Elm Class 2025/26
Welcome to Elm Class. In Elm class the teacher is Mrs Armitage and the teaching assistants are Mrs McDonald, Mrs Whyte (mornings) and Miss Stanley (afternoons).
We hope your child has an amazing year in Year 1. Below is some key information about our class.
If you have any letters or forms to be handed in at school these can be carried in your child’s “reading bag”. Please encourage your child to tell us that they have something to hand in. Please also check their bags when they come home as we will ask the children to messages and letters to their own bags. We will also be using the Dojo System as a means of direct communication.
The children keep their books in the reading packets and coats on their pegs outside the classroom.
Water bottles can be brought in daily. Please can you make sure all school items are clearly labelled including snack boxes.
PE
PE sessions for the year 1 children are on a Monday and a Thursday afternoon. Children should come to school on these days in their PE kit which is a pair of black jogging pants or shorts, a white t-shirt, a black tracksuit top and trainers.
Swimming
From Spring 2 until the end of term the Thursday slot will be swimming. Children will need their swimming kit which consists of a costume or trunks, a towel and swim cap in a named bag. Long hair should be tied back as it is easier to put on swimming caps. Earrings must not be worn.
Home Learning
Regular reading– we now encourage the children to read their book through on 3 separate occasions- this is to encourage fluency and confidence as well as a good understanding of the phonics and content of the books. We would ask that the children’s Book & Log are in school on a Monday & Thursday for checking and changing. Every time your child reads 3 times they will be given a raffle ticket to put in the pot. At the end of every half term we will choose 5 children out of the pot to come into school in non-uniform on the last day as a reward for reading.
Spellings
Every child will be given 6 spelling words every 2 weeks to practise at home. These are personalised to each child. These spellings are linked to the year 1 high frequency words we would like them to be able to sell by the end of the year. New spellings will be given after a little quiz to check if they can spell them.
Handwriting and Spelling
We will be having Spelling/ Phonics everyday which will focus on phonics families and Common Exception Words. We will assess the children as often as is needed so lots of practise using their reading books with the appropriate phonic sounds in is a really helpful.
In our daily handwriting sessions in year 1 the children will be taught how to form letters in cursive. We encourage the children to use ‘tails & flicks’ in their writing as they progress throughout the year. We will be practising each of the letters, this can be practised at home if they like.
Phonics practise and games using Bug Club Phonic- Active Learn. The children will be given a username and password to access books and games to practise new sounds learnt weekly.
Writing continues to be a whole school target this year so the more writing your child can do the better. We just ask for you to mindful of some of the writing skills we expect.
1. The use of finger spaces.
2. Sit their letters on the line making sure the tall and long letters are clearly shown.
3. Full stops and capital letters.
4. Accurate letter formation (cursive handwriting using the correct ‘take off and flick’).
5. Use phonics to help them spell accurately and spell year 1 common exception words correctly in writing.
6. Be able to read back what they have written accurately and with confidence.
NumBots
We ask every child to log into NumBots and play the games for 20 minutes each week. This is only a few minutes each day and practises key skills for year 1.
In Year 1, NumBots helps children develop and practise mental addition and subtraction skills, moving from counting to calculating. It focuses on foundational maths concepts like subitising (recognising small quantities without counting), building number bonds, and gaining quick recall for addition and subtraction facts. Children progress through levels to become more fluent in calculations and build a strong mathematical foundation.
We also encourage the children to practise their Using and Applying Maths skills within the real world. We want the children to understand how Maths is used in the world around them so any hands on and practical activities can be fun.
Some hands on activity examples:
- Visit a shop and allow your child to buy something using the correct coins
- Find numbers in the supermarket
- Use items from the kitchen to weigh/measure or order in size
Time (reading o’clock and half past), days of the week and months of the year are also very important things for your child to learn.
We understand that you have very busy home lives but any home learning you can do, really does help the progress of your child.
Thank you for your support in this.
Curriculum overview
Below is the Timetable and Long Term Plan for the Year 1 children.
The Long Term Plan is what the children will be covering across the year.
Below is also an overview of our daily GPS sessions (spelling, punctuation and grammar), end of year maths targets and independent writing targets.
