Year 1

Welcome to our Year 1 Class at St James’

Welcome to Year 1, my name is Mrs Gofton and I am the Class Teacher. We have various Teaching Assistants in Year 1 who the children will already know from their time in St James. In Year 1, we aim to have fun whilst learning. Our main rule within class is that we always try our best

Year 1 Noticeboard

Children will read with an adult in school throughout the week. Reading books and reading journals should be in school daily.
Spellings are handed out on a Friday and will be tested the following Friday. Should the children misplace their spellings, spares are readily available.
Homework will be given out every Friday and it is expected that they return their homework no later than the following Wednesday. Homework will consist of either Maths, English, Topic or Phonics work. It is encouraged that you sit and work with your child to complete their homework and should you have any issues please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
PE in Year 1 is on Wednesdays. Please make sure you have your full St James PE kit.
Please bring fresh water daily.
Please ensure your child brings their book in every day as we may read with them but we will especially read with them on a Wednesday.
We pray every day in school. Please help your child to become familiar with our prayers here Little Book of Prayers EYFS and KS1

Spring Term in Year 1

We hope you’ve all had a lovely festive Christmas time with your family and friends. We are so excited to see everyone again.

We are very busy in Year 1 this term.

Our English work will be related to dinosaurs. We will be reading Harry and his bucketful of dinosaurs and creating our own diary as though we are Harry, creating some wonderful dinosaur poems and writing letters as though we are the famous palaeontologist, Mary Anning.

In Science, we will be learning all about Space, the planets, astronauts and their important roles in space.

In History we will be learning all about Florence Nightingale and why she was such an influential woman in History and how her work has shaped nursing today.

In DT we will be making our smoothies, tasting them and evaluating them. We can’t wait!

Tips on how to help your child’s learning during the Spring Term:

- - encourage your child to read every night
  - encourage your child to practise their phonics
  - research Florence Nightingale and why she was so influential to modern day nursing
  - practise writing and reading numerals and words up to 20
  - ensure your child is forming their letters and numbers correctly

Autumn Term in Year 1

We have had a very busy term settling in to our new classroom and our new routines. The children have been truly amazing and a credit to their families and our St James family.

In RE we have been looking at Families, Baptism and now we are looking at this wonderful season of Advent.

In Science the children have been looking at seasons how weather changes and how plants and animals adapt to this. We went on an Autumn walk in the park which was lovely as the weather was a lovely autumn day and the leaves looked beautiful in the sunshine.

The children have been looking at some wonderful texts in English including SuperWorm, Funny Bones, Winnie the Witch and Halloween Poetry.

Later this term we will be reading The Gruffalo and making some tasty Gruffalo Crumble.

In Art, we have been looking at the artist Vincent Van Gogh and using his Landscape work to create our own using his mark making techniques and looking at his work to understand how he created his masterpieces for us to recreate one of his famous paintings.

Although we have had a busy start to Year 1, we managed to have lots of fun in our Balance Bikes session. We learned how to ride the bikes sensibly and manoeuvre ourselves carefully around objects to help our balance and coordination.

We also had our class Stay and Pray, where many parents and carers joined us to listen to God’s Word and Year 1 led us in prayer.

Tips on how to help your child’s learning during the autumn term:

Read with your child as often as possible ideally their school book or a book of their choice and talk about the book they are reading. Eg what they llike/dislike about the text how the characters is feeling, their opinion of the character, phonics being used within the text etc
In preparation for our Gruffalo topic read through recipes talking about how they need to be in the correct order and the words that are used (imperative verbs/bossy verbs eg Mix together, Stir the mixture, Get a spoon, Put it in the oven etc)
Read rhyming stories or poems identifying the rhyming words asking your child to think of another word that rhymes with the word Eg Cat – Bat – Flat
Count everyday objects using the words addition and subtraction (also plus, take away, one more, one less) as this is our topic in Maths this term as well as identifying numbers such as the number of a bus, numbers in a supermarket etc.

It’s the end of our Autumn Term

What a busy term we have had in Year 1. The children have made Gruffalo Crumble, learned all about Animals and their diets, learned about Mary Anning and her contribution to Palaeontology and in the midst of all this preparing for their Nativity.

The children shone like stars and sang like heavenly angels in their nativity performance ‘Wriggly Nativity’ we are so proud of them all.

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and we can’t wait to see you all in the New Year.

Year 1 News

Cheerleading Event at the Urban Factory with South Tyneside Sports Network

Year 1 had a great time at the Urban Factory learning cheerleading skills. The children showed fantastic St James behaviour, teamwork and participation. We are so proud of how well you all did in every activity. This was a great way to have fun and interact with children from other schools in South Tyneside.

Our Session with Emily

We had a fantastic session from South Tyneside Mental Health Support Service on Wednesday. We were looking at what makes us worried, how our bodies react and how we can make our worries go away.

Emily told us some tips to help us when we are worried such as using a worry jar, a worry monster and some breathing exercises to help us to calm down and relax.

The children loved the session and learned lots from it.

BBC Children in Need

We made Gruffalo Crumble!

Year 1 have been taking part in Maths week this week. we took part in a range of Teach Active Maths. the children loved their lessons this week and gave their lessons their all.

Our Reception and Year 1 children took part in a balance bike fun day in school. Thank you to Pro-Ride Coaching who deliver a program which incorporates a range of fun activities that will challenge each child to develop their balance and coordination, resilience, and confidence by taking part in skill games, obstacle challenges and mini-races.

Here are some reasons why cycling is beneficial for children:

Physical health: Cycling strengthens muscles and bones, and it’s a low-impact exercise that is safe for growing children.
Mental well-being: Cycling reduces stress, improves mood, and fosters independence and confidence.
Motor skills development: Riding a bike helps develop coordination and balance.