Topic, Music & Computing

Autumn Term

This term, our topic is 'Where I Live'.

During this term Year 1 children will:

•  Identify the 4 countries that makes up the UK and the capital cities on a map.
• Identify Stafford on the map and explain we live in a town which is smaller than a city.
• Observe key features within school surroundings and investigate school surroundings.
• Complete map comparisons of Rising Brook now and 100 years ago.
• Distinguish between fact and fiction.     
• Understand why people did things, why events happened.
• Discuss the impact of seasons on day to day life and how the seasons impact on our local area.
• Using a map of the school produce a simple key to identify key features (playground, building, field etc) Follow directions. E.g. up, down, left, right (Link to ICT) Exposure to N,S,E,W

Our concept question we will be endeavouring to answer is:

'Do We Belong to a Great Community?'

Spring Term

This term, our topic is 'Great Explorers'.

During this term Year 1 children will:

• Develop an understanding for what an Explorer is and what they do.
• In History we will be looking at the famous Explorers Neil Armstrong & Christopher Columbus and look at pictures & videos connected to their explorations and create a fact file about them.
• In Geography we will be looking at various maps of the world and investigate  different travels. We will also be creating our own treasure map using a simple key and directions North, East, South & West.

Our concept question that we will  endeavour to answer is:

'Do we have the right to our own freedom?'

In our very first topic lesson each term we will answer the concept question with no prior knowledge and after each lesson will come back and review whether our opinions have changed.

All topic areas cover our wider-curriculum subjects including; Geography, History, Art and D&T.

Our Art and D&T skills will be covered through a number of projects also linking to our topic:

Construction (Aut 1)- Inspired by our English books and Topic children design, decorate and build a house for their character to live in, developing an understanding of different types of houses, how they are built and their key features. They will also construct a windmill house for a mouse.

Mechanisms (Aut 2) -Children experiment with sliders before planning and making  pages of a  moving story book, based on a familiar  story or a moving story for our local area. They will draw the page backgrounds, make the moving parts and assemble it.

Mechanisms (Spr 1) –Wheels & Axels

Inspired by our Topic ‘Great Explorers’ children learn about the main components of a wheeled vehicle; experiment with mechanisms to help them develop their understanding of how wheels, axels and axel holders work; assume the role of a mechanic to problem-solve why wheels won't rotate; demonstrate learning by  designing and building their own moving vehicles.

Textiles (Spr 2)– Puppets

Children explore different ways of joining fabrics before creating their own hand puppets based upon animals they have learnt about in Science. Throughout they work to develop their technical skills of cutting, glueing, stapling and pinning.

Music 

In Autumn Term we will be learning all about Pulse and Rhythm : All about me

Children learn to identify the difference between the pulse and rhythm of a song and consolidate their understanding of these concepts through listening and performing activities.

In Spring Term the main focus this year is the introduction to Keyboards.

If time allows, through fairy tales, children will also be introduced to the concept of Timbre & rhythmic pattern; learning that different sounds can represent characters and key moments in a story. They explore clapping along to the syllables of words and phrases before creating rhythmic patterns to tell a familiar fairy tale.

Computing

In Autumn Term we will be heading down to our fantastic ICT suite, where children will each have access to their own computer or laptop. Through the use of J2E, we will be covering Information Technology and Digital Literacy/Online Safety. 

This term we will be introducing ourselves to how to use technology safely. We will be exploring how to manage the information we find online, how to stay safe and secure and the different ways we can use technology in our everyday lives. Once we are secure in using technology safely we will be beginning to explore computer programming and coding.

Spring Term 

This term we will be looking at programming. We will be learning simple Algorithms and Programs through physical devices & Beebot.

We will also be using logical thinking to evaluate Algorithms and creating simple programmes through the program Jit5 Turtle.