Welcome to Y1 - Willow

Welcome to Year 1! We are looking forward to an exciting year with lots of learning and also lots of fun.  The class teacher is Ms Suzanne Ritchie and we are fortunate to have Mrs Hedayati in class to help us too. We are looking forward to getting to know you and working together so that your children may have an exciting, memorable and productive year.  

The School Day

The children’s day will be a little different from that in Reception, although we aim to make sure that the children have a transition period were they still have early years experiences. At the start of the year, the children will have more ‘free flow activities’ for part of the school day. We call this ‘Choosing your Learning’. This is important as it helps the children settle before they ease into a more formal style of learning.  During free flow, the children will cover both reception and KS1 objectives. This will ensure that any gaps in the ‘Early Learning Goals’ are covered, as well as challenge children who are ready to move on with KS1 objectives.

Just like reception we follow a program start the day with phonics and reading practise. We do reading practise on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and phonics every day. After phonics we do English and Maths with break time in between. In the afternoon we do foundation subjects geography, history R.E, Art, P.S.H.E, computing), science and choosing.

Reading

Year 1 will continue to follow the ‘Little Wandle’ Program which we introduced in Reception. Each week, the children take home two books-

• A reading practice book that is matched to their phonic stage that they can read independently. The children should be able to read this book with little or no decoding. This book helps builds the children’s confidence and will develop their phonics skills.
• A sharing book that they can read with you, talk about and enjoy. The children pick out this book themselves so theoretically it should be a book that they are excited about and want to read! We do not expect your child to read this book independently. However, as the children become more confident with their phonics they may be able to read more of this book with you/ to you!

In Year 1 it is crucial that children practice reading regularly both at school and at home. When you read with your child at home, please make a note in their reading record logging the date, page number and title of the book they have read. If your child finishes a book before they are given their next book, please reread each book talking through the story and going over any words they didn’t understand the first time round.

We ask that you send your child in with their reading folder every day so we can put letters in them if needed. Even though most letters come by SchoolComms, please check your child's folder each evening for communication and then take them out of the folders.

Homework

Each week the children will be given homework related to the previous or next week’s learning. Homework will continue to be delivered through the Purple Mash platform. The homework usually short and is based on the learning that we have covered during school. However, the most important thing you can do with your child at home is read with them, so if you have a busy weekend I would rather reading takes precedence over homework!   I will write on the class blog every Friday to detail any homework and let you know what the children have been learning that week.  If you need a printed copy of the homework or any support using Purple Mash-please do let me know.

Topics

We teach foundation subjects through topic work. Our topic changes every half-term. Please see the curriculum map for every term as published on the website.

Water Bottles

Could you please make sure that your child brings a named water bottle with them each day. It really is important that the children have the opportunity to drink during the day. 

PE

The children will have two PE sessions a week; one session with an PE instructor (Fridays) and one with me (Mondays). Please ensure that the children come to school in  the correct PE kit.

Home Time Arrangements

Please can you email or phone the school office when collection arrangements change.  ​

Please click on the link below for further detail about the breadth of our curriculum:

• Curriculum

 

 

Phonics Sites

• Little Wandle Resources for Parents - phonics and early reading

• PhonicsPlay PhonicsPlay is a web-based resource we use in class to enrich and revise learning. It is especially good for identifying nonsense words.

• BBC Bitesize KS1 A useful site for segmenting words into sounds and also blending.

• Crickweb A go-to site for teachers with a range of activities with varying levels of challenge.

• Letters and Sounds This site is highly recommended for getting to grips with phonics.

• Bing Bunny Have fun making a colourful picture with Bing and Flop.

Useful documents: