Year One

Welcome to Year 1

A warm welcome from all of us in Year 1, come and take a look at the exciting things we are learning about.

Take a look at the topics we will be covering throughout the year.

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Below are our Knowledge mats for Summer 1

Knowledge mats provide information about the topic we will be learning in each subject that half term. There is key vocabulary that the children will be learning and using, along with the ‘sticky knowledge’. The ‘sticky knowledge’ is the main learning that the children will know by the end of the topic. Knowledge mats will be sent home at the start of each topic. These will help you support your child’s learning at home. Talk to your child about their learning and use the knowledge mats to ensure they are using the correct vocabulary and learning that important ‘sticky knowledge’. We hope you enjoy the journey with us through Year 1.

History - Why did the GFOL start and how did it affect London?

Below is our key knowledge mat which outlines the key vocabulary and knowledge your child will learn throughout the half term in History.

Maths - Multiplication and Division

Below is our key knowledge mat which outlines the key vocabulary and knowledge your child will learn throughout the half term in Maths.

Science - Which materials should Vlad use to build his house?

Below is our key knowledge mat which outlines the key vocabulary and knowledge your child will learn throughout the half term in Science.

RE - Resurrection

Below is our key knowledge mat which outlines the key vocabulary and knowledge your child will learn throughout the half term in RE.

Art - Making Birds

Below is our key knowledge mat which outlines the key vocabulary and skills your child will learn throughout the half term in Art.

CURRICULUM

In year 1 we cover a wide range of subjects. On a morning we always start our day with a collective worship. In this time we come together to thank God for his gifts to us and we read a story from our class bible and think about what it can teach us. Children are encouraged to take an active role in delivering our class worships so we often ask them to participate in a variety of different ways. We usually end our worship by singing a hymn or performing a liturgical dance, year 1 really enjoy this. Please look at our Curriculum power point below for more information about what and how we teach in Year 1.

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Every morning we teach Phonics, Maths and English. During the afternoons we cover science, music, PE, history, geography, art, DT, computing, SMSC, RE and we read 3 times a week. All of these subjects are important however in Year 1 we do put an extra emphasis on reading and phonics to ensure that children have these essential skills at the very start of their school life.

PE is on a Friday. The children need to come to school in their PE kit on this day.

For PE the children should wear their house colour polo shirt, black trousers and black trainers.

PHONICS

At St Columba's we follow the Little Wandle phonics and early reading program. Please watch the video below for information on how we build on the phonics skills the children learnt in Reception, to develop their reading and spelling in Year 1. For resources and more helpful support videos, please visit the parents section of the Little Wandle website by following this link. https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

At St Columba’s Catholic Primary school we follow the government approve phonics program of Little Wandle. Phonics is taught in year 1 every morning however phonics comes into everything we do. In every subject there is reading and writing therefore the children are constantly using and learning phonics throughout the day. Phonics are the sounds (phonemes) that the letters make in words. The children have already been taught the first 4 phases of phonics whilst in Reception. In year 1 we develop these skills further. In Autumn 1 we will recap phase 3 and 4, before progressing onto phase 5 in November. In phase 5 we learn the different ways some phonemes are spelt. We call this ‘growing the code’. Below are all the different ways we will learn to spell the phonemes we learnt in Reception. Please practice these at home to encourage fluency.

Below is a useful videos of how to say the phase 3 phonemes the children learnt in reception, and what we will be building on in Year 1. On the Little Wandle website there is a parents section which has more useful videos and information about how we teach phonics. Please visit the website to learn more about how you can support your children their their phonics. https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

As well as learning the phonemes in words, we also learn tricky words. These are words that we can not decode using the phonemes we have learnt in that phase. Tricky words should be read fluently (without sounding out). Children should be able to read all the phase 2, 3 and 4 tricky words by the time they start year 1. They should then be able to read all the phase 5 tricky words by the end of year 1. Practice these words regularly to increase fluence of reading.

READING

In year 1 reading is very important. This is because at this early stage in their reading development, practice is key. We follow the Little Wandle reading system of reading the same book at least 3 times over a week. These books are matched to each child's exact development in their phonics learning. Each time the children read during the week a different skill is taught whilst developing the children's fluency and confidents. The first time we read the book children work on their decoding of the words. The second time we read the book we learn about the expression we use when reading. After the third time of reading we develop the child's understand of what they have read through comprehension questions.

The same book is then sent home on a Monday through the children's electronic reading system. We ask that parents support their child's reading by also reading this book at least 5 times a week. This means by the end of the week the children should be reading the words fluently (without sounding out each letter).

On a Friday children have a slot of time in the school library. The children can browse the books available and choose a book to take home to share with their family at home. Reading should be pleasurable. Please share the book your child chooses and enjoy talking about the story together. This will also increase their pleasure of reading and develop important comprehension skills.