Learning in Year 1 this week

Week beginning Monday, 16th March 2020

Below is a summary of the learning taking place in Year 1 this week.

English: This week, brings us to the end of our sequence based around the text Katie Morag and the Two Grandmothers. The children have planned their own ending which is supporting them to write their own ending for the book, before having the published ending revealed to them. They shall then peer-edit their work to check for correct punctuation, spelling and look at re-writing a sentence to improve it.

Math’s: We are currently discovering Addition and Subtraction Word Problems. The children are encouraged to recognise what the word problem is asking them, to solve the problem and to use resources to support their working out.

Science: This week on our current topic on Plants, we shall be looking at the parts of a plant. They shall be dissecting a tulip to label the individual parts correctly. An on-going activity within the classroom, is also to record observations about their sunflower which has been growing for 3 weeks now. We also check in on our wide range of vegetables that we have growing around the room.

D&T: The children shall be carrying on creating their Islands that they have designed using junk modelling. We have looked slightly into ratio and discussed which features should be bigger/smaller than others.

Geography: Based around our current topic on The UK, this week we shall be developing our understanding of where The UK is in relation to other countries. We are going to travel up in a hot air balloon (power of the imagination) flying over the school, landmarks and human/physical features to create journey lines, using where we travel on a map.

Computing: Continuing developing the children into TV Chefs, we shall be developing our recording skills using an ipad to film giving instructions for a recipe.

RE: This week, we have looked at the beginning of Lent and discussed if any children have a Lenten promise. The children then wrote a Lenten promise which was added to our Tree ‘Remember Jesus and help me to change and grow‘. We shall also be furthering our understanding that Lent is an opportunity to change.

Phonics: Majority of children in their Phonics groups have been learning and continuing to progress their understanding of the slit digraphs.

Celebrating World Book Day

On Thursday, Reception and Year 1 came together to share books. Both classrooms were transformed into reading dens for the children, in pairs, to take it in turns to read a book aloud.

Hopefully we can make this a more frequent event as the children loved it!! It was definitely reading for pleasure!

Teddy Bear’s Picnic

Thank you for the vast about of bear themed goodies you sent in for the picnic.
It seemed the children’s had lot’s of fun with their bears, reading to them in the ‘bear caves’, making a waving bear, sorting old and new toys and playing with old toys.

On Wednesday, the class had a Be Brave, well-being drama workshop. This was to support the children’s resilience and attitude to tackle challenges.

Thank you again for your support this half term. I look forward to the next half of Spring Term where we shall be learning about Plants, Islands and Our Country.

I hope you have a relaxing week and I look forward to what the next half term brings

Miss Perry

Hot air balloon

Year 1 were fascinated by the hot air balloon travelling over the school on Wednesday!

A little wave for the travellers passing by.

Toy Museum

I hope all the children have recovered from our walk on Thursday to St Alban’s Museum. They all did very well going up Holywell Hill and were sensible throughout the trip.

During the trip we were taken back to when Ryder’s toy shop was in St Alban’s. The children were able to play with a large variety of toys from different periods. They discovered the change in materials and how some have developed to the toys which they still us today.

We had time to explore the museum before having lunch and the walk back to school. The children didn’t like the look of the cells and how empty they were!!

Thank you to the parents who were able to help during the day.

I am looking forward to our next trip in April.

Happy Christmas, Year 1

Wow, we’ve made it to the end of a fantastic term. The children have settled in very well into year 1 so well and have made myself, Mr King and Mrs Ruffell very proud.

Thank you, for you all support with homework, reading, phonics and everything else that has happened this term; it is really appreciated.

I have set a topic based homework, but there is no rush to complete this as it is for our next History topic, Toys.

The children have worked so hard and deserve a well relaxed break, enjoying the festive spirit and taking time to show love and kindness to their families. I hope you all have a joyful break.

Of course, if you do have a spare few minutes please practise, phonic sounds, segmenting and blending, reading and writing for a purpose.

A massive thank you for all your kind words and gifts. I am overwhelmed. I hope the children have all enjoyed year 1 so far. I am really excited to what the new year holds.

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Miss Perry

RE Home learning for the whole school

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales have designated 2020 as ‘The God Who Speaks’: A Year of the Word to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Verbum Domini – Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Exhortation on ‘The Word of the Lord’, and the 1600th anniversary of death of St Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin.  Cardinal Vincent Nichols has launched the Year of the Word across the diocese and further information can be found here: https://rcdow.org.uk/faith/2020-year-of-the-word-the-god-who-speaks/

As part of their RE home learning over the Christmas holiday, all children across the school are invited to think about the bible and the stories that are important to them.  Maybe they have stories from the bible that they love to read and talk about.  Share stories from the bible with your child and talk about what the stories mean to them.  When your child is ready, think about what story they would like to create a poster for to advertise the story to their friends at school.  Your child’s poster should include a clear title of the story or book from the bible and a beautiful image from the story.  Feel free to let your child add a description of the story and what it means to them.  We are looking forward to making a wonderful display of the posters and this will be a lovely way for us to start celebrating The Year of the Word in school.  Please return posters to your class by Wednesday 15th January.

2020 will be a year of celebrating, living and sharing God’s word, through a range of events, activities and resources, available across the Diocese of Westminster.  A lovely activity that is particularly pertinent to the time of year can be found here: https://rcdow.org.uk/faith/the-nativity-at-night  

We look forward to seeing the posters that the children create to celebrate God’s Word.

Emma Hayes (RE Subject Leader)

Happy Half Term

It has been a fantastic half term in year 1 full of engagement and progress. Thank you for your continued support, working with the children at home with their learning.

Please continue to encourage your children to read as often as possible in varied contexts. I would love to hear about the adventures you get up to over the half term. Please support the children to write about something they do or see during the week.

This week the children performed their interpretation of Farmer Duck from the farmer’s perspective. We continued to develop our computing skills to open a document and type text and ended the week painting self portraits.

Thank you for all your kind words at parents evening.

I wish you a very happy half term.

Miss Perry