Welcome to Class 1 Autumn Term 2019
Reading
In this class we access phonics learning to help us to accurately decode and blend words. Phonics is taught through the Read, Write Inc programme. We have a phonics lesson every day and for this lesson we are broken down into different groups depending on our own individual level and needs.
As a class we will be reading lots of different texts related to our topic, castles, in the first half term before beginning a half term focussed on the story of Alice in Wonderland. During the study of this story Year 1 will learn how this famous story has some very local links, with author Lewis Carroll having lived in the area.
Writing
Through Read, Write Inc, the children have regular writing opportunities, however they will still access English lessons during which they can focus on putting their newly developed skills into practice whilst putting their own creative spin into their work. The children will be learning to share their ideas with the class and their peers, discussing and performing poetry and short stories, as well as focusing on key writing skills such as using capital letters and finger spaces.
Maths
This term will be the children’s first experience of maths mastery, an approach to maths where all children access the same learning. This approach ensures that no child’s learning is capped, helping everyone to achieve their full potential. For the first half term, we will be focusing on numbers up to 10, and in the second half term we will expand this into numbers up to 20. During this time we will be focusing on place value, including grouping, more and less than, and ordering, before exploring addition and subtraction, and shape.
PE
This term the Class 1 are lucky to receive coaching from a professional gymnastics coach during their Wednesday afternoon PE session. They will explore balance, movement and technique of skills, whilst building their confidence and physical fitness. We will also be learning a Flamenco dance, showcasing Spanish dancing, for our annual dance off in school.
RE
During the first half term children will learn all about the festival of Harvest. They will explore the idea of religion and religious festivals before focusing in on Harvest itself. By looking at the meaning of the festival and the different ways it is celebrated the children can learn more about the world and the people around them.
During the second half term children will focus on Christmas. They will learn about why we give presents at Christmas, developing an understanding of celebrations, thanksgivings and what presents represent, especially the gifts given to Jesus at his birth.
History
History will be covered in the first half term with a focus on the castle here in Barnard Castle. Children will ultimately work towards answering the question of ‘Why is there a castle in our town?’ They will learn about the structure and location of the castle and how these are significant, the timeline of the castle, including when it was built, who by and why, as well as identifying why the castle now stands as a ruin. We will use language such as past, then, now and after to show an understanding of the passing of time and talk about aspects of the past.
Geography
In geography, Class 1 will be answering the question ‘What is my school and its surroundings like?’ We will spend the first half term exploring the location of Barnard Castle and our school, learning different ways to describe its location. We will learn about compass directions, locational terms and positional phrases. We will use all of this new knowledge to create a route around our school.
Art
Art will be taught in the second half of the term. We will have 2 key skills focuses and 3 Artists to relate our work to. We will link our early work to our previous topic of castles by recreating the famous castle picture by Paul Klee using collage. We will then explore the changing seasons and create some natural collages in the style of Andy Goldsworthy, before exploring drawing recreating some of the visual works that went with Lewis Caroll’s story Alice in Wonderland, inspired by the original illustrator John Tenniel.
DT
Design technology will focus on the previous term’s topic of castles. During these lessons, the class will build their own castles with moving parts (drawbridges and portcullis’). The children will use their knowledge of castles to identify how the parts should move and will explore different ways in which they can make their own parts function the same way. Design, make and evaluate will be key focus areas of the castle project they will undertake.
Computing
During our computing lessons we will apply our newly gained geography knowledge and plan a route around the school for a beebot to follow. We will then use or programming skills to program the beebot to follow this route.
Music
During their weekly music lessons, the children will learn to keep the pulse using their bodies and instruments. They will learn songs to sing along with in different styles, with the focus in the first half term being on a rap style. They will learn to compose to demonstrate their own creativity through their compositions before performing a final performance of their piece.
In the second half term, the children will be working towards their Christmas production alongside the children in year 2. They will learn to sing as part of ensemble and build their confidence doing so, with some children being given the opportunity to sing solo.
Archived Class Work
You can also view our archived class work on our website.
