Key information for parents:

• Year 1 children come into school at 8.40am and enter school through their classroom door at the back of school.
• Year 1 leave school at 3.15pm through the same door.
• PE takes place on Monday and Tuesday. Children should come to school in their PE kit on these days.
• Reading books are collected on Thursdays and new books are sent home every Friday.

Miss Shanahan and Mrs Garnett look forward to seeing you in Year 1.

Super Scientists

In Science, we tested different materials to find the most suitable material for Teddy’s umbrella. We learned all about Charles Mackintosh and his amazing invention. 

Year 1 have had a splendid World Book Day exploring many different book related activities. We shared our favourite books, completed a scavenger hunt around school, guessed the books the staff were reading and created our very own book cover.
We listened to audio books and watched a range of stories as part of our World Book Day Readathon. At the end of the day, we carefully unwrapped our Wonkalicious bars and discovered a golden ticket! What a fun day it was! 

During our Art lessons, we have explored watercolours and the colour wheel. We studied and shared our thoughts about Paul Klee’s famous artwork. We were truly inspired by Emma Burleigh’s artwork and loved how she uses her life experiences and nature as a starting point. 

If you look at our artwork, what do you see? 

Thursday 22nd February

Year 1 enjoyed creating a teddy time line during their history lessons. They identified the materials used to construct the bears and discussed how bears are similar and different.

 Mental Health Week 

Year 1 have shared stories about feelings and thought about things that make them happy. As well as engaging in guided reading activities about mental health week, they created happiness hands to help them to remember all of the positive things in their lives. With Open the Book people, they created their own thank you prayers and thought about all the amazing things in the world. They developed their listening skills by listening to piano music and used the glockenspiels to create their own Music. It’s clear to see that they love music and find it very relaxing! As a class, they worked collaboratively to play a range of games and focussed on their key senses during a nature walk. They enjoyed expressing their views about a range of toys and puppets they like then designed a new one. The children have a good range of strategies to help them when they encounter challenging situations.

 Friday 19th January 2024

Year 1 have had a brilliant start to 2024! In English, the children read the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and sequenced the main events. In Writing, they made some predictions about what mischievous Nibbles might do to change the original story. They developed their understanding of questions and identified punctuation errors. In Maths, they have been learning about how part whole models can support their understanding of subtraction. They can record two subtraction sentences for a picture or set of numbers.  In Science, the children have identified common materials in the classroom. 

⭐️2024 ⭐️

Year 1 celebrated Mental Health Day by discussing how they keep themselves healthy. It is evident that they all know who to speak to if they are worried, upset or a little unsure about something. They shared a selection of activities which help their mental health. This ranged from talking to a friend, colouring, singing, dancing, cuddling a pet and reading a favourite book. 
In Art, the children discussed a range of festive pictures and used them to inspire their very on Christmas cards. They thought carefully about the size of their pictures and worked hard to evaluate and improve their designs. The children were delighted to find out that they could have their very own design on an actual Christmas card!
In RE, Year 1 thought carefully about Harvest and used their senses to describe a range of fruit and vegetables. They got creative and created their own paintings with Mrs El. In PE, the children continued to develop their listening skills and throwing techniques. 

In PE, Year 1 worked together to collect treasure for their pirate ship. They moved in different ways to collect the treasure from the island. The children worked hard to develop their listening skills and teamwork skills. 
 

As part of their Science learning, the children used their senses to describe the cakes available on Friday. They used amazing adjectives to explain which cake they would like. On Monday, they recorded their own labels and sentences to describe their chosen cake.

The children have loved exploring the school grounds this week. They explored the wildlife area and looked at different areas for seasonal changes. Over the next couple of months, the children will be looking for signs of autumn. How will the weather change? How will the plants change? Which trees will lose their leaves? 

In Art, the children viewed a selection of work produced by Molly Hausland. They selected photographs of her work and explained what they liked about her different pieces of artwork. Following on from this, they took a close look at spirals in nature. 

In English, the children created lists about what they would take on their journey to the South Pole. They have started to think about how adjectives give more information about an item.
Year 1 have had great fun learning about numbers and using key vocabulary such as more and less. They solved real life problems and applied their knowledge to a range of situations. 

Jacob from Rock Steady kicked off our weekend with a whole school rock assembly. The children learned all about the different instruments in a band and how they play an important part in a piece of music. The children listened and appraised pieces of music and identified key instruments. We also had a surprise performance from our very own rock stars- Mrs Gleave, Mrs Southwick-Williams and Mrs Haywood! 
 

Our First Week 

Welcome to Year 1  2023-2024 

Friday 19th May

Year 1 have had a wonderful week both inside and outside the classroom. In English, they developed their understanding of verbs and how the suffix ‘ed’ changes a verb. They have generated a bank of interesting verbs linked to their whole class text called ‘A Curious Case of the Missing Mammoth’.In Phonics, they have continued to broadened their understanding of alternative phonemes.

During their Computing sessions, they have learned about algorithms and the importance of concise instructions. In pairs, the children explained how to sequence a set of Lego bricks so that their partner had a matching Lego tower. They also described the location of shapes on a card and used an algorithm to complete an animal themed Paint project. 
 

Friday 12th May

Multiplication

In Maths, Year 1 have had great fun learning about multiplication. They can recognise equal groups, repeated addition number sentences and apply their knowledge to solve a selection of multiplication problems. They sorted out the Year 1 wellies to see how many pairs they had in the cloakroom. They then counted in twos to see how many wellies they had altogether. Some children helped to sort out Maisie’s socks and other children created a huge number sequence which ascended in twos. What kind and caring mathematicians we have! 

Friday 5th May 2023

Today’s activities were all linked to King Charles III. The children completed a series of quests and were awarded a beautiful badge to mark the special occasion. 
Quests

- Crack the royal number code by using symbols in Maths.

- Retrieve key information from a text to answer questions about King Charles III and the coronation ceremony.

- Work collaboratively to decorate a crown for a whole school display.

- Use Mrs Gleave’s map to find the Jubilee Garden and the Year 1 flowerbed. Scatter wildflower seeds to encourage wildlife.

- Dazzle the rest of the school with their homemade crowns.
 

Their crowns were certainly fit for a king! The children had a wonderful picnic in the sunshine and enjoyed listening to lots of stories linked to King Charles III. Many thanks to the PTFA for the beautiful badges. 
 

Friday 31st March 2023

We've had a very exciting end to the Spring term this week.

PSHE

In PSHE, Year 1 gained a greater understanding of how to stay safe. They discussed a wide range of household items and decided if each item was harmful. Ahead of the Easter holiday, they identified potential hazards in the home and created posters to inform children about how to stay safe.
 

Science

In Science, Year 1 tested a range of materials to find out which one would be suitable to create a new umbrella for Nibbles. They worked collaboratively to plan, source the materials and conduct the experiment. They made accurate observations, recorded their results in a table and designed a new umbrella to keep Nibbles dry in the rain. As some materials appeared to be waterproof, a group of children extended the experiment to see what happened over a longer period of time. The children had great fun designing a lightweight, waterproof umbrella for Nibbles. 

On Friday, Year 1 were shocked to find out that Nibbles was in the Co-Op  ‘Breaking Rules Ahead of April Fools’. They decided to help Nibbles and as a class, they worked collaboratively to plan and carry out an investigation. Just in time, Year 1 managed to report their answers back to the Co-Op and Nibbles was released. What loving and caring children they are!

RE & Geography

On Thursday, Year 1 had a visit to church where they sang hymns, listened to an Open the Book story, took part in a treasure hunt around the church and created some Easter crafts.  On Thursday afternoon, the children used their map skills for our Easter fieldwork challenge; they used an aerial photograph of the school grounds to find Easter pictures hidden at numbered points on the map. 

On Friday, Year 1 recalled their visit to the church and labelled the key human features in the church. As a class, they placed each feature on a floor plan of the church.  They used Mrs Cliff’s wedding and christening photographs to help them to recall the position of each feature. 
 

Friday 3rd February

Year 1 had a brilliant time at the Brampton Museum on Tuesday. They worked their magic and went back in time on an adventure through the magic story box. The children investigated clues (key words, toys from the Brampton collection and a timeline) to try to work out what their story adventure was about.  The children investigated clues and discovered the book ‘Major Glad, Major Dizzy’. They travelled back to Victorian times to meet the main character, a little boy called William who has lost his favourite wooden toy soldiers, Major Glad and Major Dizzy.  They found the cook in the kitchen, and when they couldn't find the soldiers, they designed and made new toys for William to cheer him up, using old and new materials.  As historians, they hunted for old toys in the toy gallery and met William’s sister Amelia to see if she had the missing soldiers. They played with some of Amelia’s old toys and finally solved the mystery of the missing soldiers. What a great day it was! 

Friday 13th January

Welcome back and Happy New Year! Since the start of the term,  we have been talking about our school values and what we would like to get better at in 2023.

Year 1 have started to discover a range of artefacts and books linked to their new history topic called ‘Toy Story’. As a class, Year 1 sorted questions and statements then generated their own questions about toys. In Maths, they have developed an understanding of part whole models and how they can be used to create addition facts. They had great fun creating their very own human part whole model in their cross curricular PE session. In English, the children developed their understanding of nouns and adjectives. It appears that there is another addition to the class this term….Nibbles! Naughty Nibbles was spotted munching his way through a selection of books and some personal belongings! As a result, Year 1 decided to create wanted posters about Nibbles the book-eating monster. 

Friday 9th December

What a busy week it has been in Year 1! We are so proud of all the children who performed brilliantly in our Nativity, both in the dress rehearsal and to parents on Wednesday. As well as the Nativity, we have been carrying on with our learning in the classroom. In English, the children have planned and started to write their new version of the 'Lost and Found' story.  In Science, they have continued to observe seasonal changes and have ordered the months of the year. In Maths, Year 1 have consolidated their knowledge of 3D shapes by completing Santa's repeating pattern of presents. They have also used mathematical language to describe Santa's presents and found different ways to sort his presents so that he is ready for Christmas Eve. What fantastic little elves they are!

Friday 11th November

Year 1 have worked really hard this week. They put on their imaginary detective jackets and searched for the school war memorial. Having found it in the dinner hall, they discussed the features of the war memorial and recorded detailed sketches of it. They were staggered to spot 31 names on it and a few children spotted their family surnames! This sparked discussion about the war memorial located in the church grounds at Ashley. The children discussed why people wear poppies and how it is important to remember the past. 

Friday 14th October 

As part of Hello Yellow day, Year 1 participated in different activities to develop their understanding of mental health. They discussed different emotions and shared ideas about how they could improve their mental health. Some children like to dance away any worries, some like to draw pictures and others like to play games. It is evident that all children know that it is important to talk about their feelings and they designed bunting to remind them of the different strategies. 

In English, Year 1 received a letter about missing animals, and they used their phonic knowledge to segment a range of animal names. They have watched a range of video clips to develop their knowledge of penguins and can recall some key facts.

In Art, they have collected images of spirals, discussed what they like about Molly Hausland's work and created their own spiral drawings. 

Friday 23rd September

In English, Year 1 have developed their ability to utilise a word bank and label pictures. They have started to explore and discuss illustrations from the story ‘Lost and Found’ by Oliver Jeffers. In Phonics, they developed their ability to read a range of words containing the ‘oe' digraph and had fun discovering the meaning of new words such as hoe, foe, and doe. In Maths, Year 1 have used apparatus, number tracks and number lines to help them to count forwards from a given number. As part of our Music curriculum, Year 1 listened to short rap songs and discussed how the music made them feel. During our Science sessions, the children showed off their reading and writing skills by labelling the different parts of the human body.

Friday 16th September 
 

Year 1 have had a exciting week learning about memories. As part of this term’s Memory Box topic, the children listened to the story ‘Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge’ and discovered that memories can be described in different ways. They also enjoyed finding out about memory boxes and they explored the photographs, medals, ornaments and books in Miss Shanahan’s memory box. They shared their memories of the ‘school street party’ held for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. It is evident that Queen Elizabeth II touched the hearts of the children and they discussed how she lived life in all its fullness. From loving and caring for her corgis, showing resilience throughout her reign and for always ceasing a range of opportunities. 

Friday 9th September

Welcome to Year 1! We hope you have all had a lovely Summer and have made lots of precious memories.The children have had a wonderful start to the year and have all settled in really well this week.

In Maths, the children sorted objects in different ways and found several ways of grouping their friends. They thought about hair colour, hair styles and even their uniform! They went on a hunt in the garden to find lots of living things then sorted a range of living and non-living things in Science. 

We have started our PSHE unit Me and My School, where the children have created their own Year 1 Class Rules and assigned important classroom jobs. In Art, the children used colouring pencils to add details to their perfectly painted self portraits. The classroom is looking great, with lots of prompts for the children to use, as well as the children's work being displayed.

Explorers
 

This week, we have been learning to make predictions about our new text called Toys in Space.  We discovered a box of lost toys and read a range of labels to help us find out where they had come from. This led us to find out about addresses and we discussed at each line of our school address. We discussed illustrations from the story, listened to music and watched video clips to help us to understand how each character felt in the story. Everyone could relate to how each toy felt and we learned how the prefix ‘un’ can change the meaning of a word.
In Maths, we developed our understanding of tens and ones then investigated how we could make a range of 2-digit numbers. We have been very busy completing  lots of problem solving challenges and have enjoyed showing off our mathematical skills.
In our Geography lessons, we explored a range of maps and used an aerial photograph to locate places within the school grounds. We also enjoyed using the aerial photographs to try and locate a set of runaway dinosaurs! The cheeky dinosaurs were hiding next to the playground shed, in the field and lots of different locations. They also gave us a geographical challenge to test our knowledge. In Computing, we used the laptops to learn how to code and make an image move. 

What a fun week! 

Year 1 have worked incredibly hard and we are particularly proud of their mature approach to completing the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check. Thank you to all parents and family members for your continued support with reading.

At the start of the week, Year 1 were surprised to see a range of different animals at school. The Exotic Zoo brought Millie the giant millipede and some of her friends to see Year 1. Year 1 listened to lots of fascinating facts about the animals and loved interacting with them. Look at our photographs to find out which animals visited our school.

Year 1 have continued to develop their understanding of plants. They labelled the different parts of a flowering plant, identified wild plants and sorted photographs of deciduous and evergreen trees.  As scientists, they explored their Year 1 garden and identified plant wild plants with Miss Shanahan. They also managed to collect data to identify the most common wild plant in the garden. They used a tally chart to record their data and it was evident that daisies were the most common plant! 

In Music, the children learned about body percussion and had great fun creating sounds to retell a short story. There was lots of stomping, clapping and clicking!  In PSHE, the children listened to the ‘Bare Necessities’ song and thought about what is important to them. This provoked lots of discussion and the children ranked a range of necessary things. In RE, they learned about weddings and thought of some lovely wedding vows. Over the past few weeks, Year 1 have learned about families and that each family is different. They decided to create a Father’s Day card for the special men in our lives and this tied in nicely with their D&T learning. They learned about a range of mechanisms and followed a set of instructions to create a slider mechanism. Great fun was had by all and they created a special card with a slider mechanism. Have a look at our lovely designs below!  

Friday 20^th May 

In English, Year 1 found out that a baby mammoth had gone missing from their story book. In order to find the missing mammoth, this meant that they had to brush up on their understanding of nouns and adjectives. They used interesting phrases to create ‘missing’ posters about Teddy the mischievous mammoth.  Year 1 were ecstatic when they found out that Mrs Hibbert had spotted Teddy the mammoth at school! Year 1 inspected the photographic evidence, but they soon realised that the animal was actually a yak! As a result, Year 1 evaluated their character descriptions of Teddy and made some important improvements to help find him.  

In Maths, Year 1 used objects and pictures to develop their understanding of multiplication. The classroom turned into a little factory when they paired up socks, gloves and shoes. On Friday, Year 1 stepped outside and enjoyed finding 2-digit numbers on the outdoor number square. They worked cooperatively and had great fun counting forwards in steps of one, two and five. 

Friday 6th May 2022

Year 1 have been fantastic historians this week. They have discovered and described a wide range of modern and old toys. They have used their scientific knowledge of materials to help them to group toys. It was interesting to discuss photographs and illustrations of children playing with toys in the past. By reading the photographs and illustrations, the children identified toys from today, their grandparent's era and toys from 100 years ago. They used interesting adjectives to compare toys from different periods of time. They were keen to find out about when televisions were invented and how they have changed over time. How did people cope with black and white televisions? How did children change the channel if they did not have a remote control? It was clear from their questions and expressions that they were surprised and certainly would not appreciate an old fashioned television! 

As designers, the children explored and named a range of puppets. They thought about the materials and how they had been joined together. Having explored finger puppets, hand puppets and many more, Year 1 designed some amazing puppets. 

Friday 29th April 2022

On the first day of the Summer term, Year 1 viewed Miss Shanahan's holiday pictures and quizzed her about her Easter adventure. The children generated fantastic questions and also enjoyed sharing their holiday news. It was lovely to hear that Year 1 enjoyed their holiday and spent quality time with their family and friends. Some children enjoyed time at home and others visited different countries such as Wales, Cyprus and Slovenia. After two weeks away from the classroom, we were delighted to see that the children remembered to use a capital letter at the start of their sentences and for their proper nouns! In Maths, the children explored using Numicon to help them to write a set of addition facts. Some children used two dice to create their own family of four addition facts. In PE, the children impressed us with their athletic skills and they demonstrated good hand and eye coordination during their Chance to Shine session. In Music, the children perfected their singing and used actions to emphasise the lyrics to the song ‘You’ve Got A Friend In Me’. It was a pleasure to watch them perform to Netty and the whole school on Friday- well done! The children have made a brilliant start to their final term in Year 1 and we look forward to seeing what they achieve.

Friday 1st April 2022

It has been another wonderful week in Year 1. In Maths, the children have mastered some different strategies to support their subtraction skills. They recorded pictures and number sentences to help them solve calculations and some very tricky problems. In English, they identified verbs in a sentence and generated their own list of verbs to describe the actions of a  mammoth. Before reading our new text, the children got their thinking caps on and made some amazing predictions about what might happen in ‘The Curious Case of the Missing Mammoth’.

Year 1 predictions:
- There will be a birthday party in the museum.
- A thief will try to steal a famous portrait.
- The mammoth will see a beautiful mammoth and fall in love with her.
- The mammoth will break the displays.
- Everything will come alive.
In PE,  the children have learned a dance and have started to perform it to their friends. In PSHE, the children developed their communication skills by playing different games and resolving problems in a sensible manner. In History, the children used their knowledge of materials and discussed their favourite toys. They shared their drawings and sentences with their friends. In the afternoon sessions, they have started to learn a new song, which they will share with the other year groups at a later date.

Friday 25th March

Year 1 have had a really busy week. On Monday, they discovered some bizarre looking bones in the Year 1 garden. Baffled by their discovery, the children generated interesting questions and made predictions about the bones. In Maths, the children have revisited different areas of maths such as shape, addition and subtraction. The children had fun drawing their own pictures to help them subtract an amount from a 2-digit number. All children worked hard to compete a range of arithmetic and reasoning questions during their Maths Blast time.  In Science, the children started a new topic all about materials. They discovered different objects and sorted them according to their material. The children had fun learning all about Mother’s Day and how we show special ladies how important they are. In RE, children discussed their emotions and shared their experiences of forgiveness. When presented with independent learning challenges, the children have shown great resilience.  The children have also had great fun in the sunshine this week. What a super start to Spring!

Pancake Day & World Book Day

Year 1 have had a busy start to the half term. They used their reading detective skills to find out about Pancake Day and how it is celebrated in different countries. On World Book Day, Year 1 came dressed in some very cleverly thought out costumes and we had great fun guessing the words linked to each costume. During the morning, the children listened to Barrack and Michelle Obama read the book 'The Word Collector', which inspired them to write and decorate their own special words. As a class, they sorted their words like Jerome did in 'The Word Collector'. It was interesting to see the amount of interesting nouns and adjectives. The children then found a partner to make a human phrase. They also worked along with the BBC Live lesson, where they explored the structure of story writing. The children loved sharing their words so much that they created a jar of their favourite words. 

In Maths, the children have used key vocabulary to describe the height and length of an object. They ordered toys from the shortest to the longest, and compared the height of our toy dinosaurs. In Computing, the children developed their understanding of pictograms and collected their own data about fruit. They used the Chrome books to present this information. On Friday, they had fun classifying their World Book Day words and they created beautiful posters.

Mental Health Week
On Thursday, Year 1 worked with Action for Children on. As a class, they learned lots of words to describe their feelings and participated in role play activities to express a range of feelings such as disgust and embarrassment. The children learned to complete a ‘body scan’ and developed a range of calming strategies. This included taking deep breathes, tracing their finger around their hand and blowing bubbles.

Fabulous February & NSPCC Number Day

This week, Year 1 revisited the 'Golden Rules' because they wanted to teach naughty Nibbles a lesson! The children thought about instructions and created their own written set for Nibbles. The children thought carefully about their sentences and developed their ability to use adjectives and conjunctions. Year 1 considered the reasons for his mischievous behaviour and they included simple pictures just in case Nibbles is not a confident reader. What thoughtful children we have in Year 1!

In History, the children completed a short quiz and recalled facts about their previous 'Memory Box' topic. They also sorted statements and questions about toys. As a class, we now have a brilliant set of questions and the children are keen to find out about what their family members used to play with.

On Number Day, Year 1 tried to think of different jobs that do not require a person to use maths skills. After a while, they decided that everyone needs to understand and use basic maths skills. They even explained the key maths skills involved when they do their chores like washing the dishes! Since Oliver brought in two butterflies to show the class, we decided to learn about symmetry and the children created beautiful butterfly pictures. On Friday afternoon, the children were inspired by the number story of zero. They created their own digit character and thought about the properties of their favourite digit. Year 1 loved the Connect 4 maths game and are keen to play it at home. A brilliant week and a fabulous start to February- well done. 

Friday 28th January 2022

Year 1 have worked incredibly hard once again this week and cracked some really tricky problems in Maths. They have continued to improve their number formation skills and gained a better understanding of one more and one less. In English, Year 1 have produced some fabulous predictions about Jack and the Beanstalk. They used pictures and simple sentences to communicate their predictions. They were completely surprised by how Nibbles altered the original story!

In the afternoons, the children have practised their speaking, listening,  reading and writing skills. They shared their own memories and enjoyed looking at the wonderful Year 1 memory boxes. They created beautiful posters about their memories and included interesting labels and captions. In RE, a special visitor talked to the children about baptism and they baptised a baby doll! Year 1 also gained a lot of knowledge about the Air Ambulance and enjoyed asking a selection of questions. In particular, they loved exploring the inside of a helipod! 

Painting, Live Music and Hula Hoop Fun

Year 1 have had oodles of fun this week! It was wonderful to watch them develop confidence and coordination in the hula hoop workshop on Monday. It seems like their Wriggly Nativity dance moves helped them to keep their hula hoops going! Children explored a range of skills and tricks with a selection of hula hoops. They are certainly very talented children and one child managed to spin three hula hoops at the same time! 

On Tuesday, Year 1 donned their aprons, viewed the Year 6 art gallery and followed a series of steps to create beautiful paintings based on the theme of ‘January’. In History, Mr Bowen shared a selection of family toys and the children asked interesting questions. He also played the violin in their Music session on Friday and they thoroughly enjoyed their dance session. 

Since September, Mr Bowen has supported and delivered parts of the curriculum to Year 1. He has certainly brought lots of lively lessons, fun and laughter to the classroom and Hymn Practice sessions. He will certainly be missed by our staff and children at Hugo Meynell. However, we wish him every success in his final teaching placement. 

Friday 14th January 2022

Year 1 have been energetic in their Bee Active sessions this week. All of the children tried a range of activities and demonstrated good listening skills. They thoroughly enjoyed exploring new apparatus such as the dumbbells! In Maths, the children have developed their knowledge of place value and enjoyed playing a variety of games involving pictorial representations of numbers to 20. Year 1 were shocked to discover that Nibbles had munched his way through the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears! Not only did Nibbles change the original story, he made the characters rather sad. As a result, Year 1 generated interesting adjectives to describe how Goldilocks and the bears felt. They rehearsed their sentences and used at least one adjective in a sentence. In RE, the children discussed 'belonging' and how people celebrate the arrival of a new baby. This led the children to design and create beautiful cards for a very special baby.

Friday 7th January 2022

It has been lovely to see the children refreshed and raring to go after the Christmas break. This week, the children enjoyed sharing their holiday news and we were pleased to hear that they were on Santa's nice list! They decided that they should thank Santa for their wonderful gifts. They thought carefully about their favourite presents and used adjectives to describe them. In Maths, the children started to read and write numerals to 20. In PSHE, Year 1 discussed their strengths and the things they would like to get better at in 2022. It was interesting to hear some of the resolutions that parents had already made! Some children decided that they would like to get better at reading and writing numbers. Other children wanted to get fitter, help their younger siblings to play nicely or be more helpful at school.  We are looking forward to seeing what Year 1 can do in 2022! 

Christmas is coming...

Year 1 have been busy bees this week. In Maths, they have concentrated on their number knowledge and subtraction skills. They solved subtraction sums by using cubes, apples and pears. Towards the end of the week, they started to record their own pictures to help them to solve subtraction sums. In Art and Design, the children designed their own Christmas cards. The children have continued to work hard and they thoroughly enjoyed watching the pantomime on Friday morning. Year 1 cannot wait to perform 'A Wriggly Nativity' next week.

It's a Mystery...

Year 1 were shocked to find out that something had eaten Miss Shanahan's things. As a result, the children put on their thinking caps and looked for clues in the classroom. They found nibbled books, clothes and a huge hole in the cupboard! Once they spotted the culprit, they learned all about nouns and labelled the mischievous creature. 

In Maths, the children have used their knowledge of shapes to create repeating patterns. They have worked hard to learn some of the songs for their production of 'A Wriggly Nativity'. Keep up the good work! 

3D Shape Detectives

Year 1 have continued to be detectives this week. In Maths, the children went on a 3D shape hunt and identified common 3D shapes like cylinders, spheres, cubes and cuboids. They also found different ways to sort the shapes.  As part of their homework, the children are going to try and answer the following questions.

• How many 3D shapes can you find at home?
• How can you sort them? 

In PE, the children had great fun playing different parachute games and they demonstrated fantastic listening skills. As part of Anti-Bullying week, the children shared kind words, designed their own odd socks and learned about their personal rights. 

Remembrance Day

Year 1 have continued to work very hard this week. As History detectives, they viewed a range of Mr Bowen's World War I artefacts.  The children asked historical questions, made great predictions and used interesting vocabulary to describe each artefact. In the dining hall, the children discovered the war memorial and recorded key facts about how many names, shapes and numbers they could see on the war memorial. Our super artists used their observational skills to record a sketch of the beautiful feature. As the war memorial is very special, we decided to register the memorial with the Imperial War Museum. Hopefully, you will soon be able to view it online. What wonderful detectives our Year 1 children are! Having read texts, watched videos and completed detective work, Year 1 have developed a good understanding of Remembrance Day. The children also learned about the significance of poppies and they created their own 3D poppy in their Art and Design lessons. The children even created their own Year 1 poppy wreath.  As scientists, Year 1 sequenced the months of the year and started to search for seasonal changes. They explored the outdoors and started to collect signs of autumn. 

What a wonderful week Year 1 have had! In Maths, Year 1 have started to look at different number bonds to 5 and 10.  Some children really sparkled and started to recognise fact families. In PE, the children were amazed by Simone Biles's 2016 Olympic performance. Having viewed Simone's gymnastic routine, Year 1 turned into gymnasts and spotted what a good gymnast should look like. The children performed two core shapes and showed good coordination. In History, they used their skills to make predictions about a picture. We were blown away by their predictions and they were keen to find out about the ‘guy’ in the picture! Year 1 finished their week by finding out about Guy Fawkes, why he is famous and why we celebrate Bonfire Night. 

Happy Half Term!

What a wonderful half term it has been! It has been lovely to watch the children learn and grow together in Year 1. The children have continued to develop their social skills and they have certainly enjoyed getting to know the five new starters in Year 1. This week, the children have continued to develop their knowledge of part-whole models and have learned how to record addition sentences. In Phonics, the children have used their fantastic decoding skills to read some challenging texts. They are delighted to now have two reading books to take home! In English, they have created their own version of 'Lost and Found'. They have worked hard to segment their words and use the correct letter formation for 'long ladder letters' and 'robot letters'.

National Poetry Day 2021 Performance - Five Little Pumpkins

Earlier in the term, the children celebrated National Poetry Day.  This year’s theme was ‘Choice’.  Each year group read a range of poems and chose their favourite to learn and perform to other year groups.  Please listen to our performance of Five Little Pumpkins'  - we hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed learning and performing it.

Happy Harvest 

 Year 1 have enjoyed learning all about Harvest this week. They impressed us with their ability to name different vegetables from Mrs El-Hashahar's garden. They also thought about why vegetables are important and where they grow. As artists, they made observations and used paint to create detailed pictures of various vegetables. In Maths, the children learned all about ordinal numbers and had great fun exploring part whole models using fruit and vegetables!

During the afternoon sessions, the children discussed seasonal changes and commented on a selection of poems about leaves, pumpkins and acorns. They spotted trigraphs, rhyming words, repeated phrases and they answered a range of comprehension questions. As a class, they decided that they would like to learn and perform their favourite poem to a different class next Friday.  At the end of the week, the children sequenced the lines of the poem and generated some actions to accompany the words. Year 1 are keen to perform their poem, as it will display all of the skills that they have learned this week. You will just have to wait a little bit longer to find out which poem was the firm favourite!   

Year 1 - Maths - Comparing objects and quantities

This week the children have worked really hard when comparing objects and quantity.  They have used the language 'equal to', 'more', 'less', 'greater than', 'fewer' and 'less than' to compare groups of objects and quantities.  They used concrete objects and manipulatives to help them understand the concept with many children able to compare numbers using pictorial representations.  Children were given lots of opportunities to practise this crucial skill and used their technical vocabulary beautifully.  Well done Year 1

Friday 1st October 2021

What a terrific week Year 1 have had! In Maths, they improved their number formation skills and recalled one more and one less than a given number.  In English, they developed their understanding of labels and facts. They created a detailed drawing of a penguin in their Art lesson and labelled the different parts of a penguin. Having watched a short video clip about penguins, they finished the week by writing some brilliant facts. In Music, the children moved in time to the pulse of a piece of music and pretended to be penguins! The children really impressed us with their coordination skills by playing different games and following a simple penguin themed dance. They enjoyed learning the 'Hey You!' rap and shared some interesting opinions about 'The Fresh Prince of Bell Air' theme song. We certainly have some budding rappers in Year 1! 

Friday 24th September 2021

On Wednesday, Year 1 thoroughly enjoyed their first school trip to the church. They loved the bus journey and learned about the different features of a church. They joined in with hymns, created beautiful stained glass windows and went on a treasure hunt to find angels. In Science, the children learned about the five senses and they made fantastic observations during their sensory walk. In History, the children thought about historical vocabulary and they shared their precious memories from the past. They even discovered a Viking in the school hall! Year 1 have certainly made memories this week!

Friday 17th September 2021

The children have settled really well into life in Year 1. They have adapted to the new routines in Key Stage 1 and demonstrated excellent listening skills during assembly time. In English, they have started to read ‘Lost and Found’ by Oliver Jeffers. They used some of the illustrations to make predictions and discussed things that they have lost and found.  In History, they had great fun looking at lots of beautiful baby photographs. Year 1 played ‘Guess Who?’ with the baby photographs and discussed what they could do when they were a baby. Well done Year 1!