Year 1 and 2 Autumn Term
Welcome to year 1 and 2. We have a fantastic team this year with Miss Allott, Mrs Cockcroft, Mrs Harwood and Mrs Whittaker teaching the year 1 and 2 children
English
Phonics
Autumn Term 1
Phonics
We follow the ELS Phonics scheme of work. The Year 1 children will develop their sound knowledge through a range of activities. Children will learn new graphemes each week and embed knowledge of these through reading words and sentences and applying into writing. The children will start by recapping phase 3 phonemes and learning phase 5 phonemes. The phonics screening test takes place in June.
The Year 2 children will master spelling rules, word structure, and reading fluency using all the GPCs (grapheme-phoneme correspondences). Those children who did not pass the Year 1 phonics screening test will retake this next year. Some children will continue to bring home a phonic book to embed learning from phonic lessons in school.
Visit the website below to practise your child’s phonic sounds: phonics play
Reading
Developing your child’s reading skills and fluency because it will help them to not only become confident readers but will also help them to grow as writers.
The Year 1 children will take part in reading sessions with adults. These will be carried out in groups with the children reading the same text to an adult. The sessions will focus on developing the children's fluency when reading as well as their understanding. To assess their understanding, we will ask the children to retell stories and answer a range of questions about the text they have read. It is important that children develop their fluency through reading their reading book several times throughout the week. Increased fluency will then help the children to understand what they have read and be able to answer questions with greater ease and accuracy.
The Year 2 children will take part in fluency reading sessions which are designed to develop reading with expression and phrasing as well as their confidence and enjoyment of reading. They will also have extended reading sessions when the children will build their reading stamina and their view of themselves as confident independent readers.
Children also have the opportunity to read their home reading book to a teacher, teaching assistant, student or volunteer. Their book and reading record will be sent home every night and should be returned to school every day. Please make sure reading records are signed when you have read with your child at home. We can then use this information to change books more frequently. We love hearing about any text they have enjoyed reading at home, so please also enclose this information in their reading record.
Spelling
Spelling lessons are taught three times a week. The spelling lists for each week of the current half term will be sent home in children’s homework books.
The Year 1 children will be learning to spell words using the phonemes they have been learning and the harder to read and spell words for Year 1. The year 2 children will be following the 'No Nonsense Spelling Scheme’.
Also linked below are a list of Year 1 and Year 2 common exception words that do not follow phonetic spellings which children are expected to spell.
Writing
This term, the Year 1 children will focus on writing simple sentences and exploring the use of the conjunction and'. The children will be encouraged to apply their phonic knowledge and begin to spell harder to read and spell words.
The Year 2 children will be exploring the use of a range of conjunctions, using a range of punctuation including inverted commas and a comma after a fronted adverbial word or phrase. The children will be taught how edit their work in order to make improvements.
The children's writing will be linked to adventure stories, stories from other cultures, poetry and non-fiction. During each unit of writing the children will have ‘experience days’ linked to the genre and topic. We will begin with an experience day linked to Australia and its animals. These experience sessions will be followed by our sentence stacking lessons and then an independent write at the end of each unit. There will also be an emphasis on enhancing the children's vocabulary, presentation and handwriting, ensuring that all letters are formed correctly.
Mathematics
This term we will be looking at place value, addition and subtraction and shape
The Year 1 children will explore the following :
- Sorting, counting and representing objects.
- Count forwards and backwards from any number to 20.
- Compare groups using language such as equal, more / greater, less / fewer.
- Compare and order numbers.
- Addition and subtraction within 10
- Recognising and naming 3D and 2D shapes.
- Sorting shapes.
- Making patterns with shapes.
The year 2 children will explore:
- Numbers to 100
- Making 100
- Using place value grids
- Representing numbers in their expanded form
- Partitioning with flexibility
- Comparing and ordering numbers
- Counting in 3s
- Adding and subtracting 1 and 2 digit numbers
- Lines of symmetry
- Properties of shape
Science
Our first topic is Animals including Humans and during this topic the children will learn to identify, name, draw and label the basic parts of the human body and say which part of the body is associated with each sense, and notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults. The children will have the opportunity to explore micro habitats and carry out a range of investigations linked to this topic which help them to develop their ability to make predictions and close observations and draw conclusions based on their findings.
Geography
Our learning question this term is – ‘Would you prefer to live in a hot or cold place?’ Through this question, we will be introducing the children to the basic concept of climate zones and mapping out hot and cold places globally. This will involve looking at features in the North and South Poles and Kenya, comparing weather and features in the local area, learning the four compass points, and learning the names and locating the continents of our world.
History
Our learning question this term is – ‘How were schools different in the past?’ Through this we will explore how although schools have been in the local area for a long time, they have not always been the same. We will be identifying historical similarities and differences between schools. During this unit, he children will develop their ability to use a timeline to order photograph. They will be encouraged to ask questions about the past and use a range of historical resources to answer these questions.
Art
This term children will be carrying out a painting and mixed media unit called ‘Life in Colour’. This will involve developing their colour mixing skills, including naming the primary and secondary colours and making predictions about what will happen when two colours mix. They will learn about the artist Romare Bearden and explore how paint and a variety of tools can be used to create and will compose collages inspired by their exploration of colour and texture in the world around them.
DT (Design and Technology)
This term, the children will explore the concept and features of structures and the stability of different shapes. They will learn how to strengthen materials before designing their own chair for Baby Bear. They will then build their chair according to the design criteria. Once they have produced a finished structure, they will evaluate its strength, stiffness and stability.
RE (Religious Education)
Over the year, we will discover and explore the religious beliefs, traditions and customs linked to; Christians, Muslims and Jewish people. This term focuses on – ‘Who is a Muslim and what do they believe?
Computing
This term we will be focusing on digital art and E-safety. During their work on digital art, the children will learn that there are different tools to create a digital painting, including freehand tools, shape tools and line tools. They will explore the advantages and disadvantages of painting using a computer compared with painting on paper and learn how to save their work to retrieve at a later date and edit. When exploring E-Safety, the children will begin to learn how to keep themselves safe when working online and how to keep their personal information private.
PSHRE
The children will learn about relationships, including friendships, feeling lonely and managing arguments. The children will access this part of the curriculum through circle time, class discussions, stories and role-play. We will also be using 'My Happy Mind' to support our teaching and children's mental health.
Music
We will be using instruments to represent animals, copying rhythms and creating call and response rhythms. The children will also learn how events, actions and feelings within stories can be represented by pitch, dynamics and tempo.
PE
Over the year, the children will take part in gymnastics, team games, ball skills and dance. They will be developing their fine and gross motor skills, balancing and moving at different levels and linking movement together. The children will also practise working together in teams, listening to and supporting each other, and develop their ball skills. They will be practising using their listening skills during PE lessons in order to follow simple instructions and rules. They will learn the rules for a variety of warm-up games which they can then adapt and use on the playground during play times.
If you require any further information regarding the curriculum for your child, please speak to your child's class teacher.
