Sycamore Class (Year 1)
Welcome to Sycamore Class!
Staff
Class teacher: Miss Bailey
Class Teaching Assistants: Mrs Hosken
PPA Class Teacher: Mrs Nickelson
Term 2 Key Information
- We have indoor PE on a Tuesday morning and Forest School on a Thursday afternoon.
- PPA cover is on a Wednesday morning with Mrs Nickelson.
- Parent teacher consultations evening are Wednesday 5th November 2025 3.30-6pm and Thursday 6th November 5-7.30pm.
- Thursday 6th November flu vaccination sprays for children whose parents have given consent.
- Week beginning Monday 10th November Anti-Bullying Week.
- Friday 14th November Children in Need non-uniform day (spotty and/or yellow) in exchange for donations.
- Week beginning Monday 17th November Maths Week.
- Tuesday 18th November Year 1 nature walk - children will need wellies, coats, hats/scarves/gloves.
- Week beginning Monday 8th December - last week of teacher led clubs.
- Tuesday 9th December Year 1 nativity dress rehearsal to whole school.
- Wednesday 10th December Year 1 nativity performances to parents/carers 9am and 2pm.
- Wednesday 17th December Festive non-uniform and Christmas lunch.
- Friday 19th December end of Term 2.
Term 2 Connected Learning
In Term 2 we will be continuing with our question ‘What can we find in our school?' In History, we will be learning about changes within living memory including school, toys and technology. We will also be learning about what Remembrance Day is and why it is so important. In Geography, we will be using world maps, atlases and globes to identify the United Kingdom and its countries. In DT, we will be learning to build structures, investigating how they can be made stronger and more stable. In Art, we will look at the artists Jean-Michel Basquat and Constant Nieuwenhuys to create our own animal collages and paintings.
Key Texts
Maths Year 1
Blog
Timetables
Sycamore Autumn Term 1 Timetable 2025
Sycamore Autumn Term 2 Timetable 2025
Newsletters
Year 1 Newsletter Term 1 2025Year 1 Newsletter Term 2 2025
Home Learning
Spellings
Year 1 First 100 High Frequency Words
Useful websites
This list is not exhaustive, but these (mostly) free websites can help to continue to develop skills at home. Please let the class teacher know if you have found a good website we could add to our list!
GENERAL
Games for various subjects: https://www.ictgames.com/
Help for home learning: http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/
CBeebies: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies
Scratch Jr: (programming): https://www.scratchjr.org/
Hour Of code: https://hourofcode.com/uk/learn
ENGLISH
Purple Mash (School Login Required): https://www.purplemash.com/login/
Education City (School Login Required) https://www.educationcity.com/
PHONICS
Cued Articulation JWS Phases 3 and 5 https://youtu.be/9E2LN7_x7EY
MATHS
Maths games:https://www.topmarks.co.uk/
Maths Playground: https://www.mathplayground.com/
Number Bonds:https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
CONNECTED LEARNING
British Antarctic Survey: https://www.bas.ac.uk/
Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps
Google Earth: https://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/earth/
National Geographic Kids: http://www.natgeokids.com/uk/
Home Learning
We do a termly home learning project which can be found here, and on Seesaw (log in information can be found in the children's Reading Records). In addition, we would appreciate you reading daily with your child and encouraging them to complete any activities sent home.
Seesaw will also be used by us to post: Home learning challenges, Reading challenges and class information. Your child can then choose whether to bring their work into class or respond via Seesaw.
Please contact the Office (on 01233 614660, or email on office@john-wesley.org.uk) if you have any questions or need help with navigating Seesaw.
What can you do at home?
Reading
Read a book you haven't read before (Oxford Owls has some good free books to read online!)
Read and follow some instructions.
Put your books in alphabetical order.
Rank your story books from most to least favourite.
Choose a word or a sound to hunt for - how many times can you find it?
Read to your toys - they love books as well.
Writing
Keep a diary every day. This is a really good way to get your feelings out and can be a really good piece of history.
Make up a story about one of your favourite characters from a book or a film.
Draw and write your own comic book.
Write the lyrics to your favourite song, but change them a little bit!
Use different writing tools, like felt pens, crayons, chalk or paint to write with.
Maths
Play Countdown. Can you make a target number using only random numbers?
Counting - How many toys do you own?
Sorting - Can you sort your toys into groups, based upon certain criteria (i.e. soft, fluffy, metal, plastic).
Sorting - Can you order toys from largest to smallest? Heaviest to lightest?
Find and write down all objects with numbers on them in the house. How many do you have?
Measure and record the length of a bean plant as the days go on.
Bake a cake.
How many small containers of water fit into one large container?
Other activities
Build a den from blankets and pillows. Use it as a reading area.
Make something using real tools (with supervision!)
Learn computer science.
Learn a language as a family.
DIY Science Experiments.
Make a treasure hunt around the house.