Year One Autumn Curriculum News

We are very pleased with the start to the school year and how well the children have settled into Year One. They look great in their new Ravenor Primary School uniforms! There has been a smooth transition from FS2 into Year One.

Thank you for your support.

Below is a brief overview of what your child will be learning in Year One during the Autumn term, along with some ideas of ways you can help your child at home.

ENGLISH

During the Autumn Term, the children will recap sounds they learnt in Foundation Stage Two and will begin to learn new sounds to continue their phonic development. We will be using the sounds that the children learn to read and spell new words which assist their writing. The children will be encouraged to write for a variety of purposes. We will be writing for a real purpose, such as labelling the resources in our new classrooms and writing instructions.  At home, you can also encourage writing for real purposes, such as writing shopping lists, making cards, labelling toy boxes, writing invitations and thank you letters. Your child has learnt to spell words ‘as they sound’, so if words are not spelt correctly praise their attempts!

READING

The children will read with an adult at school at least once a week. They will have an opportunity to read both fiction and information texts. The children will be taught different strategies to read unknown words and will answer questions about what they read to check their understanding. Asking children questions helps their understanding of the story or information that they are reading. A positive comment will be made in your child’s home reading record book by the adult they have read with. Please ensure that your child brings their reading record book into school daily. Please encourage your child to read a range of books outside of school to develop a love of reading. This could be reading comics, recipes, TV guides, signposts, labels, appropriate newspapers and magazines.

Home reading books will be changed on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. We will keep records of when your child has changed their home reading book and a note will be made in your child’s reading record book. Because your child will keep their book for at least two days, the book can be read numerous times to help with recognition of common words and to gain confidence in reading. Please write a positive comment in your child’s reading record when they share a book with you.

SPELLINGS

Your child will receive spelling to learn at the beginning of the Spring Term in January. There will be a parent meeting held nearer the time where you will have the opportunity to learn how our individual spelling system works.

MATHS

The children will continue to read, write and order numbers, up to and above 20. The children will have opportunities to do this in a range of contexts. We will learn a range of adding and subtracting strategies which will include learning double numbers to 5 (1+1, 2+2, etc), numbers that add to make ten (1+9, 2+8, etc), counting on to add numbers together and counting back to subtract numbers. We encourage the children to use resources to help them solve problems.

At home you can help by encouraging your child to solve problems such as, how many knives and forks you need at the table for dinner, adding amounts of money at the shops, counting food items in your trolley (especially for the ten items only tills)!

We will be looking at coins of values up to £2. The children will begin to make amounts using pennies first, then different coins.

We will begin to read O’clock times and discuss what happens at different times of the day. The children will continue to name and describe 2 Dimensional and 3 Dimensional shapes and look for them in the environment. Everyday items will be used to measure the length, weight and capacity of different objects. For example, hand spans and footsteps will be used to measure the length or width of an object, blocks to measure the weight of an object using scales, or cups to measure the capacity of an object.

At home, the kitchen and bath are great learning spaces for your child to explore weight, capacity and length. For example, weighing ingredients to cook or using measuring cups in the bath to fill containers. Encourage your child to begin to recognise O’clock times during their daily routines, such as bedtime. Allow your child to experience using money to pay for small items, including receiving change.  Enjoy identifying shapes in the environment, such as rectangular doors, square windows, cylinder tins or cuboid gift boxes.

TOPIC

Through our topics, the children will be investigating materials and their properties. They will begin to select appropriate resources to design objects such as toys. They will have opportunities to develop their vocabulary by describing objects and sorting them into groups.

TOYS

We will be looking at both old and new toys and the differences between them. The

children will learn vocabulary to describe these differences between the toys and will have opportunities to design and make their own toys. If you have any old toys that you would like to share with our classes, please see your child’s class teacher. At home discuss with your child the toys you used to play with as a child and how they were different from modern toys.

ANIMALS AND SEASONS

This topic explores the amazing world of animals. The children start by looking at pets, moving on to animals around the world, sea animals and dangerous animals. We will be learning what animals need to live and how to care for animals. They wil have opportunities to learn about various animal habitats. The children will also learn about the weather, the four seasons as well as months of the year.

LIGHT AND DARK

As the weather changes, we will look at where light comes from and how this helps us to see. We will be practising crossing the road safely and talking about how to stay safe in the dark. If you have any spare torches or shiny objects that you could donate to us, please hand them to your child’s class teacher.

CIRCUS WEEK

During circus week the children will have lots of fun learning new circus skills from our visiting experts! They will be keeping diaries of the skills and tricks that they have learnt and the things they enjoyed. As well as writing, we will be solving lots of mathematical problems and investigating how to make different object springy.

Please ensure your child has a pair of named plimsoles in school every day during this week (dates to follow at a later date).

ANTI BULLYING WEEK

During November, we will be participating in the national Anti-Bullying Week. We will be looking at what bullying is using different stories and ensuring the children know different ways to get help. During this week, please discuss the homework task that will be sent home with your child.

Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE)

We have started the year by discussing how we would like to treat each other and be treated in our new classes. This will continue throughout the year as we encourage the children to form positive relationships with each other. The children will learn to identify different feelings and emotions and how this links to their behaviour. We will be learning strategies to help solve problems amicably and independently; this includes learning how to say no when someone asks you to do something that you do not feel comfortable with, and what to do if someone says no to you.

Thank you for your continued support,

The Year One Team