Year 1 Team: Miss A Jones (Class Teacher): Blog items
Date: 11th Dec 2024 @ 2:21pm
What a brilliant way to end 2024, and what fun we have had so far!
Miss Jones and the Year 1 team are incredibly proud of the hard work and determination that the whole of Year 1 have shown over the last term. The jump to KS1 can be tricky but the children have taken this within their stride. As the term comes to an end, we would love for the children to reflect proudly on all of their acheievements and to look forward to a very busy and exciting 2025!
This half term has been packed with highlights, plus plenty of festive fun. Here’s a look back at just some of the magical moments we’ve shared:
- Kindness Project: Year 1 filled the local community with kindness by spreading their kindness stones, near and far! The aim of this project was to put a smile on someone's face even just a little one!
- Festive Fun: We had a blast filming our Kindness Video, enjoying Party Day, a Santa Dash and celebrating with a Christmas Extravaganza.
- Nativity: The children worked incredibly hard to not only learn their lines but also a variety of songs and dance routines. We are so proud of how each and every child stood up with confidence in front of not one, but two, audiences. A massive well done, Year 1!
- History: We boarded the Titanic and explored the causes for its demise. We learnt about what life was like on board for variety of people and how, nowadays, things are different! We cannot wait to attend out workshop in the new year!
- DT: We investigated ships and created our own versions of the Titanic!
- Science: We have been exploring Autumn this half term as well as materials. We identified what different objects were made of around the classroom.
- Maths: We focused on our Place Value and Addition and Subtraction this term securing our understanding within 20. In addition to this we explored both 2D and 3D shapes!
- Phonics: We have all worked incredibly hard over the past term to develop our phonetical awareness and have worked hard to read our books confidently whilst developing fluency.
With all of this and more—including visits from Christmas Elves—it’s safe to say this term has been unforgettable!
From all of us here in the Year 1 team, we would like to say a huge thank you for our wonderful gifts. You have been extremely generous.
Until then, enjoy the holidays and get ready to step into Christmas!
Reminders for next half term:
- Our school trip to the Titanc workshop has been rearranged for 15th January. All information remains the same.
- PE days will remain the same: Wednesday and Friday.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Date: 8th Nov 2024 @ 3:51pm
As our Year 1 children returned from a well-deserved week’s rest, we were thrilled to welcome them back and hear all about their family time and activities. As we begin this new half term, we are excited for the many learning opportunities (and Christmas festivities) that await!
Please see our Y1 curriculum map for an overview of what the children will be learning this half-term.
Our current virtual classroom has been attached again to this blog, which includes links to a variety of quality websites, apps and resources to support the children’s learning.
Upcoming Y1 events:
- 27/11 - Titanic Museum Trip
- 9/12 - Nativity (9:30am)
- 10/12 - Nativity (2:30pm)
Please see our ‘Autumn Diary Dates’ for all school events taking place this half-term.
General Reminders for this half-term:
- Reading books need to be in every Friday to be changed. Books will not be handed out unless the previous book has been returned.
- PE lessons are continuing on a Wednesday and Thursday. Full PE uniform should be worn, if children are wearing leggings they need to be grey.
- A small, healthy snack should be brought to school for the children, if they wish. However, they are provided with fresh fruit and vegetables every day.
Thank you!
Date: 17th Oct 2024 @ 4:33pm
We have had a wonderful start to Year 1. This half term the children have particularly enjoyed exploring their new classroom, Harvest (which included making a Sukkot), The 4 countires of the United Kingdom as well as reflecting on how we can be good friends and role models within our class. During Collective Worship, we focused on Dignity, Respect and Generosity and how we can show all these values in everyday life. We are really proud of how all the children have adapted to Year 1, and how well they have settled into KS1.
Other highlights include:
- Exploring a range of texts such as; 'Don't hug Doug!', 'The Stickman', 'Room on the Broom' and 'The Gruffalo' to name a few! We have loved reading them together and re-enacting them in our small world.
- Developing our sending and recieving skills in PE as well as practising our jumping, hoping and skipping!
- Tasting food, learning dances and investigating the culture of the 4 countries in the United Kingdom, did you know that the national animal of Scotland is a unicorn?
- Making a Sukkot and having hot chocolates in it as part of our Harvest topic.
- Making flowers for others as part of Hello Yellow Day.
- Creating some incredible artwork by drawing from observations!
Have a lovely half term!
Reminders for next half term:
- PE will continue on a Wednesday and Thursday.
- Children should bring a bookbag bag to school instead of a backpack.
- A small, healthy snack should be brought to school if needed but fruit is provided each day.
Date: 6th Sep 2024 @ 8:17am
Welcome to the Year 1 blog for the academic year 2024-2025
Please see our Curriculum Map www.trinitystpeters.org/serve_file/25156241 for an overview of what the children will be learning this half term.
Our virtual classroom can also be found here. The Virtual classroom includes links to a variety of quality websites, apps and resources to support the children's learning.
The Successful Start PowerPoint is also attached. This includes information that all parents should read.
Reminders for this half term:
Our PE days are a Wednesday and Thursday - please ensure children come to school wearing their full PE uniforms
Children should bring a water bottle to school each day
Due to the children using lockers, please may we ask that children bring a bookbag to school rather than a backpack as there is limited space. On days that children are attending clubs backpacks are allowed.
Date: 16th Jul 2024 @ 2:07pm
We cannot believe that we are at the end of the school year! What a wonderful time we have had, we have made so many fantastic memories in Year 1. We are incredibly proud of everything you have achieved this year. It has been an absolute pleasure to spend this year with such positive, hardworking and enthusiastic pupils. You have all demonstrated such determination in your learning and have truly enjoyed each day in Year 1.
A huge thank you to all of our parents for such amazing support throughout this year. I hope you all have a brilliant summer and enjoy lots of well-deserved rest. I look forward to seeing you all again in September for another incredible year.
.jpeg)
Date: 9th Jul 2024 @ 8:00am
Well done on another wonderful week Year 1, one more week to go! We cannot believe how quick this term has gone, we are getting very excited for our fantastic summer plans.
This week in Maths we continued our topic 'Time', focusing on hours minutes and seconds. We shared all of our prior knowledge and discussed what type of activities would take us seconds, minutes and hours. We then had a go at telling the time by the half hour and by the hour. We used various types of practical resources to support our understanding of the hands on a clock and what they mean.
In RE we explored the second part of the story of 'Joseph'. We have been anticipating what might happen next in Joseph's journey, and were fascinated by his time in Egypt.
Our highlight this week has been making our very own smoothies during the smoothie workshop, we put all of our DT knowledge into practice by selecting our favourite fruits, and blending them to create our own delicious smoothie.
- You can join at Formby Library and take part in person. The librarian will give you a collector folder, stickers, and other special rewards, and help you find books to read.
- Or, take part online by signing up here. Set a reading goal and log your books on your profile. When you reach your goal, you will unlock a virtual badge and certificate. Link: https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/join-in
Have a lovely weekend everyone, we look forward to enjoying every second of our very last week in Year 1!
Date: 9th Jul 2024 @ 7:49am
We have had another great week in Year 1!
In Maths we began our new topic ‘Time’. We focused on before and after, days of the week and months of the year. We are excited to continue next week and learn more about hours in the day.
We started a new topic in RE this week as we read the story of Joseph. We discussed the first part of the story and how we might have felt if we were Joseph. We shared our ideas of what might happen next, and look forward to finding out what made Joseph a hero.
Our highlight this week was taking a trip to Kiosk as a part of our Design Technology topic. We had the chance to try some delicious smoothies and learn about how they are made.
Date: 27th Jun 2024 @ 9:47pm
What a wonderful week we have had. We are getting closer to the end of Year 1, and have loved getting prepared for Year 2 this week!
In Maths this week we continued our topic 'Money'. We focused on counting coins and notes. We enjoyed solving real life problems.
In RE we made links to world faiths by comparing Jesus' life to ours. We discussed how Jesus was Jewish and explored the practices he would have followed.
We were proud to take part in Sports Day on Wednesday! We absolutely loved having our grown ups there to cheer us on as we raced alongside each other. We had so much fun in the sun and loved showing off our skills!
Our highlight this week was getting to see our new Year 2 classroom ready for next year. We were very excited to test out the classroom and enjoyed asking questions about school life next year.
Date: 19th Jun 2024 @ 10:45am
WOW! What a wonderful week we have had in Year 1.
We began this week with our new Maths topic ‘Money’. We started by exploring various coins and discussing our prior knowledge of money and the value that it holds. We then matched the correct coins with their value. We then ordered the coins from smallest to greatest based on their value. We have made a great start to this topic and enjoyed making real life links within our learning.
In RE this week we immersed ourselves in a world like Jesus’. We built upon our knowledge of Jesus’ world in comparison to ours, by recapping what we already know. We then explored various elements of Jesus’ world such as food, we tried some of the foods Jesus and his friends would have ate. We then explored how children would have learned during Jesus’ life, we even had a go of learning without electricity! We thought about how difficult this must have been for people.
Our highlight this week was our school talent show, we had so much fun sharing our wonderful talents and showcasing our skills. We worked as a team as we supported our friends in achieving their best. I am incredibly proud of how much kindness you have all demonstrated this week. Well done Year 1.
Have a lovely weekend everyone!
Date: 12th Jun 2024 @ 9:55pm
This week has flown by! There have been incredible efforts and you have all shone like superstars!
In our RE lesson this week, we explored more about Jesus' world compared to ours. We read the Bible stories 'The Good Samaritan' and 'The Nativity Story' to investigate the key differences between life then and now. We shared some brilliant ideas in our class discussion, by highlighting how babies were born when Jesus was alive, compared to now. We also discussed how people got around during Jesus' time, compared to now, we could see how much has changed, from travelling on donkeys to having multiple cars buses and trains.
In Maths this week we explored Place Value even further, we began counting up to 100 from 50. We used our understanding of Place Value within 50 to support our new learning. We used ten frames and part whole models to help us partition the bigger numbers into tens and ones.
We are delighted to announce that our Phonics Screening Check is over, I am incredibly proud of everyone's hard work. The determination in Year 1 has blown me away! A lovely restful weekend is very well deserved. Well done everyone!
A happy Father's Day this weekend. We hope you enjoy a weekend of making memories with your loved ones.
Thank you for all of the on going support at home, you all shined so bright this week!
Date: 7th Jun 2024 @ 8:23am
What a fantastic start to our final term! We have had the greatest week in Year 1, filled with so much fun!
In Maths this week we continued to work on Position and Direction. We recapped and reviewed our learning from before half term, focusing on turns and left and right. We thoroughly enjoyed doing the Cha Cha Slide to help embed the positional language!
Our favourite story from this week was ‘Come all you little persons’. We loved reading this enchanting story book, we especially loved the beautiful illustrations. We enjoyed learning about nature within this story, and gave it a positive class vote at the end of the day!
In Geography this week we began our new topic ‘At the farm’. We explored different types of farms such as Arable farms, Dairy farms and Livestock farms. We shared lots of experiences about farms we have been to and discussed our understanding of farms and what they are for. We learned all about the features of each farm.
We were lucky enough to put our learning into practice on our school trip to Windmill Farm! We had a brilliant day exploring the features of the farm. We fed the lambs, they were super strong! Farmer Paul then gave us a tour of all of the animals at the farm, our favourites were the alpacas and the goats. We loved the train ride across the farm, we spotted all kinds of animals along the way. One of our highlights were getting to hold the critters! We had to be very brave as we held snakes, spiders and lizards! We made lots of memories and discovered so much about life on the farm!
Date: 22nd May 2024 @ 11:03am
Well done on another fantastic week Year 1!
In Maths this week we began our new topic 'Position and Direction'. We started by discussing the STAR Vocabulary for this week, we explored new positional language such as left, right, half a turn, full turn and quarter turn. We had lots of fun engaging in some physical learning as we practiced the Cha Cha Slide to perfect our moves, focusing on left and right. This week involved us moving objects and ourselves from left to right, as well as making full, half and quarter turns. After this we moved on to forwards and backwards, and familiarised ourselves with this language by playing various games to put into practice our understanding of positions. We used dice, objects, toys and ourselves as part of this activity, using step by step instructions to move backwards and forwards.
We developed our Net and Wall skills by taking part in our final PE Lesson focused on Tennis. We used rackets and tennis balls to develop hitting over a net. By working in partners, we perfected our hitting skills, and practiced turn taking and keeping score. We enjoyed another game of Catch Tennis and challenged each other to catch the ball without a bounce! Finally, we took part in some partner practice using cones as a net to have a go at hitting the ball using the correct standing position.
In RE this week we explored World Faiths by reading stories about how other religions celebrate specific traditions and festivals. We recapped how Muslims celebrate Baptism and compared this to how we celebrate as Christians. We then looked at other special celebrations within various World Faiths such as Hinduism.
Our highlight this week was mufti day! We enjoyed some special games and celebrated another fantastic half term! We have learned lots and made lots more memories. I am so proud of all of your wonderful work during Summer 1, and can't wait to have an even greater Summer 2! Have a great week everyone, thank you for all the continued support!
Date: 15th May 2024 @ 2:22pm
We have had another great week in Year 1! Well done on all of your hard work everyone!
We began this week by focusing on Fractions, we have been working on finding a half and a quarter of shapes and objects. We started by using various sized and coloured shapes to explore making half, we had a brilliant understanding of how 2 halves make a whole. We then developed our learning by recognising and finding a quarter of various shapes and objects. We started by folding and cutting shapes into 4 equal parts, then put our learning into practice by independently working on questions.
In RE this week we explored how other World Faiths celebrate Baptism. We discussed what we already know about Baptism and how Christians celebrate Baptism. We learned about how Muslims celebrate Baptism, and considered the similarities and differences of how the two world faiths celebrate the special day.
We enjoyed a very calm yoga session on Wednesday as we developed our skills in PE, we have thoroughly enjoyed learning all about yoga and how it helps both our mind and body. As a part of our Net and Wall game topic in PE we extended our skills by using a tennis racket to practice new tricks. We played a game of floor tennis to develop our sending and receiving skills.
Our highlight of the week was our Computing day! We love getting onto the iPads and trying out lots of new skills. We find this day very exciting! This week explored mini beasts linking with our Science topic on plants, we went on a hunt to find any hidden mini beasts on our school grounds.
Well done on another fantastic week Year 1!
Date: 6th May 2024 @ 12:40pm
A huge well done on another brilliant week Year 1. I am so proud of your fantastic efforts this week.
We began this week with a new Maths topic on Multiplication, we started by counting in 2s, 10s and 5s. We demonstrated fantastic counting skills and enjoyed practicing these by singing some of our favourite counting songs! We then moved onto making equal groups, we did this practically by using small and large hoops within the classroom to group quantities. We focused on new STAR vocabulary this week such as groups, equal and unequal.
We celebrated Earth Day on Monday and created our own Artwork using paint and our colour-mixing skills. We explored how important it is that we help our wonderful world by caring for the environment.
In History, we enjoyed another fun-filled lesson. We began by sorting a variety of images in order of when they would have been played with. We discussed the 3 generations and took on the roles of our parents and grandparents. We talked about the clothes the different generations would have worn, as well as the time frame they would have lived in. We acted out each character and had the chance to play with a very special suitcase full of toys through time! We used our historical enquiry and reasoning skills to explain why we thought these toys would have been played with.
We focused on British Values as we explored some brilliant new books! Our reading ambassadors made some great choices to add to our classroom and KS1 area. We have loved reading books about world religions, we read ‘My Bindi’ and discussed the importance of respecting other people’s beliefs and opinions, are shared some beautiful ideas about how to promote kindness. We also read ‘The Best Diwali Ever’ as a part of our Collective Worship on Reconciliation, we loved learning all about the festival of Diwali and discussed how the character Ariana forgave her little brother.
What a pleasure we had in RE this week, we had the chance to share and discuss all of our Baptism photographs! This was a lovely exercise and allowed us to reflect back on the special day, and use the photographs to consider who was around us, what we wore, and the very special features of a Christening Day.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Date: 18th Apr 2024 @ 5:13pm
.jpeg)
We have had a fantastic week back in Year 1!
We began our week with a new Science topic on Plants! We started by exploring a variety of plants, using our prior knowledge to identify some familiar plants. We discussed our favourite flowers and trees, and had a look at some more unusual plants. We sorted lots of images into plants and not plants, which allowed us to address any misconceptions. We are lucky enough to have a beautiful garden of plants in Year 1, which we explored as part of our learning, we were so amazed with their growth over the Easter holidays! The bright colours make our area look fantastic!
In Art this week we used various resources to practice colour mixing. We learned all about the primary colours and experimented mixing blue, red and yellow tissue paper, paint, coloured crayons and more. We created our own pieces of Art work using colour mixing to see which other colours we could create, it was lots of fun! We then explored this skill further by practising colour mixing throughout the week during Continuous Provision.
We discovered the meaning of Capacity and Volume in Maths this week, as we continued our measuring unit. This topic was excellent for working practically and using our estimating skills. We began by exploring different sized containers, with a focus on understanding the vocabulary – Capacity and Volume. We had a brilliant understanding of this, and quickly put that into practice by experimenting with water. We progressed our learning later in the week to work with various non-standard units of measuring such as sand, water and cubes. We discussed which containers we expected to have the greatest capacity, and compared the volume of different sized jugs and bowls. This has been a really great topic and we have enjoyed using our prior knowledge of non-standard units of measurement to effectively explore new mathematical concepts.
We had an extra special History lesson on Thursday, we introduced our new topic all about Toys! We are going to be exploring toys of the past, as part of our Children then and now unit. We were extremely excited to unveil which familiar toys were hiding in the feely bag, and were amazed to find some very unfamiliar toys were in there too. We used our enquiry skills to work out which toys were from the past and which toys were from the present. Following this we even had the chance to try out some of the old toys, and can’t wait to share all of our learning with our parents and grandparents, we have lots of questions to ask!
Enjoy a great weekend everyone! I look forward to seeing you all on Monday.
Date: 27th Mar 2024 @ 5:00pm
Wow! Another term is complete! What a great Spring term we have had in Year 1, I am so proud of how hard you have all been working. We have made lots more memories and learnt lots of new skills!
We began our final week with a new Maths topic on Mass and Volume. Within this topic, we started by focusing on our STAR vocabulary, learning the meaning of words such as heavier, lighter, greater than and less than, as well as mass and weight. We had a great understanding of heavier and lighter, which was highlighted as we illustrated our ideas of heavy and light objects. We came up with some fantastic examples, for example, the Titanic, small cubes, trees, humans, and classroom furniture. We used measuring scales to have a go at measuring some objects so that we could physically see how the balancing scales work. We had a brilliant understanding of this and shared lots of great ideas as we discussed them as a class. I look forward to continuing this topic in the summer term.
In Geography this week we travelled to our final destination on our trip around the world! We found ourselves in Antarctica, the coldest continent of them all. We explored lots of interesting features of Antarctica and were amazed by some of the fascinating facts. Some of our favourites were that people often only visit for periods to complete research, there isn’t much to do there apart from seeing the animals, it very rarely rains and it is classed as a desert!
We took part in lots of Easter fun this week, getting into the holiday spirit. We got stuck into an exciting Easter egg hunt around our school field, where we ran around to find different coloured eggs that we later decorated with our own designs. We used our creative skills to complete some Easter crafts that we couldn't wait to share with you all at home! Our baking skills were put to the test as we made some yummy chocolate nests, we focused on teamwork during this activity and we took turns creating our tasty treat. We have been utilising all of our Art and DT skills to create beautiful cards and Easter baskets to bring home for you all to see. We really hope you love all of our creations!
Sadly, this term we are saying goodbye to our beloved Mrs Millington, I wanted to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to Mrs Millington for all that she has done for our Year 1 class. We are going to miss you very very much and will cherish the memories we have all made with you this year! We wish you lots of good luck in your next role, we know you will be amazing!
Have a brilliant Easter holiday everyone, you all deserve a lovely break and a restful 2 weeks. Thank you very much for all of your ongoing support, I look forward to seeing you all in the summer term, ready to make some more wonderful memories. Enjoy!
Date: 21st Mar 2024 @ 4:49pm
We have had another fantastic week in Year 1!
This week began with a focus on length and height. In Maths we started to explore length, by looking at how long and short a variety of objects are. We used STAR vocabulary such as Length, Height, Longer and Shorter to describe different familiar objects. We had a go at comparing the length of classroom objects such as books, pens, and natural resources. This allowed us to practice using our STAR vocabulary before moving on to measuring. Our next step was to measure the length and height of objects using non-standard units of measurement. We enjoyed measuring our height by using cubes, we estimated how many cubes tall we might be, and then tested it out, we were shocked at how tall we were! 29 cubes long! We then moved on to measure our favourite classroom toys and other resources using non-standard units of measurement such as paper clips, glue sticks and pens. Finally, we took our understanding of length and height and began measuring objects using standard units of measurement. We enjoyed this unit of work and demonstrated an excellent understanding of length and height.
In DT this week we completed our Puppets! We had so much fun during this project and are very proud of the skills we have developed over this half-term. We can’t wait to share our final products with you all!
To make the most of the wonderful weather this week, we explored our outside area this week as we planted more beautiful flowers, using our gardening skills to make our planting beds more colourful for the Spring! We demonstrated our SHINE values as we nurtured our outside by brushing the leaves and cleaning our most loved areas. We discussed how important it is to respect and care for our classroom environment and we did this with so much pride. We had so much fun taking part in continuous provision activities outside to enhance our learning throughout the week. We are so excited to explore the sunshine even more as the summer months begin!
Date: 13th Mar 2024 @ 10:55am
We have had another fun filled week in Year 1!
We began our week with another DT lesson as we put our skills into practice. We used our understanding of cutting and joining together materials to create our very own puppets. We were so excited to bring our designs to life! We tried really hard to use our cutting and sticking skills, taking care when assembling our puppets. We were so impressed with the finished result, and are looking forward to decorating their faces next week!
In Maths this week we have continued with our Place Value topic as we started to partition numbers within 50. We explored the meaning of tens and ones and used part whole models to partition the numbers into tens and ones, we tried very hard to understand this new concept and used base 10 to physically partition bigger numbers. We practiced number formation as we focused on the place of each number, understanding that the tens come first, followed by the ones. We then worked on a number line to 50, as we used our estimation skills again and built upon our understanding of numbers within 50. This helped us to focus on one more and one less later on in the week, by using base 10 to represent tens and ones, we created one more and one less than various numbers within 50.
This week in Geography we explored another continent, this time it was the breathtakingly beautiful Africa! We specially focused on Kenya, taking a close look at the features of the country. We looked at the language, and practised some phrases ourselves. We then discussed the natural features of Kenya such as Lake Victoria, and the Savannah Grasslands. We were extremely impressed by the wonderful variety of wildlife, we explored characteristics of the animals and described them by drawing and writing each animal most distinctive features.
To celebrate British Science Week, we acted as super Scientists in order to complete an extra special experiment. We used plastic bottles to create our very own water gauges! By cutting the bottles and sticking a rain gauge scale down each bottle. We acted as meteorologists as we predicted and measured the amount of rainfall we get each day. This years British Science Week theme is Time, we used this within our experiment as we measured the rainfall over a specific period of time. We used a rainfall graph to record our findings for each day, using mm as our unit of measurement. We had a great time acting as real meteorologists, and cannot wait to compare our findings next week!
Well done on another fantastic week Year 1!
Date: 6th Mar 2024 @ 10:06am
.jpeg)
WOW! What a wonderful week we have had in Year 1. We enjoyed lots of excitement this week due to World Book Day. I absolutely loved seeing you all dressed up as your favourite characters!
We began our week with an inspiring lesson on Careers. We shared our understanding of careers and what different careers our families have. We were all so proud to discuss the special jobs our families do. We then had a go at drawing some examples of people doing various jobs, such as a doctor, a teacher, a policeman and nurse. We were amazed as we discussed the stereotypes within such careers, we had some fantastic ideas about equality and were able to understand that both women and men can do any career they wish.
In Geography we explored our next continent, this week we focused on Australia! We loved looking at the fantastic features of the beautiful continent. We discovered that Australia has a huge variety of thigs to do, such a visiting Bondi Beach, the Sydney Opera House, and the Great Barrier Reef. We had a look at some of the weird and wonderful sea creatures that live in the Great Barrier Reef, we couldn’t believe the variety of animals!
We took part in an exciting Science experiment this week as we tested our super senses! We explored Linda Buck and what she discovered about senses. We discussed which body parts are associates with each sense and then used our sense of smell to identify and compare some scents! We worked in groups to identify a variety of scents and shared our ideas in order to compare the different smells. We then had a go at sorting the smells on a chart to present our findings.
The highlight of this week was definitely World Book Day! We had so much fun coming to school in character. We took part in lots of different activities based around one of our class favourites, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! We have loved reading this story so far, and enjoyed immersing ourselves in all things Chocolate as we created our own character descriptions, designed our very own sweets and much more. Don't forget to have a look at our Year 1 twitter account to see all of our fantastic photos from this week!
You all looked wonderful! Thank you very much for all of your support! We all had the most amazing day thanks to your hard work! I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.
Date: 28th Feb 2024 @ 10:14am
What a fantastic week we have had in Year 1!
We started this week with an exciting DT lesson as we discussed Puppets! We looked at a variety of creative designs and discussed our favourites. We then put our ideas into action by designing our own Puppet, we carefully considered the shape, colour and features of our Puppet. We cannot wait to continue this project, we are looking forward to seeing our designs come to life!
In Maths this week we began a new focus on Place Value. We built upon our prior knowledge of Place Value within 20 and started to count up to 50! We have been practicing our counting skills every day to support our understanding of more and less. In partners we used half hundred cubes to count forwards and backwards within 50. We enjoyed making our Maths hands on this week as we took part in a variety of activities to support our understanding of tens and ones. We used ten frames and different objects to group amounts into 10s and began using base 10 to represent tens an ones.
As a part of our RE topic we added some life into our classroom, we thought about how Spring life is similar to the life of Jesus. We looked at the life cycle of a plant in Spring, and discussed how plants grow from a small bud into a beautiful flower. We wanted to explore this in more detail so we created our very own table plants! We used gardening tools to prepare our plant pots and worked as teams to take turns in planting our tiny bud. We discussed how important it is for us to nurture our plant by giving it the correct amount of water, sunlight and space to flourish into a wonderful flower.
We had a fun filled afternoon on Wednesday as we began our new Music topic 'Dinosaurs'. We focused on Dynamics as we discussed how music can be played loud or quiet. We built upon our understanding of the Pulse by recapping how a pulse is a steady beat that keeps the timing throughout a piece of music. We created a steady pulse and then had the chance to practice dynamics on the drums! We had lots of fun making music in Year 1! We reflected on our music making and shared feedback as a class, celebrating our successes and considering ways we can be better.
In Geography this week we explored the beautiful country China! We learned about Chinese currency, culture, fashion, animals and more! We then created our very own Chinese Dragons using our Art skills.
We have had another brilliant week in Year 1, I am so proud of how hard everyone is working. Have a fantastic weekend Year 1!
Date: 21st Feb 2024 @ 10:15am
What a fantastic first week back we have had!
We began our week with our new RE topic 'Easter'. We explored features of Spring and discussed new life around us. We went on a beautiful Spring walk to hunt for signs of Spring, we were amazed by the sprouting plants in our outdoor areas. We loved looking for different varieties of flowers and took some pictures to give us inspiration! We discussed how nature is coming alive after sleeping through winter, and recreated this in a beautiful piece of artwork. We looked at various plants as they grow through the seasons, and picked our favourite to draw. We took so much inspiration from our wonderful outdoor areas!
In DT this week we practiced some new skills by joining various materials. We explored the ways in which materials such as felt can be joined together using tools such as safety pins, staplers and glue! We had a go at developing our skills by trying each tool and discussing which one we prefer. We are extremely excited to continue developing these skills as we work on an exciting project!
In Maths this week we completed the last of our Addition and Subtraction within 20 topic, we consolidated our learning by using a variety of models to answer addition and subtraction sums. We used Part whole models, bar models and ten frames to support our understanding of addition and subtraction. We explored using number bonds to add and subtract as we looked for patterns, we learned how we can use our number bond facts to work out a variety of number sentences within 20. We then put this into practice as we completed lots of missing number problems!
We began our new topic in Geography this week as we focused on France. Our topic 'Around the World' allows us to explore wonderful countries all around the world! We began by discussing the most famous landmarks, cuisine and traditions within the beautiful country of France! We created our own French flags using a variety of materials, and tried to recreate the Eiffel tower out of straws! We enjoyed exploring this and can't wait to learn much more about our wonderful world.
Well done this week Year 1! Have a lovely weekend.
Date: 8th Feb 2024 @ 7:49pm
What an exciting week we have had in Year 1! We have spent our last week of this half term having so much fun completing our topics and making wonderful memories!
We began this week with an afternoon focusing on all things computers! We explored the inside of a computer and discussed hardware and software. We then had a go on the iPads and learnt how to upload pictures. We practised using QR codes and discussed how to take photographs carefully and respectfully. We then enjoyed taking lots of beautiful photos of each other and loved uploading them to our class account. We even had the chance to share the pictures as a class and talk through our favourites. We discussed what email is and how we should communicate safely online. We had lots of brilliant ideas about being kind and being cautious when being online. We then had a go at writing our own email and shared it with our friends and family.
In PE this week we have had lots of fun! We completed our final challenge as a part of our Team Building topic, we used our communicative skills to keep balloons up in the air. We then used our teamwork to carefully move a balloon from one end to another, we found this really tricky and even came up with some tricks to not drop the balloon!
Our highlight this week was our Titanic-themed day, we enjoyed lots of activities on Thursday as we put all of our learning into a day of fun! We began by creating our own tickets for the ship, we then read a story about a tiny mouse on the Titanic, we found this fascinating! We enjoyed a Titanic-themed PE lesson as we played a game of islands but this time we were racing to get onto a lifeboat! We imagined what it would be like to be first class, second class and third class as we travelled around the ship. We had a wonderful lunch as we boarded the Titanic ship! We enjoyed a picnic and spent the afternoon creating newspaper reports, learning to draw the Titanic and recreating the impressive ship in our Block Play area.
You have all blown me away this week with your fantastic knowledge and brilliant attitude towards learning, well done Year 1! Have a lovely half-term everyone.
Date: 3rd Feb 2024 @ 9:19pm
We have had a busy week in Year 1!
We started the week with a new Maths topic focusing on Addition and Subtraction within 20. We built upon our prior knowledge of Addition and Subtraction within 10, using our understanding of part-whole models and number bonds. We enjoyed lots more practical work as we practised adding by counting during a game of snakes and ladders! We explored patterns by jumping up and down number lines 1-10 and 11-20, we loved using the giant number line in class. We used number sentence lolly sticks to put our skills into practice by working out sums independently. We are growing so much in confidence!
In art this week we had an exciting project! We used lots of old newspapers to create a giant spider! We loved putting in lots of time and teamwork across the week to complete our class spider.
We celebrated National Storytelling Week by engaging in an imaginative activity. We read the story ‘You Choose’ and created our very own world on paper. We ‘Dreamt up a World’ by discussing and considering our dream home, clothes, form of transport and much more! We shared some fantastic ideas such as living in a big, beautiful castle, travelling in a hot air balloon, and having wild monkeys as pets! We created the most amazing pictures as we illustrated our dream life, we shared these with each other as we discussed the power of storytelling.
In History, we continued our learning on ‘Why we remember the Titanic’. We used our enquiry skills to work out why more people weren’t saved from the Titanic. We looked at multiple reasons and rated them based on their probability. We used a spectrum to place each reason based on which are the most and least plausible.
Enjoy a lovely weekend Year 1, you all deserve it!
Date: 26th Jan 2024 @ 8:37am
We have had another great week in Year 1! We began our week with an exciting History lesson as we explored the Titanic in more detail. We used our knowledge so far to investigate what made the unsinkable sink! We wanted to go beyond a simple answer, and explored more than one explanation. We worked in teams to read a variety of explanations to why the ship sank, we then used our investigative skills to explore which answers were most likely. We used all of the ideas to help us create our own sophisticated explanation of why the disaster occurred. We started to understand how the quickest answer is not always the best, we really needed to think about all of the possible explanations before articulating our own informed ideas. I have loved seeing such enthusiasm when we are exploring this topic, Year 1 have shared such fantastic thoughts and ideas!
In Maths this week we have come to the end of our ‘Place Value’ unit. We completed this unit by using all of our knowledge on counting within 10 and 20. We put our understanding into practice as we explored number lines to 10 and 20. We discovered the meaning of halfway and put this STAR vocab into our learning as later on in the week we had to focus on the start, halfway point and end of different number lines. We then used this understanding to estimate on a number line, we explored the meaning of estimate as another STAR vocab word. We had fun estimating the amounts of different things in the classroom! We then compared numbers within 20, by using greater than and less than symbols, we then made the numbers usingmanipulatives.
This week in RE we read another story from the Bible. We read ‘The Calming of the Storm’. We are beginning to understand why Jesus is so special! We were fascinated by his amazing life performing miracles and how his miracles show that he is the son of God. We put ourselves in the Disciple’s shoes by re-enacting facial expressions and exploring how they might have felt on the boats.
Have a lovely weekend Year 1!
Date: 18th Jan 2024 @ 5:24pm
We have had another fantastic week in Year 1! We enjoyed lots of new learning and had fun exploring our new topics.
We started our week with another exciting art lesson, as we worked on our sculpting skills. We practised our cutting and sticking skills as well as our creative thinking. We have been re-creating sculptures in our continuous provision areas, using a variety of materials such as blocks, play dough, and Lego.
We put our historian hats on as we explored evidence from the Titanic. We needed to prove whether statements made about life on board the Titanic were true, so we analysed a variety of pictures taken on the ship. We used our investigative skills to work out what was true and what was false, we loved this task! We had some interesting thoughts about 1st 2nd and 3rd class passengers, we couldn’t believe the difference in their living conditions!
We enjoyed another fun-filled PE lesson this week as we used a parachute to work as a team. We used our communication skills to work together to complete specific goals. We tried moving our arms quickly, slowly, low to the floor and high up. We had a great time playing cat and mouse and worked as a fantastic team to support each other throughout.
In RE this week, we re-enacted ‘The Calling of the Disciples’, we used our recall skills to discuss the story and explore how Jesus is so special. We focused on the word miracle and understood that Jesus performed many miracles! We used our drama skills to retell the story in groups. This was a great way to put ourselves in the shoes of Jesus and his disciples.
Have a lovely weekend everyone, thank you for all of your hard work.