Welcome to Year 1.
Our Teachers are Mrs Jennings, Mrs O’Sullivan and Miss Reynolds. Our Teaching Assistants are Mrs Scott, Mrs Kohli and Mrs Middleton
May 082026
Past or present
In Phonics this week we have spent time recapping the phase 5 split digraphs e-e and a-e and the digraphs ey and au. We have been working on reading these sounds within words by adding sound buttons and sound bars to the words before we read. We have also spent time writing words and captions to match pictures.
In Maths this week we have been looking at sharing numbers up to 20 into groups of 2, 3, 4 and 5. We have had used different worded problems that the children have solved practically with cubes and whiteboards. We then introduced pictorial examples to the classes.
In Drawing club we have been reading a new text ‘Tiddler’ by Julia Donaldson. On the first day we described the under the sea classroom using our skills of suitable adjectives. On our adventure days we thought about ways of rescuing Tiddler from the net and how he could hide from a lurking shark.
In History we have been exploring transport in the past and present. The children have enjoyed observing and noticing changes through time for different methods of transport. It was so lovely to hear some of the children had been asking their family at home about transport they used when they were children.
Key Points
- Next Thursday 14th May is our school trip to the Natural History Museum. Please remember to send your child for school at 8:30am as the coach leaves at 8:45am. Children must all be wearing school uniform and if possible wear/bring a lightweight waterproof jacket. Children will also need a small named rucksack containing a packed lunch and a drink. Please do not pack anything with nuts.
- Please sign up to join us on ‘Field Friday’ trips, the forms are in each class.
- Year 1 are going to be making dioramas to show human and physical features in London and Kenya. We would really appreciate lots of small junk modelling to create these.
- On Friday 15th May we will have a sports day rehearsal. Please make sure your children has trainers in school that they are able to run in
May 012026
Human or Physical Features?
Hi everyone,
This week in Drawing Club, we have been reading the text Are the Dinosaurs Dead, Dad? By Julie Middleton This book is about Dave and his dad. His dad takes him to the dinosaur museum, on his way round he sees the dinosaurs move and tells dad. Dad always replies ‘It’s just your imagination’. This is until dad gets a shock at the end of the story! The children drew and described the main character and wrote about how they would stop the T-Rex from eating Dave and dad.
In Maths, we have been working on scaling and finding what is meant by ‘twice as many’. The children played a doubling game with a partner using dice and cubes to consolidate their understanding and went on to use shapes to make patterns using the language ‘twice as many’. We progressed towards identifying what is ‘twice as long’ and worked practically using manipulatives within the classroom.
In Geography, the children explored human and physical features. They discussed, sorted and drew pictures to show their understanding.
In Phonics this week, we are continuing to review all of our Phase 5 sounds and have worked on our reading and spelling skills covering all our previously taught sounds with a focus on; a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e.
Well done to Aqua Class children, your assembly performance was amazing! We’re sure you are very proud of your children and hope you enjoyed seeing all they have learned.
Key points
- Please make sure your child has a full named PE kit in school.
- Please sign up to join us on ‘Field Friday’ trips, the forms are in each class.
- Year 1 are going to be making dioramas to show human and physical features in London and Kenya. We would really appreciate lots of small junk modelling to create these over the next 2 weeks.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Apr 272026
What do you know about the United Kingdom?
This week in Drawing Club, we have been reading the text Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers. The story is about a young boy who finds a penguin at his door.and thinking he is lost, embarks on a journey to return him to the South Pole only to find he is lonely. The children drew and described the boat they travelled in and went on to write questions to the character.
In Maths, the children have been finding maths in a picture and representing this as an array for the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. They have drawn arrays, written the associated number sentences as repeated addition and begun to look at how this links to multiplication.
In phonics, we have continued to review all the Phase 5 sounds. This has encompassed reading real and non-words containing the digraphs as well as writing sentences to help practise our spelling.
This week in our topic lessons we have been learning all about the United Kingdom. We have looked at the four different countries within the United Kingdom and the surrounding seas. We have then had a go at using Atlases to find out more information about the United Kingdom.
Well done to Sky class for their fantastic assembly! We are very proud of you and all the things you have been learning in Year 1.
Key points
- Please make sure your child has a full named PE kit in school.
- Aqua Class assembly is on the 1st May.
- Year 1 are going to be making dioramas to show human and physical features in London and Kenya. We would really appreciate lots of small junk modelling to create these over the next 2 weeks.
Mar 152026
Amelia Earhart
Hi everyone,
This week the children have loved our new topic all about Amelia Earhart! We started the week by reading the story ‘Little People, Big Dreams Amelia Earhart’ by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara. We then thought about why Amelia Earhart is such a significant person in history and wrote sentences to describe key events in her life. Towards the end of the week the children enjoyed hot seating Amelia Earhart and asking each other questions about her life.
In Maths this week we have developed our counting skills from counting in 1s to counting in multiples of 2, 5 and 10. We initially used skip counting so that pupils can hear the pattern in the number system. We have also looked at different ways of counting using mathematical manipulatives and 100s squares.
In Year 1 this week we have started Drawing Club, a new approach to teach English. This was created by a practitioner called Greg Bottrill and it brings the magic of story into the classroom. Drawing Club is a way to share skills including fine motor, early writing, vocabulary , maths and most importantly, imagination and excitement! Please check out our new classroom displays to see what Drawing Club is all about.
In Phonics we have covered the new sounds ce, se, gn, kn, wr and mb. We have been practising to read these new sounds within words and then writing captions to match pictures. We have also thought about when to use these sounds and alternative spellings.
Please check google classroom for the Phonics Screening presentation. The slides outline what the phonics screening check involves and how it will be carried out with the children. Please take some time to look through them, as they provide useful information about how the check works and ways you can support your child with their phonics at home.
Have a great weekend,
The Year One Team 🙂
Feb 272026
London’s Burning!
Hi everyone,
We hope you had a good break.
In English and History for the next two weeks, we will be exploring the events of the Great Fire of London. In English we will study the events through the story of Vlad the Great Fire of London by Kate Cunningham. This week the children, made predictions, discussed new vocabulary and ordered key events. In Continuous Provision the children have been making models of the houses and buildings in London during the time of the Great Fire of London. To understand why the fire happened and spread the children looked at the buildings’ structures and materials used. They compared them with building materials used today.
In Maths, the children have been comparing values to 20 using a variety of maths equipment to explore which method is easier to use and give a clear answer. They have been working on finding the difference between two amounts using cubes and small objects. For example: 12 cubes – 4 counters = 8. The difference is 8. The children created their own pictograms and compared their totals finding the difference between two amounts.
Our Feelit Programme focus this week was ‘loved’ how it makes us feel and why it can be both a high energy feeling and a low energy feeling. the children shared examples of when they felt loved.
In Phonics we are revisiting some of the sounds we learnt over the last half term. If you’re free please sign up for a Phonic Screening revision session with Mrs A, a message has been sent to all Year 1 parents.
Please note Sky Class and Aqua Class will have P.E. on Monday and Wednesdays. Please ensure your child has their P.E. kit in school and it is named.
Just a reminder that Thursday 5th March is World Book Day. Please can we ask that all children bring one of their favourite books into school. This book will support some of our activities during the day. Children can dress up as a book character or wear cosy clothes.
Thank you for your continued support.
Feb 112026
Where did the joey go?
This week in English, started our new text, ‘One Day on our Blue Planet…in the Outback’ which takes us on a delightful journey through the Australian Outback. The children enjoyed looking at the images in the story and we worked on the skills of using adjectives in our sentences. The children also made predictions about where the joey will go on his adventure in the outback. We have encouraged the children to rehearse their sentence before recording and then checking to see if it makes sense.
In Maths we have been exploring different ways to total the same value with numbers up to 20. We have explored this practically through counting cubes and using the balance scales to check our answers. We then went on to record our findings as numbers sentences.
In Phonics we have spent time recapping all of the alternative graphemes that we have covered this half term. We worked on techniques to find out what graphemes were most appropriate when writing different words. We have also been reviewing our phonics knowledge and checking oru understanding by reading a range of real and nonsense words.
In our Topic lessons we have been combining our knowledge of continents and oceans by focusing on Australia and where this is in the world. We have begun to explore some of the animals that live in the outback and made comparisons to other animals in different parts of the world.
Points to note
- We will send home PE kit for washing at the end of next week
- We will need lots of small junk modelling to create structures next week
Jan 302026
A Peek at the Pacific
This week in English, we have continued with our text, ‘One Day on our Blue Planet…in the Outback’ and have been creating our own version of the story. The children had lots of fun deciding which Pacific animal could be saved by our main character, the dolphin, and worked hard to develop their sentences.
In Maths, we began the week by using a numberline to explore subtraction. The children enjoyed playing the ‘blast off’ game with a partner while using their skills of counting back from twenty. We went on to investigate ways of subtracting a one-digit number from a two-digit number and how we can record our answers as a number sentence.
In Topic, we have been consolidating our knowledge of the oceans and the creatures that live there with a focus on the Pacific Ocean. We drew on our prior scientific learning about animal groups to decide which group an identified animal might belong to by spotting key features.
In Phonics, we have continued to find out about alternative graphemes. Here are some examples:
<or>/ur/ as in world, artwork
<ear> /ur/ as in learn, earth
<ou> /oo/ as in soup, group
<oul> /oa/+/l/ as in shoulder, boulder
<ie> /ee/ as in brief, shield
<ve> /v/ (have) as in have, solve
<y>/i/ as in gym, Sydney
Points to note:
Please send in your junk modelling items. We are planning some design and technology projects and would greatly appreciate your unwanted boxes, tubes and cartons.
Have a great weekend!
The Year One Team
Jan 282026
Diving into the Ocean!
This week in English, we have been exploring our new text, One Day on our Blue Planet…in the Ocean by Ella Bailey. This delightful text forms part of a series of books and takes us on the next part of our journey around the world to discover more about our oceans and the animals that live there. As part of our sentence work, we have written about a sea creature and worked on how we can use adjectives to describe them. We are looking forward to writing our own versions of the story next week.
In Maths, we have been working on adding a one-digit number to a two-digit number below twenty and using think ten to help us solve different number sentences. The children have been using tens frames and counters to support their calculations and have begun recording their answers as number sentences.
Our topic work has led us to investigate the names and locations of the five oceans in the world. We have used an atlas to help us locate and label the oceans on a map and we went on to have some fun learning a song about the oceans.
In Phonics, we have continued to learn about alternative graphemes for sounds we know:
o as in hotel, go, no
a as in swan, was
u as in push, circus
u as in music, uniform
oa+l as in boulder, shoulder
ie as in brief, shield
ch as in school, chemist
ch as in chef, brochure
ea as in feather, weather
Things to note:
Please continue to send in your junk modelling items. We are running very low!
Many thanks for all your support and have a great weekend!
The Year One Team
Jan 212026
Let’s visit the Savannah!
In English this week we have continued with our text ‘One day on our blue planet … in the Savannah’. We have focused on the animals that live in the Savannah and how they survive. Within this we looked at the three categories; carnivore, omnivore and herbivore and began to group the animals within these.
In our topic lessons we have been identifying the different animal groups. We have mainly focused on reptiles, amphibians, mammals, fish and birds. We looked at the main features of animals within these groups and how they are similar and different.
In Maths we have been looking at the days of the week. This has included sequencing the days of the week and using the language of ‘yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow’. We then created our own weekly timetables and thought about what we do on each day of the week.
In Phonics we have begun to think of alternative graphemes for sounds we have already learnt. This includes – The ‘ai’ sound can written as ey, ea, eigh.
-The ‘igh’ sound written as i and y.
Key Points
- We are having lots of school uniform and PE kit with no names on. Please can we ask everyone to write names on all items of clothing that come into school.
Have a great weekend!
Year 1 team 🙂
Jan 092026
Welcome back!
We hope you had a very enjoyable Christmas break and welcome you back to the new year!
Our new topic for this half term is Animals around the World and we are looking forward to identifying and ‘visiting’ different continents of the world. Our new text is One Day On Our Blue Plane … in the Savannah by Ella Bailey. This delightful story describes a day following a curious lion cub in the African savannah and links to our Science and Geography studies.
We have looked at the seven continents and where they are located on a world map. We have even been learning a song about the continents to help us remember the names!
In Maths we have introduced measuring length with rulers and cuisinaire rods. We have practised our skills of using a ruler by placing the ruler carefully and starting at zero. We have also compared and ordered lengths while rehearsing key vocabulary.
In Phonics, we have revisited our Phase 5 sounds and harder to read and spell words. We have been reading and spelling words linked to the sounds covered and went over the components of a sentence.
Our PE lessons will continue on a Monday and a Wednesday. The focus this term are ball skills and fitness.
Please continue to support your child by reading with them daily and recording in your yellow reading log.
Reminder! Please remember to return all library books so that your child can select a new one this week.
Many thanks,
The Year One Team
