During this half-term the Year One children will be exploring the book How to Find Gold by Viviane Schwarz. It is a wonderful picture book all about friendship, bravery and determination. The children will be completing some activities and writing linked to this book, including writing instructions, map-making, descriptive writing and retelling the story themselves. There will be lots of opportunities for drama and art throughout the unit of work. After the half-term, we will move on to The Secret Sky Garden by Linda Sarah, a contemporary picture book.  

 We have started our summer half-term learning with some work on multiplication and division. The children will be learning to count in multiples of 2, 5 and 10, and will begin to make equal groups and add them together. We will also look at fractions this half-term, discussing a half, quarter and begin to develop positional language. After the May holiday, we will come back to some work on place value in order to consolidate learning before the children move to Year 2, and also will teach units on money and telling the time.  

During PSHE, we are starting our learning for a unit called ‘Drug Education’, which aims to inform the children about different medicines and how to be safe around them. After the half-term break, we will be doing two units of work; one on Relationships and Sex Education, and the second on Financial Education, where the children will learn about money. 

In art this half term, the children will be investigating the question ‘What is a sculpture?’ We will be using the work of artist Yayoi Kusama to inspire our own sculptures that the children will make out of salt dough. After half-term, we will move onto printmaking and leaf rubbings, which will involve lots of time outdoors in the nature garden! 

Our D.T. work after the holidays will focus on stitching and sewing; the children will be designing and making their own teddy-bear blanket design. 

In history this half-term, the classes will be learning about the Victorians, and the differences between their lives and out lives today. There will be lots of opportunities for discussion and we will finish with a big piece of writing to explain all they have learned. We will also be having a Victorian Day, where the children can dress up as Victorians and will get to make their own Victorian games and experience life as a Victorian child. Keep your eyes on the newsletter for information about when this will be! 

This half-term in geography, the classes will be looking at different types of weather and the clothes we need to wear depending on the weather. This will link to our Science work on seasons through the year. After the holidays, we will move onto fieldwork, where the classes will compare similarities and differences between two local areas – Radford and Highfields Park.  

In computing, the classes are continuing to consolidate logging on and off the computer, and working on mouse skills.  

Our science during the first part of the summer term looks at seasons throughout the year and the differences we might experience moving from one season to another. We will also be teaching the classes about which seasons happen in which months. The work will be hands-on during this unit, making practical resources to measure different weather like wind and rain. After the break, we will move onto investigating the question ‘How can we make a boat float?’, which focusses on developing the children’s skills in working scientifically and conducting an investigation. If you have any recycling you would like to donate, Year 1 are always in need! 

In RE, the children’s learning is based around the children’s knowledge of symbolism in religion; they will be looking at different symbols that can be found in Christianity and comparing the differences and similarities with other religions. After the break, we will study the same concept, but compare to Judaism.  

In outdoor learning, both classes will be exploring the nature garden and refreshing the rules and expectations during these sessions. We have lots of fun activities planned in for this half-term, including a sound walk, making art with shadows, discovering fairies and reading outside in nature.  

Year One Major Oak have P.E. on a Wednesday and Outdoor Learning on a Thursday. 

Year One Sherwood Forest have P.E. on a Monday and Outdoor Learning on a Tuesday. 

Here are the knowledge organisers for the work we’ll be doing this term: