Brockholes Church Of England Voluntary Controlled Junior And Infant School

Welcome to Year 1

Spring Term

Happy New Year to all of our Year 1 children and their families. Here is a quick overview of what we will be up to this Spring Term. We are lucky to welcome back Mrs Whitwam to Year 1 for Spring Term 1. Mrs Whitwam will continue to work alongside our existing Year 1 team as part of her final year at Huddersfield University to gain her teaching qualification. We are all looking forward to a term full of exploration, geographical and historical investigations and some good quality non-fiction texts. As always we will have a strong focus on phonics and reading for year 1, encouraging fluent reading and the use of independent phonics knowledge intertwined throughout all of our writing in every subject.

We will continue with our increased structured/formal lesson time. This terms focus will centre around reading in every lesson. Group reading session time will increase this term to truly embed all the fluent reading skills required in Year 1. We urge parents to support this at home, reading as often as possible to create a love for reading and ample opportunities for your children to practice their new reading skills. Please see the attached fact sheet on the benefits to reading for your child - some staggering evidence to support the importance of reading at this stage in your child's education.

Learning will continue to be completed as a whole class at desks in mixed ability groups (except reading which is matched to reading levels) or via a carpet time. We try to make learning fun and practical wherever possible and include as much outdoor learning as we can. Please bring coats everyday just in case we are working outside.

Our Topic 'Under the Sea'

The topic for the spring term is ‘Under the Sea’ where we will be looking at various good quality literacy texts to support our learning, including a number of non-fiction texts. This topic links heavily to geography, history and science. We will be exploring and locating the world's oceans and seas. We will be focusing on the polar regions, their climate, the animals that live there and work to classify the animals we uncover. We will be investigating ice, how its made and how it melts. In spring 2, we will focus on icebergs and the historical events of the Titanic disaster. We will also look at explorers from the past, their clothing and transport.

Art/Design Technology will include collage and seascapes with a focus on the following artists Antoni Gaudi and Katsushika Hokusai. In DT we will look at building our own boats.

In music we will be looking at live music performances linked to the Titanic, we will also be learning some sea shanties.

Phonics and Reading

Phonics and reading is a huge focus in Year 1. We begin every morning with reading baskets where children read in groups and complete various activities. These groups will be organised to challenge reading. Books are sent home on a Friday and need to be returned by the following Wednesday so that there is time to sort out new ones for the next week. Along with a group reader they may have another book that might be at a slightly different level or a different genre, e.g. non-fiction or poetry. If books are not returned on Wednesday they may not be changed for the following week.

A plea for help - If you feel you could stay for 35 minutes one morning (8:45 – 9:20) to help with reading baskets we would appreciate your help. No experience necessary! Help from parents/grandparents/carers during these morning reading sessions is really beneficial to the children so please let me know if you think you can help out – we need a number of volunteers.

Phonics remains the main focus for children in Year 1 and incorporates spelling, reading, writing, handwriting (focusing on correct letter formation) and simple grammar. Phonics is taught daily for 30 minutes with this interwoven into all subjects throughout the day, encouraging independent writing, spelling and reading wherever possible.

Spelling, grammar and phonics

We will be teaching spelling in class and some words will be sent home to practice on a Friday. Please practice these regularly with you children at home. Grammar will be taught as part of literacy so children will need to recognise words like verb, noun, adjective and be able to identify them. We will be using capital letters, finger spaces and punctuation during our sentence writing. This term we will introduce question marks in our non-fiction writing.

Year 1 will have PE on Monday and Friday afternoon with the focus for Spring Term is games (especially net and wall games) and dance. Please come to school wearing PE kit on those days. There may be some lessons taught outside in the playground so please make sure PE kit reflects the outdoor temperature.

Outdoor Learning

There will be no outdoor learning with Rosie during Spring 1. This will recommence in Spring 2 - dates to be confirmed nearer the time. Year 1 need to be dressed in outdoor clothing and please bring in a pair of wellies to wear.

Spelling and Homework

Homework will be put on Google classroom by Friday teatime. The children will have homework books and a spelling book that can be used. Spelling books will also be sent home every Friday for the children to learn and practice at home - please return these by Wednesday for checking in class. Thank you for your support at home in this area - frequent revision of these trickier spellings are really beneficial for the children in Year 1. Homework is voluntary and will be given to support the learning in class. If it becomes a battle between you and your child please leave it, but let us know. There are plenty of things you can do to help your child anyway, e.g. reading and enjoying books together, recognising coins and notes, spotting numbers, letters and words out and about, telling the time, days of the week, months of the year, recognising shapes, and practical skills such as using scissors, tying shoelaces and zipping up coats.

The Importance of Regular Reading

Please read the fact sheet below. This highlights the importance of regular reading with your child at home as well as in school.

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