Acorn Class Miss Brockwell

Dear Parent/ Carer,

The theme of our Topic work this term will be Michaelchurch

What we will be doing

This term we will be focussing on developing the children’s understanding of their place in space and time, focusing specifically on the area around Michaelchurch. We will be exploring the geography and history of the local area and finding out about the plants and animals we find, both native and non-native species. We will also be learning about things we can do ourselves to help protect and improve our environment.

Why we will be doing it

We will be focusing on extending the children’s understanding of the features of their own environment and how it has changed over time. We will also be encouraging them to develop a sense of responsibility towards the world around them and to show respect towards other creatures.

How you can help

In Literacy this term we will be concentrating on our writing and spelling. We will be encouraging the children to form all their letters correctly, trying to break any bad habits in preparation for beginning to use joined up writing in Year 2. The children will continue to play personalised spelling games each week, please help them practise these words at home. The children are allowed as long as they need to master the spellings of their focus words, once they are confident they will be given a new word to focus on. When writing, we will be encouraging the children to use the full range of sounds they know when spelling, not just the more basic ones they are most confident with, to help improve their accuracy. At this stage phonetic spelling is still fine, but we are encouraging them to use more complex sounds where appropriate, i.e. make rather than mayc. You can also support our work at home by continuing to encourage your child to write at every opportunity and to read their work back to make any edits or improvements. We will also be practising spelling the days of the week.

Year 1 Literacy Skills Goals this term:
To form lower-case letters correctly.
To spell the days of the week.
To spell words containing each of the 40 phonemes.
To use their spelling skills to find and correct mistakes.

In Maths we will be beginning to learn about multiplication and division this term. As this is a new skill, we will first be using objects, then drawings to help us calculate. You can support this skill at home by drawing attention to doubling and halving in everyday life, for examples, sharing sweets between two people. We will be using the vocabulary ‘groups of’ to help describe the ‘x’ sign, for example 5x2 would be read as ‘5 groups of 2’. At this point, we would not routinely expect children to be memorising times table facts. Towards the end of term we will be revisiting number bonds to 20 as this has been a tricky skill so the children would benefit from more practise.

Year 1 Maths Skills Goals this term:
To solve one-step problems involving multiplication, by calculating the answer using concrete objects and pictorial representations with the support of the teacher.
To solve one-step problems involving division, by calculating the answer using concrete objects and pictorial representations with the support of the teacher.
To represent and use number bonds and related subtraction facts to 20.

In Topic we will be exploring our local area and finding out about its history, geography and the local animal and plant species. We will begin by finding out more about the school, then widening this focus as the term goes on including Michaelchurch Court, the rest of Michaelchurch Village and then the Golden Valley area.

We will be finding out about the features of these places and how they have changed over time as well as focusing on how we can help maintain and improve our local area. Discussing why it is important to look after our world helps the children develop a sense of responsibility and respect towards the places where they live and go to school.

To help your child with their topic work this term you could talk about the history of the places they live or go to, this doesn’t have to be going back a long way, it could include changes made much more recently like repainting a room or adding a new feature like a shed, an extension, or a garden bed. You could also explore the geographical features that make the places they visit suitable for their purpose, ie. Why isn’t the park all covered with tarmac? and encourage your child to look after those places, for example collecting dropped litter, always closing gates, etc.

Year 1 Topic Skills Goals this term:
To identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants, including deciduous and evergreen trees.
To identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including trees.
To know about significant historical places in their own locality.
To use basic geographical vocabulary to refer to key human features, including: city, town, village, factory, farm, house, office, port, harbour and shop.
To use basic geographical vocabulary to refer to key physical features including: beach, cliff, coast, forest, hill, mountain, sea, ocean, river, soil, and valley.
To use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas and experiences.
To identify what is special about our world, why it is important and what we can do to look after it.