Welcome to Primary 1’s class page where you can find out all about what we are learning.
Term 3 January – April
Literacy and English – As part of our Scottish focus for the month of January, we will be undertaking a ‘Talk for Writing’ block using the story ‘Little Charlie’. The children will learn how to create a story map and how to use this to tell their own journey story, with their character visiting Scottish landmarks, meeting Scottish animals and eating Scottish foods as they go. We will finish learning the rest of our initial letter sounds (h, w, j, v, y, z, q(u) and x) before beginning work on joined phonemes (sh, th, ch and ng). We will also have new spelling words to learn (was, went, his, have, just, to, your, by, only, are, dad, not, she, come, from, this, that, then, with, us, go, much, of, or). The children will continue reading their own reading books and will have further practise in answering comprehension questions related to the texts. We will also work on developing our extended writing skills.
Numeracy and Mathematics – This term, we will complete work on addition to 10 and start work on subtraction to 10. We will work on data handling and find out about pictograms, tally marks and Carroll diagrams. We will learn about ‘o’ clock times on both analogue and digital clocks and about halves in our fraction work. P1 are enjoying using the ‘Number Talks’ approach to help develop their numeracy skills. We will continue to work on developing mental maths strategies and our problem solving skills too.
Health and Wellbeing – In P.E. we will focus on developing our skills in fitness and we will participate in gymnastics activities with Mrs Goodwin. We will work on the wellbeing indicators of ‘achieving’, ‘responsible’ and ‘active’. We will also continue with ‘Emotion Works’ activities to help us understand our own and others’ emotions. The children will also learn about the role of medicines and potential dangers of these as part of their drugs education.
French – The children will find out how to say the days of the week and how to count to ten in French. They will also discover how Easter is celebrated in France.
Interdisciplinary Learning – We will study two topics this term. The first will be our Scottish focus throughout the month of January where we will investigate Scottish wild animals. The children will then work on the topic of ‘Animals’ for the rest of the term where they will have choice in which animals they would like to focus on.
Social Studies – During our topic on ‘Animals’, the children will discover how the animals are adapted to live in their habitats and how they are dependent on each other. They will find out more about people who work with animals and what skills they need for their job. They will develop their understanding of our world and the location of different countries/continents. We will also discuss the negative impact of humans on animal life and current issues affecting animals around the world.
Technologies – In ICT the children will learn about internet safety before we use the internet to help us research our ‘Animals’ topic. The children will explore the reasons why we need to reduce, reuse and recycle materials and the importance of this in helping to protect animal habitats. The children will also work hard at being able to log on to the computers independently this term.
Religious and Moral Education – The children will explore the story of ‘Joseph’ and its importance to both Christianity and Judaism.
Expressive Arts – Many of our Art and Design activities (drawing, painting, collage, modelling, printing and pattern) will be linked to our topic work. We will learn the song ‘Katie Bairdie’ and perform it at the Scottish Celebration assembly. We will also continue to use Fischy Music and ABC Music to support our learning. The children will be introduced to ‘Go Noodle’ and encouraged to express themselves through dance. We will also have fun taking part in various drama games.
Science – Mrs Goodwin will teach Science this term.
P1 have another busy term ahead!
Term 2 October – December
Literacy and English – We will continue work on learning new sounds (r, m, d, e, c, k, g, l, f, o, b and u) and new spelling words (am, me, my, did, as, he, can, we, into, go, got, get, if, for, on, be, but, you). The children will use the 5 finger approach (say, make/break, blend, read and write) as they learn these and will participate in reciprocal teaching and dictation activities. The children will begin reading their own reading books this term and are already enjoying learning all about the adventures of Biff, Chip and Kipper! We will start work on comprehension activities related to our reading books to help us understand what is happening in the story. We will also have a weekly writing lesson where the children will learn to use capital letters, finger spaces and full stops correctly. The children will also be involved in Literacy activities linked to our topic on ‘The Post Office’.
Numeracy and Mathematics – We will be learning how to recognise, name and sort 2D and 3D shapes and how to describe their properties. The children will copy, continue and create simple patterns involving objects, shapes and numbers. They will be introduced to the concepts of addition and subtraction within 10. We will also continue to work on developing mental maths strategies and our problem solving skills. The children will also be involved in Numeracy and Maths activities linked to our topic on ‘The Post Office’.
Health and Wellbeing – In P.E. we will focus on developing ball skills and participate in a range of dance and yoga activities. We will focus on the wellbeing indicators of ‘nurtured’, ‘included’ and ‘safe’. We will also work on our emotional development using ‘Emotion Works’ where the children will be taught about emotion words, triggers, behaviours and body sensations. The children will also learn more about what a ‘growth mindset’ is.
Science – Mrs Goodwin will be teaching this area of the curriculum.
French – The children will be introduced to some French colours. They will learn how to respond to simple questions such as ‘What is your name?’ and ‘How are you?’. The children will also find out how Christmas is celebrated in France.
Technologies – The children will further develop their mouse control skills using the drawing and painting tools within the programme ‘Colour Magic’. ICT will be used to enhance the children’s learning in other curricular areas too. The children will also be involved in paper technology tasks such as designing and constructing 3D Christmas decorations.
Interdisciplinary Learning – The main curricular areas we will work on this term will be Literacy and English, Social Studies and Numeracy and Mathematics as we focus on our ‘Post Office’ topic. As this is our Enterprise topic, we shall organise the ‘Christmas Post’ for the whole school, sorting, stamping and delivering Christmas Cards to all of the classes. Our role play area will be set up as a Post Office this term and lots of learning will take place there too!
Social Studies – The children will be involved in finding out about the journey of a letter from when it is posted to when it is delivered. We will also think about the skills a postal worker needs to do their job.
Religious and Moral Education – The children will focus on the values of kindness, fairness and justice this term. They will also learn about the Christmas story and reflect on their own experiences of giving and receiving gifts.
Expressive Arts – This term the children will be very busy rehearsing for the infant nativity which is called ‘Whoops-a-Daisy Angel’. Most of our Expressive Arts work will be related to this. We will be learning songs, taking part in dances and taking on acting roles throughout the performances. Lots of our artwork this term will focus on Christmas too.
Another very busy term for P1!
Term 1 August – October
Literacy and English – We will start by undertaking a block of phonological awareness to help us develop skills in rhyme, alliteration and syllable segmentation. We will then learn 8 sounds (a, t, s, i, p, n, r, m) and 12 spelling words (a, at, the, I, in, it, an, is, and, am, me, my). The children will begin to use their phonic knowledge to read and write some simple words. They will have lots of opportunities for daily writing including letter formation practice. The children will also be read aloud lots of stories and will start to learn about the main characters in the Oxford Reading Tree scheme.
Numeracy and Mathematics – We will focus on numbers to 10 and will carry out lots of fun activities to help us identify, count, sequence and order these numbers. We will learn number formation rhymes to help us write numbers to 10 correctly. We will also work on developing mental maths strategies and our problem solving skills.
Health and Wellbeing – In P.E. we will focus on developing ball skills and participate in a range of games. The children will learn about road safety and the importance of finding a safe place to cross. We will also focus on the wellbeing indicator ‘respected’ and will work together to create a class charter following discussions on rules and rights. The children will take part in ‘circle time’ activities to help develop their social skills and will begin to use ‘Emotion Works’ to explore our own emotions and those of others.
Science – Mrs Goodwin will be teaching this subject.
French – The children will be introduced to simple greetings in French.
Technologies – This term we will be looking at ICT technologies and familiarising ourselves with the computer keyboard and mouse. We will work on developing basic mouse control skills and how to ‘log off’ the computer correctly.
Interdisciplinary Learning – The main curricular areas we will work on this term will be Social Studies and Health and Wellbeing as we focus on our topic ’Our School’. The children will find out more about the people who work in our school and the skills they need to do their job. They will also investigate what school was like in the past. We will discuss different ways that we stay healthy in school and why it is important for our learning.
Religious and Moral Education – The children will focus on the values of respect and thankfulness this term. They will learn about the Jewish harvest festival called Sukkot.
Social Studies – The children will be learning about the Global Goal – clean water and sanitation. They will think about all the ways we use water in our daily lives and why it is important. The children will learn about parts of the world where people don’t have access to clean water like they do.
Expressive Arts – In Art and Design the children will focus on line drawings and in dance lessons they will explore the theme of Autumn. The children will learn and sing some new songs this term, including those for the school’s Harvest assembly. They will also listen to different types of music and learn about rhythm.
What a busy first term at school!