“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”
Dear Parents / Annwyl Rhieni,
Welcome to Year 1!
I am really looking forward to teaching your children and I hope that they are excited about the year ahead. I am sure that by working
together, we will make this a fun, happy and productive year.
Here is some general information about our class, however should there be anything you need to know, please do not hesitate to come and see me. I would also appreciate it if you could keep me informed if there are any issues or concerns that I need to be aware of regarding your child.
Teachers
Year 1 Class teacher: Mrs Davis
Teaching Assistants: Mrs. Sharon Jones, Miss Laura Miles & Mrs Rhian Stonham
PPA Teacher: Mrs Stonham (every Wednesday afternoon).
General Information
In Year 1, we will be encouraging the children to become more independent and show more responsibility for their belongings. During registration, the children are expected to organise themselves, i.e. put their coat and bag on their hook, place their reading book in the reading book box,
remove any fruit money, homework or letters and place in the correct tray. I will also spend the first few weeks this term getting to know your child and doing some activities that will help me gain a good perspective of his/her needs.
Dinnertime & Playtime
As in reception, school dinners are payable via Squid. Please ensure that your child has a healthy snack and drink for morning playtime. If your child has sandwiches, please ensure that his/her lunchbox is clearly marked with his/her name. Alternatively, we also provide a variety of fruit for the children to buy at play time. This can also be paid for via Squid.
Themes
Throughout the year we will plan activities based on particular themes. We will provide fun, hands-on activities within a safe and stimulating learning environment which will promote your child’s learning. Our topics for this year will be ‘Superheroes’, ‘Countries and Cultures’ and ‘Commotion in the Ocean.’
Year 1 Capacity
This week the children have had so much fun exploring capacity. They have carried out challenges with water, sand and cubes – making predictions and estimations before carrying out each challenge. Well done boys and girls!
Foundation Phase Sport Relief Fun
The Foundation Phase children had a great time this morning working their way around various stations as part of our Sport Relief activities. They enjoyed further developing a range of skills, including kicking, throwing, catching, hitting, jumping, balancing and skipping.
Year 1 Chick Cuddles
The children had a treat today and had the opportunity to hold one of the chicks that have very recently hatched. They were extremely sensible and gentle. Well done boys and girls!
Year 1 Kindness Jar
This afternoon the children participated in a lesson all to do with kindness. We gave examples of how to use kind words and compared them to soft cotton wool balls. We also discussed examples of words that are unkind and compared them to scratchy sandpaper. The children felt both and compared the soft feeling to […]
Year 1 Tally Charts
The children have been busy collecting data and learning all about tally charts this week. One of their challenges was to work out what the most popular initial letter was for the names in our class – they found that it was M and A! Each group also listened to the story The Snail and […]
World Book Day in Year 1
The children looked fantastic today in their costumes and pyjamas! We have been reading books this week by Julia Donaldson and today decided to focus on what seems to have been one of the favourites – The Gruffalo! The children each chose their favourite character from the book and after drawing it they were able […]
Big Huge Thank You
The Criw Cymraeg (Welsh Ambassadors) would kike to say a huge thank you to every one who supports our wonderful PTA. With your help, support and donations, we have been able to resources our teachers to develop the Welsh Language in Welsh lessons.
Year 1 Making a Rain Gauge
This afternoon the children have been busy transforming empty plastic bottles into rain gauges. They used their reading skills to follow the instructions and their measuring skills to make a ruler to stick on the side. Next week we will be collecting data and measuring the rain that falls every day.
Year 1 Welsh Film
Today we watched a short film about uncovering the story of Jac Abertawe. It showed us several places around Swansea that the children recognised and it showed where the docks were that Jac made his rescues. The children found this fascinating – recognising places that they had been to! We then played a game looking […]
Year 1 Jac Abertawe Drama
As part of our Welsh Week studies the children have thoroughly enjoyed learning about Jac Abertawe – a hero dog who lived by Swansea docks and saved many lives of people that fell into the water. They have rewritten the story in their own words as well as writing an inscription about Jac for a […]
Year 1 The Runaway Pancake
We read a lovely story today called “The Runaway Pancake” who rolled out of the pan and ran away – bumping into lots of different animals on the way. The children were challenged to try and remember all of the animals that the pancake met on his journey. They worked together in groups to sequence […]
Year 1 Lighthouse Art
The boys and girls have proved themselves to be very talented artists! As part of our Welsh week they have completed a piece of art which will be put forward for the Eisteddfod competition next week. We decided to look at Mumbles Lighthouse so we started the session talking about what a Lighthouse is – […]
Year 1 Virtual Visit to France!
This morning the children were lucky enough to participate in a Skype call to a school in France. The children were joined by the Year 5 class. They shared facts about Wales as well as listening to facts about France. The children in France then sung some lovely songs to us and we sang back […]
Year 1 Tour de France
We were lucky enough today to complete our Tour de France challenge before the rain set in! The children were fantastic – they listened to the instructions and showed off their control and balancing skills. Another fun day in Year 1.
Year 1 Weather Boys and Girls!
This afternoon – with the magic of a green screen – the children were transformed into weather boys and girls! They compared the weather in Wales to the weather in France and did it all in Welsh! This was a lovely activity from the WRU linked with the six nations. The children were brilliant and […]
Year 1 Discussion Writing
The children started the week discussing what they thought was the best way of travelling to France. Lots of ideas were put forward including ferry, aeroplane and train. They were then asked to think about the disadvantages of each vehicle – this caused an interesting debate. They were then asked to choose their favourite vehicle […]
Year 1 Safer Internet Day
This afternoon we discussed “identity” and looked at the difference between communications online and offline. The children created a “This is me” profile where they drew pictures all about themselves. They then decided which information was private and should never be shared online – this included our addresses, passwords, names and photographs. The boys and […]
Welsh Music Day
Friday 7th of February marked national Welsh Music day. Pontlliw pupils celebrated by listening to a range of Welsh artist and Welsh song, completing a variety of activities including folk dancing.
Year 1 Amazing Australian Fundraising!
During our Australian topic the children have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the role of the firefighters dealing with the Australian bushfires. As well as putting the fires out they have an important role in rescuing the injured animals. The children decided they wanted to do something to help and came up with the idea of […]
Seren and Sparc
The Welsh Language Charter, a project to encourage the use of Welsh socially in primary schools in Wales, has welcomed two new characters. The two heroes on posters and badges will encourage children between 4 and 7 years old to use the Welsh language in the playground, at home and the classroom. As part of […]
Year 1 Tric a Chlic
The children have been busy working on their Welsh skills today. First they wrote a postcard from Australia using several different Welsh sentence patterns. They then played some lovely games following our Tric a Chlic scheme. The children are beginning to read, write and speak in Welsh with confidence. Ardderchog boys and girls!
Year 1 Australian Songline
We have had a fun afternoon today experimenting with the musical instruments and creating our very own songline. Songlines are an important part of Australian history and they tell stories of how and where the indigenous people travelled – like a memory. In small groups the children chose an instrument and thought about the sound […]
Year 1 China
The children have thoroughly enjoyed the last two weeks learning lots of new facts about China. They have tried Chinese food, written their own message for a fortune cookie (and tasted a real one), looked at maps and atlases, tried Chinese writing, as well as completing lots of tasks independently – challenges that they thought […]
