In Year 1 we love learning!   We start our day with a challenge game! 

In English, we learn by reading different stories and information about real things.  We use the books we are reading to create our own characters and write stories.  We learn lots of new words and practice using them in sentences to put into our stories. 

In phonics, we learn new sounds and tricky words We use phonics to sound out words when we are writing. We read books every day to practice our phonic skills and have a shared story time every week.

We improve handwriting by practicing how to hold a pencil correctly to form letters and numbers.

In Maths, we use a range of manipulatives like cubes, Numicon, double-sided counters, 5 and 10 frames and rekenreks to develop our number skills.  We practice number songs and rhymes to develop our mental Maths skills. We show our calculations using different representations like part-part whole models and pictures. We talk with our partners to work out Maths problems and give reasons for how we worked something out.

We explore 2D and 3D shapes, using mathematical vocabulary to describe their properties. We also learn about measuring height, weight and length, recording this in different ways. Maths is fun!  

We learn different subjects through themes and sometimes these are linked to our English topic.  We learn about the geography of our school, our local area and the UK.  We learn about William Gregg and why he was a significant person.  We also learn about toys comparing toys from now and in the past!  In Art, we do printing inspired by William Morris and painting inspired by Henri Rousseau.   Science is exciting!   We love to learn about different animal groups, different materials and about plants. We apply what we learn materials to make a pirate ship in Design and Technology!

Have a look at our long – term plan to see the topics for the year.

In PE, we are lucky to have a coach from Amber Valley Sports Partnership who works with us every Thursday.  We learn lots of great skills from him like dance, gymnastics and ball skills.   Sometimes, we have a cricket coach in as well who represents Derbyshire Cricket Foundation. 

We get lots of different experiences and visitors, too, throughout the year!  At Christmas time, we perform a nativity at a local church.  This is quite nerve-wracking but it builds our confidence in speaking in front of others.  This year we had a theatre company come in and do a pantomime for us! It was awesome!  The Police come in to speak to us about keeping safe.