Class Teacher: Mrs Marshall

Teaching Partners:  Mrs Chilton

Learning Support Assistants: Mrs Whiting, Mrs Thurman and Mrs Mulligan

 

Welcome to Year One!   

Our class page is your go-to place for all of the key information about our learning journey together this year. The team can't wait to support your child's progress and learning this year, where we will be exploring lots of exciting new concepts and skills as they navigate their first full year at primary school!  

Please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Marshall with any questions or queries. 

 Our Timetable - Autumn Term 

Please note that our PE day is on a Thursday afternoon with the KS1 Team. Please come to school dressed in PE kit on these days. Earrings and other jewellery should be removed for PE and hair tied back where possible. 

PE Kit includes: 

• Red or dark PE hoodies,  black or grey tracksuit trousers or shorts (unbranded) 

• Black, grey or white trainers 

• Zip-up sports jackets are suitable for colder weather. 

Curriculum Overview

Autumn Term 1:

• English: We will be learning how to write lists and add captions. We will be exploring  character descriptions and coming up with alternative endings to stories. Our class texts will be Someone Just Like Me by Helen Docherty and Puffin Peter written by Petr Horacek.
• Grammar: Learning how to be ready to write and how to punctuate sentences.
• Maths: Place Value to 10 and Addition and Subtraction within 10
• Science: Identifying and recognising Seasonal Changes and how we adapt.
• Geography: What is it like here? Local study exploring maps and directions.
• Art: We will learn about primary and secondary colours and use a variety of tools and materials to create field pictures inspired by the artist Mark Rothco.
• Computing: Mouse and Keyboard Skills and E-Safety – Self Image and Identity
• Music: We will be learning about Pulse through exploring sound and singing songs and learning how to follow a simple score and keep in time.
• Physical Education: Teaching key fundamental skills in coordination focussing on footwork, static balance on 1 leg and Gymnastics exploring shape through floor and apparatus.
• Religious Education: Exploring the question: Who do Christians say made the world? Harvest Festival Celebrations.
• Relationships, Sex and Health Education (including Economic Education): Year 1 will be learning how to recognise and look after our emotions.

Autumn Term 2:

• English: We will be reading and writing our own recipes using the stimulus of the Gruffalo Crumble Recipe book and reading, writing and performing our own Traditional Tales based on The Three Billy Goats Gruff.
• Grammar: We will learn about word classes and how to recognise and use capital letters.
• Maths: Addition and Subtraction and Shape
• Science: Identifying, sorting and testing the properties of Everyday Materials
• History: Learning about the causes and events of The Great Fire of London
• DT: Exploring Stable Structures – making Pen Pots.
• Computing: Digital Art and E-Safety – Online relationships
• Music: we will be learning about rhythm through exploring sound and singing songs and learning how to follow a simple score and keep in time.
• Physical Education: Teaching key fundamental skills through seated balance work, exploring travel in Gymnastics and learning how to jump and land and transition from a balance to travelling.
• Religious Education: Responding to the question: Why does Christmas matter to Christians? We will also be re-enacting the events of the birth of Jesus through our KS1 Nativity Performance. 
• Relationships, Sex and Health Education (including Economic Education): Year 1 will be learning how to connect with others and how to help ourselves and others feel happy and safe? 

We love learning in a fun, interactive way and try to get outdoors as much as possible so please send your child with a warm waterproof coat and a change of footwear as the seasons change. 

Homework

Phonics: 

Each week ebooks and interactive games will be uploaded to your child’s Bug Club account. Playing these games and reading along with the read to me option will significantly improve your child’s fluency, recognition of high frequency words and will help to consolidate the sounds and spellings taught that week. Other homework or flashcards may be sent home to practise a concept or high frequency words the children have been learning that week.  

Maths: 

Involving your child in helping to pair socks, cut up fruit into equal pieces or to count out objects are easy practical ways to support your child with building confidence with number and counting. Playing board games with a dice is really beneficial in recognising numbers in different formations, (which is known as subitising.) Games such as snakes and ladders where they are required to go forwards and backwards helps them to be able to count reliably. Knowing one more and one less is a key concept which can easily be built into every day routines. Talking to your child about time (e.g we need to clean our teeth for two minutes – that’s how long it takes to sing happy birthday twice through) and referring to the time on the clock or on a watch when it is time to leave for school or to go to an after school club really helps to lay those important mathematical foundations. Top Marks is an excellent website which has a great resource bank of interactive games to practise key skills. I have also included a copy of the key concepts covered in maths in each year group below for reference. 

Reading:

Year 1 is a pivotal year for developing reading fluency as your child makes the transition from learning letter sounds to applying their phonics knowledge which will allow them to move from de-coding to reading fluently. To do this requires a vital partnership approach between home and school. We therefore ask that you aim to read with your child, ideally daily for a few minutes or at least three times a week and to record this activity in their reading diary.  

Your child will be given a decodable book which contains the sounds that your child knows so that they can access this book independently and a reading for pleasure book. Books will be changed on a weekly basis by Mrs Chilton and as the year progresses pupils will be taught how to change their own colour coded books. Please note that children are encouraged to read these books at least three times before being changed. Re-reading a text will enable your child to practise reading fluently with expression and automaticity which can only be done once they are familiar with the text. We actively encourage pupils to choose library books that interest them both in school and at home and to read as widely as possible, in order to broaden their vocabulary and to build up a store of amazing ideas to use in their own writing. (Please can we ask that books are stored separately to water bottles to avoid leakage.) 

Pupils can earn their Reading Fluency Passport by completing a half termly reading challenge at home designed to involve parents and carers in your child’s reading journey and promote a Love of Reading at home as well as at school. We would encourage you to make your passport into a celebration of reading with photographs, book reviews, evidence of trips to the library, and photos of all the wonderful places you have enjoyed reading a book. We would love to share videos of you completing your reading challenges. 

Key Stage One: 

Autumn 1: Share a favourite picture book and enjoy taking it in turns to tell the story.  

Autumn 2: Reading with expression. Try changing your voice to match the characters in your book and bring your story to life by changing your volume and delivery. Traditional tales work well such as The Three Little Pigs or Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson 

Spring 1: Paired Reading: Visit your local library and enjoy new books together. 

Spring 2: Family Sing along -Join in with action rhymes or nursery rhymes.  

Summer 1: Pick a poem and perfect your phrasing. Decide which words to emphasise, where will you change the volume of your voice and where you can add actions, costumes, puppets or props. Send in a video of your performance or take your Chance to Shine. 

Summer 2: Beat the clock: Practise reading phrases to improve your sight vocabulary and fluency. 

 

The following links offer guidance on age appropriate books to read with your child. 

Top 100 lists here: https://www.thereaderteacher.com 

 Top 50 lists here: https://www.booksfortopics.com/ages/) 

Key Dates

Parent-Teacher Meetings:

We offer these termly, dates are included on our weekly newsletters.  

Communication 

 You can contact Mrs Marshall via the contact form (see right panel at the top of the page) or via school office (office@archbishopcranmer.notts.sch.uk or schooladmin@archbishopcranmer.notts.sch.uk). 

Please note our open door policy and do not hesitate to contact myself, Mrs Marshall, with any questions or queries – however big or small. I will respond to any emails and am available at the end of each school day if you would rather talk face to face.

Throughout the academic year new information, key dates and resources to support your child's learning journey are added to our class page so please visit us regularly, and follow our Instagram feed to see what we are up to. 

Useful information:

• Our PE lessons will continue to take place on Thursday afternoon where pupils will take place in a carousel of activities. We would ask that all pupils come to school in their P.E. kits on this day. Our PE will take place outside whenever possible so please ensure that your child has suitable clothing for the changing weather. We also want to utilise our wonderful outdoor area as much as possible so if you are able to make sure your child has a pair of wellingtons and a waterproof coat and/ trousers so that we can go outside all year round. As the weather can still be very hot in September please make sure your child is sun safe by applying sun cream and sending them to school with a refillable water bottle. Please ensure all clothing and footwear is clearly named as it is much easier to return items to their rightful owner at the end of the day. 
• Please may we remind parents to discourage children from bringing toys or personal belongings into class - they can get lost or broken and act as a distraction during valuable learning time.
• Chance to Shine: we love to celebrate your child's talents and achievements by giving them the opportunity to talk about what they have been up to in class. Please refer to the Chance to Shine Timetable to see which dates have been allocated to your child. Please feel free to upload photographs or video clips of your child's latest achievements, new skills, sporting prowess or hobbies on Class Dojo so we can showcase their achievements and adventures and celebrate with them.
• Come and join us: We love to share our learning journey with you and the children love to welcome visitors into our classroom and so if you are a parents or grandparent who can spare an hour or two to help with reading or to share memories of your school days then please contact Mrs Marshall who would love to hear from you.
• As always if you have any queries or concerns I am always available at the end of the school day or feel free to drop me an email or give me a ring.