Welcome to our Class Page
Year 1 Curriculum Overview can be found here: Year 1 Curriculum Overview
Friday 4th July 2025
So many things Year 1 should be proud of in the last 2 weeks but especially their WOW assemblies! The children practised so hard for them, and they did brilliantly.
In Literacy we have been looking at poetry and have begun to write our own poems inspired by our senses. When we have finished them, we will perform some of these to each other in class. We have also been learning about recounts- what they are and the features of them. We are working hard on our recount writing over the next couple of weeks as this is what we will be doing for our final Big Write in Year 1.
In Maths we have been learning about money- recognising coins and notes and knowing their value. We have been exploring how you can make the same amount using different coins and using our counting skills (2’s, 5’s and 10’s) to count coins efficiently when needed.
We have been doing some recap and retrieval lessons on our Learning of the UK and the countries within it. We have enjoyed reminding ourselves of facts and landmarks about these countries and Liz in the kitchen has kindly made us some treats for each country staring with scones for England!
Over these last 2 weeks, both classes have enjoyed their Forest School sessions where we explore leaves and did some leaf rubbings, talked about and explored the different seeds plants have and how they spread to create more plants and also, we went on a hunt for living and non-living things! We ended the session in the best way- with marshmallows!
Only 2 weeks to go but still lots of learning to cram in and of course, lots of fun too.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Mrs Jones, Mrs Manns & Miss Tudge
Friday 20th June 2025
Summer 2 – WOW time really does fly when you are having fun!
We have been working our socks off, preparing our WOW assembly, to let you know about all the things we have learnt and enjoyed this year.
In Maths, we have learnt how to count in 2s, 5s and 10s. We will be using the knowledge when looking at money. Colin has been giving us tricky word problem to solve which are making us think hard.
In Science, we have consolidated our learning about plants with our visit to Westonbirt Arboretum. We had a brilliant day finding out about how trees grow and how they take all the nutrients from the soil.
In enrichment week we had great fun making fruit pizzas and learning about how healthy it is to eat fruit. We designed and made bridges for the Three Billy Goats Gruff to cross using lolly sticks, straws, Lego and junk materials. It was great fun; we learnt that a triangle was a strong shape when making a bridge.
In RE, we have started our new unit, ‘How should we care for others and the world?’ We have discussed what the words unique and valuable mean and what makes a person unique and valuable.
The children came up with such thoughtful ideas. We are linking this to the parable The Good Samaritan that is fund in the Christian Bible.
In PE, we have been practising our running, jumping and catching skills and I am sure that you were impressed with the skills that the children demonstrated on Sports Day.
The children are enjoying their violin lessons and have progressed from plucking the strings to using a violin bow. We have been very impressed with all the hard work.
Mrs Manns, Mrs Jones and Miss Tudge.
Friday 23rd May 2025
An incredibly short but wonderful half term, done! It has been full of fun, so much sunshine and of course, lots of learning. Well done Year 1, another 4 weeks where you’ve worked your socks off!
In Literacy we have been making up our own stories based on The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The children made up their own characters, created a problem and then solved the problem to end their story. The children will be writing these stories as their Big Write for this term.
We have been learning to tell the time in Maths- to the hour and half past. The children have enjoyed making times on our class clocks and their friends reading the time back to them. We have been really impressed with how carefully the children have drawn the clock arms onto clocks to show the correct time.
As our Jewish topic comes to an end in RE this term, we have been recording all the learning we can remember from this unit, to assess the children’s knowledge. The children have drawn some beautiful pictures and annotated them to illustrate what they have learnt.
We have had so much fun in Art the last few weeks. We have been finding out about an Artist called Friedenreich Hundertwasser. He uses lots of lines and bold colours to create amazing artwork. We have created our own pieces of artwork inspired by him. We were really impressed with the children’s concentration and the time they spent doing their artwork and this really shows in the outcomes.
It has been great to get outside in the sunshine for PE. A bit of sports day practice has started but alongside this, we have also been learning some cricket skills- bowling to hit the wicket and hitting the ball with the bat using the flat side. We have also been doing some running races and fielding in a small cricket game.
We hope you have a wonderful half term and we look forward to seeing you back for our final half term in Year 1- can you believe it?!
Mrs Jones, Miss Tudge and Mrs Manns
Friday 9th May 2025
It has been lovely to return to school and start the Summer Term in the sunshine! It is a very short term, and we have got off to a busy start.
In Literacy, we have been focusing on plurals, prefixes and suffixes. The children have understood all 3 concepts well. They were able to use the plurals rule to check whether a word needed an ‘s’ or ‘es’. We looked at the prefix ‘un’ and the suffixes -ing, -ed, -est and -er. We gave the children the root word and they had to work out which suffix would sound right on the end, e.g. jump – jumping.
Our focus text this term is The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The children are learning the whole story, with actions. We are so impressed. Hopefully the children will be able to re-tell the story at home, too.
In maths, we have been focusing on subtraction and time. During the first week, we looked at subtracting single digit numbers, subtracting numbers by bridging 10 and subtracting 10 from a two-digit number. The children have loved using the maths resources to support them with their learning, particularly the 100 square. During the second week we have been learning about the days of the week and months of the year.
In Science, we have continued to learn all about plants. Last week we described the different barks that can be found on trees and then we went and did some bark rubbings in the school grounds.
All our learning will be consolidated when we visit Westonbirt Arboretum in June.
The Great Fire of London is the hot topic in Year 1 at the moment and they are loving it! They have learnt about how the fire started and about all the people who were involved. The children have asked some really thought-provoking questions and hopefully, throughout the term, they will be able to answer them as they learn more.
In RE, we continue with our unit ‘Who is Jewish and how do they live?’. We have looked at how and why Jewish people celebrate Chanukah. They have found out about how Jewish families celebrate this festival. Please ask your child/children if they can tell you about the miracle of the burning oil which lasted for eight nights.
In PSHE, we have been discussing how it feels when we have lost something and then how it feels when it is found. The children had lots of stories to share about their lost toys!
Reminder: please make sure your child’s jumper and coat are named. It makes it a lot easier to find if it has been misplaced.
Enjoy your weekend,
Mrs Manns, Mrs Jones and Miss Tudge
Friday 11th April 2025
Firstly we would like to welcome Mrs Jones back with us in Year One. The children and staff have loved having her back with us.
The highlight of the last few weeks for the children has been ‘Science week’. They thoroughly enjoyed the roaming reptiles, learning facts about them. It was lovely to see the sheer look of amazement on their faces as they held the reptiles.
Following on from this, our topic this term in Science is Plants. We have looked at different garden plants and the roots of a plant. The children carefully observed the roots of a plant, drawing and labelling them. They relished the opportunity to plant their own bean and have loved taking care of it using their knowledge of what plants need to grow. Over the last two weeks, the children have enjoyed observing the changes of their plant and watching it grow. We will be sending their bean plant home over the Easter holidays for the children to continue to water and look after – hopefully you should see some beans before long and the children can eat their own beans when ready.
In Maths, we have continued to develop our knowledge of tens and ones and build on our addition strategies, adding a one single digit number to 9 and 10. This week we have focused on position and direction, using left and right, half, one quarter, as well as three quarter turns.
Whilst in Literacy, the children have been learning about how non-fiction books are laid out. They have enjoyed planning their own non-fiction piece, all about an animal of their choice, using a title, introduction, subheadings and a labelled picture to capture the interest of the reader.
In PE this term, the children have been building on their skills, using a hockey stick to control, dribble and pass a ball. The children have taken part in dance the last two weeks, sequencing body movements in time to the music.
In RE, we have continued our unit of work ‘Who is Jewish and how do they live’, learning how Jewish people celebrate Shabbat, observing how it is a time for spiritual renewal and reflection. The children particularly enjoyed tasting the Challah bread and designing their own mezuzah with a written message on a scroll.
Whilst in Geography, the children have enjoyed looking at maps of Clearwater Academy, identifying human and physical features of our school.
In Music, we have continued our unit ‘composition’. The children have taken great delight at composing their own music to accompany a song, even adding some actions to go with it. It has been lovely observing them collaborating together and listening to their musical pieces.
Thank you for all your support this term. We would like to wish you a very Happy Easter with your family. We hope you all have a wonderful break and the children have lots of fun!
Mrs Manns, Mrs Jones and Miss Tudge
Friday 7th March 2024
Welcome back to Spring Term 2. We cannot believe we are already at the end of week two.
The highlight of the last two weeks for the children was World Book Day. They loved coming to school in their pyjamas and sharing a book with their friends. It was lovely to see and read so many different books.
This week has been all about non-fiction texts in Literacy. We have looked at a non-fiction text about tigers and the children have planned their own text about elephants. I cannot wait to read their non-fiction texts.
In Maths, we have continued partitioning numbers to 20, focusing on 17, 18, 19 and 20. The children have grasped this concept well. Next week, we will be starting our fractions unit. We will be focusing on a half and a quarter.
In RE, we have started our new unit of work ‘Who is Jewish and how do they live?’. We have looked at special objects that Jewish people have around their home. The children then asked questions about those objects. This week the children have been learning about the Mezuzah and the Shema. They have been designing a Mezuzah and next week they will be thinking about their own special words that they can put inside it.
In Geography, we have begun looking at the four countries of the UK. We have looked at maps to discover all the different countries that make up the UK. We have looked closely at the different flags to see if we can remember each flag and match it to each country and we have learnt about each UK capital city.
In PE, we have been enjoying our dance unit. The children have been looking at different movements they can make with their bodies. By the end of the term, they will have created a short dance routine, using these movements.
In Music, the focus for this term is composition. The children have been using the glockenspiels to compose their own tunes that they can play to accompany songs. There was a lot of interesting noises coming from the Year 1 classrooms in the first week!
Enjoy your weekend!
Mrs Manns and Miss Tudge
Friday 31st January 2025
We have had a busy two weeks in Year One! In Literacy we have really enjoyed learning about nouns, verbs and adjectives. It was great to talk about all of the adjectives in our core text by Julia Donaldson, “The Snail and the Whale.” It was so exciting to then write our own stories about two animals that went on a journey together, making sure that we had used adjectives.
In RE we have continued to look at the Parable of the Lost Son. We learnt that the story teaches Christians that God is loving and forgiving. We thought about how it feels to forgive and be forgiven. Next week we will be learning about the story of Jonah and thinking about what this story teaches Christians.
In History we have been learning about Christopher Columbus and how he went on 4 voyages. He found the Americas by accident, he was actually looking for India and China! We learnt that he brought back pineapples and turkeys form his travels.
We have been learning about animals in Science too! We have been learning about what animals eat and thought it was great fun to Google our favourite animals to see if they were carnivores, herbivores or omnivores.
In maths we have been learning to compare, order and measure length and heights. We had great fun measuring objects in the classroom with cubes, especially when we had to measure the length of the table!
P.E. continues to be great fun. Coach Lee is helping all the children to develop their football skills. I have been very impressed with the control shown when dribbling the ball.
We hope you have a good weekend.
Mrs Manns and Miss Williams
Friday 17th January 2025
We cannot believe we are approaching Week 3 of the Spring term. The children have come back to school ready to learn and with so much enthusiasm. It really is lovely!
In Literacy, we went right back to basics to check we understood, ‘What is a sentence?’ and ‘What does a sentence need to have to make it a good sentence?’ The children worked really hard to write lots of really good sentences including, capital letters at the beginning, finger spaces between each word, a full stop at the end and checking that the words made sense together. Over the next few weeks, we will be looking at adjectives (describing words), nouns (a place, person or thing) and verbs (a doing word). The children will be using the story ‘The Snail and the Whale’ by Julia Donaldson to write their own stories about two animals who go on an adventure. We cannot wait to see what each child produces.
In Maths, we have continued to partition the numbers up to 20. The children are becoming really competent with this and are now able to write addition and subtraction numbers sentences, using the part-part wholes. In MOT sessions, we have been focusing on recalling addition and subtraction facts, using what we know. We keep challenging the children to show a certain number on their fingers, without counting. This is a tricky skill which we are getting much better at knowing.
In Science, our new unit is ‘Animal including humans’. The children have wowed us with their prior knowledge of animals and animals’ groups. We have been grouping animals into mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish, birds and insects. We will also look at the diet and habitats of different animals in the coming weeks.
In RE, we are exploring the key question, ‘What do Christians think God is like?’ Our trip to the cathedral really supported the children’s thinking as they were able to talk about the things they saw and heard. For example, Christians think God is loving and forgiving as the parable of the Lost Son teaches them. When we were at the cathedral we saw the parable of the Lost Son in the stained-glass window.
In PE, we have started our football unit. The children have really impressed us with how much they have remembered from their time in reception. This has meant we have been able to focus on different and new skills rather than revisiting skills they had already learnt. The children are able to control the ball at their feet and pass to their partner accurately.
History has been so much fun already this term. We are learning about the explorer Christopher Columbus. The children have asked so many wonderful and thought-provoking questions about what Christopher Columbus did to become famous. We have discussed how some people may say he was a good man for discovering new land, however, some may say he was a bad man for the way he treated people. We still have lots more to discover!
Thank you to everyone who supported the children with the Oracy Competition. It was so lovely to be able to listen to the children’s interests and hobbies. Also, we are hugely proud of those who took part as it can be a little daunting talking in front of others.
Miss Williams and Mrs Manns
Friday 20th December 2024
We have had a very busy couple of weeks in Year One. It was great to see so many parents and carers at the Nativity Play. We were very proud of all the children, they had worked very hard to learn all of the songs and the actions to go with them.
As part of the D.T. curriculum the children have been learning about mechanisms e.g. a lever and a slider. They had to design a boat that would move and could be used in a story book for a child. It was so lovely to see the finished products after the children had designed the background and the boat.
Recognising 3D shapes has been fun in maths. During the Christmas break the children could try and see if they can find cuboids, cubes, pyramids and spheres around the house.
In computing the children have been learning how to use the paint program and have been trying to paint pictures using blocks of colour. We have lots of budding artists!
There were very excited children in P.E. over the last two weeks because the Coach taught them how to play some Christmas games while being very active.
In History the children have been learning about how boats have changed over time. We looked at lots of different boats and talked about how the materials they are made from and how they have changed over time.
We hope you all have a joyful and restful Christmas.
Mrs Manns and Miss Williams
Friday 15th November 2024
We can’t believe that we have been back at school for two weeks. The time is flying by!
What a busy two weeks we have had to the start of this term. We have enjoyed looking at the story “Journey” by Aaron Becker. There are no words in the book but the pictures are so detailed and beautiful that they tell the story. The children have been thinking about where they would like to go if they went through a magic door!
Counting to 100 can be heard from the Year One classrooms. In mathematics we have been counting forwards and backwards from a two-digit number. We have had to really think about the numbers when we have been counting backwards because it is a little tricky!
Finding out about the weather in science has been interesting. We were trying to match the weather to each of the seasons but sometimes that was difficult because it can be cloudy and rainy in all of the seasons!
This term in RE we are learning about what it means to belong to a faith community. We have looked at the different groups that we belong to and thought about why it is special to belong to these communities. We have then learnt about Christian and Muslim symbols of belonging.
Glorious Gloucester is our topic in history this term. We have looked at old and new photographs of the docks and talked about how the docks were used in the past compared with today. Working at the docks in the past looked very hard work.
We hope you have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Manns and Miss Williams
Friday 4th October 2024
Well we cannot believe we are in October already!
The children have really settled into Year 1 and are now able to follow their new routines.
In Literacy, we have been focusing on using capital letters and full stops. We found out that there were lots of different ways we need to use a capital letter for example, for a person names and a name of a place. We have also been looking at the conjunction ‘and’ to join two words together in a sentence. As well as all of this, we have been learning The Gingerbread Man story off-by-heart. The children have come up with their own actions and can now re-tell the story from start to finish.
In Maths, last week we were focusing on 2D shapes. We were amazed at how many shapes the children could remember. We looked at the different properties these shapes have and came up with a song to remember them all. This week, we have been focusing on addition and subtraction of numbers to 20. We have been encouraging the children to use the number tracks to support their learning.
In Science, we are investigating different materials and their properties. The children are constantly finding things around the classroom and coming to tell us what they are made of. We have made a ‘key’ by asking lots of questions about different objects. Next week, we will be testing materials to see why they are made of certain materials.
In RE, the children have really enjoyed exploring the Creation Story. We have been trying to remember what God created on each day. We have talked about how Christians say thank you to God for creating the world. The children came up with litter picking, saving water and using cars less. It is always lovely to listen to the children talk about their thoughts.
In Geography, we have been sorting pictures into things we would see in the town and things we would see in the countryside. We have read the story ‘The Town and The Country Mouse’ and talked about the differences in these two places. The children have been able to link the things you see in a town to the things we have in Quedgeley.
In Computing, we have been using the laptops for the very first time. The children were so excited and are now able to log on to a school laptop, completely independently. This is such an important skill. This week, we focused on our mouse skills by moving images on the screen.
In PSHE, we have been talking about different feelings and when we may feel different things. We have linked this to how we talk about our feelings to our trusted adults. All children have been able to identify their trusted adult.
Reminders:
Parents evening is the week commencing 14.10.24.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Miss Williams and Mrs Manns
Friday 20th September 2024
It has been great to see how well the children have settled into the routines of Year One. We have had a busy start to the term.
In Literacy the children have been learning about how to use capital letters and full stops. They have begun to learn the story of The Gingerbread Man adding actions to help them remember the story. They have then been writing sentences about the Gingerbread Man using capital letters and full stops.
Counting forwards and backwards from different numbers can be heard coming from the Year One classes. Sometimes it can be quite tricky to start counting from a different number than one and the children have had to concentrate hard when they have been counting backwards! We have talked about how to count a set of objects carefully so that each object is only counted once. The children have begun to learn how to represent the teen numbers using different practical apparatus.
The children have enjoyed learning about where they live in Geography. They have learnt the difference between human and physical features and have drawn some super pictures to show the difference.
In Science the children have learnt about different materials. They are beginning to name and describe the different materials and find objects in the classroom. Perhaps they could take you on a material hunt at home!
Forest school was enjoyed by everyone and the children were excited to see Sophie again after the summer break.
We hope you have a great weekend.
Mrs Manns and Miss Williams
