Nightingale Class : Curriculum

From a geographical perspective, we will learn about

• countries and capital cities of the UK
• physical features of the UK
• settlements;
• human features
• weather and seasons
• landmarks
• aerial images
• locational language
• maps
• compass directions
• geographical similarities.

From a historical perspective, we will learn about a significant event being The Great Fire of London.

Reading

Our Class Text and Comprehension

In term 3, our reading comprehension lessons will be based upon our class text, “Topsy and Tim” by Jean Adamson. In this fiction text, we will join Topsy and Tim and they go on a trip to London. They stay in a house that belongs to Mummy’s best friend and Boris the cat. They see lots of landmarks. They ride on the London Underground, a bus and a boat. They enjoy their trip a lot!

In term 4, our reading comprehension will be based upon a non-fiction text, “The Great Fire of London”, by Susana Davidson, which will teach us all about the events leading up to The Great Fire of London. Will will look at how and where the fire started, and why the fire spread with such fury to have the destructive impact that occurred.

For further information about the reading skills we will focus upon this term, please view “Nightingale Class’s Sequential Reading Curriculum”

Independent Reading

Ongoing, will be out daily Read Write Inc phonics lessons which children have access to books to read for pleasure at their individual accurate reading level. We also have access to complimentary book band reading books to encourage reading for pleasure.

Writing

Over the course of the term, we will be writing a postcard about a local landmark, writing directions for travelling around London and a visitors guide to London from a fictional character travelling from Kuala Lumpur.

Firstly, we will write postcards which enables the children to develop their topic vocabulary and present information concisely. In their postcards, they could include formulaic phrases to start and end their text and use ‘and’ to join words and clauses. We will use knowledge, learnt in our topic lessons and from further research, to plan and write our postcards.

We will also write a set of directions to travel on foot from one London landmark to another. The children will use this to list short commands in a clear sequence. There is also an opportunity to use positional language, such as ‘next to’ or ‘behind’; directional language, such as ‘left’ or ‘right’; and precise imperative verbs.

Furthermore, we will write a summary pack for a fictional Meerkat character who is travelling from Kuala Lumpur to London Zoo. This will enable children to put their skills into one information pack. Within this, they will list relevant clothing needed for each season; choose a London landmark to describe; draw a route from Euston Station and make an information poster about London Zoo.

Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling

Punctuation

This term we will learn to use capital letters for names of people and personal pronoun ‘I’; learn to use a question mark and write questions; learn to use an exclamation mark and write sentences that require an exclamation mark.

Grammar

This term we will learn to know names of places being with a capital letter; to learn that personal pronoun ‘I’ has a capital letter; orally retell a short story using conjunctions; revisit the understanding of the past to show an event has already happened; identify action/doing words; develop the skill of reading back over our sentences to check our writing; start to include conjunctions to join two ideas together; introduce the present, progressive and past tense; use of poetry to enjoy rhymes and expand vocabulary; and dictate short sentences that include full stops, question and exclamation marks

Spellings

During our spelling lessons we will learn words using the trigraph ‘-tch’; adding ‘-es’ to words of plural nouns; adding ‘-ing’ and ‘-er’ to verbs, adding an extra syllable e.g. hunting, kinder; words ending in ‘-y’; days of the whole week; common exception words: ‘were your’; numbers 0-10; practise more plurals adding ‘s and es’; adding ‘ed’ to make a past tense verb; compound words where two words are spelt correctly as if independent; common exception words ‘once, ask, friend, school, put, push, pull, full, house, our’; and digraph and trigraph focus.

To view our weekly breakdown of our spellings, please view our Term 3 and Term 4 Homework Grid.

In addition to these weekly spelling rules, we will continue to learn and spell words from the 1 statutory spelling list. For an overview of these spellings, please view the Spelling word list for Year 1

Following the White Rose Maths scheme, year 1 will cover 5 main blocks of learning over the course of the spring term: place value within 20; addition and subtraction; place value within 50; length and height; and mass and volume. As part of the White Rose Maths scheme, each block is broken down into a series of small learning steps. Combined, these small learning steps then cover all the curriculum content your child needs to know in small related chunks.

One of the most important things for your child to have mastered and maintain is their knowledge of number bonds to 10 and 20, also to write numbers in digits and words. For an overview of our weekly focus, please view our Term 3 and 4 Homework Grid. To complement their work in lessons reinforcing their fluency, recall and commutativity of these facts, your child will be set a weekly activity to complete as part of their homework on Sumdog.

Our Calculation Policy: addition and subtraction

Our Calculation Policy: multiplication and division

This term out topic is ‘Seasonal Changes’. Throughout the topic, we will learn about the seasons, seasonal changes and typical seasonal weather and events. We will learn about measuring the weather and the role of a meteorologist. We will also learn about the science of day and night and recognise that the seasons have varying day lengths in the UK. To find out more, view our Seasonal Changes Knowledge Organiser

Seasonal Changes Lesson Overview

Art: Rain and Sunrays

Our art topic for this term is ‘Rain and Sunrays’. Throughout this topic, we will learn about line and shape. We will also learn about textures of materials and how to create textures in collagraph printing, including how to develop a motif to make single and repeated prints. To find out more, view our Rain and Sunrays Knowledge Organiser

Design and Technology: Taxi

Linked to our main topic ‘Bright Lights, Big City’, our design and technology topic for this term is ‘Taxi’. Throughout this topic, we will learn about wheels, axles and chassis and how they work together to make a vehicle move. Following our investigation into wheels, axles and chassis, we will design and make our own model taxis which we will then come to evaluate.

To find out more, view our Taxi Knowledge Organiser

Pictograms

In term 3, we will be focusing upon pictograms. We will learn about:

• To understand that data can be represented in picture format.
• We will contribute to the collection of class data
• Wil will contribute to a class pictogram.
• Having gathered the data, we will discuss what the pictogram shows us.
• We will then collect our own data and we will represent those results on our own pictogram.

Lego Builders

Over the course of term 4, our work will focus upon the importance of creating and following algorithms.

• We will learn that to achieve the effect they want when building something, they need to follow accurate instructions.
• To know that by following the instructions correctly, they will get the correct result.
• A vital part of the learning journey is to know that know that an algorithm is a precise, step-by-step set of instructions used to solve a problem or achieve an objective.
• Then we will learn how to follow instructions in a computer program and explain the effect of carrying out a task with no instructions.
• We will learn that an algorithm written for a computer to follow is called a program and that computers need precise instructions to follow.
• Furthermore, we will learn that the order in which the steps of a recipe are presented affects the outcome. Therefore, children must organise simple instructions in the correct order.
• Finally children will learn that correcting errors in an algorithm or program is called ‘debugging’.

Term 3: Islam – Milad un Nabi

Milad un Nabi actually occurs in the month of September and is known as the Prophet’s Birthday. The festival of Milad un Nabi commemorates the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. During the festival, Muslims hear stories of Muhammad’s life, visit the mosque, sing songs, share a meal with family and give to those in need. However, Milad un Nabi is not celebrated by all Muslims. There is no evidence that Muhammad celebrated his birthday, so many Muslims don’t celebrate birthdays either. We will start by celebrating a birthday of someone in school. We will learn geographical information about Saudi Arabia and learn what life could have been like for the young Muhammad. Furthermore, we will learn about the life of Muhammad and his characteristics that caused him to be chosen as a prophet by Allah. Throughout the term we will notice and respond sensitively to some similarities between different religions and world views.

The key themes we will consider an examine are: honesty; to be trustworthy; and what makes a good leader?

For the key words and vocabulary associated with this topic, please view our “Milad un Nabi Glossary”.

Term 4: Judaism – Purim

The festival of Purim occurs within the month of March. It is a lively festival that commemorates the strength of the Jewish people. Practising Jews wear costumes and visit the synagogue to listen to the story of Queen Esther who prevented Haman, her husband's servant, from killing the Jewish people. After attending the synagogue, families and friends gather together to eat, dance and exchange gifts. We will begin our learning by making Purim graggers to create celebratory noises when listening to stories from the Torah. Through story and role play we will learn the significance of story of Esther. Children will then be supported to re-enact the story of “The Queen Who Saved Her People” by Tilda Balsley.  At the end of the term we will learn that giving a gift to at least one person during Purim is called Mishloach Manot. It is a mitzvah (rule) of Judaism. Jews give inexpensive gifts including two foods, such as hamantaschen, sweets, fruit, nuts or bread to make sure that everyone has enough food for the Purim celebrations. The gifts are delivered after hearing the story of Esther. Many Purim gifts are presented in baskets. Children will be given the opportunity to make a variety of biscuits and sweets. They will choose, wrap and label their gifts in a homemade basket and give to another class. We will then reflect on how the act of giving felt.

The key themes we will consider and examine are: celebration; the story of Queen Esther; and recognise some different symbols and actions, which express a community’s way of life,

For the key words and vocabulary associated with this topic, please view our “Purim Glossary”.

Over the course of term 3 and 4, we will continue to follow our Jigsaw PSHE scheme of learning. Jigsaw, the mindful approach to PSHE is a progressive and spiral scheme of learning. In planning the lessons, Jigsaw PSHE ensures that learning from previous years is revisited and extended, adding new concepts, knowledge and skills, year on year as appropriate.

For more information regarding the knowledge and skills progression, please view the Jigsaw Knowledge Skills and Progression Document for ages 5-6.

Term 3: Dreams and Goals

In this puzzle we will think about how to set ourselves simple goals and how to stay motivated when doing something challenging. Following this, we will set a goal and work out how best to achieve it, even when it is difficult. We will discuss how to work successfully with a partner or in a group. Furthermore, we will develop the skills of how to tackle a new challenge and understand that this might be difficult. We will consider how to maintain a positive attitude and reflect upon our journey to success by how we overcame obstacles which make it more difficult to achieve our challenge. Our puzzle piece for the term will then consider how we can use these skills to help others achieve their goals. Finally, we will celebrate our success and share how it feels to succeed in a new challenge and how we would celebrate.

Term 4:  Healthy Me

The outcome for this puzzle piece if to learn about how to create “The Happy, Healthy Me Recipe Book”. A metaphorical book where children can piece together their learning of how to be happy and healthy. We will start the term by learning to understand the difference between being healthy and unhealthy, and know some ways to keep ourselves healthy. We will start to introduce the concept of making healthy choices with regard to food types and learn about eating a healthy, balanced diet. Children will then learn how to keep themselves clean and healthy and understand how germs cause disease and illness. We will learn that all household products including medicines can be harmful if not administered properly. Medicine safety will be our next focus area as we learn that medicines can help us if we are unwell, and we learn how to use them safely. Road safety will be the next topic focus as we learn how to keep safe when crossing the road and about people who can help us to stay safe. We will end the puzzle by celebrating our amazing bodies and identify the ways we have learnt to keep ourselves safe and heathy.

Following the GetSet4PE scheme of learning, our Physical Education (PE) lessons for term 3 will focus on multiskills and gymnastics. Our PE lessons for term 4 will focus on net and wall, and striking and fielding. Our PE lessons will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays; children can wear their PE into school on both of these days.

Multiskills

Throughout our multiskills lessons, we will take part in a range of fitness challenges. They will learn about different components of fitness; speed, stamina, strength, coordination, balance and agility.

Gymnastics

Throughout the term we will explore the movement of travelling actions when linking high quality, diverse shapes with our bodies. We will learn about stability and strength when performing balances. we will develop techniques and control when performing shape jumps. We will learn how to execute a barrel, straight and forward roll with technique. Finally, we will learn to link gymnastic actions to create a sequence.

Net and Wall

In term 4, we will develop our skills of throwing, catching, hitting a ball and tracking a ball. We will learn how to defend a space and to play againt an opponent. We will explore hitting with a racket and to develop racket and ball skills. We will progress then to sending a ball using a racket and introducing the concept of hitting over a net.

Striking and Fielding

This topic of PE will enable children to develop their underarm throwing and catching, which will then progress on to overarm throwing. We will develop striking a ball with our hands as well as with equipment. We will learn how to collect a ball when fielding and how to get a batter out. We will have opportunities to develop the skills of decision making within a game and understand how to score points.

To find out more, view our GetSet4PE Knowledge Organisers

Term 3: “How Does Music Make The World A Better Place?”

This unit of work celebrate a wide range of musical styles that are all focused around the theme.

Term 4:  How Does Music Help Us To Understand Our Neighbours?

This unit of work celebrate a wide range of musical styles that are all focused around the theme

Following the Charanga Musical School scheme of learning, these units are organised into 3 main parts:

1. Listen and Appraise the songs.
2. Musical Activities - learn and/or build on our knowledge and understanding about the interrelated dimensions of music.
3. Perform the Song - perform and share our learning as we progress through the unit of work.

For more information, please view our Charanga musical school year 1 knowledge organisers

rom a geographical perspective, we will learn about local geographical features. We will learn how pollution and litter affect the local environment and school grounds.

From a historical perspective, we will learn about the Victorian era with a particular focus on a Victorian school day.

Reading

Our Class Text and Comprehension

In term 5, our reading comprehension will be “Whiffy Wilson: The Wolf who wouldn't go to school” by Carly Hart. In this fiction text, Wilson can’t count to ten, paint or read a book. He does not want to go to school. Wilson thinks school will be boring. He would rather watch telly and stay up late at night. His friend Dotty takes him to school and shows him what a fun place it is. Wilson has a lovely time and can’t wait to go back to school the next day.

In term 6, our reading comprehension will be based around two poems, “Today I’m not going to school” by Aoife Mannix and “Where do all the teachers go?” by Peter Dixon. We will a variety of complimentary poems throughout the term.

For further information about the reading skills we will focus upon this term, please view “Nightingale Class’s Sequential Reading Curriculum”.

Independent Reading

Ongoing, will be our daily Read Write Inc phonics lessons which children have access to books to read for pleasure at their individual accurate reading level. We also provide children with high quality picture books to take home to encourage reading for pleasure.

Writing

Over the course of the term, we will be writing poems about what our school is like in the present day, and what is was like in the past. We will be writing diaries based in the Victorian era as well as writing letters to our current headteacher.

Firstly, we will be writing poetry which encourages the children’s creativity and develops their use of subject-specific vocabulary. The children will have to include a variety of verbs in their sentences and will be given opportunities to collect ideas by walking around the school. They will then celebrate their poems by reading them aloud to other children and hold a discussion about each other’s poems.

We will also write a diary to describe how children felt during a Victorian handwriting lesson. They will learn how to use sequencing words and formulaic phrases, including those to indicate the start and end of a text. Writing diary entries is a useful context for teaching the children how to express the thoughts and feelings of the writer, recounting events in a sequence of sentences.

Furthermore, the children will write a letter to the headteacher to explain how they are going to make a positive contribution to the school. Through writing letters, children can express their thoughts to another person in a sequence of sentences.

Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling

Punctuation

This term we will be asked to suggest what’s missing from sentences, including all types of punctuation learnt; encouraged to use full stops and capital letters in all of their writing; and to use question marks and exclamation marks correctly when appropriate.

Grammar

This term we will revisit describing words. Using them in the school environment and writing; recognise a sentence which is a question or an exclamation; learn when a sentence gives information or instruction; write simple instructions; learn simple conjunctions words; and read and write common irregular past tense; introduce the use of adverbs which describe how an action is done; compose oral and written sentences that describe an activity; create word banks of past tense verb which children can use as a resource; and build vocabulary about the wider world through outings and outdoor walks.

Spellings

During our spelling lessons we will revisit digraphs and trigraph including split digraphs; third person singular of verbs adding syllable e.g. she washes; adding ‘-ed’ to the word, sometimes making an extra syllable e.g. wanted; adding ‘-er’ and ‘-est’; learn new consonant ‘ph’; adding the prefix ‘un-‘; practise for phonics screening check; revise all words ending in ‘-y’; using ‘k’ for the ‘c’ sound; learning ‘ce’ to make ‘s’ sound; days of the week – practise independent spelling; and practise and check full set of Common Exp words.

To view our weekly breakdown of our spellings, please view our Term 5 and 6 Homework Grid

In addition to these weekly spelling rules, we will continue to learn and spell words from the 1 statutory spelling list. For an overview of these spellings, please view the Spelling word list for Year 1

Following the White Rose Maths scheme, year 1 will cover 6 main blocks of learning over the course of the summer term: multiplication and division; fractions; position and direction; place value within 100; money; and time.  As part of the White Rose Maths scheme, each block is broken down into a series of small learning steps. Combined, these small learning steps then cover all the curriculum content your child needs to know in small related chunks.

One of the most important things for your child to have mastered and maintain is their knowledge of number bonds to 10 and 20, also to write numbers in digits and words. For an overview of our weekly focus, please view our Term 5 and 6 Homework Grid. To complement their work in lessons reinforcing their fluency, recall and commutativity of these facts, your child will be set a weekly activity to complete as part of their homework on Sumdog.

Our Calculation Policy: addition and subtraction

Our Calculation Policy: multiplication and division

This term our topic is ‘Plant Parts’. This topic teaches children about wild and garden plants by exploring the local environment. They identify and describe the basic parts of plants and observe how they change over time.

To find out more, view our Plant Parts Knowledge Organiser

Plant Parts Lesson Overview

In term 6, our topic is ‘Animal Parts’, children will learn about animals, including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals and invertebrates. They identify and describe their common structures, diets, and how animals should be cared for.

To find out more, view our Animal Parts Knowledge Organiser.

Art: Street view

Our topic for this term is ‘Street View’. This topic teaches children about artwork depicting streets and buildings and focuses on the work of the American pop artist, James Rizzi. Children will learn how to create a 3-D mural based on Rizzi's work which will then be put together to make a collaborative piece of artwork to create a collection of buildings.

To find out more, view our Street View Knowledge Organiser.

Design and Technology: Chop, Slice and Mash

Our topic for DT this term will be a food technology topic “Chop, Slice and Mash’. This project teaches children about sources of food and the preparatory skills of peeling, tearing, slicing, chopping, mashing and grating. They use this knowledge and techniques to design and make a supermarket sandwich according to specific design criteria.

To find out more, view our Chop, Slice and Mash Knowledge Organiser.

Maze Explorers

In term 5, we will focusing on maze explorers. We will learn about:

• To understand the functionality of the basic direction keys
• To understand how to create and debug a set of instructions(algorithm)
• To use the additional direction keys as part of their algorithm.
• To understand how to change and extend the algorithm list.
• To create a longer algorithm for an activity.
• To provide an opportunity for the children to set challenges for each other

View our Maze Explorers Knowledge Organiser

Animated Stories

In term 6, we will be learning how to create animated stories. We will learning about:

• To understand the differences between traditional books and ebooks.
• To explore the tools of 2Create a Story’s My Simple Story level.
• To save the page they have created.
• To add animation to a picture.
• To play the pages created so far.
• To save the additional changes and overwrite the file.
• To add a sound effect to a picture.
• To add a voice recording to the picture.
• To add created music to the picture
• To add a background to the story.
• To use the copy and paste feature to create additional pages.

View our Animated Stories Knowledge Organiser

Term 5: Sikhism – Naam Karan

The Naam Karan is a Sikh baby naming ceremony, and many Sikh parents bring their newborns to the Gurdwara (the Sikh temple) as soon as they are able to visit. The Granthi (reader of the scriptures) opens the holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, at random, and the first letter of the first word on the left-hand page will be the first letter of the baby's name. Family relationships are important in Sikhism. After the Naam Karan, many Sikh children will continue to learn about the Sikh faith at home and at the Gurdwara. Some may also attend Punjabi lessons so they can read the Guru Granth Sahib themselves. Throughout the term, we will notice and respond sensitively to some similarties and differences between religions and world views.

The key themes we will consider an examine are: family, family traditions, relationships between generations.

For the key words and vocabulary associated with this topic, please view our “Naam Karan Glossary”.

Term 6 Buddhism – Esala Perahera

Esala Perahera, also known as the Festival of the Tooth, is celebrated in Kandy, Sri Lanka, during July and August. The festival lasts for 10 days and begins when Jak tree cuttings are planted outside four temples called Devalas. Torch lit processions (peraheras) of dancers, drummers, acrobats and highly decorated elephants fill the streets and visit the different temples during the festival. The most spectacular elephant carries a replica of the Buddha's tooth casket, which is kept in the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy.

The festival ends with a water cutting ceremony called Diya Kepeema. Water in the Mahaweli River is 'cut through' with a sword to separate the pure and impure water and ensure there is no drought in Sri Lanka during the coming year. Some of the water is then collected and kept so that it can be used during the tree planting ceremony, which will open the following year's Esala Perahera festival.

The key themes we will consider an examine are: Who was Buddha? What is a Buddhist temple like? Why are some places sacred? Which places are special to you?

For the key words and vocabulary associated with this topic, please view our “Esala Perahera Glossary”.

Over the course of term 5 and 6, we will continue to follow our Jigsaw PSHE scheme of learning. Jigsaw, the mindful approach to PSHE is a progressive and spiral scheme of learning. In planning the lessons, Jigsaw PSHE ensures that learning from previous years is revisited and extended, adding new concepts, knowledge and skills, year on year as appropriate.

For more information regarding the knowledge and skills progression, please view the Jigsaw Knowledge Skills and Progression Document for ages 5-6.

Term 5: Relationships

This puzzle is about looking the relationships we have with our friends and families. We will start by identifying the members of our families and understand that there are lots of different types of families. We will learn about making friends and identify what being a good friend means to us. Furthermore, we will learn about greeting and consider the appropriate ways of physical contact to greet our friends and know which way we personally prefer.  We will learn about people who help us in our school community and know where to ask for help. Children will learn to recognise their own qualities as a person and as a friend. Finally, we will celebrate someone who is special to us.

Term 6: Changing Me

This puzzle pieces helps me to understand that everyone is unique and special. We will start to learn the lifecycles of animals and humans and understand that we change as we grow. I can identify something that changes in my body as I grow and understand that this may happen out of our control. Children will learn  that this is a natural process and that everybody grows at different rates. We will learn to understand, respects the changes that they see in other people. The children will learn to identify the parts of the body that make boys different to girls, and use the correct names for these parts. They will be taught to respect their bodies and understand which parts are private. They will learn that every time they learn something new, they change a little bit. Finally they will learn about coping strategies to help the cope with change.

Following the GetSet4PE scheme of learning, our physical education (PE) lessons for term 5 and 6 will focus on athletics and striking and fielding.

Athletics

Throughout our athletics lessons children will learn how to move and different speeds over varying distances. They will focus on developing their skills to balance. Following this the children will develop agility and coordination. Furthermore, they will explore hopping, jumping and leaping for distance. They will then develop throwing for distance and finally learn to develop their throwing for accuracy.

Striking and Fielding

This topic of PE will enable children to develop their underarm throwing and catching, which will then progress on to overarm throwing. We will develop striking a ball with our hands as well as with equipment. We will learn how to collect a ball when fielding and how to get a batter out. We will have opportunities to develop the skills of decision making within a game and understand how to score points.

To find out more, view our GetSet4PE Knowledge Organisers

Term 5: “What songs can we sing to help us through the day?”

This unit of work focuses on having fun through improvisation.

Term 6: “How does music connect us with the environment?”

This unit will explore sound and how to create a story.

Following the Charanga Musical School scheme of learning, these units are organised into 3 main parts:

1. Listen and Appraise the songs.
2. Musical Activities - learn and/or build on our knowledge and understanding about the interrelated dimensions of music.
3. Perform the Song - perform and share our learning as we progress through the unit of work.

For more information, please view our Charanga musical school year 1 knowledge organisers