Welcome to Year 1!

Every year, each class chooses a significant individual to become their Class Hero. Our Class Heroes are people who have made an important contribution to the world and who can inspire our children through their achievements, experiences and values.

This year, Year 1’s Class Hero is Michael Rosen, one of Britain’s best-loved children’s authors and poets.

Michael Rosen is a fantastic Class Hero for our Year 1 children because his books and poems celebrate imagination, humour, creativity and the joy of language. His work encourages children to play with words, enjoy stories and develop a love of reading. Many of his poems are lively, funny and easy for children to join in with, making them perfect for our youngest learners.

Through studying Michael Rosen, our children will explore how stories and poems can make us laugh, think and feel, while also discovering how authors use their own experiences and imagination to create wonderful books. His work encourages children to be confident with language, share their ideas and, most importantly, have fun with reading and writing.

September News

We’ve had a wonderfully busy first month settling into Year 1. The children are adapting well to their new class routines and whole-class teaching lessons. I’d like to take this opportunity to recognise what a big step the move from EYFS to Year 1 can be as it’s one of the biggest transitions your child will experience in their school journey. They are all doing so well and I am proud with how they have all taken it in their stride.

In Maths, we’ve been completing baseline activities to identify and address any gaps in learning. The children have also enjoyed our new CLIC sessions and our whole class teaching, practising counting forwards and backwards, finding one more and one less, and making groups.

In English, we are really focusing on correct letter formation. This is a vital skill that underpins fluent writing. The formation taught in Year 1 will support your child’s ability to join their handwriting in the summer term and beyond. Please continue to reinforce correct letter formation at home to help make this skill second nature. We have also started in our new phonics groups. Your child will have received two reading books today to practise at home.

The smaller, coloured book is the book your child has been reading in school over the past week. The larger “Book Bag” book reinforces the sounds and words your child has learned during the week but presents them in a new story. Please prioritise the larger “Book Bag” book when reading at home, as it is designed to consolidate and extend their weekly learning. 

As well as all this we have also started our science topic: The Human Body, DT; Slider games, PSHE: Emotions, Geography: What is it like in Ellington as well as having 8 sessions of PE.