Year 1 - Derwen

Teacher - Mrs Meyer

🌳 Welcome to Dosbarth Derwen!

We are a happy, kind and caring class, where everyone feels safe, supported and encouraged to do their best. We learn through play, exploring, talking and working together, and of course, having lots of fun along the way! We love learning new things, trying different things and sharing our ideas with each other.

Our teacher is Mrs Meyer, supported by our teaching assistant, Miss Rees. We are really looking forward to a year full of fun, learning and happy memories together!

🏃 Physical Education

Outdoor P.E. lessons: Wednesday mornings

Indoor P.E. lessons: Thursday mornings

During the first term, we will focus on developing Fundamental Movement Skills and an understanding of spatial awareness. The children will develop their balancing and throwing skills, as well as taking part in simple cooperative games.

Children may come to school wearing their P.E. kit on these days.

🌳 Forest School

Forest School will take place every Thursday afternoon. It is very important that your child brings the correct clothing for these sessions. Wellies and waterproof clothing are essential, particularly in wet weather, to ensure that the children can take part fully, explore the outdoors and enjoy their time at Forest School.

📚 Literacy – Tric a Chlic

This term, we will be focusing on the Tric a Chlic literacy programme. We will learn the letters of the Welsh alphabet and use the sounds to form simple CVC words. The children will develop their skills in blending sounds and sounding out letters to form words. Gradually, we will build on these skills to create and write simple sentences, introducing capital letters and full stops and learning how to use them correctly.

🔢 Mathematics

In our numeracy lessons, we will focus on number recognition and formation, while continuing with our Big Maths scheme of work. This will help the children to develop their understanding of mathematical language, including halves and doubles, as well as simple addition and subtraction.

🔎 Inquiry-Based Learning – Humanities

For our Inquiry-Based Learning this term, our focus area is Humanities. We will be learning about yesterday, today and tomorrow, exploring how our lives have changed over time. We will look at old and new homes, washing, farming and animals, comparing life in the past with life today. The children will also use a mystery box and sorting activities to explore objects and photographs from the past, present and future. We will finish by thinking about the question, “How have our lives changed?”, and what the future might look like.

📚 Reading at Home

The children will bring a reading bag home with them so that they can enjoy reading at home with you. We have four groups in our class, and each group will have a specific day to bring their reading bag back to school. We will put a little note in the bag to let you know which day applies to your child.

Reading with your child at home is incredibly important and is a wonderful way to support their learning. Reading does not have to feel like a big task – sharing a story together, talking about the pictures or listening to your child read can make a huge difference. Just a few minutes of reading every day can help develop vocabulary, confidence and a love of books and learning.

📱 ClassDojo

We will use ClassDojo to celebrate your child’s achievements. We will also use ClassDojo to share important information and updates with you. You can also use the app to get in touch with us and message the class teacher if needed.

We are really looking forward to learning, playing, exploring and having fun together in Dosbarth Derwen. It is going to be an exciting term, full of opportunities to learn new things, develop skills and grow in confidence!