w/c 20th May

Maths

In maths this week we finished our unit on position and direction, and have started our next unit on Place Value. We are focusing this time on larger numbers, between 50 and 100! We have been thinking about their values by partitioning them into tens and ones. We have used part-part whole models and base ten equipment to support our understanding.

After half term we will be continuing with place value, looking at number lines to 100 and finding out one more and one less than a number. 

English

In English this week we have been learning all about riddles and having a go at writing our very own. The children have chosen an animal to focus on and have thought about clues for their riddles. We have learnt that the clues start off broad and get narrower so that your audience can work out your animal. The children have really enjoyed this unit in English - ask them to tell you their riddle! 

After half term we will be studying a new book, 'Lila and the Secret of Rain' by David Conway and Jude Daly, and our new unit will be on poetry. 

Wider Curriculum

In Science this week we finished our unit on plants by thinking about the importance of them, how they provide shelter, food and materials that are vital for animals and humans. After half term we will be moving on to our new unit all about Animals.

In Topic this week we have learnt more about Schools in the Victorian times. The children were amazed to learn that class sizes were usually up to 80 children, with rows and rows of desks, no windows in the classrooms, and that the school day finished at 5pm! The children were also shocked to hear some of the punishments that children received in schools in Victorian times for spelling words wrong or talking in class.

Next term we will have a Victorian School Workshop visiting for the morning, which we are very excited about! 

Sports Day

We have worked very hard in our P.E. lessons for the past few weeks to practise all the races for Sports Day. We hope you have a brilliant day watching us!

Have a restful half term and we will see you on the 3rd June. 

w/c 13th May

Maths

In Maths this week, we have completed our unit of learning about fractions, but have been using some of the things we have learnt in our new unit about position and direction. We have thought about full, half and quarter turns and consolidated our knowledge of left and right.

English

In English, we have returned to our non-fiction report about foxes, 

and have written the final report including a title, sub-headings,

paragraphs and technical vocabulary.

Next week, we will be learning about riddles.

Wider Curriculum

In Science, we have been looking closely at seeds and bulbs. We have drawn different seeds and bulbs from careful observations, and we tried to work out the vegetables that they would grow in to.

In Geography, we have learnt about hot and cold places in the world. Next week, we will be beginning to think about Victorian Schools in more detail to prepare for our workshop next term.

And in Art we have really enjoyed experimenting with 3D pictures in the style of James Rizzi – we’ll be creating more next term!

Finally, we enjoyed sharing our learning with you during our year group assembly – thank you to all the parents that came to watch us.

w/c 6th May

Maths

In maths this week we have continued to look at fractions, this time focusing on quarters. We have learnt to find a quarter of a shape by making sure there are 4 equal parts. We have also learnt how to find a quarter of a quantity by making sure there are equal amounts in each of the 4 groups.

That concludes our fractions unit, so next week we will be moving on to geometry - looking at position and direction. 

English

This week we have been using our English lessons to practise for our upcoming assembly! We have continued with our daily phonics and guided reading sessions, and handwriting lessons and also learning our spelling words on Friday.

Next week we will be continuing with our non-chronological reports about Foxes, drafting them before publishing. 

Wider Curriculum

In Science this week we have continued to look at plant parts. We are still observing our class bean plant growing, the children have been very excited to see it growing into a proper plant! The children have looked specifically at leaves this week, thinking about leaves at different stages of their life cycle, and also labeling the parts of leaves. Next week we will be observing a variety of seeds and bulbs.

In Geography this week we have learnt about the 7 continents and 5 oceans of the world and labeled these on a world map. The children have also learnt a catchy song about the continents! 

Assembly

Just a quick reminder that our Year 1 assembly is on Tuesday afternoon. Please contact the office for any queries about this. The children are very excited to show you all their hard work. 

w/c 29th April

Maths

In maths this week, we have completed our block of learning  

about multiplication and division and we are now using this knowledge to look at fractions. We have starting with learning about halves, making sure we understand that the 2 parts must be equal whether we are finding half of a shape or an amount. 

Next week, we will be continuing to look at fractions, this time finding out about quarters.

English

In English, we have continued to base our work on The Fox and the Star, but we have been finding out about non-chronological reports. We have discussed the difference between fiction and non-fiction, and noticed that the reports give us information so it is a non-fiction piece of writing. We have thought about the chunks of writing in a report (paragraphs) and how they are separated (with sub-headings). We have then learnt how to use the internet to find some information about foxes, without just copying what we have found, and put this into a plan to enable us to write our own report.

Next week, we will be pausing our written work, to concentrate on oracy as we practise for our year group assembly.

Wider Curriculum

In History, we have learnt about the differences between life in Victorian times and life now. We have also looked at how different life was for rich and poor Victorians. We were amazed to find out that the Victorians liked to go to the seaside, just like us, and that they actually invented ice cream!

In Science, we have been learning and labelling the different parts of plants, and we have continued to record our bean seed as it grows. We have been fascinated to see the way it changes every week.

In Art we have reminded ourselves of the primary and secondary colours on a colour wheel, and used soft pastels to blend secondary colours - we had a quick look at the colour wheel we created in September, and were amazed at how much our art had improved!

Next week, we will be thinking about the continents and oceans as we touch on Victorian explorers and continuing to watch our bean change as it grows.

w/c 22nd April

Maths 

We are learning about arrays to make our counting quicker. We have learnt about rows going across and columns going down. For example- 2 rows and 2 columns is the same as 2+2=4. 

We will also be thinking about doubles such as 5+5=10 and making equal groups by sharing later on in the week. 

English

Using our new book focus- The Fox and the Star we have been thinking about the forest setting and this week we are using all of our adjective work from last week to write a forest setting description. For example- Tall trees reach up high, their long branches waving gently in the breeze. 

Wider curriculum

Science are new topic is plant parts. We have thought about all plants are living things and change. This will then help us next week when we think about the parts of plants and what each part of plant does. 

Wider curriculum

In Jigsaw (PSHE) we are thinking about Friendships and what makes a good friend and have talked about being kind, sharing, listening, team work, helping. 

We also have a big focus on our handwriting completing our very own 'Make a mark' booklet where we are practising our lower case letters, capital letters, numbers and using these every time and every where we write, both at school and at home. 

w/c 15th April

It was great to welcome everyone back this week; we have had a great start to what will be a very busy term.

Maths

In maths this week, we have started to learn about multiplication and division by counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. We have used this knowledge to solve problems such as these:

We have also looked at equal groups of of objects and added these equal groups together as we begin to understand that repeated addition is the same as multiplication.    

Next week, we will be learning what an array is and how it can help with multiplication and division before moving on to grouping and sharing an amount.

English

We have started a new book this week - the Fox and the Star by Coralie Bickford-Smith. We have enjoyed the story, and talked lots about the vocabulary that the author has used to help us imagine the setting and the way the fox is feeling. We have reminded ourselves what an adjective is, thinking about how we would describe the forest that the fox lives in, and we have learnt about plurals - some words just add "s" like trees, some words add "es" like foxes while some words change completely at the end like leaf to leaves.

We will be using adjectives and plurals next week as we write a setting description for the forest.

Wider Curriculum

In science, we have started to look at plants. We thought about what we already know about plants, and we have planted a bean in class so that we can observe the changes that happen as a plant grows. We will be looking at the plats around us next week, and continuing to observe the changes in our bean.

In History, we have begun our new project School Days by considering the history (albeit short) of our school. The children have made a timeline and included events in their lives to see how that fits to the timeline of the school. Next week we will be continuing to explore our school, by thinking about the features we have around us, how the space is used, what we like and how it could be made better; this will enable us to see how different Victorian schools were!

Art has seen us compare the works of various  

artists that have drawn streetscapes, and think about the features that we see in buildings. We have also been introduced to the work of James Rizzi, and tried to create our own drawing in a similar style. We will continue to explore streetscapes next week.

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This term our wider curriculum topic will have a history focus as we learn about the Victorian approach to education. We will be learning about the history of our school, and comparing our educational experience to that of the Victorian Era and learning about Samuel Wilderspin, a key reformer of education. We are looking forward to the Victorian schools Workshop in school in June. 

In Science, we will be learning about plants in term 5 and then animals in term 6, while geography will take us to hot and cold places, and we will begin to learn about the continents and oceans.

In maths we will begin to learn about multiplication and division, before moving on to fractions, position and direction, money and time. English will begin with setting descriptions and non-chronological reports based on the book "The Fox and the Star" by Coralie Bickford-Smith.

It will also be our turn to visit Forest School in term 6 - more information will be sent home nearer the time.

Finally, as we approach the end of Year 1, we will begin to discuss transition and moving on with the children to help them prepare for next year.