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 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. In D&T the children will create a puppet based on their favourite character. It would be helpful for your child to reread traditional tales 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, using the story ‘Pattan’s Pumpkin’ by Chitra Sounder as inspiration. We will be focusing on using descriptive language and developing our settings.
Key vocabulary: describe, settings, retell, long ago, one fine day, 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: log in, log out/off, mouse pointer, keyboard, password, software, ctrl, right click, layers, drag, digital photograph, login, mouse, click, screen, account, duplicate, tools, menu, username, drag and drop, undo, cursor
Religion and Worldviews - How did the world begin?
We will explore a range of creation stories in imaginative ways, 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, Bible, Brahma, create, Christian, creation, creator, Genesis, God, Hindu, Jewish, love, man-made, natural, personality, proof, proud, respect, Shiva, true, talent, Torah, Vishnu.
Design and Technology - Puppets
We will explore methods of joining fabric, design and make a character-based hand puppet using a preferred joining technique, before decorating.
Key vocabulary: decorate, fabric, design, glue, model, hand puppet, safety pin, staple, stencil, template
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 , duck goose and 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, pike, straight, star, tuck, bunny hop, jump, balance, still, roll, log roll, curled roll, teddy bear roll, improve.
PSHE - Family and relationships
We will explore how families can be different, learn about the characteristics and impact of positive friendships. We will discuss and learn that issues can be overcome, people show feelings differently and that stereotyping is unfair.
Key vocabulary: behaviour, care, emotions, family, feelings, friend, friendly, problem, stereotype
Important dates:
Teacher training days – Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd September 2025.
Term begins – Wednesday 3rd September 2025.
Term ends - Friday 24th October 2025.