Centipede Class (Year 1) 2024 - 2025

Welcome to the class page for Centipede Class.

Here you will find all of the exciting and wonderful things that your child will be learning during their time in Year 1. If you have any questions, please use Class Dojo or speak to a member of our team at drop off/ pick up.

Thank you

Summer Half-Term One

This half-term our class will be learning and rehearsing our writing skills using the text 'The Secret of Black Rock' by Joe Todd Stanton

Our writing focuses are:

Punctuate sentences using a capital letter and a full stop

Join words and clauses using and

Adding 'es' or 's' to plural nouns

Adding the prefix 'un' to root words

The children will be working on using story language, character and setting description and will be sequence simple sentences to form short narratives.  

Spellings

Children have spellings linked to their reading levels that are reviewed every week. For children who have completed these challenges in reading and spelling they progress onto the Year 1 common exception words. 

This half term in maths we are going to be working on:

Multiplication & Division, Fractions and Geometry

Multiplication & Division small steps

Count in 2's, 5's and 10's, recognise and add equal groups, make arrays and doubles, make equal groups by grouping and sharing 

Fractions small steps

Recognise and find half of an object or shape, recognise and find half of a quantity, recognise and find a quarter of an object or shape, recognise and find a quarter of a quantity

Position & Direction small steps

Describe turns, describe position; left and right, describe position; forwards and backwards, describe position; above and below, ordinal numbers

Everyday 8.50 - 9.30 am we will have our phonics lesson. Each child will bring home a shiny book and paper book which are matched to the sounds they are learning in their phonics group. Your child will have read the paper copy already in school and will be able to share this with you independently. The shiny book will be new to them and they may require some adult support with this as they decode the words. 

Reading Expectations

Read with your child every day even if it is just 2 minutes- this can make all the difference. 
Please record all home reading in your child’s reading diary so we can ensure that your child is receiving their vending machine book or reading buddy. Frequent reader prizes will be awarded on a Thursday. 

When reading, ask your child about what they think might happen next in the story, how they think the character is feeling, who the author is and what do they do. 

It does not have to be their paper or shiny book they read, it can be any. Remember, you too can read to them - change your voice for expression, bring the characters to life. 
Shiny book bag books MUST be returned to school every day ready to be changed every Monday. 
Paper books ( they are the same as what they are reading within their phonics lesson to promote confidence) should be coming into school every day so that they are ready to be changed every Friday. 
Reading diaries MUST come in every day regardless of whether or not they have been written in - we cannot replace them if they are continuously being lost or not taken care of.  

The children who have progressed off the RWI phonics scheme will be joining the Shared Reading Class. During these sessions they will be reading a shared narrative and learning more complex reading skills using VIPERS. To learn and practise these skills we be using the text 'Fantastic Mr Fox' by Roald Dhal. 

This half-term we will be learning all about Seasonal Changes

In this topic children will:

Observe changes in the four seasons in the context of weather

Observe and describe how the day length varies by exploring the average numbers of daylight

Observe, describe and record weather patterns across the seasons, in particular Spring 

When working scientifically children will be able to:

Suggest different ways to test their scientific predictions, make predictions and recognise whether they were accurate, use their observations to answer questions, recognise if a test is fair. 

We will be having lots of fun learning through practical experiments and learning all about the famous scientist Charles Darwin

This half-term will be studying Geography

Our topic is 'What is the weather like in the UK?

Learning Ojectives:

Locational Knowledge: Learn that a continent is a group of countries, they live in the United Kingdom which is on the continent of Europe, the United Kingdom is made up of four countries, name the country they live in

Human & Physical Geography: the four seasons and how weather is linked to the conditions at a certain time, different weather in different parts of the UK, weather forecast and predictions and how weather is measured and recorded. 

Your child will have a music lesson each week, where they will learn to play instruments and explore their musical abilities. This half term our Year 1 topic is 'Under the Sea' and our focus will be on musical symbols

In PE this term, the children will be practising their running skills. 

Your child will have 2 PE lessons each week. Please ensure they come into school in their PE kit on these days. Centipede Class will have PE on a Wednesday and Friday afternoon. 

Our focus this half term is running

Maths Family Home Learning will be handed out in books on a Monday to be completed by the following Monday. Each week children collect a star for their work and prizes will be awarded for the best participants. The standard of home learning in these home learning books has been exceptional so far. So please keep up the hard work and fun learning with your children.

Useful links

The children really enjoy playing this game and they can earn certificates for each level! Keep practising at home and if you need your login and password details again just ask!

Rules of spellings
"ee" sound in a "y" sound e.g. smelly, cheeky, belly, sneaky. 
turning the "y" into an "i" for pural use e.g. babys - babies,  cherrys- cherries, berrys- berries. 

Sentences and Writing Expectations 
Is your child consistently using captial letters for the start of their sentence, names of places and people?
Is your child consistently using the correct punctuation to finish a sentence? E.g. The black dragon flew across the dark sky. What would you like for your birthday? Charlie was so exicted! 
Is your child using a range of adjectives to describe? E.g The red, hot fire crackled. 
Is your child using the word 'and' to join two clauses together? E.g. A huge and grumpy orge. 
Is your child using the suffix -ed, -ing, -est, -er? 

Home resource - Youtube 
Simply type in "tricky words set 2 / 3 to support your child's learning of red words they find within their RWI books. 
Question starters - why, who, when, where, how, do...great home resource simply type in "Question Starters"  look for the red background.
Jack Hartman - Multiply by 2,3,5,10 (youtube)
Oxford Owl - phonics 
Learning walks - asking your child what a tree or the clouds look like, how many birds they can see, counting how many cars they saw. 

General Reminders:

Please ensure that your child's belongings are clearly labelled – uniform, water bottles etc.

Water bottles should contain water only.

Most communication will be done via Class Dojo. This is a great way to upload and home learning and WOW moments. You can also use this to contact your child’s class teacher if you have any questions or concerns.