Year 1 Newsletter 30th January 2026

January 30, 2026

English

On Monday we will be having a Julia Donaldson day. We will be talking about our favourite Julia Donaldson book and then doing a character description of one of our favourite characters. The rest of the week we will be combining our english and history work looking at another famous astronaut Mae Jemison. We will be writing a diary entry for different parts of Mae’s life using the personal pronouns I, me, my. 

 

In phonics we will be having a ‘grow the code’ week to demonstrate how different sounds link together.

 

ou/ui (oo/yoo) as in soup, fruit

all ee sounds learnt so far

all s and z sounds learnt so far

all oa sounds learnt so far

 

We will also be recapping all the tricky words learnt this half term. 

 

Have a look below to see some examples of the types of ‘real’ or ‘alien/fake’ words they may have to read. More information about the Phonics Screening Check will be given to you later in the year.

 

Real Words:

juice             group                happy                 shoulder

 

Alien/Fake Words:

reb            chack            meft             flisp

 

Don’t forget to review the sounds and tricky words in the front of the reading records whenever you read with your child.

Reminders

Thursday 5th February 8:40am – 8:55am Open Door morning – a chance to come and look at your child’s books in the classroom.

Maths

We are continuing our unit on addition and subtraction up to 20. This week, we will be completing simple subtraction problems which involve counting back within 20 and subtracting by finding the difference. We will also be exploring the link between addition and subtraction and related facts.

Topic

In Science we will be comparing and grouping together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of their simple physical properties. 

 

In History we will be researching Mae Jemison and learning why she is an important historical figure. 

 

In DT we will be starting to make our own vehicles based on our designs.

This half term the children will be making their own moving vehicles and will need to bring one box in to make this. We would like something medium sized (like a small cake box, tissue box or coffee box) a sheet with example pictures is displayed on the classroom window.

Homework

Our homework this week links to our work on greater than and less than symbols. The children will choose the correct symbol either > < or =. See the examples on the homework sheet. 

 

Please could you also practise this weeks tricky words: friend, through, thought, people, their. 

 

Please speak to your child’s class teacher if you have any questions or concerns.

Top Players

Top Player

Class 4

Nathan Jackson

Zyiah Elvy

 

Class 5

Daisy Capon

 

Class 6

Harmony Hatfield

 

Top Dancer

Class 4

Millie Love

 

Class 5

George Maddison

 

Class 6

Ava Page

 

Children’s Health Project

Class 4

Sienna Warren 

 

Class 5

Thea Vincent

 

Class 6

Freddie Atkinson

As the weather is changeable, please could you ensure all children have a named coat in school everyday. 

 

Lunch boxes – reminder – please could we ensure that there are no sweets (e.g. marshmallows, smarties, skittles) or popcorn in children’s lunch boxes.