Year 1
Summer 1, 2026
Welcome back! We hope you had a lovely half term 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 - Who were Sir George Cayley and Robert Blackburn?
Our theme this half term will focus on developing our historical knowledge, skills, and vocabulary. Through our study, we will learn who the Wright brothers were and why they were significant in history. We will extend our learning by looking at who Sir George Cayley and Robert Blackburn were and what they invented.
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 – Somebody Swallowed Stanley
Our writing this half term will be based on the book Somebody Swallowed Stanley by Sarah Roberts. We will further develop our sentence structure and continue to focus on the use of capital letters, finger spaces, and full stops, as well as ensuring that sentences make sense to our reader. We will engage in a variety of writing opportunities, including writing a non-fiction fact file about sea animals.
This is a wonderful book that follows the cycle of a mysteriously individual jellyfish-like creature named Stanley as he travels through the ocean. As he meets other sea creatures, differences between him and them start to become apparent, like his two handles and colourful stripes. Various creatures swallow Stanley as he tenaciously continues on his journey until he is found by a human, on the shore, who chooses to put Stanley to much better use. A fun and brightly illustrated picture book with a clear message that plastic does not belong in the sea.
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 length and mass, fractions, and capacity and volume.
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 Summer 1. By the end of this half term, children should tell the time to the nearest hour and half past the hour.
If you have any questions about these areas of Maths, please do not hesitate to come and speak to us.
R.E - Believing & Belonging - 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 – Identifying plants and their parts
In our learning we will learn:
What wild and garden plants can we find around our school?
Wild and garden plants can be found around the school and locality, including flowering plants, and these can be identified and named.
What parts of a plant grow above the ground?
The names of the parts of a flowering plant that grow above the ground are the stem, leaf, and flower.
What part of a plant grows under the ground?
Roots grow under the ground and different plants have different roots.
Why are trees plants?
Trees are plants which have roots, stems, leaves and most have flowers. There are differences between deciduous and evergreen trees.
What are the similarities and differences between plants that have flowers?
There are similarities and differences between flowering plants.
Seasonal Changes
In our learning we will learn to:
Observe birds that visit our bird feeder
Art – Sculpture - Sir Christopher Wren
In our lessons, our learning will learn what a sculpture is and who Sir Christopher Wren was. We will develop our learning by looking at different types of Tudor houses. We will design our own Tudor house and have a go at making it. Finally, we will evaluate our final masterpiece, saying what we like about our sculpture.
Computing
Online Safety - Health, Well-being & Lifestyle
In our computing lessons this half term, we will learn about our health, well-being and lifestyle and how this links to staying safe online. We will learn to explain rules to keep ourselves safe when using technology, both in and beyond the home.
Coding
We will also be learning that a computer programs work by following instructions called code and we will use object and action code blocks to make a computer program. We will understand what an event is in coding, the purpose of an output and be able to ‘read’ code to find out what it does. To deepen our understanding, we will change aspects of the design view and plan and make a computer program.
P.E. – Ball skills
In PE, we will explore and develop our fundamental ball skills, such as throwing and catching, rolling and dribbling with both hands and feet. We will look to perform these skills with increasing control and accuracy using coordination and balance.
Our PE day is Monday. Please ensure that your child arrives at school in their PE kit with their correct (named) uniform in a bag to change into after our lesson. 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. - Fiver Challenge - Enterprise
This half term we will be learning about enterprise and creating a class product or service to sell at the Summer Fair. Year 1 will choose a product to make and will spend our £5 on resources. We will also choose a class shop name.
Music - Having fun with improvisation
Our music theme is having fun with improvisation. We will learn that improvising is fun! It’s an exciting activity where everyone is creating something new. It can be a melody or a rhythm. When we improvise, we can do it on our own or in groups.
We will:
Find and keep a steady beat
Keep a steady beat when improvising
Listen carefully and copy back the actions
Play or clap simple rhythmic patterns using long and short sounds
Clap three-beat rhythms, creating long and short sounds. Respond to the questions, thinking about the music
Respond to different high and low pitches. Improvise using one, two or three notes, using C, D and E
Enjoy some ‘Did You Know?’ facts about the song
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 your imagination. 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 in promoting 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 Westwood and Mrs Jones - LSA's