Hello and welcome.

We are so excited to begin our journey in Year 1!

Here is a helpful guide to what we will be learning this half-term. 

Our topic this term is….

'Tell me a story'

We will be focusing on practising telling stories verbally. Children will practise retelling familiar stories and then also make up their own stories too. In English all our work will be around storytelling, in D&T we will create our our character puppets, in Music we will learn about timbre and rhythm through fairy tales! It would be helpful for your child to reread traditional tales at home to support them with this topic.

 

English

Our model text that the children will learn is 'Whatever Next' by Jill Murphy. We will practice verbally retelling this story before then writing our own version of this story. We will be focusing on using description and developing our settings in our stories using talk for writing.

Key vocabulary: describe, settings, retell, once upon a time, one sunny day, one morning, unfortunately, luckily, in the end, Mrs Bear, bear, rocket, cupboard, chimney, bathtime, journey, clouds, space boots, moon, aeroplane, dripping, owl, helmet

 

Maths

Place value within 10

We will practise sorting objects into groups, counting objects, using tens frames to represent numbers, recognise numbers as words, count on, find 1 more, count backwards within 10, find 1 less, compare groups, learn about less than, more than and equal to, compare numbers, order numbers and use a number line.

Key vocabulary: sort, group, count, object, tens frame, represent, numeral, words, 1 more, 1 less, count on, count backwards, compare, less than, more than, equal to, compare, order, number line.

We will also begin to add and subtract within 10.

 

Science - The Human Body

In Science we will be learning all about 'The Human Body'. Children will name, identify, draw and label parts of the human body as well as learning about the five senses (sight, sound, taste, touch and smell).

Key vocabulary: eye, hair, ear, nose, teeth, mouth, neck, elbow, arm, hand, leg, knee, feet, light, dark, blind, hear, loud, quiet, noisy, sweet, savory, salty, sour, bitter, skin, rough, smooth, hard, soft, scent, sniff, stench

We will also learn about the changes in Autumn and collect and record data of the amount of rainfall within this season.

Key vocabulary: season, Autumn, daylight, night, weather, rainfall, rain gauge

 

Computing - Computing systems and networks - improving mouse skills

Children will learn how to log in and navigate around a computer, develop mouse skills, learn how to drag, drop, click and control a cursor to create works of art inspired by Kandinsky and self-portraits.

Key vocabulary: log in, log out/off, mouse pointer, keyboard, password, software, ctrl, right click, layers, drag, digital photograph, login, mouse, click, screen, account, duplicate, tools, menu, username, drag and drop, undo, cursor

 

Religion and Worldview - How did the world begin?

We will explore a range of creation stories in imaginative ways, children will then present their own ideas using art and language. We will consider how creation stories help some people understand what God is like.

Key vocabulary: belief, Bible, Brahma, create, Christian, creation, creator, Genesis, God, Hindu, Jewish, love, man-made, natural, personality, proof, proud, respect, Shiva, true, talent, Torah, Vishnu

 

Design and Technology - Puppets

We will explore methods of joining fabric, design and make a character-based hand puppet using a preferred joining technique, before decorating.

Key vocabulary: decorate, fabric, design, glue, model, hand puppet, safety pin, staple, stencil, template

 

Music - Timbre and rhythmic patterns (fairytales)

Through fairy tales, children are introduced to the concept of timbre; learning that different sounds can represent characters and key moments in a story. They explore clapping along to the syllables of words and phrases before creating rhythmic patterns to tell a familiar fairy tale.

Key vocabulary: timbre, pulse, rhythm, syllables, strings, timpani, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn, flute

 

Geography - What is it like here?

Children will locate where they live on an aerial photograph and recognise features within a local context. We will create maps using classroom objects before drawing simple maps of the school grounds. We will follow simple routes around the school grounds and carry out an enquiry as to how our playground could be improved.

Key vocabulary: aerial photograph, aerial view, atlas, city, country, directional language, distance, features, globe, improve, key, land, locate, location, map, north, place, questionnaire, sea, survey, town, village

 

PE - Playground games/Multi-skills

Outdoor PE: Playground games

We will practise and play playground games such as skipping, hopscotch, duck goose, what’s the time Mr Wolf? This will help the children to learn and use rules and work in groups.

Key vocabulary: skip, hop, wait, turn, rules, run, walk, group

Indoor PE: Multi-skills

We will focus on the skills of throwing, catching, jumping and running. Children will learn how to move in a forwards, backwards and curved pathway whilst moving in a variety of ways such as hopping, crawling, galloping. We will balance with control on more than one body part simultaneously, throw objects underarm, kick a ball towards a target and catch a ball whilst stationary.

Key vocabulary: throw, run, catch, jump, pathway, forwards, backwards, hop, crawl, gallop, side step, control, balance, underarm, target, stationary

 

PSHE - Family and relationships

We will explore how families can be different, learn about the characteristics and impact of positive friendships. We will discuss and learn that issues can be overcome, people show feelings differently and that stereotyping is unfair.

Key vocabulary: behaviour, care, emotions, family, feelings, friend, friendly, problem, stereotype

 

Important dates:

Term begins - Monday 4th September 2023

Jeans for Genes Day - Friday 22nd September 2023

Term ends - Friday 20th October 2023