Year 1

Welcome to Year 1!

I am Mrs Aurora Kele, your child’s class teacher this year, and I will be supported by our teaching assistant, Mrs Zoë Fitzwater.

We are really looking forward to a wonderful year ahead full of learning and fun.

In Year 1, we focus on helping the children settle in smoothly as they build on the skills they learned in Reception. We will be concentrating on developing their reading, writing, and maths skills through lots of hands-on and creative activities. The children will also have opportunities to explore outside the classroom and take part in exciting trips.

Our aim is to help every child grow in confidence, become independent learners, and enjoy their time at school.

We look forward to working with you and your child this year.

Autumn 1 Update

This term in English we have been learning about Naughty Bus. We chased Naughty Bus all around the school while he was making a big mess! He went to the playground and tried to ride a scooter, then he sneaked into the headteacher’s office and pretended to be the headteacher. After that, he messed up the classroom and didn’t tidy up. It has been lots of fun reading about Naughty Bus and making up our own adventures. In the end, Naughty Bus went back to his garage for a rest, ready for his next adventure. 

This term in English we have been also learning about the story Astro Girl by Ken Wilson-Max. The book is about a little girl called Astrid who dreams of becoming an astronaut. She imagines all the exciting things astronauts can do, like eating food in space, floating without gravity, and doing science experiments.  

In our classroom we also had a very special visit from Astro Girl herself! She landed straight from space onto our carpet. We asked her questions about what it is like to travel in a rocket, how astronauts sleep, and what they can see from the space station. It felt like we were really meeting a space explorer. 

We did lots of activities around the book. We wrote about what we would take with us if we went to space, and we imagined the different planets we might explore. We also acted out being astronauts, practicing how it might feel to move in space. 

This unit has helped us to learn new vocabulary, practice writing sentences, and think about big dreams for the future. Just like Astrid, we discovered that anyone can be an astronaut if they are determined and curious! 

This term in Maths we have been learning about place value. We have been practicing reading, writing, and ordering numbers. We learned how each digit has a special value depending on its place in the number, for example tens and ones. 

We used different resources like base ten blocks, number lines, and place value charts to help us. We practiced partitioning numbers into tens and ones, and we compared numbers using the greater than and less than symbols.  

To make our learning fun, we played place value games, solved puzzles, and worked with our partners to explain our answers. We also practiced writing numbers in words and using them in real-life problems. 

This term in Forest School we have had so much fun learning and exploring outdoors. We built dens and shelters, made mud pies, and enjoyed climbing and balancing on logs. We also learnt why our school is named Oakview and we walked around the schools to find oakwood trees. We worked together to play games, collect sticks, and use natural materials to make our own creations. We loved spending time outside in the fresh air, exploring nature, and learning new skills with our friends. Forest School has been an exciting adventure every week!