Year 1

April 2026 Round-up

We have had another jam-packed month in Year 1! We are getting very close to our Phonics Screening Check week and all of the children have been working incredibly hard in preparation. During our phonics lessons, we have been recapping all of the sounds we have learnt, including alternative sounds and practising reading alien words containing these sounds. The children are still thoroughly enjoying learning phonics through lots of active games and the sounds are really starting to stick!

In English, we began our new book The Tale of Peter Rabbit. We kicked off the unit with an exciting treasure hunt in the EYFS outdoor area, where the children worked together to find jigsaw puzzle pieces. In groups, they had to create a picture and then predict what story we were going to be reading. Many of the children had heard of Peter Rabbit before so it was a fantastic starting point for our learning.

Our History topic links nicely to our English book as we are learning all about Beatrix Potter and influential women in history! It was amazing hearing all of the wonderful things Beatrix Potter had accomplished in her life when we visited the museum!

We also went on a fabulous trip to the Lake District, where the children enjoyed a steam train ride from Haverthwaite Train Station, a boat trip to Bowness, and a visit to The World of Beatrix Potter museum. The children were amazing throughout the day and I felt incredibly proud to be their teacher. This trip really enhanced our learning as we were able to explore settings and characters from the story and most importantly, meet the main character himself… Peter Rabbit!

In Maths, we have been busy learning to tell the time, which is always a tricky concept for young children to grasp. The children have worked hard to learn o’clock and half past times on an analogue clock. Please continue to support this at home by encouraging your child to look at clocks and practise telling the time.

In Science, we have started our Plants topic. The children are looking forward to learning about the different parts of a plant and hopefully planting their own seeds to grow in our outdoor areas at school.

We also enjoyed a Maths house challenge day last week where all children in school competed to win the half-termly house competition trophy! They worked so amazingly in their groups, listening to each other and problem solving a variety of different questions. I was really proud to see each group working so hard and a big well done to Oak team who won the whole competition for the school!

 

The sun is shining and summer is on the way! A huge well done to all of Year 1 – keep being amazing and working super hard!

March 2026 Round-up

March has been a very busy and productive month and all of the children in Year 1 have worked incredibly hard.

In English, we have been fully immersed in our story, Little Red Riding Hood. It was so lovely to see so many of you attend the parent sessions during Book Week; I know the children really enjoyed sharing their reading skills with you. Year 1 have written some fantastic innovated versions of the story, changing the characters and adding their own imaginative ideas - each one was a joy to read. Over the last few weeks, we have moved on to a new text type: recounts. The children have been exploring the key features and will soon be writing their own recounts of special events they have experienced. As always, we continue to work hard on developing our pre-cursive handwriting and it was wonderful to hear so many positive comments from parents during parents’ evening about the presentation in books!

In Maths, the children have been consolidating their number skills - counting in 2s, 5s and 10s and becoming increasingly confident with addition and subtraction. We have also revisited shape, measurement and fractions and it has been fantastic to see how much the children have remembered from last term.

In Science, our topic ‘Animals, including Humans’ has continued, with a focus on body parts. The children enjoyed labelling their own diagrams. We also celebrated ‘Science Day’, where the children took part in a range of fun outdoor experiments with Mrs Mylecraine, including making lava lamps, building nests like birds and creating bubbles. It is always wonderful to take our learning outside.

In DT, we have been exploring textiles. The children are currently designing and creating their own hand puppets, inspired by Little Red Riding Hood. We hope these will be finished by the end of term so they can be enjoyed at home.

In RE, we have been learning about the importance of Baptism within the Christian community. This week, we were very lucky to visit St John’s Church with Reverend Kathryn. We took ‘Harley’, our class bear, who was baptised alongside his ‘parents’ and a class full of ‘godparents’. The children loved seeing the features of the church they have been learning about and it was a valuable experience to enhance their understanding.

One of our WOW moments this month was seeing our Year 1 ‘Baines’ Got Talent’ finalists take to the stage at Millfield. Henry performed an amazing hula hoop routine that truly got the crowd going - he showed such confidence performing on his own. Jacob and Arthur also delivered a brilliant dance routine; it was clear how much they had rehearsed their dance. Their hard work and determination paid off as they secured first place in the finals - what an incredible achievement! It was a very proud moment for everyone.

We have also welcomed back Miss M W this month for her final university placement. She will be teaching a range of exciting lessons and the children are really enjoying having her back in the classroom.

Although it has been a short half term, we have packed so much into March. I am sure the children (and staff) are all ready for a well-deserved break before we begin our final term in Year 1.

A huge well done to all of the children - you continue to impress me every day and I am so proud of another successful month.

February 2026 Round-up

February has flown by in Year 1! The children continue to work incredibly hard in every lesson and I am so proud of the fantastic progress they have made during the first half of the school year.

In Phonics, we are becoming experts in our Phase 5 alternative sounds. The children are using the phonics board brilliantly to help them decide which version of a sound to use when spelling words. It’s wonderful to see their confidence growing! We hope they are enjoying putting their skills to the test at home with their own flashcards too.

In English, we continued with our exciting Robot theme and began exploring a new text type: instruction writing. The children designed and created their own bouncy robots before writing clear instructions explaining how they made them. They used excellent time openers such as “First,” “Then,” and “Next” to sequence their ideas and they worked incredibly hard to present their handwriting as neatly as possible.

In Maths, we have been learning to count in 2s, 5s and 10s. The children are developing quick strategies to recognise number patterns and have picked these up very well. During our recap of shapes, they amazed me with the mathematical vocabulary they used to describe different properties. It is fantastic to see how much of their new learning is really embedding.

Our Science learning continues across the Spring term and we have begun exploring Animals, including Humans. The children have learned to group animals into the five main animal groups and to identify what makes each group unique. We are looking forward to continuing this learning and becoming even more knowledgeable animal experts!

In PE, we completed our whole-class robot dance. The children began in house team groups, forming one large robot shape, before transitioning into rows to perform a sequence of robotic dance moves. Their final performance was fantastic - Year 1 certainly has some impressive moves! We were also very lucky to welcome Coach Lorna, who delivered an exciting cheerleading session. The children were amazing and picked up the routine brilliantly.

History has been particularly exciting this month as we learned about different explorers and why they became famous. The children retained an impressive amount of knowledge each week. One highlight was learning about Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest. We transformed our hall into Nepal and recreated Mount Everest using the climbing frame. Each child designed their own flag, wrapped up for their expedition, and “climbed” to the summit -what an incredible achievement for everyone!

In Art, the children applied their 3D paper craft skills to create a beautiful “Tree of Life.” They included animals that live in trees and explored a wide range of techniques to make their artwork really stand out.

As always, it has been a wonderfully busy and productive month in Year 1, filled with exciting new learning and achievements. We are looking forward to everything the next half term will bring!

January 2026 Round-up

Happy New Year!

Year 1 have returned to school with a fantastic “can-do” attitude and have settled straight back into their learning with great enthusiasm.

In English, we have been reading No-Bot, the story of Bernard the robot who lost his bottom while playing on the swings at the park. We spent time familiarising ourselves with the storyline and all of the children were able to confidently retell the story in the correct order. As part of this unit, we introduced exclamation marks and question marks and the children successfully identified these punctuation marks within our class text. The children are now becoming increasingly independent writers and are writing their own stories based on No-Bot. We are very excited to share our amazing writing by reading our stories to the Reception class over the next few days!

In Maths, the children have enjoyed learning about time, including the days of the week and the months of the year. We had lots of fun, practical lessons where the children used stopwatches to time themselves completing set tasks. These hands-on activities really brought our Maths learning to life.

Art has been a highlight this month. The children have been learning about 3D paper play, exploring how to create three-dimensional artwork using only paper. This is always a popular unit, especially as many of the finished pieces can be taken home to share with grown-ups. I have been extremely impressed with the creativity and effort shown so far and am looking forward to continuing this work over the half term.

In PE, we have been focusing on a robot-themed dance. The children have been developing their individual dance skills while also working in groups and as a whole class. They have shown excellent teamwork and cooperation and I can’t wait to see the final performance come together.

Our Geography topic has been all about explorers. The children have been developing their map-reading skills and learning about famous explorers, including Christopher Columbus. They were very engaged and enjoyed sharing new facts about his discoveries with one another.

As always, the children love spending time outdoors with Mrs Mylecraine on Mondays. There have been plenty of muddy kits but even more happy faces as the children explore and learn outside.

Finally, we have had a strong focus on presentation and handwriting in Year 1. In every lesson, we encourage the children to form their letters correctly and to think carefully about letter size. The progress they are making is clear to see and the quality and quantity of writing produced each day continues to improve. Some weeks, it is very difficult to choose who to celebrate on our ‘Shout Outs’ board in assembly as they have all worked so incredibly hard with their presentation.

 

The children continue to adapt brilliantly to life in Year 1 and I am so proud of everything they have achieved so far. I can’t wait to see them continue to develop and grow throughout the year.

December 2025 Round-up

Well, we have made it to December! It is very nearly Christmas and we have a very excited class of Year 1 children who have worked exceptionally hard in their first term of Year 1.

In English, we have been focusing on sentence structure and becoming experts at making sure our sentences are punctuated correctly and make sense. The children absolutely blew me away with our final piece of writing and we can't wait to share these with you during Homework Celebration. The whole class are focusing on the presentation of their work and lots of children have loved going to show their wonderful work to Mr Lees!

It has been a busy half term for Maths as the children have been introduced to fractions! We have completed lots of practical activities to show how we can cut objects in half and into quarters and the children are becoming more confident finding a half and a quarter of amounts of objects!

Our map skills have increased tremendously in Geography. After looking at Google Earth and lots of different countries, we focused in on Thornton and our school. The children looked at our school and playground on a map and created a map with a key of the school grounds in Forest School. We then looked at our Key Stage 1 playground and had a big discussion on what we liked about it, what we didn't particularly like and what we would change if we had lots of money. This then developed into a questionnaire where the children buddied up with Year 2 to find out what they thought about the playground - an excellent research lesson with some fantastic ideas of what we could do with 1 million pounds! We had ideas of a swimming pool, zip wire, monkey bars and all sorts!! I wonder if Mr Lees would be up for any of those ideas?

We enjoyed a whole day of football - some children had been counting down the hours until this day!! Coach Nick from Fleetwood Town came for the day and delivered a selection of sessions which taught children lots of important skills within a football game. Even the rain didn't stop us having lots of fun!

This half term is definitely the most magical half term to be in a school. The children were just beyond amazing in the Nativity. I was so proud of every single one of them - pushing themselves out of their comfort zones singing and remembering all of the actions and doing all of that with such big smiles on their faces! Three performances and a dress -rehearsal was a lot and they took it in their stride so well. Learning sign language for a whole song at such a young age was a huge achievement and I can imagine there were a lot of tears in the audience watching your superstars on stage!

We have also enjoyed a yummy Christmas dinner with crackers and lots of fun and a whole-school pantomime trip to watch Beauty and the Beast. The children loved sitting at the top of the bus going to Blackpool - what a treat! Not to mention a fantastic Elf Day where we even got to meet the big man himself! The children loved making Christmas crafts and enjoyed an afternoon with hot chocolate and marshmallows!

Overall, this term has been wonderful. It feels like the children have been in Year 1 for much longer than they have and I am really proud of everything they have achieved. We are all ready for a lovely Christmas break to recharge our batteries and be ready for another jam-packed term ahead of us.

Thank you for all of your continued support - we really appreciate it!

November 2025 Round-up

November has flown by and somehow Christmas is already just around the corner!

Year 1 have had a wonderfully busy and exciting month and the children have worked incredibly hard in everything they’ve taken on.

In English, we’ve been focusing on building strong sentences and we’re now a class full of subject, verb and noun experts! The children have also continued working hard on their pre-cursive handwriting and we’re really looking forward to sharing some of our fantastic work next week during our homework celebration afternoon.

In Phonics, we are well into our Phase 5 sounds. This half term the children have been introduced to split digraphs and our collection of alternative sounds on the phonics board just keeps growing! It’s lovely to see everyone so engaged in their learning - Phonics Aerobics has become a class favourite and is a fun activity to try at home with the whole family!!

This month, Year 1 also began their new Geography topic. We kicked things off with the always-exciting Google Earth, choosing countries to “visit” and deciding whether we’d like to go there in real life. Australia was a clear favourite and we loved exploring the streets of New York together! We then zoomed in a little closer to home, looking at maps of Thornton-Cleveleys and Baines. The children particularly enjoyed spotting their homes and talking about their routes to school. We’ll be continuing our map work over the next few weeks.

In Science, the children have been identifying different materials both inside and outside the classroom. Mrs Mylecraine took the class on a ‘material hunt’ during Forest School to see what we could find around our school grounds. The children always enjoy being outdoors - especially when muddy puddles are involved! We imagine a few puddle suits have needed some extra washing this month but it’s all part of the fun at Baines.

We also celebrated ‘Great Britain Day’, where our theme was The Great Fire of London. The children loved acting out scenes from the event and even had a go at making bread. We were also lucky enough to have a visit from firefighter Mr Clueit, who talked to us about how things have changed since 1666 and what the fire service would do today in a similar situation.

And of course, we are now in full Nativity mode! The children have been working so hard to learn all the songs and actions for our performance.

A huge well done to all of Year 1 - you have been amazing this month and we are so proud of each and every one of you!

October 2025 Round-up

What another fun-filled month October has been in Year 1!

The most exciting part of our month was receiving a whole new set of beautiful classroom furniture. We now have amazing tables that can be arranged in lots of different shapes and formats to help us learn even better. A huge thank you to Mr Lees for organising this for us - we are so grateful and promise to take great care of everything!

We were absolutely blown away by the children’s performance of 'The Boneyard Rap' during our performance poetry this month. Every single child learned their lines so well and performed with such confidence - we were all incredibly proud!

In English, we have been busy writing our own innovated versions of Harry the Happy Mouse. The children used such fantastic vocabulary to create their own stories, and their handwriting is improving beautifully too. The children enjoyed changing the characters in their stories - some had some very interesting ideas!

In Maths, we’ve been working hard on addition and subtraction, using classroom resources to help us explore numbers in lots of fun ways. One of our favourite topics was measuring where the children loved using to rulers, blocks, cubes and bears to measure things around the classroom!

In PE, we’ve become real ball-rolling experts! We’ve focused on rolling, throwing, catching and bouncing a range of different balls, and our coordination is improving every week. The children also enjoyed when the climbing frame has been out in PE - they explored lots of ways to travel around the frame and really focused on how to stay safe when on the equipment.

We were also introduced to the new orienteering set-up on our school grounds. It was a bit tricky at first but once we got the hang of it, we loved it! We even buddied up with our lovely Reception class to show them how it’s done. Year 1 did a fantastic job of setting a brilliant example for the younger children.

Our Phonics learning continues to go from strength to strength and we’re becoming Phase 5 experts! It’s wonderful to see the children confidently using their new sounds in their own writing.

Our month ended with lots of Halloween fun and we took part in an assembly with PC Nutter where she shared how to keep safe during Halloween and Bonfire Night!

What a busy and exciting month it has been! We can’t wait to see what November brings for Year 1.

September 2025 Round-up

What an amazing first month we've had in Year 1! Transitioning from EYFS to Year 1 is a big step, but our class have handled it brilliantly. The children have settled into new routines and expectations with enthusiasm and resilience and we’re so excited for the year ahead!

In English, we’ve been enjoying the story Harry the Happy Mouse. The children have loved getting to know Harry - he even has a special spot above our board, keeping an eye on our hard work! We've not only enjoyed reading the book but have also written some fantastic pieces inspired by the story and the characters. The progress in handwriting already has been impressive - our children are working hard on forming their pre-cursive letters, and the improvement in presentation is clear to see every day.

Our History topic this half term is ‘How Have Schools Changed?’ We started by exploring the purpose of school today and learning about different rooms and resources that help keep us safe and happy. A highlight so far has been a visit from some of our wonderful Year 6 pupils, who shared how Baines has changed over the past two years. It was a fantastic opportunity to learn from their experiences and we’re looking forward to continuing this topic by welcoming visitors to share their memories of school life at Baines many years ago.

Our new Phonics scheme is in full swing and proving to be a hit! Learning through games and exciting activities keeps us all engaged - though we do have to watch out for a cheeky crocodile who loves to catch children crossing the river! There’s never a dull moment in Year 1!

In PE, we’ve been developing our fundamental movement skills including rolling, throwing, catching, bouncing, running and jumping. Most importantly, we’ve been learning how to work as part of a team. It’s been wonderful to see the children supporting each other and earning lots of house points during our lessons.

We’ve also been spending plenty of time outdoors in both Science and Forest School. The children have enjoyed exploring signs of Autumn, collecting natural materials and creating their own seasonal collages. Whether jumping in muddy puddles or searching for colourful treasures around the field and playground, there's been no shortage of excitement and discovery with Mrs Mylecraine in Forest School lessons!

It’s been a truly fantastic start to Year 1 and we can’t wait to see what the rest of the term brings.

June 2025 Round-up

What another wonderful month we have had in Year 1!

Our English unit has been all about 'Robots' where the children fully immersed themselves into the class story 'No-Bot' by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet. They have innovated the story and created their own version within our English lessons. I have been really proud of the effort the children have been making with their handwriting. We spent time writing up our stories in our neatest writing and lots of children went to show Mr Lees their amazing presentation - what an achievement!

In Science, the children have been taking a lot of their learning outside where they have been measuring tree trunks, designing and making animal homes and looking at plants within our school grounds. The animal homes were amazing - the children had to think of an animal they would like to make a home for, find natural materials from the field and think of the most suitable location to set up the home! We left lots of cosy homes for squirrels, hedgehogs, birds, worms and even foxes in our outdoor area! The class also helped Mrs Mylecraine plant fruit and vegetables in their Forest School afternoons - this was a great help towards our Wyre in Bloom visit the other week.

We celebrated an amazing Health Week where the Red Willow team won Sports Day for both key stages! The children were brilliant in all of the events during Sports Day but also really enjoyed the other visitors we had during the week. One of our personal favourites was Yoga! We came out feeling extremely calm - maybe we should do more of this in our classroom! The children loved UV dodgeball, ultimate frisbee and a Taekwondo taster session - I was really proud of them all giving everything their best go!

We also said a big goodbye to Miss Heathcote who has been working in our classroom for the last term! The children loved working with her and we will all miss her in Year 1 - we wish her lots of luck in her new job in September!

May 2025 Round-up

Year 1 have been really busy this month learning all about 'The Great Outdoors'!

Our favourite part has to be our 'Year 1 Campsite' where we planned a super afternoon on the school field with our grown ups! We had tents, games and even a campfire where we toasted marshmallows and made delicious smores. After experiencing the camping afternoon, we became expert campers and in English we were able to write brilliant information leaflets all about camping!

Year 1 enjoy taking lots of their learning outside - we have been learning all about plants in Science, Explorers in History and improving our throwing and catching skills during PE with Tom from Blackpool Community Trust!

Penelope, Isla-Grace, Margot and Poppy all took part in Baines' Got Talent this month. All of the girls performed in front of a huge audience at Millfield High School and were all so confident with their acts! The girls represented Year 1 so well and we were all really proud of them!