TheLittle Book of

Year 1

Welcome to Year 1 – The year of Curiosity

When your child starts Year 1 our focus is on settling them into their new environment and building relationships. We have an introduction week for the first week where we establish routines, expectations and will focus primarily on building a class community. Our main focus is ensuring your child has a smooth transition from Reception to Year 1. We will still focus on making sure your child feels safe, happy and excited about learning.

The Year 1 Curriculum

At Colyton Primary School, we believe in creating a curriculum, which is purposeful, personalised and engaging. Therefore, when we can, we teach the foundation subjects through topic-based learning.

Term Topic ScienceAutumn Transport – Wheels

Keep Turning and To The Moon and Back.

MaterialsForces

Spring Adventurers and Explorers – Our

Wonderful World

Living ThingsAnimals including

HumansSummer Local Study

What’s on our Doorstep and Oh I do

Love to be Beside The Seaside.

Plants

Throughout the year we will also take part in whole school activities e.g. RE Week, Take a Tale Week, Science Week as well as traditional seasonal celebrations such as Harvest, Christmas and Easter.

Year 1 Development

Physical Growth: At six, your child is entering a phase of relatively stable progress compared with the leaps and bounds of the early years. Physical growth will be slow but steady while the continual acquisition of new abilities gradually builds the skills that will eventually be needed in adulthood. During year one a child’s first tooth might be lost and their vision will be as sharp as an adults. An increasing body awareness and balance combines with improved coordination means that children can hop, skip, jump and walk more steadily on low walls or beams, catch a ball and ride a bike. Most children can distinguish between right and left and are honing their fine motor skills to grip a pencil correctly and write and draw quite detailed pictures. Children should be able to dress themselves independently and tie shoe laces and deal with other fastenings like buttons.

Emotional Development/Social Growth: For children of this age friendships start to gain importance and although year one children still like to play alone they increasingly socialise and interact with their peers in pretend play and games that involve cooperation with rules that need to be followed. At six a child can begin to see things from another person’s point of view and this skill will develop through the year which can be emotional at times.

Intellectual Growth: By year 1 speech should be fluent and intelligible with correct grammar. Children will be able to give their full name and Birthday and know where they live. They will recognise when a word is unfamiliar and ask endless questions soaking up vocabulary like a sponge. They will be able to tell a story clearly and predict when one event will follow another such as going to the park after school. They will have a good repertoire of rhymes, songs and jokes and be able to sight read at least 10 easy words. At the start of year one a child will have a good grasp of numbers up to 20 and by the end of the year they will have a secure concept of number and counting to and beyond 100.

Year 1 Day to Day

Each day starts with registration at 9.00am and looking at the visual timetable to see what is happening during the day. Following this we have challenge time. After the challenges there will be a literacy based learning input on the carpet, followed by related activities some of which will be play based. During the morning session the children will have a 15 minute break outside. In the afternoon we will have a maths input on the carpet followed by learning and activities individually and in groups. All children have both guided and independent session in all areas of learning throughout the week.

On Monday we have a morning assembly before break, on Tuesday a team assembly and singing assembly on Wednesday at the end of the day. At lunchtime there are several Midday Supervisory Assistants (MSA) who will support the children during the lunch break, which is 12pm until 1pm. All children will eat in the hall or outside if they have a packed lunch and the weather is good. The children can be outside for up to an hour so they do need to bring suitable clothing (i.e. coat or sun hat). At the end of the day teachers will send children to their grown-ups from the playground. If there are any changes in regular collection routines, we ask you to notify the class teacher or telephone the school office to let us know. Friday is our celebration Assembly at 9am and all parents are welcome to share in celebrating the week with us.

Monday – Introduce the learning objectives and text for the week.

Tuesday – Topic and Team Assembly

Wednesday – PE and Music

Thursday – Spelling Test

Friday – PE/Outdoor Learning and Celebration Assembly

Home Learning:At Colyton, we need and value the support that home learning can offer. It is the expectation that you will read with your child or listen to them ready daily. We have also set out key pieces of work that should be done at home with you:

- Reading; your child will have a reading book that can be changed each day if it has been read once at home and once at school and a parent or carer has signed to say it has been read at home in the reading diary.

- Maths Games and workshops; We will run parent workshops once a term with the aim of modeling strategies to support maths learning at home. We will send home games and activities on a two-weekly cycle to consolidate classroom learning but also to build fluency and enjoyment in maths.

- Number Facts and Times tables; As with spelling, learning these by rote can have a huge impact on speed and fluency of maths.

- Spelling; there is conflicting evidence about learning spellings by rote. However, linked with our teaching, the weekly spelling test does support children with their learning in phonics. You must practise these daily.

- Home Learning Grids; These will encompass learning around your child’s topic and will give you details about how you can continue their learning at home. Each term we will set a range of tasks that can be completed, all linked to our overarching topic. Projects will be celebrated and displayed at the end of each half term.

- Preview Tasks; Each week, we will communicate with parents via email. The weekly communication to you will be a ‘Round Up’ of the week just gone, but also a ‘Preview’ of the week to come. Alongside this information, we may suggest tasks and conversations that you can have at home that will prepare children for their learning or give them experiences that we can then build on in the classroom.

More importantly, we also feel that time spent together as a family is key. Sitting down to a meal together, playing outside after school, climbing trees, learning an instrument, talking about your day and just being a happy child.

Year 1 Class Author

The key author for Year 1 is Beatrix Potter

By the end of year 1 children should:

- Know who the key author for their year group is- Be able to name a range of books by their author- Start to discuss their favourite text written by their author- Know a brief biography of their author- Show a deeper understanding of one of the suggested texts - Understand the style of their author (what type of books they write)

Links to the New National Curriculum:- To become very familiar with key stories, fairy story and traditional tales, retelling

them and considering their particular characteristics.- To develop pleasure in reading, motivation to read, vocabulary and

understanding by: - listening to and discussing a wide range of poems, stories and

non-fiction at a level beyond that at which they can read independently - being

encouraged to link what they read or hear to their own experiences.

Suggestions for Key Texts:

- The Tale of Peter Rabbit- The Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck- The Tale of Two Bad Mice

Year 1 Class Artist

The key artist for year 1 is Vincent Van Gogh

By the end of Key Stage 1 children should: Pupils should be taught:

- Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences. - Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques. - Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and Design.- Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms

Our class artist will be Vincent Van Gogh!