🌟 Year 1 Weekly News 🌟
What a lovely week we've had in Year 1!
As the weather begins to change and autumn starts to make an appearance, please remember to send your child to school with appropriate outdoor clothing and a pair of wellies. We love getting outside whatever the weather, and having the right kit means everyone can enjoy those muddy and wet adventures comfortably!
The children have done a fantastic job settling further into Year 1 routines this week. They have started their reading practice sessions in groups and are becoming much more familiar with the Year 1 timetable and expectations. We're so proud of how well they are adapting.
We have also been learning all about democracy and fairness as we voted for our Eco Council representatives. The children took this responsibility very seriously and enjoyed casting their votes just like in a real election!
There was lots of excitement too as we shared details of our upcoming trip to the Barbican in November to see an orchestra. The children are already looking forward to this wonderful experience.
📚 English
This week we began one of Miss Devenny's favourite Year 1 books, Puffin Peter.
The children have absolutely loved learning about puffins and sharing their own fascinating facts. Some children even taught us a few new things! We used our puffin facts to write sentences and then spent the rest of the week focusing on what makes a fantastic Year 1 sentence.
We have been practising:
- Using capital letters at the beginning of sentences
- Leaving finger spaces between words
- Checking that our sentences make sense
- Finishing with a full stop
Next week, we will continue our puffin-themed writing as the children begin writing to entertain. They will be inventing new endings to the story and learning about the basic structure of storytelling. We can't wait to see all of their creative ideas!
🔢 Maths
In Maths, we have continued our work on place value.
The children have been revisiting different ways to represent numbers using objects, pictures and symbols. Before children can confidently work with abstract numbers, it's important that they see and understand numbers in concrete and pictorial ways first.
We have also been:
- Writing numbers as words (with eight continuing to be one of our trickiest!)
- Looking for clues within number words to help us read and spell them
- Counting on from an amount
- Counting on from a given number
- Practising counting on while playing board games and learning that we don't always start counting from zero
🔤 Phonics
This week we reviewed a range of Phase 3 sounds, including:
ai, ee, igh, oa, oo (short and long), ar, or, ur, ow, oi and ear
We have also continued revisiting tricky words from Phases 2 to 4 to build confidence and fluency. No new tricky words are introduced during Autumn 1, giving children lots of opportunity to consolidate and strengthen their previous learning.
📖 Reading Practice Books
Reading practice books came home for the first time this week.
Please continue to read these regularly with your child. The books have been carefully matched to their phonics knowledge, so they should be able to decode them successfully. The focus at home is on building fluency, confidence and pace through repeated reading.
As always, we kindly ask that books are looked after carefully and returned to school every Friday so they can be exchanged.
If your child has a planned absence, please let the class teacher know and we will do our best to arrange an alternative exchange day.
Thank you for helping us ensure books are returned promptly, as late or missing books can impact other children's reading opportunities.
📌 Important Information
🏃 PE Days: Monday and Wednesday
📚 Library Day: Tuesday
Please remember that books need to be returned on Tuesday in order to be exchanged. Books brought in after this day will need to wait until the following week.
📖 Phonics Reading Book Exchange: Friday
💛 Gentle Reminders
- Please wait for your child on the path up on the bank at collection time. If you need to speak briefly with a teacher, we kindly ask that you wait until most children have been collected.
- Please send your child to school with their own water bottle each day. We have a very limited number of spare cups available.
- Please ensure your child has a spare set of clothes on their peg. These are useful not only for toileting accidents, but also for unexpected muddy puddles, wet weather and outdoor play adventures!
- Please remember to book your child's lunch choices on the Citrus app. Some children have become quite upset this week when there has not been a lunch choice booked for them. If no lunch option is selected, children will automatically receive a cheese roll. We would hate for anyone to be disappointed, so please do check that meals have been booked in advance. If you have any difficulties accessing or using the app, please speak to the office team, who will be happy to help.
🎶 Volunteers Needed for Our Barbican Trip
On 9th November, Year 1 will be visiting the Barbican to take part in an exciting interactive experience with the London Symphony Orchestra. The children will learn a song and take part in a programme designed especially for Key Stage 1 pupils.
We are very grateful that some parents have already expressed an interest in helping.
If you would like to volunteer, you would need to be available for the full day and support a small group of children while travelling by coach and during the visit.
If you are interested, please email admin@strathmore.herts.sch.uk and we will be in touch if we are able to offer you a place.
Thank you so much for your support.
Thank you, as always, for all your support at home. We are absolutely loving getting to know both you and your wonderful children, and we are so excited for the year ahead!
The Year 1 Team 🌟