faith communities and what it means to belong to one.

In computing, we will build on our understanding of algorithms and use block coding to begin coding simple programs that control a sprite. We will begin to develop skills in reading code line by line to predict what might happen and use this to help debug. We will also create our own animated story on Purple Mash using sound, text, pictures and animation features.

In music, we will be exploring the different instruments and their families. We will listen to and appraise a variety of different styles of music including ‘Carnival of the Animals.’

Key skills and activities that are important for you to support your year 1 child with:

• Building on their gross and fine motor to help strengthen them. Motor skills enable the movements and tasks we do everyday and learning these skills is a crucial part of child development. Fine motor skills are those that require a high degree of control and precision and use the small muscles of the hand or wrist (such as using a fork or crayon). Gross motor skills use the larger muscles in the body to allow for balance, coordination, reaction time, and physical strength so that we can do bigger movements, such as walking, running and jumping. Playing with Lego and climbing trees are examples of activities that support their motor skills development!
• Reading consistently – hearing your child read and asking them questions about the book at least 3x a week to build on their word reading and comprehension of a variety of texts, as well as reading to them.
• Forming letters correctly, making sure their letters start and finish in the right places.
• Adding and subtracting numbers within 10 and learning number facts to 10 such as the number bonds (0+10, 1+9, 2+8, 3+7, 4+6, 5+5) and doubles (1+1, 2+2, 3+3, 4+4, 5+5, 6+6, 7+7, 8+8, 9+9, 10+10).

From Your Year 1 Teachers 

We have had fun carrying out missions to build upon skills such as our teamwork, resilience, respect, empathy and communication.

We have enjoyed outdoor learning during Spring 2. We went on scavenger hunts using our magnet eyes to search for items exploring the world around us. We carried out activities such as building picture frames using sticks and ropes, creating faces using natural resources, making maps and building fires.

We loved our trip to The Mayor's Cafe in Bedworth park. We learnt all about the plants that they grow there to consolidate our learning on plants and we really enjoyed smelling all the different herbs - the lemon balm smelt delicious!