Weekly News! 21.11.25
What a busy week we have had in Year 1! Take a look at what we have been getting up to 😊
Maths
This week in maths, we’ve been having a fantastic time exploring the world of money!
In our lessons, we concentrated on understanding various coins up to 50p. We utilised numicon as a visual aid to help the children grasp the value of each coin and reinforce their learning. This hands-on approach has proven to be quite effective, as it allows the children to see and physically engage with the coins, deepening their understanding.
Additionally, we explored different strategies to make various amounts using the coins we have been learning about. The children enjoyed the challenge of figuring out how many ways they could combine different coins to reach the same total. This exercise not only strengthened their counting skills, but it also encouraged them to think critically about money.
Equally important, we also worked on ordering amounts from smallest to largest. The children quickly realised that regardless of the size of the coin, it is the total amount that truly matters.
To further support their learning at home, I encourage you to engage your child in conversations about money. You could involve them in everyday situations, such as counting coins, making purchases, or even setting up a small shop at home to practice. These activities can make learning enjoyable and reinforce the skills we are developing in class.
Next week in maths we will be looking at measure!
Fact of the week
Each week we will have a fact of the week. We will learn the addition fact(s) and the related subtraction fact(s). This week we are looking at doubling the number four! 4 + 4 = 8
Read, Write Inc.
The children have shown fantastic enthusiasm this week as we’ve revisited our sounds and continued to practise phonetic reading. One of our key focuses has been spotting “special friends” in words — a brilliant strategy that helps children break words into smaller, manageable chunks, making reading both easier and more enjoyable.
You can really support your child at home by exploring this together. Have fun looking for special friends in words, saying the sounds, and reading them aloud. Your involvement makes a huge difference and helps reinforce everything we’re learning in class!
Alongside our phonics work, we’ve also been developing our handwriting skills. The children are learning when to use capital letters at the beginning of sentences and how to finish with full stops correctly. It’s been wonderful to see their confidence grow and their progress shine in both areas!
Reading
Every week the children will bring home two books in their reading folders, one being a RWI home book. Children are expected to try and read this three times during the week to ensure they are building on their reading fluency. The RWI home books will be changed, by an adult, every Monday.
The other book (with the coloured sticker) should be changed independently by the child themselves, first thing in the morning is a great time to do this! These books can be changed as regularly as needed.
Please encourage children to place their reading folders in the trays, so we can read with your children and ensure books get changed. Thank you for your support with this.
Please listen to your child read as much as possible at home and record this in their reading records. Every week, one child from each class will receive a reading certificate in an assembly. Children will also get a certificate for every 20 times they read so it is important that the reading record gets signed every time they read at home.
If you have any questions, please speak to your child’s class teacher.
Home Learning
This week we would love for you to explore money, in any way you wish… This could be buying something at the shops, playing shops at home, ordering coins, playing a money game. Anything you wish 😊
We also would like for you to practise your nativity lines (Exciting!)
Starting next week, we are introducing spellings!
We will be focusing on the Year 1 Common Exception Words (also known as Red Words). Each week, the children will have 2–4 spellings to learn. We will also continue practising these in school during our Power Play sessions.
There is no need to record any practice in the Love to Learn books unless you would like to. Please spend some time throughout the week reading, writing, and spelling the words together at home.
Every Thursday, we will have a short and informal spelling check.
Thank you for your support.
This week’s Red Word spellings are:
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the
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a
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do
Thematic
During our thematic lessons this week, we focused on Geography and specifically the United Kingdom and its four countries.
Throughout the week, the children have been learning about the locations of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as well as their respective capital cities: London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast. We also explored the flags of each country, which sparked some vibrant discussions and creativity in the classroom!
We had a delightful experience tasting various traditional foods from the UK. It was a lovely opportunity for the children to try new flavours and understand the cultural significance behind these dishes. Seeing their enthusiasm for something different was truly heartwarming! Thank you so much for the yummy foods, we are very grateful!
As we concluded our week, we expanded our geographical horizons by looking at the equator. The students learned that countries closer to the equator tend to be warmer, which opened up an interesting dialogue about climate and geography.
As we continue to learn, I encourage you to reinforce these lessons at home. Perhaps you could explore maps together or try cooking a simple recipe from the UK! Engaging with your child about what they’ve learnt will greatly enhance their understanding and retention of the material.
