Spring 23
Welcome to the Spring Term in Year 1. On this page you will find information about topics, activities, and our timetable for this term.
Mrs Orr and the children are going to continue to have loads of fun this term, learning many of new things together. Let's find out what we will be studying in Year 1 this term...
Our whole school theme for the Spring Term is based on a delightful book written by Elin Meek, ‘Wales on the Map’. We aim to explore the enchanting hidden treasures of Wales on a voyage of discovery through the fascinating country.
There is a vast range of topics covered in this book, so we have picked out some exciting aspects to study in Year 1 over the course of the term
Our learning will begin when Year 1 retell the Welsh legend of ‘Merlin and the Two Dragons’ taking a tour through the Welsh mountainous region of Snowdonia. This will enable us to focus on both geographical and historical elements of the curriculum. The children will also develop a deeper understanding of the characters from the legend when they create historical Character portraits of Merlin and King Vortigern during English language lessons. We will use the atmospheric area of the Forest School to record the children retelling the legend for you everyone to see. The children will also perform this to the rest of the school when we celebrate St David’s Day.
Together, we will be learning Welsh/Cymraeg whilst sharing the story ‘Tedi Twt yn yr ysgol’ using a story map to help sequence events. The children will practise using actions to recall the story using time connectives, which will support their English language writing too!
During the second part of the Spring Term, the children will have the opportunity to take part in a traditional Victorian classroom during a Victorian themed day, where they will learn about the differences between schooling in the Victorian era and schooling today. We will explore objects found in a Victorian classroom and how they were used, whilst also creating our own Victorian toy. The children will learn to describe the passage of time through study of past, present, and future tense vocabulary.
Within Science and Technology lessons, the children will consolidate their knowledge of everyday materials from the Autumn Term, by completing a science investigation to establish which materials would be most suitable to ensure that the white dragon banished from King Vortigern’s castle remained encased in ice! Following this experiment, the children will also be challenged with designing and creating a structure to enable this to happen.
Throughout the Spring Term we will also complete learning activities relating to special calendar events, starting with one of the most prominent and celebrated events, the ‘Lunar New Year’. The children will be submerged into oriental culture, learning about the traditional rituals and symbolisms like the dragon costume dancing. In addition, the children will be offered the opportunity to taste noodles with an added challenge of eating their noodles using chopsticks!
I am excited to share these wonderful lessons with your children and will enjoy providing them will the necessary skills to support their learning and development.
Mrs Orr