Deniz Karaca
Year 1 class teacher
Marmara University, Primary Education
Anyone can cry in the first week, me included. By week six the class has written its own song.
Year 1
Year 1 is the year children get used to reading and writing, to the rhythm of school and to being part of a group. Phonics-based literacy runs in small groups; nobody waits for a friend, nobody rushes to keep up.
Age 6–716 pupilsTwo teachers4 places left this year
The first six weeks of Year 1 are settling-in weeks. Children get to know the school, the garden, the kitchen and each other; class rules are written together and pinned to the board. Reading and writing begin on day one but without hurry: sounds, letters, syllables and words move at each child's pace.
Two teachers in a class matter most in Year 1. While the class teacher leads the group, the co-teacher sits with a child who mixes up sounds or struggles to hold a pencil. Fast readers have their own shelf in the class library.
The term project is small and about the school itself: "Who works at our school?" Children interview Aynur in the kitchen, the bus assistant and the head, and write their first picture booklets.
A day in this class
- Welcome
Shoes off, a look at the picture of the day on the board.
- Morning circle
Weather, calendar, whose birthday is it?
- Reading and writing
Small groups: sounds, letters, syllables.
- Garden break
Snack in the garden.
- Maths
Beans, beads, rulers: counting, grouping, comparing.
- Lunch
At the same table as teachers.
- Rest and books
Twenty minutes in the quiet reading corner.
- Workshop or life science
Music, garden or a school walk.
- Home time
Handed to a parent or the bus.
The class teachers
Burak Şen
Year 1 co-teacher
Uludağ University, Early Years and Primary Education
With children who find it hard to hold a pencil, we start with clay and play dough.