Year 1

My name is Mrs Horn and I am the year 1 teacher. I have been teaching at Dame Dorothy since 2009 and I really enjoy it – I’m sure your children will too. The other main staff member working in year 1 is Miss Ward. If you have any queries or concerns, please feel free to speak to either member of the year 1 team.

Our Classroom

Our classroom will be organised very much like early years. There will be opportunities for independent learning in our learning environment, as well as adult-led activities.

Maths
Dame Dorothy Primary School boasts excellent mathematic skills. This term, the children will get into the swing of completing some mental maths when they arrive at school on a morning. It is important that the children get to school promptly at 8:45am so they don’t miss this. In lesson time, we will be focusing on addition and subtraction within 20 and using our knowledge to solve problems and explain how we know. We will also be looking at reading, writing and understanding numbers to 50, as well as counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. Please help us to practise this at home.

Literacy

This term, we will continue developing our writing skills, creating longer pieces of writing and using a range of punctuation such as question marks and exclamation marks. We will be extending our sentences using conjunctions. We will continue writing in a range of contexts such as stories, instructions, letters etc.

Topic

This term, our topic is called Memory Box – it is about our memories and things from the past. The children will be doing lots of fun activities and will enjoy learning about old fashioned transport. They will also have a walk around the local area to help them plan and draw their own maps.

In science this term, we will be looking at different materials. I am sure the children will enjoy using our building role play area.

Spellings

Spellings will be sent home on a Friday. The majority will be year 1 common exception words (or red words) that the children must know by the end of the year. Please help your child to learn these words each week.

Music

Music is active and fun in Y1! We encourage the children to respond to music with movement, actions and singing. Key listening skills are developed with activities to copy back clapped patterns and repeat sung melodies. They are introduced to some musical language, for example ‘the pulse’. They take part in weekly singing lessons. As the term progresses, they will be introduced to a range of tuned and untuned percussion instruments.

ICT
We have the opportunity to use a wide range of ICT resources such as laptops and iPads. We ensure that the children are aware of how to keep safe when using the internet and they are always extremely responsive to this. Over the year, the children will be learning basic programming skills and will also learn how to write simple instructions (algorithms) to make things happen; the children are really motivated by this.

PE
PE lessons are on Monday afternoons. Your child should come into school wearing their PE kit – this consists of a navy school t-shirt, navy shorts or jogging bottoms and a navy school hoodie. Trainers should also be worn. Please make sure any earrings are removed on PE day. We will be doing tennis for the first half term, via expert teaching from our PE coaches. Please make sure that all items, especially the hoodies, are clearly labelled to avoid any confusion should the children remove them. PE kits can be purchased from Total Sport, should you require one.

Homework
Homework and reading books are sent home on a Friday. These should be returned by the following Wednesday (the Monday is fine if you have finished). All homework set will be relevant to learning in class. Homework is a great way of keeping parents informed about class learning, as well as giving the children the opportunity to consolidate their skills.

Please read with your child and make comments in the reading record book provided. Reading is very important to practise at this stage and any reading you do will be helpful to your child. Read together, share favourite stories, read a range of fiction and non-fiction, whatever takes your fancy! Above all, reading should be fun and we aim for children to want to read so try not to make it a chore.

Coming to school and going home safely

Please drop your child off at 8.45am at the Y1, 2, 3 entrance.

Staff are on hand to support children in the cloakroom. We encourage them to hang up their own coats and bags to develop their independence.

Home time is 3:10pm. At home time, the children will be dismissed from the same door they entered that morning. Staff will be on hand to supervise and to make sure children are dismissed safely to parents.

A few reminders

Please email me at teacher@damedorothy.org.uk if you have any queries or concerns: I’m happy to help!

Water bottles can be brought into school – either a school one or a different one from home. Please ensure your child can identify their own bottle. They can access water from their bottles whenever they need to.

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