Autumn 1
Hello and welcome.
We are so excited to begin our journey in Year 1!
Here is a helpful guide to what we will be learning this half-term.
Our topic this half-term is….
'Tell me a story'
We will be developing our storytelling skills this half-term. The children will practise retelling familiar stories and make up their own stories too. It would be helpful for your child to share traditional tales with you at home to support them with this topic.
English – The Enormous Turnip
The model text that our first unit will be based on is ‘The Enormous Turnip’. We will practice verbally retelling the story and have opportunities to act it out to deepen our understanding of the events and key vocabulary in it. We will then write our own version of the story. We will be focusing on using descriptive language and developing our settings.
Key vocabulary: describe, settings, retell, Long ago, One fine day, sunny, foggy, rainy, gloomy, morning, afternoon, evening, sow, turnip, ripened, pulled, heaved, tugged, yanked, so, fetch, suddenly, still, but, crooked, overgrown, old woman, old man, character, event, order, big, brown, white, black, speckled.
Maths - Place value within 10
We will practise sorting objects into groups, counting objects, using tens frames to represent numbers, recognise numbers as words, count on, find 1 more, count backwards within 10, find 1 less, compare groups, learn about less than, more than and equal to, compare numbers, order numbers and use a number line.
Key vocabulary: sort, group, count, object, tens frame, represent, numeral, words, 1 more, 1 less, count on, count backwards, compare, less than, more than, equal to, compare, order, number line.
Math - Add and subtract within 10
We will learn and consolidate number bonds to 10, add numbers within 10, learn parts and whole, subtract parts, work on fact families, practising taking away (subtracting), use a number line to subtract and add or subtract 1 or 2.
Key vocabulary: add, subtract, take away, minus, number line, fact families, part, whole.
Science - The Human Body
In Science we will be learning all about 'The Human Body'. Children will name, identify, draw and label parts of the human body as well as learning about the five senses (sight, sound, taste, touch and smell).
Key vocabulary: eye, hair, ear, nose, teeth, mouth, neck, elbow, arm, hand, leg, knee, feet, light, dark, blind, hear, loud, quiet, noisy, sweet, savory, salty, sour, bitter, skin, rough, smooth, hard, soft, scent, sniff, stench.
Science – Seasonal changes - Autumn
We will also learn about the changes in Autumn and collect and record data of the amount of rainfall within this season.
Key vocabulary: season, Autumn, daylight, night, weather, rainfall, rain gauge
Computing - Computing systems and networks - improving mouse skills
Children will learn how to log in and navigate around a computer, develop mouse skills, learn how to drag, drop, click and control a cursor to create works of art inspired by Kandinsky and self-portraits.
Key vocabulary: account, computer, log off, log on, mouse, password, predict, screen (monitor), software, tool, click, clipart, drag, duplicate, explore, redo, resize, undo, bring to the front, drag and drop, fill, layers, left-click, outline, right-click.
Religion and Worldview - How did the world begin?
We will explore a range of creation stories in imaginative ways. The children will then present their own ideas using art and language. We will consider how creation stories help some people understand what God is like.
Key vocabulary: belief, believe, God, proof, religion, respect, true, Christian, Christian Bible, Genesis, Jewish, religion, scripture, Tenak, Torah, worldview, Brahma, Brahman, Hindu, lotus flower, navel, Shiva, Vishnu.
D&T Structures – Stable Structures
The children will investigate stable shapes and use an understanding of balance to discover how wide or heavy bases improve stability in freestanding structures.
Key vocabulary: base, better, compare, design, freestanding, stable, structure, unstable, user, worse.
Music – Keeping the Pulse – My Favourite Things
The children will explore keeping the pulse together through music and movement, by exploring their favourite things.
Key vocabulary: pulse, singing voice, thinking voice, speaking voice.
Geography - What is it like here?
Children will locate where they live on an aerial photograph and recognise features within a local context. We will create maps using classroom objects before drawing simple maps of the school grounds. We will follow simple routes around the school grounds and carry out an enquiry as to how our playground could be improved.
Key vocabulary: aerial photograph, aerial view, atlas, city, country, directional language, distance, features, globe, improve, key, land, locate, location, map, north, place, questionnaire, sea, survey, town, village
Outdoor PE: Playground games
We will practise and play playground games such as skipping, hopscotch, duck goose, What’s the time Mr Wolf? This will help the children to learn and use rules and work in groups.
Key vocabulary: skip, hop, wait, turn, rules, run, walk, group
Indoor PE: Gymnastics
The children will learn to travel using a range of movements such as skipping hopping, galloping and tip toes. They will recall and perform the basic shapes – straddle, straight, star, tuck and pike. The children will practice bunny hops as well as holding kneeling and standing balances. They will learn to perform a variety of jumps off the floor – tuck, pike, half turn and cat leap and to land with control. The children will learn to perform a range of rolls - log roll, curled roll and a teddy bear roll. The children will share what they like about each other’s movements and suggest how they could improve.
Key vocabulary: skip, hop, gallop, tip toes, space, travel, shape, straddle, straight, star, tuck, bunny hop, jump, balance, still, roll, log roll, curled roll, teddy bear roll, improve.
PSHE - MyHappyMind – Meet Your Brain
The children will learn where their brain is and what it looks like. They will learn that their brain has 3 parts. They will learn that when they feel a big emotion that the amygdala can take over and send the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex to sleep. They will learn that Happy Breathing helps our entire body, including our brain. They will learn that if they want to improve that they need to do things repeatedly. This is called neuroplasticity.
Key vocabulary: brain, cells, team H-A-P, hippocampus, amygdala, prefrontal cortex, Happy Breathing, neuroplasticity, big emotions.
PSHE - My Happy Mind Plus – Places
Children will learn how to notice and name a range of feelings in themselves and others. To be aware of their thoughts and feelings to help manage them, feelings can affect how someone behaves, ways to manage strong feelings, actions and responses, things to make people feel good and simple strategies to manage distraction and strong feelings. Who they can ask for help.
Key vocabulary: feelings, emotions, facial expressions, body, heart, strategies, Happy Place, Middle Place, Busy Place, Team H-A-P
Important dates:
Teacher training days –Tuesday 1st and Wednesday 2nd September 2026.
Term begins – Thursday 3rd September 2026.
Roald Dahl Day – Sunday 13th September 2026.
Jeans for Genes Day – Friday 25th September 2026.
Black History Month – October 2026.
Halloween Disco – Thursday 22nd October 2026.
Last day of the half term – Friday 23rd October 2026
Half term – Monday 26th - Friday 30th October 2026