2023 Summer Term (Year 1) - Lower School - St Thomas of Canterbury Junior School

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2023 Summer Term (Year 1) - Lower School

Curriculum
Curriculum Advice for Parents

We hope the information below will give you helpful details of planned work for the new Summer Term. Please assist your child in exploring and discussing these areas throughout the term. For general expectations regarding school and home learning, continue to refer to your child’s homework diary as well as Google Classroom.

Weekly updates regarding maths and English lessons will be set on Google Classroom by your child’s classteacher. We encourage all children to read to somebody at home each day. Children should aim to read a range of genres during the school year. Please refer to and discuss our reading tree scheme with your child.

Year 4 children will also be set a comprehension task to complete each week at home. Spelling lists will continue to be set on Spelling Frame and we continue to encourage your child to use Times Table Rock Stars to practise their multiplication and division facts. You will also find weekly updates regarding taught lessons for your child’s class on Marvellous Me.

Thank you for your continued support.
Examples of areas we plan to cover

Art & DT
During the first half term, classes will develop their drawing and collage skills using the work of Picasso as inspiration. They will then explore digital media tools. After half term, the children will make bread in class. Working independently and in small groups, the children will plan, create and evaluate the bread they make.  

Computing
We will begin the term by exploring cyberbullying. Following on from this, we will learn how to communicate in the digital world, including blogging, social media and emailing. We will then move onto designing quizzes online all about the topics we are learning about this term, using software such as Scratch and/or Purple Mash.

Geography
Our geography topic this term is: ‘Why does the world rumble?’ The children will explore mountain ranges as well as the animals and plants that inhabit them. The classes will then move on to developing their fieldwork skills.

History
In history this term, the children will explore why the Vikings invaded Britain and why they chose to stay. They will examine what life was like in Viking Britain and its legacy. Finally, they will research why the Viking period came to an end.

Music
This term 4DW, 4P and 4B will be having whole class lessons on p-trumpets. These lessons have been arranged through the Essex Music Hub. They will have 10 lessons and will learn the basics of playing the trumpet!
 3S and 3BW will be learning about the orchestra and listening to and commenting on classical pieces of music including Mars by Gustav Holst and Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. They will also be using their creative skills to compose a piece of music based on artwork by Kandinsky.

P.E.
The   children will develop their core fitness skills over the Summer Term. They   will take part in a range of fitness   challenges; testing and recording their scores. They will learn about   different components of fitness including speed, stamina, strength,   coordination, balance and agility.

P.S.H.E.
The summer term units are Relationships and ‘Changing Me’. They will discuss different relationships in their lives and will explore the various changes within their lives, particularly physical changes to the body.

R.E.
This term, we will start by exploring the philosophical question 'What does sacrifice mean?' We will examine this idea from various religious and non-religious viewpoints. Then we will finish the year by investigating the big question 'How do people express their religious beliefs in modern Britain?'

Science
In our science lessons this term, will be learning about rocks, fossils and soils. We will explore and sort different types of rocks and will find out how they are formed. We will also be identifying and finding the properties of different soils. The children will then go on to explore states of matter. They will learn about the water cycle and will aim to conduct and review fair tests across the unit of work.

Spanish
The children will learn all about farm animals using the story ‘The Four Friends’. They will use visuals, music and lots of games to learn the vocabulary.

You may like to talk to your child about these topics. The prospectus (which details how the different subjects are taught) is available for download by clicking here.


In addition, you may also wish to:

: research ideas at the local library and help your child to develop his/her library skills;

: search the internet for relevant websites and activities;

: watch relevant television programmes that may support their work, or visit a museum or place of interest;

: simply talk to your child about what they are learning!

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