Year 1 Amethyst

Welcome to Year 1 Amethyst!

My name is Miss Ramsay and I am the class teacher in Year 1 Amethyst.

Mrs Stanhope is our class teaching assistant and Miss Bham is an SEND support assistant in our class. We are super lucky that Mrs Bell, Mr Adams and Mrs Hughes regularly cover different lessons in our class as well.

Here are some pictures of our classroom:

 

In Year 1 Amethyst we are a team who work and play together. We love learning and we are always taking on new fun and exciting challenges. We are proud to be in this class and we are known for being polite, hardworking and respectful members of Key Stage 1.

We learn through provision areas as well as in focused groups and take on a range of daily challenges during COOL (Choosing Our Own Learning) Time. When we achieve these, we can earn lots of exciting rewards. Each week we complete pieces of focused maths and English work in our books with help from a grown up. We also record the practical learning we do in maths lessons in a class floor-book. We love doing PE with Mr Adams and computing with Mrs Bell each week. Through our curriculum lessons we have opportunities to do history, geography, science, art and DT lessons as well as music, RE and PSHE. These are always fun and practical linking to our themes. We record our curriculum learning in our class floor-book or our spiritual scrapbook.

We follow our three school rules:
– Be Ready
– Be Respectful
– Be Safe

 

 

 

During the Summer term of Year 1 we will take the Phonics Screening Check along with the rest of the children across our country. Here we have to decode 40 words using our phonic knowledge. Lots of information will be shared throughout the year so that all of the children are as prepared as possible to do their best in this statutory assessment.

We work really hard in our daily Read Write Inc phonics lessons because being phonics superstars will help us all the way through school. These last for 45 minutes and involve a speed sound lesson and a group book reading session. We are trying hard to build up our speed and fluency during Year 1. Reading is very important to us and we are always looking for opportunities to promote our love of reading. Each child also has a reading book which is matched with their current phonic stage. As well as the book we have been reading during Read Write Inc sessions we have a book bag book which is new to us and works on the same skills. We also have a book labelled “reading for pleasure”. This is a book which can be enjoyed as a family at any time of the day. These should be brought into school every day as we will be reading them in class too. Books are changed every Monday and it is very important that these are in school every day so that children can practice reading both at home and in school. Each child also has a reading bookmark in their bookbag which can be signed each time you read together at home. When the bookmark has been signed 10 times it can be put into the half termly raffle for the chance to win a book!

We also have some year group focus authors who we learn more about throughout the year. These are:
– Autumn: Julia Donaldson
– Spring: Cressida Cowell
– Summer: Ed Vere

 

We love going outside and learning through play. We are very lucky to have our own outdoor area where we have lots of opportunities to learn including a large scale construction area and an outdoor reading shed.

 

Over the year we plan lots of exciting active learning opportunities. This year we are planning: a walk of our local area, a king and queen day and a school trip to a toy museum! There will be lots more activities planned later in the year so check back to see what they are!

In our class we all have our own jobs and responsibilities such as washing up, tidying the cloakroom or collecting the register. When we reach our goals we are rewarded. When we work hard and do the right thing we earn dojo points which we can save up and spend at the dojo shop regularly throughout the year.

Our PE days are:
– Outdoor PE on Wednesdays with Mrs Bell
– Indoor PE on Thursdays with Mr Adams
We need to have our PE kit in school on these days, our kit should include:

Indoor PE
– White plain t-shirt
– Black shorts
– Black pumps/ trainers

Outdoor PE
– White plain t-shirt
– Black tracksuit bottoms
– Black hoody
– Black pumps/ trainers

 

Useful websites:

https://www.purplemash.com/login/ Your child has a user name and password for this site and can complete games and activities linked to their learning in school.
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button Your child can play maths recall games here practising number bonds, times tables and other basic skills.
https://new.phonicsplay.co.uk/ Your child can play phonics games which practise blending and segmenting words to improve their reading.