Spring 1

This term Year 1 are focusing on Toys as our topic. The children have been very excited investigating both new and old toys, sharing their toys from home as well as having a toy talk from a toy expert, Mr Cushing! The children have enjoyed investigating how toys work, their materials and how they have changed (or stayed the same!) over the years. Children completed some observational drawings of their toys, using shading techniques to add detail. It was brilliant to see how focused children were on this task and loved sharing their work with their peers. 

In English we have focused a lot on the use of adjectives and sentence structure. Children enjoyed the story of Lost in the Toy Museum... we even found a suitcase of lost toys in our classroom! To help the toys find their way home we created descriptive 'Lost and Found' posters, thinking carefully about what they toys looked and felt like. The story of Toys in Space took a slight detour... into space! Children were so interested in this subject we decided to create our own planets where our toys could travel to. Children enjoyed writing facts about planets and creating space books in their own busy time. Maps were also drawn during busy time, planning how they would travel to these far off lands. 

Science has focused on plants this term, carefully watching for signs of Spring. Children have investigated the features of trees and other plants, labelling the different parts and their functions. The children have then gone on a wild flower hunt around the classrooms, which then helped them with their Art skills when using watercolours to paint the different flowers. 

Next term we look forward to continuing with our Toy topic, as we will be preparing for our Grandparent's Toy party in the coming weeks.

Autumn term in Year 1

Year 1 have had a great start to the year; what a busy term it has been! This term our topic has been Me and My World. We have focused on settling into Year 1, getting to know our new classmates and settling in to a new way of working, starting Continuous Provision. This topic has served well for History, asking simple questions about the past and present, understanding our family trees as well as personal timelines; understanding significant events in our lives. It has also been a great link for Science, identifying human body parts before extending this learning to other animals, their senses and diet.

At the beginning of the term, we focused on the story of The Tiger Who Came to Tea, writing invitations to our toys so that we could have our own tea party. Children focused on using question marks in their invitations. The children loved the tea party, whilst it also gave purpose to their writing.

We have also managed to complete a variety of Art and DT activities this term, including junk modelling linked to the story On Sudden Hill where children had to design, make and evaluate their creations (and what a variety of designs we had!) Throughout the term children have enjoyed using a variety of resources in an open-ended format. Both directed and independently, children have used the Construction area to link to our topics, including building UK landmarks such as Big Ben and Buckingham Palace, identifying and creating both human and physical features.

Other stories have included Oliver’s Vegetables and Oliver’s Fruit Salad where children had to create their own fruit kebabs, carefully following instructions before then having to write their own set of instructions to follow. These stories provided the children a great opportunity to make observational drawings of fruit and vegetables, both within their direct learning time as well as independent learning… we certainly have some budding artists in class.

Martha Maps it Out was a super link to Geography, where we spent a lot of time investigating a variety of maps, from finding countries on a globe, to identifying capitals of countries within the United Kingdom. Children also had to follow a map of the local area in order to complete our visit to the local library. Children loved identifying local landmarks on the map, discussing with their partners where they were and what they could see. This also linked to identifying and using prepositions. Some children worked independently to create their own maps of the local area and beyond. It was fantastic to see such collaboration and pride in their finished product.

Throughout the term children have focused on number in different contexts. They have secured their knowledge of numbers to 20 and beyond, investigating and identifying doubles and adding and subtracting one more/less. Children have particularly enjoyed measuring length this term, comparing who is taller/shorter than one another. Close to Christmas children could also investigate and compare the length of Santa’s sleighs as well as some toys which had been stuck to the table by a very cheeky elf! Children could measure using non-standard measuring tools such as cubes or counting bears.

A change to Continuous Provision has seen children being more independent in their learning, taking on challenges in different ways. Children’s imaginations are really growing and their enthusiasm for learning knows no bounds. We now look forward to our Spring topic of Toys!

Welcome to Year 1

The children have had a great start to their time in Year 1. They have really impressed us with their attitude to learning and willingness to embrace the new 'Continuous Provision' style of learning for this year group. Continuous Provision is a less formal style of teaching, providing opportunities to ‘learn through play’ and encouraging children to become active learners who can therefore make independent choices whilst feeding their curiosity and exploration skills. The aim of this style of teaching is to “build” confident, resilient, positive and reflective children who love to learn, embedding essential skills for lifelong learning. You will find further information on 'Continuous Provision' in the forthcoming letter, and there will also be the opportunity to come into the Year 1 classrooms and outside areas to look at the way that Continuous Provision is organised. 

Other information:

PE is on a Wednesday (Outdoor PE) and a Friday (Indoor PE). On Fridays, please ensure that the children come into school with shorts underneath their jogging bottoms, or have a pair to change into for our indoor session, so that they can use the equipment safely. 

Library day is on a Thursday.  

Teachers

From left to right: Mrs Barnhouse, Mrs Davis and Mrs Wood

Yew class: Mrs Barnhouse (Monday-Tuesday) and Mrs Wood (Tuesday-Friday) 

Cedar class: Mrs Davis (Monday-Friday)

LSAs

From left to right: Mrs Sweetman, Mrs Bush and Mrs Wallace