Carle Class – Year 1

Welcome to Year 1 Carle Class.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to Year 1. We have got a lot of fun things planned for the year and I’m sure that the children will have an amazing time. Year 1 is a little different to Reception as the children will have more focussed lessons and less time for choosing. It can be difficult for the children to adjust in the first few weeks, so please be assured that we will do everything we can to help them get settled and really enjoy their time with us. 

Our class name is Carle class – named after Eric Carle, the author of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. In our first week back, we will explore the writing and art work of Eric Carle and contribute to a lovely display inspired by his work. 

This year, we will continue to use ClassDojo for communication, so if there is anything you need to contact me about, please do not hesitate to drop me a message on there.

Topic

Throughout the year, we will cover a variety of different topics linked to Geography and History. 

Our first topic this year will be “Wonderful Weather” where we will learn about seasonal changes throughout Summer and Autumn as well as discussing weather patterns and dangerous weather in the UK and other countries. We will also learn about Antarctic explorer Ernest Schackleton and what weather conditions he and his team encountered during his exploration of Antarctica. 

 As part of our topic, we will make rain catchers and sensory bottles inspired by different weather we experience in the UK. 

 Homework

Homework is an essential part of learning and is meant to complement the work completed in class. All homework sent will be in line with what the children have been learning in school and is a good opportunity for you to see what the children have been up to throughout the week. The children will be provided with a zip folder which will have their reading records, homework and any extra letters in for you to look through. Please ensure that the children bring these folders in everyday for us to have a look at. 

 Reading – It would be lovely for every child to read every day however if this is a struggle, please make sure they are reading a minimum of three times a week. Every child will need their reading record in school every day as they will read with an adult at least once a week, every week. If the children have read with you, please fill in their reading records telling us how they got on with reading the words and their comprehension of the book as a whole. 

Reading is a major aspect of learning and impacts on all subjects, hobbies and day to day living so it’s really important to encourage them to read as often as possible. Remember that reading can happen anywhere and at any time. If your child is reading books, magazines, flashcards or even shop signs this can all be counted towards the reading and can be put in their reading diary. 

• • Spelling – New spellings will be sent home weekly on a Friday as a physical copy and these need to be learned at home, ready for our spelling tests which take place a week after they go out. There are 12 spellings in total which focus on our new sounds learned in the week prior and some high frequency/common exception words. 
  • Numbots – The children’s individual login for Numbots will be put in the front of their reading record for you. Please take some time to work through some of the tasks each week for a minimum of 10 minutes. 

• Other tasks – At times, your child will receive other homework tasks in their folders so please check these as often as you can. 

General information:

• All children need to bring a named water bottle with them which they will have access to throughout the day. 
• The children will have PE on a specific day each week which will be confirmed on Class dojo for the first week. On this day please bring your child to school in their PE kit as this saves valuable learning time.
• Class dojo is a fantastic tool which we can use to communicate with you, but please also remember that this is how you can communicate with us. If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to reach out via a dojo message. 
• If you need to discuss anything with me that you would rather do in person, please send me a message via and we can make an appointment to have a discussion at a time which is convenient for you.