Travis St Lawrence CE Primary School

Year One

A warm and smiley welcome to Year 1! We have two year one classes who love to learn through exploring, play and challenge. Mrs Gill teaches in Station Class and Mrs Charlesworth in Manor Class. Our year group teaching assistants are Mrs Baker and Mrs Sharpe.

Year 1 is a transition Year as the children move from Foundation 2 and the Early Years Curriculum into Key stage 1 where the National Curriculum is taught. A variety of approaches to learning are used in Year 1 to deliver the curriculum and the children experience a combination of play based learning experiences as well as more structured lessons as they build up their stamina for learning.

First hand experiences are important in Year 1 and wherever possible the children are provided with practical experiences that support their learning and development and opportunities to talk about and explain their thinking. Whether that is during maths lessons using equipment to show their understanding, singing rhymes that help maths recall or dramas and role play in English.

In Year 1, the children will develop confidence in a wide range of activities including lots of opportunities to develop speaking and listening, storytelling. In science they will take part in lots of practical activities that enhance learning through science investigations, exploring their senses and finding out just how amazing their bodies are.

They will learn about changes over time looking at the development of toys from now and then.

During the second half of the autumn term they reflect on the Christmas story and the importance of the symbols of light that appear throughout this story. The Year 1 children lead a Christingle Service for the lower school and share their understanding and message of the Christingle.

In spring, the children will find out about our school and local area in geography. They will learn about where we live in relation to the rest of the country. They find out about the parts of the United Kingdom, it’s capital cities and landmarks that are associated with them. In history they develop an understanding of castles and why they are an important part of our countries past, taking part in an educational trip to Conisbrough Castle.

The summer term provides the opportunity for the children to develop their understanding of plants, through planting seeds and watching how they grow and change over time. They will learn about the features of animals and use this understanding to group animals into fish, amphibians, mammals, birds and reptiles. We will learn about Grace Darling in history and find out what she did that made her such a hero.

Year 1 is a fun year where we encourage children to develop their independence and a love of learning through first hand practical experiences.

Reading

Please try to read with your child at least three times a week and record it on the Boom Reader app. This can be the school banded book or a book from home. It is important to check that, as well as becoming more fluent, the children understand what they are reading, especially as they begin to read longer and more complex books. This can be done by discussing the book afterwards, or during reading. Talk about the characters, setting or main events. Encourage children to develop empathy by focusing on characters' emotions and motivations.

It is important that your child has their reading book in school every day so that adults within school can also read with them. In school it is our aim that each child reads with a school adult once a week and we ask that at home reading is valued and a high priority too. Regular reading is rewarded each term and weekly reads are displayed on our reading race tracks in the class rooms.

We encourage a love for reading and aim for our children to be lifelong readers. The children are encouraged to read and enjoy the books in our book area within the school day. Children are welcome to bring their own reading book from home as long as it is of an appropriate level for them to read and enjoy independently. Children will be able to change their reading books each week.

Spellings

During Year one we focus particularly on reading and spelling the common exception words for Year 1 set out in the curriculum. These can be found below. Children are assessed on spelling these words termly and we encourage you practise spelling them at home once children can read them.

Spellings are best worked on little and often: 5 or 10 minutes every day is more beneficial than one long session. It is also very helpful if you can encourage your child to apply the spellings in context by writing a few sentences using these words and, of course, using new or unfamiliar words in conversation.

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