Starlings 2024 - 2025

WELCOME TO YEAR ONE - STARLINGS

Our class teacher is Mrs Esling and our teaching assistant is Miss Nelson.  Miss Marsh and Mrs Mitchell will also be supporting in class and Mr Ault will be teaching PE.

We all can’t wait to go on an exciting learning journey with you this year!

Look what we will learn about in Year 1:

Year 1 Pupil voice

"Maths is my favourite, I love doing challenges and using my brain"

PE with Mr. A is the best. I love doing team activities with him and cheering my friends on."

"I loved testing materials in Science and seeing which were absorbent and which were waterproof.  Building and testing a shelter for Paddington was a lot of fun"

Our wonderful Ethos Representatives

Our fantastic school Council Representatives

Phase 1 September to February

Writing

During Phase 1 we will focus on three beautiful texts to inspire our writing. The Storm Whale is a lovely book written by Benji Davies. This wonderful story will support us in using our oracy skills to discuss our thoughts and ideas and develop our skills in writing and punctuating sentences appropriately. Nibbles the Book Monster by Emma Yarlett is a firm favourite that all children fall in love with.  The children will use their oracy skills to discuss what Nibbles might do in different fairy stories and ultimately write a diary entry from Nibbles' point of view. The Lion Inside is an inspiring story by Rachel Bright  that shows we all have a lion inside us!" This text will support the children in accurately using the suffixes  -ing, -ed, -er and -est.

Read Write Inc (RWI) and Reading

For RWI groups from Red to Orange, your child will bring home a storybook and a book bag book each Thursday.  Yellow group and upwards will bring home an additional book bag book.  Your child will have read the storybook that week with their teacher and will be confident; bringing it home enables them to 'show off' their skills to you and boost their confidence.  The storybook(s) will be new and your child will need your support.  These books provide them with various familiar, new and challenging texts to read.

 Please check your child’s diary to find out which group they are in, which sounds they have learnt that week and which books they have in their book bag.  Each time they move to a new group they will receive a RWI bookmark.  On this bookmark are the ‘red’ words practised in that group;  regular practice supports fluency and confidence in reading and writing. 

Each Thursday, your child will also bring home a 'Bedtime' storybook of their choosing.   Bedtime storybooks are to be enjoyed with an adult. Reading TO the children ensures that they experience the magic of a story coming to life and have a purpose and love of reading. Children should read their reading books daily at home with an adult to support fluency and understanding. This needs to be recorded in their reading diary. The reading diaries can be used as a means of communication between school and home, we check them daily. 

Maths

In Maths, we will explore the composition of numbers up to 10, compare quantities, and use our oracy skills to discuss math challenges with our peers.  We will also be exploring 2D and 3D shapes. As a class, we then build on our knowledge of numbers up to 10 as we explore numbers up to 20 and then up to 50.

History and Geography

During Phase 1  we will be exploring our class theme 'Explorers. We will develop our inquiry skills by asking and answering historical questions about our local area of Lostock and how that differs from Northwich. Using our learnt knowledge of the countries that make up the United Kingdom, we will locate the capitals and discuss how the inventions of Steam trains and cars impacted where people could travel. 

Science

In science, we will look at the topic of 'Materials'.  We will investigate objects and work out what material they are made from. We will also be exploring the school grounds to understand the changing seasons, why the seasons change, and what clothes we should wear in different seasons.

RE

We will begin by studying Christianity and- What does it mean to belong?

We will then continue to develop our philosophical thinking with our next unit - Why is Christmas celebrated by Christians? How will it be celebrated in our local churches?

How do people with different and similar worldviews believe the world began and how should we look after it? will continue to enlighten our Christian thinking as we explore the wonder of Creation.

PE

Please note that PE for your child will be on Wednesdays and  Fridays during the Autumn Term. Your child should come to school dressed in their PE kit on this day. 

• Black/navy PE skirt or shorts, black/navy leggings or joggers 
• Plain white or school logo t-shirts plain blue/black hoodies or school logo hoodies 
• Trainers that can be fastened independently.
• Please remember children will need to remove earrings 

Can we also ask that your child has a drink bottle that is named and contains only water?

Phase 2 February to May 

Writing

In this phase, we will focus on two beautiful texts to inspire our writing. Our first text, The Curious Case of the Missing Mammoth By Ellie Hattie has us following  Oscar through a magical museum of curious creatures to find the mammoth before the clock strikes one! This magical story will inspire our writing as we explore exciting verbs and adjectives to bring our recount alive!  Toys in Space by Mini Grey. 

Maths

In this phase of  Maths, we will continue to explore the composition of numbers up to 50, compare quantities, and use our oracy skills to discuss math challenges with our peers.  We will also investigate length and  height, mass and capacity.

History and Geography

During Phase 2, we will embark on our whole school topic ‘Exceptional People’. Throughout this unit, Starlings will learn about Mary Anning and the exceptional things she achieved during her life. 

Science

In science, we will further explore the topic of 'Materials'.  We will be investigating objects and working out what material they are made from. We will also be exploring the school grounds to understand the changing of the Seasons', why the seasons change and what clothes we should wear in different seasons. We will then move on to our topic of Animals where we will identify, describe and compare different animals and also explore the different parts of the human body and which part of the body is associated with each sense.

RE

Our first unit of study in this phase is What is respect? and How is light used in religious festivals, rites of passage and worship?

We will then begin studying Islam with What do Muslims believe about Allah and Muhammad ? and How do Muslims express new beginnings in their lives?

Phase 3 May to July 

Writing

In this phase, we will focus on our final text of the year;  Goldilocks and Just the One Bear by Leigh Hodgkinson sees us exploring what happens when Bear wanders out of his fairytale and into the big city where Goldilocks lives. The children will consolidate their knowledge of suffixes whilst also learning to correctly apply the suffix un- to a word to change the meaning of verbs and adjectives.

Maths

Exploring numbers to 100 will be our next step in this phase and we will use this knowledge to understand how to multiply and divide and understand fractions of a half and a quarter.  We will learn about o'clock and the half-hour in time and also explore money.

History and Geography

We will use our Inquiry skills to understand the historical significance of the Monn landings and how the invention of Space changed people's lives. we will investigate who the first astronauts were and whether animals travelled to space.  We will add the Moon landings to our class timeline and learn about when the first rocket landed on the moon.  This links to Geography where we explore what the astronauts could see from outer space; we label the continents and learn about positional language.

Science

In science, we will further explore the topic of 'Materials' and continue with our Seasonal explorations. We will conduct investigations and write conclusions to our findings.

RE

We continue to explore Islam in this phase -  How do Muslims express new beginnings in their lives?

 If you ever have any questions or concerns, then we are always here to help. Mrs Esling x