Autumn Term

Welcome back. We hope you all had a lovely holiday and enjoyed some sunshine.  We are very much looking forward to an exciting year under our new head Mrs Helen Sutcliffe. We have lots planned already and hope to have a year with trips and celebrations that we can enjoy together.

Mrs Heap is the full time year 1 teacher, however we are very lucky to be joined by our trainee teacher Miss Kelly who will be with us Tuesday-Friday each week.  Mrs Heeley, who is well known to the children, will cover Mrs Heap’s planning time each week on a Wednesday afternoon. Support staff in class will be Mrs Brook (Monday, Tuesday and ½ day Wednesday) and Mrs Barwick (Tuesday-Friday). We will try to make learning fun and practical.  We also hope to use the outdoor areas as much as possible. The children will take part in all curriculum subjects as well as our core learning in Maths, Literacy, Phonics, Reading and Handwriting, which is delivered everyday in school. Children will still be able to 'learn with their friends' in the indoor and outdoor provision during the day. Please bring coats just in case we are working outside on any given day.

In year 1, we have a strong focus on reading and writing which is weaved into all areas of the curriculum, with the aim of creating fluent reading by the end of year 1. Please support your child at home with their weekly reading and spelling homework and encourage a 'love for reading' at home and in school.

Our Topic 'Out and About'

This term the topic will be ‘Out and About’ where we will be looking at ‘Percy the Park Keeper’ and his animal friends. We will be finding out about parks and their development over time. There will be lots of research about animals and investigation of plants and trees in the school grounds linked to the collection of stories. We will be thinking about seasonal changes including weather patterns and changes in day length.  We will be planning a visit to Beaumont Park and may even take a trip to our local Brockholes Park and woodlands during the Autumn Term – further details will be shared nearer the time of these trips. If you feel you could help and volunteer for any school trips, please make yourself known to Mrs Heap.

In Art this term we will be looking at some of the work from local artist Ashley Jackson. We will taking influence from landscape artists and experimenting with different medias to create our very own Brockholes landscapes.

In Music we will be following the Jolly Music scheme and will also be trying out our singing voices. We look forward to learning some new Harvest and Christmas songs.

As always, we will be planning some fantastic school trips, helping us to explore local parks and the types of trees and geographical features we may find there. Details will be sent out to all parents via the usual communication. If you would like to volunteer for a school trip please make yourself known to Mrs Heap or the office.

Phonics and Reading

Year 1 will continue to deliver phonics for 30 minutes a day through the Monster Phonics scheme. We will be teaching spelling in class and some words will be sent home to practise each week. Please see the below for the list of Year 1 common exception words, high frequency words and sounds. Monster Phonics books will be read in class and then sent home for children to read and talk about at home.  Please try to do some daily reading with your children at home. We will be working at reading real and alien words in school to try and prepare the children for their phonics screening which takes place in Year 1. This term is all about fluency with reading, being able to spot those split digraphs, digraphs and trigraphs in words and read all words accurately. 

Every morning we will have reading baskets where children will read in groups.  These groups have been organised to challenge reading and, practise phonic and handwriting skills.  There will be activities linked to the books read including word games and comprehension exercises. This means the children will have two books to read in a week.  These books may come home for children to read and talk about at home.  Initially, the books may have been read before.  There will be a settling in period where we will sort out exactly which is the best group arrangement. If you feel you could stay for 35 minutes one morning (8:45 – 9:20) to help with reading baskets we would appreciate your help.  No experience necessary! The more parent volunteers we have the better – please make yourself known to Mrs Heap if you would like to help this school year.

Reading books will be sent home on Friday and need to be returned by the following Wednesday so that there is time to sort out new ones for the next week.

 Spelling and Grammar

We will be teaching spelling in class and some words will be sent home to practice on a Friday. Please practice these regularly with you children at home. Your child is tested on these every Friday in school. Grammar will be taught as part of literacy so children will need to recognise words like verb, noun, adjective, suffix, pre-fix and be able to identify them. We will be using capital letters, finger spaces and punctuation during our sentence writing. This term we will be focusing on using correct letter formation and the independent use of our phonics knowledge to sound out and write words and sentences.

 PE

Year 1 will have PE on Monday and Friday afternoon with the focus for Autumn Term is Gymnastics. Please come to school wearing PE kit on those days. There may be some lessons taught outside in the playground so please make sure PE kit reflects the outdoor temperature.  

Outdoor Learning

Outdoor learning is every other Tuesday with Rosie and Maggie. This starts for Year 1 on Tuesday 16th September. Year 1 need to be dressed in outdoor clothing and please bring in a pair of wellies to wear if the weather is bad.

 Homework

The children will have homework books with weekly spellings, reading (2 books) and maths. Spellings will be sent home every Friday for the children to learn and practice at home - please return these by Wednesday for checking in class. Thank you for your support at home in this area - frequent revision of these trickier spellings are really beneficial for the children in Year 1. Homework is voluntary and will be given to support the learning in class.  If it becomes a battle between you and your child please leave it, but let us know. There are plenty of things you can do to help your child anyway, e.g.  reading and enjoying books together, recognising coins and notes, spotting numbers, letters and words out and about, telling the time, days of the week, months of the year, recognising shapes, and practical skills such as using scissors, tying shoelaces and zipping up coats. I have also included a suggested maths homework activity table for you to do with your child at home.

The Importance of Regular Reading

Please read the fact sheet below. This highlights the importance of regular reading with your child at home as well as in school.

Please click here to access the 200 High Frequency Words

Please click here to access the phonic sounds flashcards

Please click here to access common exception words

Follow this link for ways to help your child https://monsterphonics.com/free-resources/fun-ways-to-help-children-learn-phonics-spelling/