Our new spellings focus on the days of the week, each containing one of our Phase 5 sounds: “ay”. The children will have their test on Friday 8th November.
- Monday
- Tuesday
- Wednesday
- Thursday
- Friday
- Saturday
- Sunday
Help at home
- Practise writing each day of the week, reminding them that days are proper nouns and need a capital letter.
- Say the days aloud together, emphasizing the “ay” sound.
- Use flashcards.
- Look, say, cover and check!
Regular spelling practise at home can make a real difference!
Writing: dictation
We’ve made a great start to our week with some fantastic writing in Year 1. Each day we practise our handwriting and write some words, captions/sentences about a picture.
Help at home:
Using the pictures below can your child write some words, captions or sentences.
Ask them about the process and how they do it school. I’m sure they’d be happy to share with you how skilful they are at counting the words in the sentence and using their Phoneme Fingers to listen for sounds in words. You could also include some tricky words or some of your child’s spelling words.
The Creation Story in Year One
This term in Year 1, we have been learning about Christianity and the Creation Story. The children have explored how Christians believe that God created the world in seven days, shaping everything from light to animals and people. We discussed why the Creation Story is important to Christians, focusing on the idea that the world is a gift from God.
“Thank you for the world so sweet, thank you for the food we eat, thank you for the birds that sing, thank you Lord for everything. Amen.” – End of day prayer
We discussed why we say the end of day prayer and what this means to us.
We have also been thinking about ways we can look after the world too, such as recycling, saving water, and protecting nature.
Help at home
– Talk about ways you can care for the environment together.
– Try a nature walk and discuss how you can protect the plants and animals around you.
– Encourage recycling at home and talk about why it’s important.
Take the caring for our world quiz with your child here!
Living and Learning: identity – self-respect
This week, we thought about what makes us and others special, valuing the similarities and differences between us.
Things we thought about included:
What eye colour do we have?
What hair colour do we have?
Who lives at home with us?
What language do we speak?
What is our skin like?
What is our favourite thing to do?
We discussed how there are things that are the same or different that are immediately obvious (physical features) as well as things you cannot see such as things you like doing. There are lots of things the same about us all but everyone is different too –nobody is exactly the same, everyone is unique. No-one is good at everything but everyone is good at something.
Have a look at our drawings. We thought about a friend and what made them special.
She is special because she is a kind friend to me.
He is special because he is really good at football.
He is special because he is good at drawing.
Help at home: Listen to the story It’s ok to be different by Todd Parr (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip). Afterwards, have a conversation with your child and talk about what makes them and others special. Can they say why they are special and/or why someone else is special using the following sentence stem?
Something special about me/you is ________.
Maths: Wholes and Parts
In maths we are learning about wholes and parts. The children have started by learning how wholes are made up of parts.
_______ is a part. _______ is a part. The whole is _______.
Using counters the children were able to identify that two parts make a whole.
With practise, the class will start to represent parts and wholes using part whole models.
Help at home
Ask your children simple questions about parts and wholes:
If 3 is a part and 2 is a part, what is my whole?
Living and Learning: Manners
Manners are words and actions that we can do to help us be kind and respectful to others. Good manners help us to get on well with others.
We thought about examples of good manners and thought about when we had used our good manners.
I said thank you when I got my lunch.
I held the door open for a teacher.
I said sorry when I accidentally stood on my friends foot.
I said excuse me to go past someone.
Help at home: reinforce this message about using good manners at home as well as at school. Encourage your child to greet the adults on the gate as they arrive at school.
Also, have a go at this manners quiz to check your child’s understanding.
Topic
Our Topic this half term is History and we are learning about The Great Fire of London (GFoL). The children are enjoying learning some key facts about why the GFoL was so ‘great’.
We’ve been enjoying singing along to Londons Burning and reading the Poem The Great Fire of London by Paul Perro (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip).
We’ve also read the book, Vlad and the Great Fire of London, (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip) to stimulate our learning.
Help at home: Ask your child to tell you some of the facts they have learnt so far.
- When was the GFoL? (Sunday 02 September 1666)
- What was the cause of the fire? (A spark from an oven ignited the fire)
- Where did the fire start? (in a bakery on Pudding Lane)
- What did they use to try to put the fire out? (fire hooks, buckets of water and water squirters)
- Can they name the important historical figure who wrote a diary about the GFoL? (Samuel Pepys)
- Why did the fire spread so quickly? (because the houses were made from wood and they were built close together).
Castles and Cannonballs in PE!
This term in PE, Year 1 have been working hard on developing their construction, teamwork, and bowling skills! We’ve had so much fun building castles out of cones in teams. The children showed fantastic collaboration as they carefully planned and built their castles, making sure they were sturdy and creative.
Once the castles were complete, it was time for some excitement – knocking them down with “cannonballs”! Using dodgeballs, the children practiced their aiming and bowling skills, focusing on throwing with power and accuracy. They absolutely loved the challenge of taking down the castles and cheering on their teammates.
Through this activity, Year 1 have not only improved their physical skills, but also learned the importance of communication and teamwork. It’s been wonderful to see how well they’ve supported each other and celebrated each other’s successes!
KS1 Dictation for writing
All the children have made a great start to their writing journeys this year. We have been really pleased with their enthusiasm.
In Key Stage One, we use dictation as a tool to help children with their writing. During dictation, the teachers will either have sentences already in mind or they will discuss and decide on a sentence with the children. Dictation allows children to watch as an adult models using different writing skills effectively. Together we practise letter formation, spacing between words, spelling, where and when to use punctuation such as capital letters and full stops. Teachers also model how to listen to sounds in words and write the corresponding letters.
Here are some examples of our writing:
Help at home: You could think of some simple sentences to write with your child at home. These could be about anything at all from writing about what you did at the weekend or a sentence about a film or a program you have watched on the telly.
Ask them about the process and how they do it school. I’m sure they’d be happy to share with you how skilful they are at counting the words in the sentence and using their Phoneme Fingers to listen for sounds in words. You could also include some tricky words or some of your child’s spelling words.
KS1 Maths-Numbots time!
All children in Year 1 have been given an account and login for Numbots (on the back of their reading records). This is an interactive tool that school heavily invests in for your child. It is an engaging platform to help your child learn the foundations of maths.
Numbots is all about every child achieving the ‘triple win’ of understanding, recall and fluency in mental addition and subtraction, so that they move from counting to calculating.-Numbots Innovators.
We have seen the amazing impact that Numbots can have on a child’s knowledge and confidence in Maths. Numbots is part of the weekly homework for Year 1 children. Please can we ask that you make this tool a part of your weekly family routine. Once children have logged on a few times, they’re hooked and really enjoy ‘playing’!
We have class leader boards that tell us the amount of time, amount of correct answers etc for each child.
(For Your Information: Once children have completed the Numbots levels they can then move on to TTRockstars which is based on multiplication and division.)
If you are experiencing an difficulties with logging on, please chat to your child’s teacher.
Help at home: Help your child log on to their Numbots account. Guide them to navigate the devise being used and let them impress you!