Year 1
Summer 1, 2024
Welcome back! 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 click on the link below to access our recent Year 1 Meet the teacher meeting.
Parent information and meeting
Please click on the links below to find out about how we teach Reading, Writing and Maths at Canon Popham C of E Primary Academy.
KS1 Maths Information For Parents 2022/2023
KS1 Reading Information For Parents 2022/2023
KS1 Writing Information For Parents 2022/2023
This term we are continuing to deliver a program to all year groups at school called myHappymind. myHappymind is all based around helping children to understand how their brain works and to support them in developing positive skills and habits to be their very best selves!
Please click on the link below to access an overview of what the program entails.
myHappymind Parent information
Please click on the link below to access resources regarding our recent Year 1 2024 Phonics Screen Check Parent Meeting
2024 Year 1 Phonic Screening Check Parent Meeting
Here is what we will be learning this half term:
Curriculum focus: History - What is 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 learn about Felicity Aston and what she achieved during her Antarctica exploration. Furthermore, we will learn about Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott, who took on the famous race to the South Pole, and find out which team of explorers won the race.
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 schools phonics page which you can access here.
English – Writing
Our writing this half term will be based on the book Somebody Swallowed Stanley by Sarah Roberts.
'Everybody has a taste for Stanley - and the other ocean creatures just keep mistaking him for a delicious treat - but this is no ordinary jellyfish. Most jellyfish have dangly-gangly tentacles, but Stanley has two handles...
Other jellyfish have a magical glow, but Stanley has stripes...'
This thought-provoking picture book follows the eventful journey of Stanley, a discarded carrier bag, who is swept into the sea. As he drifts through the ocean waves, he is mistaken for a jellyfish and swallowed by a series of unsuspecting animals.
In response to the text, we will engage in a variety of writing opportunities including character descriptions, instructional writing, letter writing, and non-fiction fact files about sea animals
Spelling
We use our Read Write Inc phonics knowledge to help us to spell when we are writing. There are some words that 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.
Handwriting
Our handwriting links to our Read, Write Inc learning. Each letter has a phrase which helps us to remember how to form the letters. You can find a copy of this here: sounds with handwriting phrase
We use a print style handwriting in year 1. Please try to encourage your child to use this when they are completing any written home learning tasks, ensuring letters are the correct size with clear ascenders (e.g. b, d, h) and descenders (e.g. g, j p).
Please click here to see the ascenders and descenders:
How to write letters
An ascender is the upwards part of a letter that exceeds the mean line of font and goes up to the top red line on our handwriting lines. They are used in handwriting and help to recognise letters. Examples of ascenders are uppercase letters and some lower case letters. The lower case letters that are ascenders are: ‘b, d, f, h, i, j, k, l, t’.
The opposite of an ascender is a descender, letters that have a portion of the letter going below the baseline, which is the lowest blue line on our handwriting lines. Descenders go down to the lower red line on our handwriting lines. The letters that are descenders are: ‘g, j, p, q, y’.
All the other letters ‘a, c, e, i, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, w, x, z’ sit between the two blue lines on our handwriting lines.
If you would like to use the handwriting lines which we use in school, these can be downloaded and printed here:
Maths
This half term we will be developing our knowledge of numbers 50 to 100 and beyond and addition and subtraction beyond 20, as well as exploring money.
We will continue to focus on knowing and remembering our Key Instant Recall Facts (KIRFs). More information about our school KIRFs can be found here Our Maths Page.
Please click on the link below for Year 1 KIRFs (Key Instant Recall Facts), we are currently working on Summer 1. By the end of this half term, children should know how to tell the time to the nearest hour and to the nearest half hour.
If you have any questions about these areas of Maths please do not hesitate to come and speak to us.
A booklet with number games to help practice and apply mathematical skills.
R.E. – Judaism - Is Shabbat important to Jewish children?
In RE, we will study Judaism and explore the question 'Is Shabbat important to Jewish children?' We will learn about Shabbat and what Jewish children do to celebrate this special time. We will understand that many Jewish children worship in the synagogue at Shabbat and make links to celebrations that are important to all of us.
Science – Animals (vertebrates)
In our learning we will learn to:
- identify and name a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals
- identify and name a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores
- describe and compare the structure of a variety of common animals including pets.
Art – Sculpture
In our lessons, we will discuss and explore different types of sculptures, including those by Sir Christopher Wren. We will develop our understanding that a sculpture can be a carving, model, casting or construction and can be made of different materials. Finally, we will have a go at creating our own sculpture.
Computing – Digital Imagery - Photo capturing and editing
In our computing lessons this half term, we will plan a pictorial story using photographic images in sequence and learn how to take clear photos using a device. We will then develop our learning by cropping, filtering, and resizing our photos, as well as searching for and importing images from the internet. We will also develop our understanding of what to do if something makes us uncomfortable online.
P.E. – Tennis
In PE our focus is Tennis. In this unit, we will focus on learning how to hold a tennis racquet, perform a forehand and backhand stroke, and return a ball with one of these strokes. We will also learn how to follow simple rules to play games, including team games.
Our PE day is Friday. 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. - Economic Education
In P.S.H.E. our focus is Economic Education. We will think about where money comes from and how it can be used. We will discuss the idea of spending and saving money and begin to understand why it is important to keep belongings, including money, safe. We will develop our learning by exploring the different things on offer when we go shopping and how we need to identify the difference between the things we want and the things we need.
Music - Having fun with improvisation
Our music theme is Having fun with improvisation. Improvisation is fun! It's an exciting activity where everyone can create something new. It can be a melody or a rhythm.
We will create our own rhythmic and melodic patterns and understand that rhythm is a pattern of long and short sounds creating a rhythm pattern and a pitch pattern.
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 Friday.
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 log in 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, Mrs Holmes, Miss Smith and Mrs Jones