Year 1 Curriculum Letter for Spring Term 2015

Dear Parents / Carers of Elephant and Rhinoceros Classes,

ENGLISH
During our daily English lessons, we will support the childrens developing reading and writing skills
through the well-known books The Enormous Turnip and The Tale of Peter Rabbit to begin the first
theme of Growth and Green Fingers and later on Family Album. The focus for our English learning is on
classic stories, instructions, rhymes and recounts.
PHONICS
During daily Phonics lessons, the children continue to work through the phonics phases of development.
Next week begins new Phonics homework. (More details to follow) Systematic Phonics teaching helps the
children to acquire secure skills for reading, spelling and writing.
At the end of Year 1 every child undertakes a statutory phonics reading assessment known as the Phonics
Screening Check which assesses whether children have met the expected standard by summer time.
Parents are informed of their childs results in their end of year report. Children are very well prepared
for this assessment and most actually enjoy doing it.
MATHS
Our spring term Maths plan will have some units to build on the work we have done in the autumn term and
will also have some new topics. We will be consolidating and progressing on the work we have already done
in numbers to 100, 2D and 3D shapes, measurements, addition, subtraction and money. New topics will
include practical multiplication, practical division, position and direction and telling the time. If your child
would like to practice Maths at home, we have a Manga High subscription on Digital Wings where the
learning focus will change approximately every month.
MENTAL MATHS
Each half term we have a mental maths assessment. Questions are timed and children have between 5 and
15 seconds to answer, depending on the difficulty. Counting, number bonds, doubles, mental addition and
subtraction are all covered on the assessment.
SCIENCE
In Science this term the theme is Growth and Green fingers. The children will be asked to help out some
friendly aliens by telling them all about our planet Earth. They will be asked to show off our green
planet and find out about different plants, leaves and flowers in the local environment. The children will
then be encouraged to grow and care for some of their own plants and keep a record of the changes that
take place.
COMPUTING
Our weekly computing lessons are broken up into two themes. If you can build it is our first theme,
where we will be looking at different parts of a computer and opening up an old laptop to look inside.
After half term we will be looking at different devices for taking photographs. We will learn how to
import pictures and manipulate them using different programmes.
GEOGRAPHY
During Geography this term the children will look at the UK and capital cities. They will have the
opportunity to look at maps, discover more about their own region and look in more detail at our capital
city of London.
HISTORY
History forms part of our later Spring term theme Family Album and will primarily engage children with
regards to changes within living memory. Understanding of the past is particularly useful in helping
children understand and appreciate how we live today and make comparisons / form opinions about their
preferences.

DESIGN TECHNOLOGY
Design and Technology this term focuses on Food preparation and Healthy Eating choices. The children
will be introduced to a variety of fruits and vegetables and will be encouraged to design a food dish
suitable for purpose. This may mean making a fruit kebab for a barbecue, a fresh fruit platter for a
party or maybe a fruit salad for a picnic. Children will also learn about hygiene in the kitchen and to
name and safely use a variety of kitchen tools.
PERSONAL, SOCIAL, HEALTH EDUCATION
PSHE follows our theme of Growth where children will focus on some of the physical changes seen from
birth to adulthood. Children will also focus on Healthy Eating choices and how these can improve our
wellbeing. There will be a visitor from the Eat Happy Project (Tesco) coming into class very soon, where
children will learn all about Healthy Choices and may get to sample a Fresh Fruit Salad of their own.
Personal Hygiene, Keeping clean and particularly hand hygiene procedures will also be covered this term to
support children in their Healthy lifestyles.
MUSIC
Our Music curriculum continues to help children as they develop musical awareness through Charanga
Musical School. In addition to this, we will begin teaching the children how to play the musical instrument
the Ocarina. This is similar to a recorder but round in shape and so easily managed by smaller hands.
ART
Our Art focuses on the skills of drawing, painting and printing. We will be using the artist Monet as our
starting point. From this introduction we will then look at observational drawing, particularly shading and
contrasts and how using different media provides a variety of effects.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Our first 6 weeks of PE will focus on kicking. We will learn to dribble the ball with close control and turn.
We will then progress on to passing with accuracy and shooting towards a target. After half term we will
be counting down towards our School Games and will therefore be developing our running, jumping and
throwing.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Our religious Education this term focuses on the family routines and rituals followed by the Jewish
religion. The children will learn all about what life is like in a Jewish family and will then learn how to
prepare a family meal following the traditions of the Jewish faith.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.

Kind regards,
Mrs. Harris, Mrs. Watts and Mr. Aguilar