Welcome to Year 1

Year 1 – Term 3 Overview (Spring 1)

We are really looking forward to a busy and exciting Spring term in Year 1! Below is an overview of what your child will be learning this half term and how you can support them at home.

English & Phonics

This term in English, our class text is The Fox and the Star by Coralie Bickford-Smith – a beautiful story that inspires thoughtful discussion and creative writing.

Through this text, children will be:

• Building confidence in sentence writing

• Using their phonics knowledge more independently in writing

• Exploring new vocabulary, with a focus on interesting adjectives and powerful verbs

In Phonics, children will continue to build on the sounds they already know, while learning new phonemes. They will also begin to explore some simple prefixes and suffixes, helping them to develop their reading and spelling skills further.

Each morning, children take part in Funky Fingers – a fun, practical activity designed to strengthen fine motor skills, support handwriting, and develop accurate letter formation.

Maths

In Maths this term, children will be:

• Securing number bonds to 20

• Using addition and subtraction facts to solve problems within 20

• Regularly revisiting key number facts to build confidence and fluency

• Exploring 2D and 3D shapes, learning to identify and describe their properties

Topic Learning

Across our foundation subjects this term, children will enjoy learning about:

Science

• Identifying different plants, including trees and flowers

• Understanding the difference between deciduous plants and evergreens

• Learning about why Charles Darwin is an important scientist

Geography

• Exploring weather changes

• Learning about the hot and cold parts of the world

Design & Technology

• Designing and making a fox cone puppet, inspired by our class story

Religious Education

• Learning about Judaism, with a focus on the celebration of Shabbat

Supporting Learning at Home

You can support your child’s learning by:

• Reading daily and encouraging them to read their weekly phonics book independently

• Encouraging writing at home – shopping lists, labels, cards and drawings all help

• Practising counting forwards and backwards to 20, including counting in steps of 2

• Using NumBots to complete fun maths challenges

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. We are excited for another wonderful term of learning together in Year 1!

Warm regards,
The Year 1 Team