Summer 1 Term

Year 1 have been working really hard again this half term. We can’t believe that we are now in the summer term and do not have long left in Year 1.

In English we have completed a new learning journey ‘Kitchen Disco’ by Clare Foges and Al Murphy. We found out that are fruit snacks had been secretly having discos when we were not at school! We practised using verbs to describe what the fruit were doing and then also added some exclamation marks when something was exciting or loud. For our final piece of writing, we tried to write our own food poems. Some of us chose to write about fruit and others did different types of food, like a roast dinner!

We then moved onto the ‘The Disgusting Sandwich’ by Gareth Edwards. We started by finding a dirty and smelly lunch box on the class rack that didn’t belong to anyone. Inside it was a disgusting sandwich! We wrote a description of it and tried to guess who it might belong too. We found out it belonged to a Badger! We then practised using verbs to give instructions to a friend about how to make a delicious sandwich. Our final piece of writing was to write instructions for how to make a disgusting sandwich. We had to use all the things we had learnt so far, such as writing sentences, joining some of these with ‘and’, using full stops, capital letters, finger spaces, verbs, adjectives and also some exclamation marks! There is such a lot to remember when writing and we are working so hard to remember it all!

In maths we have been learning about money. We started by looking at coins and understanding the value of each one. We then used out knowledge of counting 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s to find one more and one less and ten more and ten less using coins. Next week we will be learning to order and compare different amounts of money and finally, using our number bonds to 10, solve money problems.

We have continued our big question in science ‘How do plants grow?’ We have been focusing on how plants get what they need to survive. We planted some bean seeds and waited for them to start growing. We learnt that this is called germination. We observed our seeds to see the different parts and the thought carefully about what each part was for. We have practiced reading the temperature on a thermometer so we are able to use this skill to answer the question how does the amount of warmth affect how a plant grows? We carried out our first enquiry. We worked together to decide how to find out the answer to this question and then to collect our evidence.

In RE we have been learning about specialness. We thought about our own special places and where we could create one in the classroom. We then looked at the church as a special place for Christians and the mosque as a special place for Muslims.

For Art we have explored colour mixing. We can name the primary colours and know how to make some secondary colours. Next week we will be combining two skills, learning to create different shades of green and printing using blocks. Our final piece of work will link to the artist Clarice Cliff, we will be creating our own plate designs.

In History we have looked at explorers. We thought about what an explorer is, where and when they have travelled. We looked at the explorers we Christopher Columbus, Matthew Henson and Dame Ellen MacArthur. We then learnt how exploration has changed over time.

We have been using the laptops in computing to focus on digital writing. We started by exploring the keyboard and finding different keys. We have then tried to do our own writing. This has been very good for our resilience!

In music our learning journey has been ‘the old castle.’ We started by opening different doors and using our voices or bodies to make sounds to represent what was behind each door. We then moved onto using percussion instruments to make sounds in different ways. We discovered that it is easier to shake, scrape or tap some instruments more than others! We will have composed our own castle music and performed it to the class by the end of the half-term.

Spring 2 Term

Year 1 have continued to work really hard this half term. We have been focusing on the school value of independence, trying to complete our learning on our own. This has also meant that we have had to use a lot of resilience at times too!

In English we started the term continuing our learning journey ‘Lost in the Toy Museum’ by David Lucas. During this learning journey we have practised and consolidated a lot of skills, such as remembering to use finger spaces and capital letters and full stops, forming really good simple and some compound sentences, as well as using adjectives to add more detail. This has meant that we have been able to write a report about a toy for visitors to the museum. We are now moving onto another text ‘The Storm Whale’ by Benji Davies. We were super excited to see what the text was as when it was introduced it was wrapped up in paper!

In maths we have revised naming 2D shapes. We then used this knowledge to recognise half and quarter of shapes, being able to then use this knowledge to solve fraction of shape problems. We have also been counting in groups of 2 and 10 and using this to be able to solve one step multiplication and division problems.

Our big question in science is ‘How do plants grow?' We have started this learning journey by looking at seeds and bulbs and identifying if they are real or not. We then dissected a seed to look at the inside and identify the different parts.

In RE we have been learning about welcoming, linking this to the Easter story and in particular Palm Sunday. We have discussed why it is important to welcome people and how this would make them feel.

In DT we have been designing and making puppets. We practised different ways of joining materials and then decided how we would like to join our fabric together to make the puppet. Some of us used glue and others decided to sew. Miss Hare and Mrs Keat were very impressed with the Year 1 skills. We then decorated our puppet to make it into a book character.

In Geography we have looked at the question ‘What is the weather like in the UK?’ We are able to find the UK on a map and name the four countries that belong in it. We have also looked at a compass and can read north, south, east and west.

We are excited for the last few weeks of learning before the Easter holidays and especially to be going on our school trip.

Spring 1 Term 

Year 1 have had a brilliant start to the half term. We have been consolidating lots of our expectations for learning and behaviour. We are really good at following the school values especially with being kind and respectful. We have also worked hard on our independence while we have started to complete whole class learning and have adapted to it very well.

In English we started the term looking at ‘Lost and Found’ by Oliver Jeffers. We wrote what might happen next in the story, working really hard on using simple sentences, remembering to use finger spaces and capital letters and full stops.

In maths we have continued our number work; counting and representing numbers in different ways, such as using objects, pictures, numerals, part whole models or tens frames. We have worked on teens numbers and how to represent these, as well as continuing our work on partitioning, adding, subtracting and using all this knowledge to be able to solve one step problems. We have recently begun work on learning to tell the time. We now know when it is lunch time, as we can tell o’clock and half past times!

Our big question in science has been ‘What is a habitat?’ We have looked at where animals live and how they have adapted to their habitats. We found a range of habitats in the school grounds and looked for animals that lived there. Then we recorded our findings in a table and pictogram.

In RE we have been learning about belonging, linking this to the Easter story. We thought about sadness and happiness and will be relating this to where the parts of the Easter story were sad and then happy.

In art we have been making paper sculptures. We have practised making different types of 3D sculpture such as cylinder and bridges. We have finished our sculpture work by creating our own ‘Tree of Life’ using the paper folding techniques we have learnt.

In history we have been finding out the answer to the question ‘How have toys changed?’ We started by thinking about our favourite toy and then what our parents or grandparent’s favourite toy was when they were 6 years old. We looked at some toys from the past and how some of them are similar to the toys we play with today. We will be moving onto how teddy bears have changed over time. Did you know the first teddy bear was designed in 1902! That’s even older than Mrs Baskerville, Miss Hare and Mrs Keat!

For computing we have been learning how to program a robot. We have learnt that when we give a robot an instruction this is called a ‘command.’ We are really enjoying being able to send the robots around the classroom.

1H have had some soggy woodland school sessions this half-term. When safe to do so, we have been able to explore our school environment, we’ve definitely built our resilience outside. Mrs Taylor has shown us how to use some tools safely which some of us have enjoyed using by practising our drilling and sawing skills. Thank you, Mrs Taylor, for teaching us this half-term and for providing some yummy snacks and hot chocolate.