Welcome to Year 1
Teacher: Miss Coy and Mrs Patel
Support Staff: Mrs Pasarica, Ms Arelache, Ms Cahill, Mrs Stalham, Ms Herrero, Ms White, Mrs Altayar, Miss Safa
Happy New Year!
We have an exciting term ahead in Year 1 and we are looking forward to teaching and learning along with the class. Our class timetable and our topics have been uploaded onto the website, so please take a look at them, but bear in mind that the timetable is a guide and will vary.
The Year 1 team
We are delighted to welcome Miss Safa to our year 1 team. She joined us just before Christmas and many of you may have seen her at the Nativity performances.
Miss Kevin and Mrs Doina Pasarica have both changed classes: Miss Kevin is no longer supporting Year 1 and instead will be in Year 2 and Mrs Doina Pasarica will now be the class Teaching Assistant for Year 1. Mrs Pasarica already knows many of the children in our class, and we happily welcome her to the team.
Transition
After a wonderful first term, where the children had the opportunity to ‘discover’ as they transitioned from the EYFS curriculum into the Year 1, we will now be adopting a more ‘formal’ style of learning.
This term, all children will complete the work at the same time, at tables, much like they will be doing as they move through the school. This will be a challenge for some as they learn to become more independent, and ‘have a go’ themselves, beginning to rely a little less on adult support. It is also an exciting time, as we have the opportunity to teach the children what to do when they are not sure, how to solve a problem, where to find help… all very important life skills that will support them throughout their school journey and beyond.
An important message for the class this term is to, ‘have a go,’ and not be scared to make mistakes, as mistakes are how we learn! This will hopefully help them to feel able to persevere and try their best, even when they are a little unsure.
Homework
Homework will be given out on a Thursday and is due back in on a Monday, as it was last term.
PE
PE lessons continue to be on a Tuesday and Thursday every week. Due to timetable limitations, we have made the decision that children should now wear their PE kits to school on Tuesday and Thursday. The children will not change back into their uniform after their PE lesson. Therefore, please do not send your child to school with their PE kit in a bag at all this term and instead keep it at home in order that your child can dress themselves in the kit in the morning.
Reading in school
As was the case last term, we will teach reading through our daily English lessons and phonic sessions. In addition, an adult will hear each child in the class read at least once a week on their allocated reading day. Please make sure that the children have their reading books in school every day, as there may be opportunities for extra reading with an adult as and when. We also have a ‘Reading Buddies’ session with Year 4 on a Wednesday morning when Year 1’s have the opportunity to read their books to the year 4s.
Reading at home
It’s important to continue to read at home at least 4 times weekly and record this in your child’s reading record. It is particularly important for the children to read their ‘phonics decodable book’ at least four times a week to really practise their sounds, especially as we are consolidating our ‘Phase 5’ sounds.
It makes a huge difference to the progress that the children make when they read at home and it is so important that they stay on track in Year 1. Reading is a key skill for their future school life. As much as we read at school, to really understand the books and have the practise that they need to become confident, fluent readers the children need to be reading regularly at home.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to pop in to school to see one of the teachers. We look forward to continuing to together to provide your child with the very best experience at school.
Thank you,
Miss Coy & Mrs Patel
Phonics and Reading
At Monksmead School we have adpoted a new synthetic phoncis scheme called ELS. ELS has a clear progression of reading books that are phonetically decodable. Books have been carefully aligned so that they specifically match what children have been learning in class. Children in Reception and Year 1 will bring home a phonetically decodable book, linked to their learning, each Friday. With ELS, there is a daily phonics lesson where the teacher teaches a new sound, or reviews sounds learned earlier in the week. This is shown to the class on the whiteboard. Children learn the letters that represent the sounds. They are then asked to read words and sentences with the new sounds in. Children will also practise writing the letters that represent the sounds.
Children learn to read letters or groups of letters by saying the sounds they represent. Pronounce the sounds as you would say them within a word. It is important to ensure that you (or the children) don’t add ‘uh’ onto the end, so for ‘m’ say ‘mm’ not ‘muh’ and for ‘l’ say ‘ull’ not ‘luh’. The below video gives you all 44 sounds in English.
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Please click on the links below to see the sounds the children learn as part of ELS.
| Phase 2 sounds | Phase 3 sounds | Phase 5 sounds |
To support their love of reading, children will also be encouraged to choose a 'sharing book' - this is a book that may or may not be fully decodable but can be enjoyed with parents and family members as a book to read together.
Science Knowledge Organisers - Spring 2025
Knowledge organisers for the individual topic area.
