Year 1

Spring term

English 

This term in English, Year 1 pupils have been busy exploring the wonderful book Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. The children were captivated by the mischievous farm animals and even made connections to their visit to Rare Breeds Centre back in Reception, drawing on their real life experiences to deepen their understanding. 

Our writing goal this term was to create our very own sequels to the story. Pupils confidently applied everything they’ve learned so far in Year 1: using capital letters, full stops, and even adding in exclamation marks and question marks to bring their writing to life.

We’ve also seen amazing progress in sentence building. The children are now using a range of joining words to extend their sentences and add detail. Best of all, they’ve really embraced the challenge of making their writing more exciting by using creative adjectives to describe the Farmer and the cheeky animals on the farm.

It’s been a joyful term of storytelling, creativity, and confident writing and we can't wait to see how pupils will apply and expand on their skills in term 5.

Maths 

In Year 1 Spring maths, children build on their foundational number skills, focusing on counting, addition, and subtraction, while also introducing basic concepts like halves and quarters and measuring.  
 

Wider Curriculum

In Year 1 Spring science, children learnt how animals are living things that need food, water and air to survive. The children also discovered how animals adapt to their environment. We also learnt that animals can be grouped by what they eat. Some eat only plants (herbivores), some eat only other animals (carnivores) and some eat both plants and animals (omnivores). 

In geography we had lots of fun discovering how the compass helps us find directions like north, south, east and west. We learnt that these are called cardinal directions. We also learnt all about the weather in the United Kingdom and how there are four seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter. We discovered each season has a different weather pattern. Spring and summer are warmer, while autumn and winter are colder and the weather can be windy and rainy all year round.

For PE in year 1, we have 2 focuses; Health and Wellbeing and expansion on our knowledge of our ball skills. Through a range of active tasks, the children are developing their ability to throw, catch, roll, and stop a ball with greater accuracy and control. A big part of this learning involves concentrating carefully and using their eyes to track the movement of the ball — an essential skill in many sports and games. We're also exploring how to take care of our bodies through movement. This includes practising balance, agility, and coordination. As we build these skills, we’re encouraging the children to think about how they might be used in different sports and real-life situations — from jumping and landing with control to moving quickly and safely in different directions.

The children have shown great determination and focus, and it’s been brilliant to see their confidence grow as they challenge themselves in each session!

During our computer studies, we focused on how we group objects. We began by exploring real-life objects in the classroom, using post-it notes to label and sort them. The children carefully considered what made certain items similar or different, laying the groundwork for later digital learning. As the term progressed, we built on this by introducing ideas from Maths, using our knowledge of shapes and numbers to help identify patterns and group items in meaningful ways. This cross-curricular approach encouraged the children to make thoughtful connections between subjects, strengthening their problem-solving and reasoning skills. It’s been a brilliant opportunity for them to learn how sorting and categorising form the basis of how computers understand and process information.

The children learnt that all humans, in PHSE, though unique, share similar body parts and functions, like having a heart, lungs to breath and a brain to think. We discussed how we could keep these body parts healthy through exercise and a healthy diet. However, we also explored the differences, like skin colour, and personality. 

In art, children had fun exploring 3D art through paper sculptures. The children had the opportunity to create shapes and structures using simple techniques like folding, cutting and joining.