This week we have talked about following Jesus and how we can show other people that we love the Lord. We have thought of all the different ways we can show we are followers of Jesus and we are now working hard to do what we say and follow the Lord. This week we have asked ‘what would Jesus do?’ There have been so many wonderful examples of this in Year 1 this week…..

English - we have continued on with our RWI lessons. During these sessions we all focus on phonics, reading, spelling and sentence development. We have also been working on our pre-cursive handwriting in which we focus on how to write our letters, starting on the line. We are continuing to work hard on our common exception words, reading them in class every day!

Maths - this week we have been continuing our work on subtraction, looking at different ways to write our subtraction questions. We have worked on Fact Families to write four calculations using the same three numbers from a part part whole model. This has proved a little tricky, but we are making good progress.

RE - this week has been all about Jesus being a child, like they are, and the sorts of things that He would have liked to do as a child. The children have founds lots of things that are the same!!

PLEASE SEND IN A PICTURE OF YOUR CHILD’S BAPTISM, IF THEY HAVE BEEN BAPTISED, FOR OUR NEW TOPIC BOARD. MANY THANKS.

Science - this week we have a investigated a range of different materials and examined their properties — are they shiny or dull, hard or soft etc?

Geography - our focus for this half term is all about maps and the various pieces of information that different maps provide. This week we looked at aerial photographs and a plans of our school, along with a map of the local area. We have explained these plans as a support for making our own aerial plans of the classroom.

Art - This week the children continued their drawing unit by examining mark making through the story of Hairy Maclary.

ICT - we have continued to use our Bee Bots and looked at programming them to move in a set way and travel to where we want them to be on a map.

Many congratulations to our winners this week….

Golden Award - Louis for a super attitude towards all aspects of learning, always aiming high, setting high expectations for himself and showing good behaviour for learning.

Writing Award - Henry for a detailed and reflective piece of RE work about how Simeon and Anna showed they knew that Jesus was the Saviour of the World.

Maths Award - Briar for excellent work on fact families this week, showing a detailed knowledge of parts and whole and putting that into action through her writing of addition and subtraction questions.

General pieces of information

PE will be on Monday and Friday so please send the children into class in the PE kits on those days. No earrings can be worn for PE so please ensure that they are taken out at home.
Trainers - if your children is wearing trainers with laces for PE they must be able to tie them by themselves. This is a health and safety issue - please ensure your child can tie their laces before sending them in lace-up trainers.
Water bottles - all the children were given a new school bottle this week. This will come home each night to be cleaned and re-filled. Please only use the school bottles and ensure your child brings theirs each day. Lost water bottles can be replaced at the school office, but I am afraid you will have to pay for those. Year 1 have orange tops.
I will not be in class on a Thursday afternoon, as it is my release time. This will be covered by Mrs Debowska and Mrs McCooey and is also when the children will have Music with Mrs Watson.
Party Invitations - I am afraid that Mrs Debowska and I will not be able to give out party invitations in class. Please do not send your child into class with them for them to give out - it creates upset and fuss about something that takes place outside of school.Thank-you for your understanding with this matter.
Key Rings - please do not put key rings onto your child’s school bag, it create fuss in class and then upset if they are lost.
School bag - please continue to use the red book bag that your child was given in Reception, we don not have the room to store large bags. Many thanks for your help with this matter.
Homework Expectations - please see the Homework page for what I expect the children to do at home…..don’t worry, it’s mainly just reading!! HOMEWORK EXPECTATIONS - YEAR 1 — Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Primary

5.2.25 - Year 1 Pirate Day! As part of our Geography unit on mapping, we will spend the day focusing on all things maps…whilst dressed as pirates! Stripy tops, hats, eye patches at the ready!!

13.2.25 - The school council has decided to run 'What I would like to be when I leave school' day in order to raise funds for CAFOD. They are asking children to dress up as someone they would like to be when they grow up on Thursday 13th February 2025. This can be anything so please do not feel like you have to buy a costume for this occasion, props from home or a simple paintbrush in hand (if they wish to be a painter) will do perfectly. A contribution of £1 is now live to pay on ParentPay and will go towards raising money for CAFOD.

ADVANCED NOTICE….

17.3.25 - Parent/Teacher Meetings - please keep an eye out for the email giving you information on booking a slot. These meetings will run from 1-5pm and will be an opportunity for us to catch up on your child’s learning and how you can support them at home.

In Key Stage 1, children have common exception words to learn alongside their letters and sounds spellings. Common exception words are words in which the English spelling code works in an unusual or uncommon way. They are not words for which phonics 'doesn't work', but they may be exceptions to spelling rules, or words which use a particular combination of letters to represent sound patterns in a rare or unique way.

In Year 1 we are having a real PUSH on these words this term - to ensure that ALL children can read, write and spell correctly ALL of these words. They really do help support the flow of reading. You can really support your child at home by practicing these words. First of all, can they read them instantly? Not sounding them out, but just read them because they know them. Secondly, can they spell them? Thirdly, can they spell them correctly if they ar writing their own sentence and are not told how to spell the word? These are all things you can help with at home - just 5/10 minutes each day will really help.

I have included a link to the Top Marks web page with a few interactive games which might hep!

Many thanks for your help.

Words and Spelling, English Games for 5-7 Years - Topmarks

Spelling games: Common exception words (spellzone.com)

Little Bird Spelling || Practise spelling Common Exception Words (ictgames.com)

Common Exception Word List - Year 1

Please ensure that your child is reading at home - school reading books, along with anything from home will be great, and ebooks from Oxford Owl. https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/

We expect children to read a minimum of three times a week to an adult at home. Each time they read please make sure you sign their reading record so that your child gets a sticker! There is a direct coloration between children who read regularly, and those who make increased progress at school. Please support your child in the learning journey by hearing them read, ideally each day, but a minimum of three times a week.

And please remember to sign their reading record so that they can receive a sticker on their reading bookmark. Thank-you so much for your support with this.

This half term we will be learning all about Baptism. If your child has been Baptised, please could you send in a picture of their Baptism for our display board. You can either send in a copy or email me one to year1@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk.

A huge thank-you for the photos I have already received.

Catholic Life of our school..

The following resources are a great way of keeping you all informed of our current liturgy themes and of the weekly Gospel scripture, with some activities that the children can complete at home. We hope you find these resources useful and that they help you to support prayer and worship in your own homes.

https://www.paperturn-view.com/wednesday-word/good-news?pid=MTA101634&v=163.4