Murphy

Welcome back to the Autumn term. We hope you have had a lovely restful break over the summer and have enjoyed lots of nice activities. We are looking forward to welcoming you back in to school.

Over the first half term in Year 1 we will be focussing on a topic all about toys called 'The Magic Toymaker'. 

This unit of work is part of the International Primary Curriculum. This new curriculum sets out very clearly what children will learn – the learning goals – in three different areas:

1. The subjects of the curriculum. The learning goals for each of these subjects are at least as challenging as anything taught in the curriculum  in the UK curriculum. In many cases, the learning goals are more challenging.

2. Personal development – the characteristics which will help children become more responsible, independent learners.

3. International understanding – which will help children develop both a sense of the independence of their own country and culture and the interdependence between countries and cultures.

Each unit of work is based around specific targets derived from the learning goals for one or more of the subjects.

During this unit we will be focusing on History, Science, Technology, Physical Education and International.

In History, we’ll be finding out:

• About toys and games from the past
• How to decide if a toy is new or old
• How to create our own toy museum
• How we can learn about the past in different ways

In Science, we’ll be finding out:

• How to sort toys based on what they are made out of
• Which materials can be bent, squashed, twisted or stretched

In Technology, we’ll be finding out:

• About ‘magic’ toys that fool our eyes
• How to design and make our own board game
• How to design and make our own puppets

In Physical Education, we’ll be finding out:

• About how different toys move

In ICT, we’ll be finding out:

• How to make our own space-themed computer game

In International, we’ll be finding out:

• About a popular game from another country and teaching others to play it

All of the work we are going to do has been specially written to help your child reach the learning goals. Children will be reading, researching, writing, illustrating, working on their own and working in groups. We will be checking to see how well your child has learned through particular activities and asking children to explain their work, perhaps to you.

We already know the interest you take in your child’s work. If you can, please discuss with your child the work they have done as the term progresses and let them teach you. Talk with your child about the toys and games that you used to play with when you were growing up. If you still have examples of these toys, then show them to your child and talk about how you played with them. Collect and look at old photographs that feature family members playing with toys. Help your child to understand how toys have changed over time.

If your child has some work to research, please help them, but without actually doing the work. If you have the chance to further their interest in the ideas of this theme please take it, but your enthusiasm and interest is most important.

By the end of the unit, we hope your child has achieved all of the learning targets. We hope they have had an enjoyable time in the classroom. And we hope you have enjoyed seeing your child work with enthusiasm. 

Our Literacy, Maths and Phonics learning will take place each day and will focus on objectives set out in the National Curriculum. Our Literacy learning will often link to texts and over the first half term we will be looking at 'Here We Are' by Oliver Jeffries, 'Dogger' by Shirley Hughes and 'Plenty of Love to go Around' by Emma Chichester Clark. Through these texts we will be looking at labels, lists and captions, recounts, predictions and responding to texts as well as sentence structure. Our Maths learning for the first half term will be mainly number focussed. We will be exploring patterns, counting and comparing numbers as well as thinking about how we can represent numbers in different ways. In Science, we will be thinking about different materials, linked to our Toymaker topic and our RE learning will be focussing on different celebrations and festivals as well as considering different beliefs, practices and ways of life. 

If there is anything you need to ask or find out then we are here to help so please contact the school to arrange a time to chat.

We look forward to working with you all.

Mrs Bannister, Miss Garoghan and the Year 1 team