Autumn Term

In Autumn term we focused on the Victorian period and discussed how times have changed, this helped us to answer our enquiry question, 'Is change always for the better?'.

The children learns about what school life was like in the Victorian times, the different kinds of toys the children played with and Florence Nightingale. We discussed the impact she had on the future of hospitals and how patients are cared for. We had a visit from Mansfield museum and look at different artefacts from the Victorian period. All our new learning eventually supported us to write our very own non-fiction book.

We then completed a Florence Nightingale charity walk to raise money for Kingsmill Hospital.

We had so much fun learning about history!

Spring Term

This term in year 1, alongside our usual lessons we will be focusing on Geography. We will be finding out lots of new information to answer our enquiry question, 'Why is the United Kingdom unique?' We will be learning about the 4 special countries that make up the United Kingdom. We will discuss the features of the UK and how to locate it on a map and we will create posters full of new information we have learnt! 

Our Team

Turtles 

Teacher: Miss Chorley

Teaching Assistant: Mrs Sanderson 

Jellyfish 

Teacher: Mrs Preston 

Teaching Assistant: Mrs Naylor

If you would like to contact your child's class teacher, please email them at:

Mrs Preston: 

kpreston@greenwoodprimary.org.uk

Miss Chorley:

rchorley@greenwoodprimary.org.uk

We also have class Dojo, where you will receive regular updates and reminders about things happening in school. 

What does school look like now for our children?

Key information about Year 1

Enquiries

Our enquiries this year are:

Autumn  - Is change always for the better?

Spring  - What makes the United Kingdom unique? 

Summer -Are all ideas good ideas?

Reading

Reading is so important and we want to help you, to help your children develop a life-long love of books.

Try and support your child and help them as much as possible. The following tips should help make reading less stressful, and help your child feel like they are a successful reader.

1. Before you start reading a new book, tell them the title and look at the pictures on page.

2. Talk about what might happen in the story.

3. When you are ready to start reading, ignore tiny mistakes that still make sense in the sentence.

4. Prompt your child to look at the first sound and think about what words starting with that letter would make sense in the next sentence.

5. Re-read book lots of times to build your child's confidence. don't change them everyday!

Read and Shine

Children will come into the classroom at 8:35 for read and shine time. This is an opportunity for the children to read an allocated decodable reading book for 1 week prior to the book being sent home. This is to build up fluency and a love of reading. 

Phonics

Year 1 children have phonics lessons every day. The children learn how to recognise and segment the sounds within words and how to blend the sounds back together to read whole words. It helps children to hear and read whole words more easily, if the segmenting is done by ‘stretching’ words out rather than ‘chopping’ them up.

We follow the no nonsense phonics international scheme which includes lots of fun opportunities for reading, writing and developing their vocabulary. Please have a look and encourage your child to play some of these games at home. Follow the links below:

During June 2024 your child will taking part in a National Phonics Screening Test to assess their levels against other year 1 children nationally.

Handwriting

In year 1 there will be a focus on forming letters of the alphabet and numbers correctly. The children will be taught where to start each letter, both upper and lower , and numbers too.

You can support your child by practising these at home.

PE

Year 1 will have PE Tuesday every week. Your child can come to school in PE kit on those Tuesday.

Please ensure all articles of clothing have the child's name written in them.

Value Superstars and reading certificates

Stars Assembly
Every Friday we award one child from each class with a "Value certificate".

These values are part of the Flying High Trust. They are:

Pride

Confidence

Kindness

Perseverance 

Aspiration

Resilience

Creativity

Teamwork

Responsibility

Children will be awarded their certificate in class and will be celebrated with the whole school in an assembly.

Behaviour

At Greenwood we have a simple set of school agreements that ensures clarity for all. Everyone in the school community is expected to respect and follow these agreements. The children are reminded of the agreements frequently and they are displayed in every classroom and in shared areas around school.

School Agreements

Greenwood Stars:

• Stay safe
• Take care of each other
• Always do our best
• Respectful of ourselves and our environment

Our School Agreements are underpinned by our School Values and it is recognised that in following our school agreements, our school values will be promoted.

School Values

1. Enjoyment
2. Confidence
3. Respect
4. Responsibility
5. Creativity
6. Aspiration
7. Perseverance
8. Pride

‘Bringing out the best……in everyone!’

In year 1 the children are rewarded for good behaviour with spotty stickers and work towards special certificate for good behaviour.

As a class they work together to achieve a class treat once a term, by achieving their class target throughout the term.

For more information about how we celebrate positive achievements, how the behaviour charts in the classroom are used, further support or exclusion information please look on the ‘Parents’ tab of the website and view the full policy.

Homework

After your children’s teachers have completed initial assessments, your child will receive regular weekly homework. This will usually be set on purple mash and you will find your child's login in their reading diary. It is important that your child does their best to have a go at completing each piece of homework brought home.

In addition to weekly Literacy or Maths homework children are given spellings on a Friday, which should be practised regularly ready for their spellings test on the following Friday.

Your child will also take home 2 reading books

• A decodable reading book
• A free choice book

these should be read daily if possible. Please encourage your children to read at home and make a note of this in their reading diary.

Purple Mash

Each week 2Do's are uploaded onto Purple Mash for you to complete.

Have lots of fun and we can't wait to see your wonderful creations! 

Each child has log in details, if you require more information on this then please contact your class teacher.

>> Click here to log on.