Year 1

Welcome to Year 1

Teachers - Mrs Spencer-Burton & Miss Comer

Teaching Assistant - Mrs Tudor

Our aim in Year 1 is to ensure that the children experience a smooth transition from the Foundation Stage to Key Stage One. The Year 1 curriculum builds upon and extends the experiences that children have had in Reception. Learning through play will continue to be an important part of the school day, and the children will gradually be eased into more formal learning as the year goes on so that they remain motivated, enthused and eager learners. Please don’t hesitate to come and see us either before or after school if you have any questions or queries.

Our Class Saints are the Holy Family.

Year 1 Information

Thursday - Spelling books left in school. The spellings will be displayed on this webpage if the children would like to practise at home on Thursdays.

Thursday PM-Forest School- (children to come in dressed for forest school)

Friday - P.E (kit including trainers to remain in school).

- Spellings/homework.

Please send your child in to school with a named bottle of water and a coat every day.

All items of clothing and any other belongings must be clearly named.

P.E kit will be sent home and the end of each half term to be washed.

Reading at home

In Year 1, reading books are changed on a Friday. Children will bring home a set of three books, two of which are ‘Read, Write, Inc’ books, matched to our Phonics scheme. Children are expected to read both of the ‘Read, Write, Inc' books three times before they are changed in order to develop fluency (a combination of reading with accuracy, speed, and expression which supports developing comprehension skills). These books correspond to the reading level children are currently being taught during Phonics lessons at school. The books contain sounds the children have been taught during these lessons, and the layout of the books including the first few pages of ‘Speed Sounds’, ‘Green Story Words’ and ‘Red Words’ are the same as the books the children are used to reading during Phonics lessons every day. Children will be very familiar with what to do with these pages and it is important that you do not miss them before reading. These pages give the children the chance to ‘pre-read’ any difficult words before coming across them in the story, and gives the opportunity for children to ask what words mean if they are unsure. This is important for developing fluency.

The third book that children bring home is a ‘Sharing Book’ (labelled as such on the front cover). The children are not expected to read this book to an adult. The children choose this book themselves from our school Library, and it is one to enjoy sharing with a grown up at home. These books contain new vocabulary and are a great opportunity to learn new words, develop comprehension skills and develop a love of a diverse range of books. The sharing book can be read together as many times as you like, and in addition to that, children can to choose to bring the same sharing book home again on other occasions if they so wish!

Children are assessed half termly to monitor progress and to evaluate whether they are ready to move on to the next reading level. Our priority is to ensure our children are fluent, confident readers, who enjoy reading and sharing a wide range of books with others.

Please write in your child's Reading Record each time you have heard them read and when you have shared the 'Sharing Book' together. It is helpful if you can write a short comment about how your child found the book, along with any difficulties they had, or just a brief note to say a big 'Well done!' .

If your child does not have their reading books at home, Oxford Owl provide free eBooks. Click the link below to access the books:

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/

Spellings

Here are Year 1 spellings. Children will need to practise these daily at home. These spellings are tricky over half term but we know you can do them Year 1 !!

Spellings w/c: 3/06/24

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Maths Homework

KIRFS (Key Instant Recall Facts) will be sent home every half term for children to practise. Ideas on ways to do this are included on the fact sheet.

Maths homework will also include practical activities from time to time. You will receive a ParentMail (on a Friday) when an activity has been set. Please write a note in your child’s reading record once they have completed the activity with a brief note explaining how they found it.

Phonics Screening Check

At the end of Year One in June, pupils sit a short Phonics Screening Check to assess their reading ability. More information on this can be found on the video link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbKGLJPp6ww

The video below gives further insight into the Read, Write, Inc. programme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjlPILhk7bQ

Many thanks,

Mrs Spencer-Burton and Miss Comer