Year 1

Teacher – Mrs Fitzpatrick

Teaching Assistant – Miss Fagan, Miss Oshaughnessy

Spring Term 2026:.

In Literacy the children wrote thank you letters to Santa to say thank you for their favourite gift. They also learnt what an autobiography is and wrote their own autobiography. Throughout this term, the Year 1 children have also been learning about the life of L.S. Lowry. They have then used their knowledge on his life and artwork to create a fact file about L.S. Lowry. The Year 1 children have also been learning about word classes such as nouns, adjectives, verbs, prepositions and pronouns.

In Maths, the year 1 children have been learning addition and subtraction within 20. The children have been learning about ‘fact families’ to explore the relationship between addition and subtraction problems. They have also been learning about place value up to 50, in which they have been practicing counting in tens, twos and fives. The Year 1 children are also going to learn about length and height, in which they will learn how to measure objects in centimetres. They will also learn about mass and capacity and how to compare different weights and amounts.

In Science, the Year 1 children have been learning all about plants and growing. They put carrot tops in water and watched the stems grow out the top over time. They also put some potatoes in a box and looked at them each week until they grew roots. They then planted the carrot tops and potatoes in soil and have been looking after them. The Year 1 children also learnt that trees can be identified by their leaves and they explored the different types of leaves by making leaf rubbings. As part of ‘science week’ the year 1 children also had a plants and growing experience day, where they repotted the sunflower and beans they have been growing into bigger pots and they weeded the flower beds near our mud kitchen in preparation for growing flowers there.

In History, the Year 1 children have been learning about their local area and how it looked different in the past. They looked at pictures of Openshaw in the past and made a timeline of when key buildings in Openshaw were built.

In DT, the children have been exploring the unit ‘stable structures’. They experimented making bridges and buildings using playdough and lolly sticks, wooden bricks, junk modelling and plastic cubes. They then made a checklist on how to make sure their structure was stable. At the end of the unit the children designed their own stable structure to make and planned what materials to use. They then made their stable structure and self-assessed it using the checklist they made.

In Art, the children have been learning all about the artist L.S. Lowry and his style of artwork. They learnt that he only used five colours in his paintings and he painted people like ‘matchstick men’ due to painting so many people in his pictures. The Year 1 children also enjoyed visiting the Lowry Art Gallery to see some of L.S. Lowry’s artwork in real life.

In Computing, the children have been learning all about internet safety. The Year 1 children talked about how to stay safe when using the internet or playing online in video games. They have also been learning about what pictograms are and created their own pictogram of their favourite toys using cut out pictures. They are also going to learn how to create pictograms online using interactive games.

In RE, the children have been learning about special celebrations. They talked about how different religions have different celebrations and why. The Year 1 children have also been learning about Easter and the events that led up to it. They have been acting out a different part of the Easter story each week.

In PSHE the children have been learning about how video games and films have age ratings and they learnt which age rating they are allowed to watch and play. They have also been learning about different environments and how they can look after them, such as our local area and our classroom environment. The children will also be taking part in the Great British Spring Clean, by doing litter picking in the playground and making sure our school environment is tidy.

Phonic Screening Check

The phonics screening check is taken individually by all children in Year 1 in England usually in June. It is designed to give teachers and parents information on how your child is progressing in phonics. It will help to identify whether your child needs additional support at this stage so that they do not fall behind in this vital early reading skill.

The check consists of 40 words and non-words that your child will be asked to read one-on-one with a teacher. Non-words (or nonsense words, or alien words) are a collection of letters that will follow phonics rules your child has been taught, but don’t mean anything – your child will need to read these with the correct sounds to show that they understand the phonics rules behind them.

The 40 words and non-words are divided into two sections – one with simple word structures of three or four letters, and one with more complex word structures of five or six letters. The teacher administering the check with your child will give them a few practice words to read first – including some non-words – so they understand more about what they have to do. Each of the non-words is presented with a picture of a monster / alien, as if the word were their name (and so your child doesn’t think the word is a mistake because it doesn’t make sense!).

There is more information for parents on the Oxford Owl Website.

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/at-school/assessment-at-primary-school/phonics-screening-check/

Helpful Links

https://www.phonicsbloom.com/

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex.htm

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/literacy.html

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/poopDeck/index.html

Helpful Documents

phonics screen practise 1

phonics screen practise 2

phonics screen practise 3

phonics check 2012