Welcome to Year 1!
Welcome to Year 1! We are a class of 23 pupils who are very fortunate to be working with lots of adults including Miss Wallace (class teacher) as well as Mrs Dubre, Mrs McPherson and Miss Hind (teaching assistants). Mrs Bailey (PPA cover) will be working with us too.
In Year 1, we value every child’s contribution and are very big on showing respect and kindness to one another. We understand the importance of adopting a growth mindset by embracing and learning from mistakes. This helps us to develop our perseverance and resilience, two key skills we are focusing on this year. Most importantly, we celebrate everybody’s achievements no matter how big or small.
Because everyone in our classroom is part of a team and every member is valued, we have collectively agreed on a Class Charter. This is a Code of Conduct to ensure our classroom is a safe, happy and effective learning environment for everyone.
General Information
We have P.E. on Mondays with Mr Graham and Wednesdays with Miss Wallace. Please make sure your child has: a plain T-shirt (the same colour as their School House), unbranded black or navy leggings/joggers/shorts, and a pair of trainers. However, please remember trainers are only permitted for P.E. purposes and trainers should not be part of the school uniform. Earrings are not to be worn during these sessions. It may be sensible to take your child’s earrings out on our PE days so that they can always take part in the fun.
Homework will be handed out on Fridays and Miss Wallace will explain the activities to us. We ask for all homework to be handed in by the following Tuesday.
Every child will be provided with a Reading Record. This should be kept in their book bag with their reading book and should be brought to school every day as these will be required for reading sessions at school. We ask that you read with your child at least three times a week, completing and signing the record each time. By doing this, you will not only be promoting the value, importance and love of reading by dedicating time to it, but also providing your child with solid foundations as a reader to allow them to enhance their independence and access the whole curriculum.
Please note, those children who can evidence at least three signatures per week will be entered in a weekly reading reward draw to win a prize! We aim to change reading books every Monday.
What does our school day look like?
Phonics
Our first lesson of the day is Phonics where we split into smaller groups with Year 2 and 3. We use the Read Write Inc. phonics scheme to practise our reading and spelling. Read Write Inc. is a daily fast-paced, rigorous and structured phonics programme. We are encouraged to read a text for meaning with three readings of each story to ensure that the story is well understood. We work closely with a Talk Partner in these lesson to enhance our spoken language and embed our understanding. At Witton Gilbert, we know that we beco
me confident readers and writers as a result of sound and effective Phonics teaching.
English
Next, we do our English lesson where our learning is often linked to a key text or to special events that are happening in our world. Currently, we are focusing on forming our ‘curly caterpillar’ (c, o, a, d, g, q), ‘long ladder’ (l, i, t, j, f), ‘one-armed robot’ (r, h, b, p), ‘bumpy’ (n, m, u, y), zigzag (v, w, z) and ‘odd one out’ (e, s, k, x,) letters. We are excited to start reading traditional tales, including Little Red Riding Hood, The Gingerbread Man, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and more!
Maths
Following break time, we have snack time on the carpet before our Maths lesson. Our school follows the White Rose Maths scheme of work with a focus on Teaching for Mastery. In Year 1 this half term, we will be looking at place value within ten, and addition and subtraction within ten.
What kinds of things do we do in Year 1?
After lunchtime, we have a short Guided Reading or Phonics session. Then, we cover a variety of foundation subjects throughout the week. This half term, these include P.E., Music, Science, Art, R.E., History, Computing and PSHE.
In P.E., we will be practising throwing and catching through lots of fun and exciting games as well as enhancing our coordination and agility skills.
This year, we will be learning about a whole host of extremely interesting Science topics, with this half term focusing on ‘Animals, Including Humans’ and ‘Seasonal Changes’. In these topics, we will be exploring animal classification groups, the human body and the five senses.
Our current Year 1 topic for History is ‘Changes Within Living Memory’ where we will be exploring our own personal timelines as well as significant events such as Bonfire Night and Remembrance Day. We will also be comparing our lives to our parents and grandparents. It’ll be very fascinating to see how times have changed between generations!
To finish the day, we read a story handpicked by ourselves. Each morning, we vote for the story we are eager to read. We excitedly count each person’s vote at home time to see which book won.
Year 1 weekly timetable and long-term plan
Our weekly timetable is available on the link below:
Year 1 – Weekly Timetable – 2023-2024
Please click on the link below to see our Long Term Plan:
Please note these are typical timetables but lessons may be subject to change.
Year 1 newsletters
Please click the link below to view our newsletters:
What does life look like in Year 1?
PHOTOS COMING SOON!
Websites we use in Year 1
Currently, we are learning how to form our letters and numbers correctly as this will help us massively when we are older! We ask that you practise these with your child.
Handy links
Phonics & Reading
Maths
- https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
- https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/paint-the-squares
- https://www.topmarks.co.uk/time/teaching-clock
Responsibilities and rewards
In Year 1, we have lots of wonderful learning areas where we can Get Busy. Within each of these areas is a Rainbow Challenge linked closely to our learning from the previous week. We all have a duty and responsibility to complete these. If we manage to complete all five of the Rainbow Challenges in the week, we will receive a Rainbow Certificate to celebrate our hard work and determination. Every Friday afternoon, we host our Rainbow Certificate and Star of the Week ceremony where our dedicated winners will receive their rightful recognition. The adults in our class are always looking out for positive qualities and attitudes towards learning. If our work ethic and manners are particularly impressive, we may be rewarded with a Star of the Week certificate and prize.
Communication
Thank you for taking the time to read our Year 1 webpage!
If any parents have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Miss Wallace via Class Dojo. On Class Dojo, please feel free to post and share messages, photos and videos. This is a really strong way of keeping our learning up to date and staying connected with our class. If you have any difficulties accessing Class Dojo, please contact the school office for further support.
If you have any further questions, please contact school using the details on the contact page.
