Year 1 - Robins

Year 1 - Robins

2023-24

Welcome to Year 1, the Robins class! 

At Redhill, we believe that it is important that when children transition from Ducklings to Year 1 we continue to provide lots of opportunities for children to learn through play and first-hand experiences. We ensure children take part in role-play and we maximise the use of the outside areas within lessons. In Year 1, we also have a dedicated ‘Outdoor Learning’ afternoon. The whole class get wrapped up warm and ventures out. The activities and tasks are carefully planned to develop reflective and inquisitive thinking, self-awareness, self-confidence and self-esteem. They also help to develop collaborative-working and communication skills.

Daily Maths, Phonics and Reading activities continue to provide the stepping-stones for the children’s learning and the wider curriculum is taught through cross-curricular activities, where appropriate. Much of the wider curriculum, including writing, is taught in small groups. Children complete a carousel of activities, including creative, construction, role-play, ICT and imaginative or small world play.

As the year progresses, children naturally spend longer on their recorded and curriculum-based work and less time playing freely. They become more independent and confident learners and always seem to enjoy all the new experiences that they are able to access in Year 1.

At Redhill, the thematic curriculum approach is used. This way of teaching and learning ensures that many areas of the curriculum are connected to our class novel or storybook.

In the Autumn term, our storybook was 'The Jolly Postman.' We read lots of different Fairy-tales. We retold a range of them using pictures, words and drama. We wrote letters to our families, which we posted when we went for a walk to the local post office.

This term, our storybook is ‘Percy the Park keeper’. We will be finding out about his animal friends and creating our own factsheet. When Percy goes on holiday to Africa, we learn about what it is like there and compare it to the United Kingdom. We also learn about the Big 5! 

In the Summer term, we will embark on a journey to space with Bob and his ‘alien’ friends. We will learn about the different planets, pretend we are Neil Armstrong and write about our time on the moon and make our own moving Space picture.