In Year 1 we cover a range of both fiction and non-fiction texts. We use high quality texts to develop our writing skills. Children will have the opportunity to write letters, guides to different planets, rhyming poems, instructions, recounts and short narratives. Children learn what a good piece of writing looks like with our ‘What A Good One Looks Like’ WAGOLL examples. They then build up to writing their own independent piece.
We work very hard in Year 1 on what a good sentence looks like, focusing on sentence structure and punctuation. We use the Punctuation Pirates to help us know where capital letters and full stops should go.
We practice spellings every day in school using a variety of methods. Our aim is for the children to apply their spellings in their writing. Weekly spelling tests take place every Friday. An overview for each term can be found in the back of your child’s reading record along with the test results.
Each child has their own reading book for Phonics. We read daily as a class and our focus is on the understanding of texts. These texts are linked to other subjects within the curriculum. We challenge the children to answer questions to demonstrate their knowledge. We use the library to promote a love of reading and encourage families to enjoy sharing stories together. and this will be reintroduced as the impact of the pandemic lessens.
Over the course of the year, we will be developing our addition and subtraction skills through practising with practical resources such as Numicon and Base 10. Once we are secure in this and have a solid understanding, we will continue to develop these skills by moving on to answering addition and subtraction word problems. We learn our addition and subtraction number bonds to 10 and 20.
We will be moving onto other operations, such as multiplication and division and practising these skills using arrays and sharing.
We learn about place value and use concrete resources such as Arrow Cards and Base 10 to support our understanding.
It would be very helpful if you could continue to practise number formation with your child as well as practising counting in 2’s and 10’s.
Please ensure your child comes to school in P.E kit and that they have appropriate clothing for the colder weather. We ask that children wear non branded clothing in plain dark colours.
Reading daily is a priority. As always, any concerns please communicate with your child’s teacher.
Children should read out loud daily to an adult or older sibling. When reading, it’s important to help children with vocabulary they are unsure of, and ask questions about the text, such as who the characters are, what the setting is and anything about it they find interesting.
Homework grids will be shared on Class Dojo and on the Website each week.
