Year 1

WELCOME TO OUR AUTUMN BLOG! 

Wow, what a fabulous few weeks it's been for our Year 1 classes!  As everyone settles back into the routine after the summer holidays, we've been thrilled to hear about all the exciting activities they've been up to. Even making a  Minion out of recycled materials.

In English, we've been exploring the delightful story of Lubna and Pebble. The children have really engaged with the tale, thinking deeply about who they would gift their own pebble to. They've crafted lovely homes for their pebbles and also written informative labels to describe them. Plus, they've enjoyed the challenge of ordering the story, which has sparked some great discussions.

Maths has been equally fun, with children busy matching numbers to the correct quantities and discovering one more and one less than a given number. They’ve also been sorting various objects, which is a fantastic way to boost their understanding of relationships between numbers.

In Design and Technology, we’ve introduced sliders and levers, and during our Continuous Provision time, many children have taken the opportunity to create their own fantastic mechanisms.

What another busy half term it has been! Both Year 1 classes confidently displayed some of the work they are most proud of in their class assemblies to parents, and we were very proud of their loud clear voices, dancing skills and of course their hard work! 

During British Science week, we were lucky enough to collaborate with students from Goffs Academy, who delivered a brilliant science lesson on how to make slime! The children of course were in their element, having great fun working as a team and following the instructions. As you will see, we were very successful, although I am not sure many clothes escaped slime-free! What is an experiment, if it is not a little messy anyway? 

The very next day was the favourite day of the year for many teachers, World Book Day, and what a fun day that was! Across the school, there were around 500 Wally and Wendy’s, a couple of Odlaws, Woof the Dog and even Whitebeard the Wizard! Year 1 really enjoyed going on a Where’s Wally themed scavenger hunt around the school grounds, as well as joining in with a special Maths activity involving our favourite books, and designing our own book covers. We saw some incredible ‘Books in a Jar’ for this year’s competition too. Great effort Year 1! 

Now the sun has (finally) joined us again, Year 1 have taken every opportunity to get outside to learn. This half term in Science, we have been learning all about plants, flowers and trees and what a better place to study these than outside with the plants and trees! This final week in particular, Year 1 built their own picture of a tree to label using only natural materials found outside on the school grounds. Look what a brilliant job they did! 

Finally, to finish the half term, Year 1 had the most creative time this week with their History workshop called “Transport Through The Ages” by Brickies Club. To consolidate all that the children have been learning in History this half term, they took another look at all the incredible progress there has been over the ages with transportation. Then they were challenged to build either a historical or futuristic vehicle (one wheeled and one flying each) out of Lego themselves. The creativity and attention to detail was astounding and we were thoroughly impressed! 

We wish all of Year 1 a restful (and sunny) Easter break. You have worked very hard this term and you have earned a lovely rest!