Year 1
Stewards of the Earth, Guardians of God’s Gifts
Our exciting whole school theme of the year is ‘Stewards of the Earth, Guardians of God’s Gifts.’ This years theme will help us to think carefully about God’s world, our responsibility to look after it and how we should treasure all of the wonderful gifts around us. Eco themes will run through our school year as we learn more about how we can be Stewards of Our Earth.
RE is always at the heart of our learning. This term our RE topics are the following:
- Families We will learn that everyone belongs to the family of God. We will talk about our own families and the differences between them. Children will understand that God loves and cares for us.
- Belonging We will explore the different groups that we belong to. Children will learn that Baptism enables us to belong to God’s family in a special way. We will visit the church to find out what happens during a Baptism.
- Waiting We will learn that Advent is a time of waiting in joyful hope for Jesus. We will explore the story of Christingle and find out why God sent Jesus to us.
- Our other faith is Judaism. We will learn about Moses and his importance to the Jewish faith.
Year 1 will launch their year with the Stewards of the Earth: How will you share your Gifts? Our imaginations will run wild as we learn about Guy Fawkes and the chain of events that led to the celebration of Bonfire Night.
During history lessons we will find out who Guy Fawkes was and the legacy of the Gunpowder Plot. We will become detectives as we investigate historical sources in order to answer our questions.
In geography we will learn about the countries that make up the United Kingdom. We will find out about the capital cities, flags and famous landmarks of each country. We will label maps and share our knowledge with each other.
Our science lessons will focus on everyday materials. We will learn to distinguish between an object and the material it is made from. We will describe and categorise materials, explaining reasons for our groupings. We will also investigate suitable materials for building as we learn more about the Houses of Parliament. Seasons is a topic that we will visit each term. We will become weather detectives as we observe closely for the changes that take place from summer to autumn.
Our art skills will be developed as we learn about the artist Joan Miro. We will learn about the impact that lines and shapes has on a piece of art and why it was so important to Joan Miro. We will explore why the use of colour influenced his work.
We will take part in 2 PE sessions per week. We will choreograph and learn a number of dances with Mrs Bathgate and take part in team building and fitness with Mrs Cook.
In D&T we will learn about mechanisms as we learn about sliders and levers. We will create our own moving pictures after exploring how they work.
Our English lessons will be full of exciting opportunities to explore the story of the Three Little Pigs in great detail. We will learn to retell this story with the help of Talk for Writing techniques. Our focus for the term will be handwriting, capital letters and full stops and writing in full sentences.
Our maths focus for this term is number and place value to 10 and 20, adding and subtracting to 10 and 2D and 2D shape. We will begin weekly arithmetic challenges and daily fluency quizzes to boost our fluency surrounding addition and subtraction.
We will also enjoy exploring Nottingham Castle and the art galleries. We will visit the Kaleidoscope Exhibition to find out more about colour. This will link to our art lessons and Joan Miro’s love of colour.
This term is going to be packed full of getting to know each other, adventures and lots of exciting opportunities and learning. We can’t wait to get started!
How To Help At Home
Reading: Please ensure that your child always has their reading book and diary in school. Listen to your child read each day and leave a comment in your reading diary. Your child will take part in 2 guided reading sessions per week. Read stories to your child to encourage a love of books and visit the library to borrow a wide range of stories.
PE: Always have the correct PE kit in school. This term all children will need an indoor kit (white t shirt and black shorts) and an outdoor kit (warm joggers/leggings, sweatshirt or hoodie, trainers).
Homework: Complete weekly homework challenges. This will normally include a maths task, reading and spellings. Spelling tests will take place every Tuesday. New homework sheets will also be sent out on Tuesday.
Uniform – Please ensure that every item of clothing is clearly labelled with your child’s name. This makes returning belongings so much easier.
Useful Websites:
https://www.teachyourmonster.org/
Phonics and reading activities in a fun and interactive way.
A fun website to develop mathematical recall and fluency in addition and subtraction. regular homework will be set using this website.
Mathletics United Kingdom | Empowering Maths Learning Online
A fun website to help consolidate the learning done in school. Weekly homework will be set on this website.
Finally, if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to speak to me either before or after the school day. Alternatively please phone or email the office to arrange an appointment at a convenient time.
I am looking forward to getting to know the children and can’t wait to start this busy and exciting term ahead!
Mrs Cook
