Year 1
Spring 1, 2026
Welcome back! We hope you had a lovely Christmas break! We have lots of exciting learning planned for the next half term and we can't wait to get started.
Start time – 8:40am Pick-up time- 3:15pm
A fruit snack is provided every day for our Year 1 children. Alternatively, children may bring their own fruit (no bananas). Please ensure that your child brings a named water bottle to school each day and that sun cream is applied before coming to school. Also, please ensure all items of uniform are clearly labelled.
If you have any questions, concerns or worries, please contact me at year1@cpa.dsat.education, and I will do my best to respond as soon as I can.
Please follow the links below to view information meetings.
Reading Information Meeting 2025
Phonics Screening Check Parents meeting
"Picture News" is a UK-based educational resource that provides schools with weekly current affairs packs, featuring a relevant photo, a "big question," and teaching materials to help children discuss real-world events, develop critical thinking, and learn about British Values, respect, and empathy in an age-appropriate way, often linking home and school learning.
Purpose of our PICTURE NEWS assembly at Canon Popham:
To make the world more accessible and understandable for children.
To develop speaking, listening, and vocabulary skills.
To foster independence, drive, and a passion for learning.
To build empathy and teach children to find their own voice.
PICTURE NEWS is delivered in a whole school assembly once a week with a thought-provoking question by class teacher throughout the school year. Each week in assembly, the children learn about an exciting or important story that has been in the news. They consider their responses to the story and are invited to feedback their thoughts. They reflect on each story and learn how they relate to British Values and Protected Characteristics - Equality.
Each class will also take part in a weekly PICTURE NEWS assembly in their classroom.
Here is what we will be learning this half term:
Curriculum focus: History - What was the race across Antarctica?
Our theme this half term will focus on developing our historical knowledge, skills, and vocabulary. Through our study, we will learn that an explorer is someone who travels to new places to find out about them. We will extend our learning by looking at Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen as well as finding out who won the race to be the first to reach the South Pole.
English – Reading
As a school we follow the Read, Write, Inc programme to deliver our phonics teaching.
Please access the links below to learn how and why we teach phonics in our school.
What is Read, Write Inc Phonics?
We also have lots of information on our school's phonics page, which you can access here.
English – Get Writing
Our writing this half term will be based on further developing sentence structure and how to build a successful sentence. We will focus on the use of capital letters, finger spaces, and full stops, as well as ensuring sentences make sense to our reader.
Core Texts:
Our 2 stories to focus on for this half term are 'Max and the Tag-Along Moon' and 'The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark'. We will be learning new vocabulary within both of these stories.
Spelling
We use our Read Write Inc. phonics knowledge to help us to spell when we are writing. Some words do not follow our spelling rules and we just have to learn them. The link below shows the words which appear frequently in our reading and writing. Year 1 are working towards being able to read and write these words by the end of the year 1.
Maths
This half term we will be developing our knowledge of numbers within 20 and addition and subtraction within 20.
We will focus on knowing and remembering our Key Instant Recall Facts (KIRFs). More information about our school KIRFs can be found on our school maths page.
Please click on the link below for Year 1 KIRFs (Key Instant Recall Facts), we are currently working on Spring 1. By the end of this half term, children should know doubles and halves of numbers to 10.
Year 1 Spring Key Instant Recall Facts
If you have any questions about these areas of Maths, please do not hesitate to come and speak to us.
Please click the link below to access a basic PowerPoint presentation that supports children in recalling doubling and halving instant facts.
R.E. – What do religions/worldviews say about our wonderful world?
In RE, we will learn about the views of different religions/worldviews regarding the origins of the world and the place of human beings in it. We will focus on considering the ways in which religious and non-religious individuals and organisations show care and concern for our wonderful world.
Religions - Christianity, Islam and non-religious approaches to life, with some reference to Judaism, Sikhi and Buddhism.
Science – Properties and uses of materials
In our learning we will learn to:
● distinguish between an object and the material from which it is made
● describe the physical properties of a variety of everyday materials
● compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of their simple physical properties.
Seasonal Changes
In our lessons, we will learn to:
- Identify trees that shed their leaves in early winter and trees that do not shed their leaves in early winter
Art– Painting - Claude Monet
In our lessons, our learning will focus on how to mix primary and secondary colours. We will learn that tone is how light or dark a colour is, and that a tint can make a colour lighter or darker. We will look at the artist Claude Monet and develop an understanding that Impressionism is not like a photo but is just an impression of what we see, or the colours or shapes of things we see.
Computing
Online Safety - Online Bullying
In our computing lessons this half term, we will learn about online bullying. We will learn to describe how to behave online in ways that do not upset others and can give examples.
Creating & Following Instructions
In our computing lessons this half term, we will learn: To understand that an algorithm is a set of instructions, to follow and create simple instructions on a device, and to sequence algorithms that require a correct order.
Animated Stories
We will also learn to understand some differences between traditional books and digital books, to draw a character for a 2Create a Story digital book, to understand the difference between backgrounds and other objects on the screen in 2Create a Story and to add animation, text and sounds to objects in 2Create a Story.
P.E. – Dance
In PE, we will explore travelling actions, movement skills and balancing. We will understand why it is important to count music and use this in our dances. We will copy and repeat actions, linking them together to make short dance phrases. Children will work individually and with a partner to create ideas in relation to the theme and be given the opportunity to perform and provide feedback using dance terminology to do so.
Our PE day is Monday. Please ensure that your child brings their correct (named) P.E. kit to school on that day to change into after lunch. For health and safety reasons, please can children remove jewellery on PE day or provide plasters to cover earrings if this is not possible and ensure long hair is tied back away from the face.
P.S.H.E. - Physical Health & Wellbeing
In our learning, we will focus on the theme of Physical Health and Well-being. We will understand the elements of how to stay healthy through diet, sleep and brushing our teeth. We will identify the components of a balanced diet, understand what germs are and how they spread, and what we can do to prevent tooth decay. We will further develop our learning by identifying the common dangers at home and in the wider world.
Music - Exploring Sounds
Our music theme is Exploring Sounds. We will learn that music is made up of high and low sounds, long and short sounds, and loud and quiet sounds. We will explore these sounds and create our own very simple melodies.
NUMBOTs – Every day 10 minutes
NumBots is an on-line programme to boost addition and subtraction skills. It is available on a range of devices, you can play online at Numbots Game or download the Numbots app. Playing little and often will significantly improve your child’s recall and understanding of number bonds and addition and subtraction facts. These are critical foundations in maths so we are excited by the impact Numbots will have. In order to get the best out of NumBots children should regularly play for short bursts of time over the week. Children will receive a golden ticket for accessing their Numbots for 15minutes or more each week.
If you have misplaced your log in details or are having trouble accessing the website, please email me to let me know.
READING – Every day 10 minutes
Please continue to enjoy your reading each day. Reading is fun and a great way to spend time together with your family, as well as developing our imaginations. Encourage your child to talk about what they have read and ask them a question or two about the book. This will help consolidate their comprehension work in school. Adults, please remember to record what your child reads at home in their reading record. We will count all entries in the reading diaries and award golden tickets to those who have read 20 times or more in a month.
Please send your child's reading book and reading record to school each day. We love to hear the children read in school and this will support us to promote reading throughout the day.
Our book change day is Thursday.
OXFORD OWL – One book a week
Oxford Owl is an e-book library to boost reading skills. Once your book has been read, there is a short, fun quiz to complete afterwards. Children will receive a golden ticket for every book they complete. Click on the link below to access Oxford Owl.
Oxford Owl for School and Home.
If you have misplaced your login details or are having trouble accessing the website, please email me to let me know.
As always, thank you for your continued support with your child’s learning.
Mrs Slack - Teacher
Mrs Jones and Mrs Westwood - LSA's