In Year 1 we have lots of fun learning through play and through many other different learning experiences. Each month we focus on a different topic, topics include :-

World Around Us:

• Marvellous Me - What is Special about ME?
• In the Woods and Halloween - What can be found in the Woods during Autumn?
• Food and Shopping - How do we know what Foods are Healthy? 
• Post Office and Christmas - What happens at the Post Office during Christmas?
• My World in Winter and Polar Lands - Who Lives in the Polar Lands?
• Traditional Tales - How did they live happily ever after? 
• New Life and Down on the Farm - How do living things grow?
• People who help us - How do people around us help us in different ways? 
• Mini-beasts - How do Mini-beasts Survive?
• Under the Sea - What lives Under the Sea?

Through these topics we address all the areas of learning as identified in the Foundation Stage Curriculum for Northern Ireland in a cross curricular approach. We complete lots of STEM experiments and investigations through these topics to test things out and discover new facts for ourselves. We can't wait to share our knowledge. 

Literacy
We follow the “Read Write Inc” Synthetic Phonics Programme EACH day and introduce the children to Set 1 sounds in the first term. As the pupils develop their sound knowledge, we begin to blend the sounds together to help the children “read” words, and very quickly we move the children onto reading short phrases, before moving them into short Story Books in the second term. We also introduce the children to Set 2 sounds in the second term and encourage the use of "Fred in Your Head" to begin to read words at speed.

In Literacy we also do lots of Modelled, and Shared reading and writing activities using big books, before moving onto some Guided reading and writing. We read lots of interesting books and take part in lots of talking and listening activities. 

Numeracy
In Year 1 we learn to count to 20 and we learn how to read, write and order numbers to 10. Through lots of practical activities we develop a good understanding of the numbers to 10 and we begin to add numbers together within ten and begin some practical subtraction within ten. We also learn lots about Processes in Mathematics, Number, Data Handling, Measures and Shape and Space and develop some problem solving skills. We get involved in completing Numeracy tasks in an interactive manner and incorporate this into out activity based learning sessions.

Religion
In Year 1 we use the Grow In Love programme to further develop our awareness of God and we celebrate all the major church celebrations throughout the year including Christmas and Easter. Fr. Kevin and Fr. Declan visit us regularly in Year 1. We also learn to bless ourselves and recite our prayers including the morning & night prayer as well as the guardian angel prayer. 

Personal Development and Mutual Understanding
This is a very important part of the curriculum in the Foundation Stage, as we are learning all about ourselves, and how to relate to and work with other people. During circle time, we explore many issues such as sharing, taking turns and looking after others .We make use of a wide range of resources such as puppets, microphones, feely bags, teddy bears etc. We follow the PDMU programme Year 1 “Living, Learning Together" and teach lessons weekly from the "PATHS" Programme. We also make use of the NSPCC Keeping Safe Programme to develop our PDMU knowledge and skills. We love selecting the Child of the Day and sharing our compliments with each other. 

The Arts 
During play – children will have many opportunities to develop their creative development through art activities, musical activities and role-play. In Year 1 we are exposed to lots of wonderful opportunities to be creative. We particularly enjoy working with sound and finding all the ways we can make music using vocal sounds, body sounds or percussion sounds. We use these sounds to accompany stories and poems creating sound stories and sound poems We love to participate in a variety of music, dance and art activities that we complete through our cross curricular topics. 

I.C.T
The Year 1 pupils will be using ICT everyday in class through the use of the Interactive Whiteboard, laptops and iPads in their learning across the curriculum. During our Learning through play, we are able to use the laptops and I-pads with a large group of pupils and together we are learning and developing many new skills in Using ICT. We learn to Logon to various programmes such as: Mathletics, J2 Launch, StudyLadder and Class Dojo. We use these programs to share stories, photos and message and our Parents can even keep up to date with all that is happening in Year 1. 

In Year 1 we complete a Literacy Activity and a Numeracy activity each week. Please return completed by Thursday so that we can enter homework for the following week. 

Every night we also practice our Set 1 & Set 2 sounds and we share a book at home with our parents.

All homework is intended to reinforce class based learning. There will be many opportunities to talk to your child about his or her learning.

Outdoor Play - Muddy Mondays! - Please provide your child with wellingtons as the outdoor play area can be muddy. 

Each week we choose a “Star of the Week”, this award is presented to a pupil for being a “superstar” all week. The “Golden Person” is awarded to a pupil who has kept the “Golden Rules” all week and the “Mathematician of the Week” – is awarded to the person in our class who has made a great effort in Numeracy all week. We also have an award for “Handwriting of the Week” for continued effort in their handwriting.

We are always very busy in Year 1, we have lots of fun and we learn lots of new things everyday!