Welcome to Elf Owls (Year 1)
Welcome back to a new half term in Elf Owls! We hope you all enjoyed a lovely break and are feeling refreshed for the exciting learning ahead. As we step into Spring 2, the children will be exploring new ideas, deepening their skills, and continuing to grow in confidence across all areas of the curriculum. It’s set to be a busy and inspiring few weeks, and we can’t wait to see what the children achieve.
Here is an overview of what we will be learning during this half term.
Our Christian Value this term is...
Faithfulness
Our author of the half term is...
Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll was a man who loved stories, puzzles, and playing with words. His stories are full of curious characters, magical places, and lots of imagination. Carroll enjoyed making people smile with his silly poems and funny ideas.
Our artist of the half term is...
Joaquin Sorolla
"My only ambition was to create an honest picture that would interpret nature as she really is, as she ought to be seen."
Our scientist of the half term is...
Neil Armstrong
"Research is creating new knowledge."
Our sports person of the half term is...
Kerrie Walsh Jennings
"A true competitor works the ahrdest, cares the most and makes the best of what they have".
Our composer of the half term is...
Benjamin Britten
"Composing is like driving down a foggy road toward a house. Slowly you see more details of the house- the colour of the slates and bricks, the shape of the windows. The notes are the bricks and the mortar of the house."
What can you find out about these special people?
Below are some helpful websites to support your child's learning:
Phonics
Phonics is a key part of the Year 1 timetable and is a daily session. We use the Twinkl scheme to teach phonics.
We will focus on phases 3 and 4 to begin with and move on to phase 5 by the end of the Autumn Term.
All children in Year 1 will take a phonics screening test in June. This is a standard test which takes place one to one and is made up of 40 words. 20 real words and 20 nonsense (pseudo) words. It is looking at how the children are able to segment and blend confidently.
Over the year the children will work on their phonics in class, one to one or at home for homework.
This screening is nothing to be worried about and the children will be fully prepared as we are able to use our phonics sessions to practice the skills required for the screening. The sounds for each phase that we cover are above the title.
Useful phonics sites are www.phonics.play.com
and www.phonicsbloom.com to support your child at home.
Reading
Reading is a key part of school life and early reading is the start of a wonderful journey into discovering a whole new world of stories, facts and adventures.
Every Tuesday we change our books as it is Choosy Tuesday - please return your reading for pleasure book to get a new one for the week to share with your family.
To support your child in their reading we encourage you to listen to them read as often as you can and make a note in their reading records on how they did.
If you would like to have more reading books for pleasure the link below is a great start to point you in the right direction as these are recommended reads for Year 1 pupils.
Recommended reading for Year 1 pupils
Reading Posters
Promoting our Go All In reading project this year, here are some posters below. They are all organised by theme and may help with children choosing books if they like a particular topic!
Maths
We follow the Big Maths scheme. Each lesson starts with a CLIC session that involves mental maths skills. It is a quick 5 minute warm up that enables children to learn number facts to support their maths skills. Wider maths is taught after this session and includes topics such as shape, measure, data and fractions.
Just a reminder:
Homework and spellings will be set on a Friday.
These are to be handed in the following Thursday.
Spelling tests will be on a Friday morning.
Our P.E. day will continue to be a Monday.
Autumn 1
Autumn 2
Spring 1
