Welcome to Year 1 - Willow

 

Mrs Andreas and Mrs Bell

Willow Class have had a wonderful couple of weeks. We have been so impressed with the children’s maturity, enthusiasm, and willingness to take on new challenges. They are learning so many new skills and continue to thrive during their ‘exploring time’ (learning through play), creating amazing models and artworks each day using loose parts, blocks, sand, playdough, and craft materials.

Literacy
We have concluded our learning on the story I Want My Hat Back by writing our own sequels titled I Want My Friend Back. The children have been working hard to use capital letters, full stops, and question marks correctly, as well as practising neat and consistent handwriting using the Little Wandle letter formation phrases.

Maths
We have been exploring subtraction using vocabulary such as "minus" and "take away." The children have been using part–whole models within 10 and have been finding the eight related addition and subtraction facts for each number. They have also practised subtracting by crossing out and solved a range of subtraction word problems.

Phonics
We have continued our learning in Phase 5 and introduced new graphemes, including the digraphs ew (chew, stew), ie (field), and aw (claw), along with the split vowel digraphs a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, and u-e. Recent tricky words include: could, would, should, our, house, mouse, water, and want.

History
The children learnt about Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953. They also explored a map from the 1950s and compared it to a modern-day map of the same town. They identified lots of changes and discussed reasons for them — for example, far fewer cars in the 1950s meant fewer car parks on older maps.

Geography
The children have been using basic geographical vocabulary to identify and describe physical and human features. They have explored using a range of maps, including a globe, picture maps, maps with keys, world maps, and atlases. They have learnt that a map has symbols to show where things are located.

Science
Continuing with our 'Human Senses' topic, the children have been learning about our five senses. They can identify, name, draw, and label the basic parts of the human body and say which part of the body is associated with each sense.

Music
We have been having lots of fun in our music lessons, exploring tempo using a variety of percussion instruments. The children have learnt the role of a conductor and how musicians have to listen and look at each other to communicate when they play together.

Art
We created playful collages using a variety of facial features and accessories, from hats to moustaches! The children also studied a selection of famous portraits (photographs, paintings, and line drawings) and had a go at recreating their favourites using paint, applying their colour-mixing skills from earlier in the term.

Design & Technology
In D&T, we have been thinking about which materials are best suited for different types of shelters, such as tents, bus shelters, pet shelters, and garden rooms. The children designed their own structures and explained their choices — for example, “Wooden poles in a tipi tent help to keep it stable.”

Coming Up Next…
Literacy
We will be starting a fiery new text… but the title remains top secret for now!

Maths
We will learn how to solve subtraction problems using a number line and revisit key concepts from the Autumn term.

Phonics
We will continue to grow our Phase 5 code knowledge, review all tricky words learned so far, and complete our Autumn 2 phonics assessments.

 

 Autumn Term 2025

Click on the links below to see what the children in Year 1 will be learning in the Autumn Term.