Year 1 Blog

Weekly Update- Friday 21st January 

Weekly Update – 17^th – 21^st January

Maths

This week in Maths we have been revisiting place value and working with numbers within 20 using number lines to complete either subtraction or addition equations. The children have also started to work with some bar models and these have helped us understand doubles and halves within 20. Many children could see the similarity between bar models and part-whole models but could see that a bar model represents the value of each part more accurately.

English

This week in English we have been looking at the next adventure of Traction Man. As Traction Man has now ended up wearing a ridiculous suit that is not befitting of his superhero stature, the children read on as he held dialogue with Grandma about getting it fixed. The children created their own dialogue / conversation between the characters and wrote this up in their books. Later on in the week, the children worked in groups to create a drama sequence of what Traction Man’s next mission may look like; many predicted this would be underwater and sharks would be involved.

Topic

In History we have been looking at and comparing New and Old Toys and on Tuesday afternoon, the children had the opportunity to bring in toys from home that belong to both their parents (and grandparents) and some of their own. The children compared the materials of the new and old toys and collectively we discussed how toys have evolved over time. The end result was unanimous – new toys are way more fun than those of yesteryear. Take a look at some of the photos below: 

Weekly Update - 10th - 14th January 

Another really busy week once again, with lots of new learning and extracurricular activities going on. Please have a read below at some of the things that we have been getting up to this week. 

Maths 

This week in maths we have been revisiting subtraction and have introduced some new strategies to help us with our counting back or 'taking away'. One of the subtraction strategies that we have been exploring, has seen us revisit our 'number bonds to 10', which can help us work out the answer: 

20 - 14 = 

Knowing that 20 is made up of 2 tens - we can observe the 4 ones in 14 and see that if we take these 4 ones from a full 10s frame (with ten ones) then we will have 6 remaining. 

When looking at 4 (as the 4 ones within 14) in this equation: 20-14= see if your child can begin to recall their number bonds to 10; 0 + 0, 1+9, 2+8, 3+7, 4+6, 5+5, etc. can any of these help them with that take away? 

Feel free to have a go at the following equations, as an extra mental maths challenge this week at home: 

20 - 5 = 

20 - 9 = 

30 - 22 =

50 - 46 = 

English 

This week the children have been writing their own version of a rescue mission from Traction Man. The children designed their own evil characters and then produced their own independent story, which included their own 'baddy'. The children were again encouraged to use adjectives to help the reader imagine the evil character that they created / designed earlier in the week. 

History 

This week in History, we revisited some of the 'new' and 'old' toys that we have been looking at and we tried to categorise them as such; unfortunately, what made our job really tricky, was the fact that many 'old' toys are still as relevant today and 'new' versions are coming out all the time, examples include: dolls, building bricks, teddy bears and marbles. The children remain aghast that iPads did not exist when Mr. Law and Mrs Mears where at school. 

Year 1 Indoor Athletics Club 

Everybody who returned a slip to school has been allocated a place in the club. 

The club will finish at 4.15 pm and children will leave via the school's the front doors. 

Kindest regards, 

Mr. Law 

Weekly Update - Welcome Back and Happy New Year 

First of all, we would just like to take this opportunity, to wish you all a very Happy New Year and having spoken to all of the children, it seems like you all had a wonderful Christmas break!

Although we only returned to school on Tuesday, it has been another action-packed week with lots going on and the  children are already being exposed to lots of new learning this term. In Science, are looking at 'Everyday Materials' and the children this week explored many different household objects and had to decide what material each object was made from. In the  coming weeks, we will be looking at different properties of materials and why we use certain materials to make certain things and next week, we will be looking specifically at 'absorbency'. 

In English this week, we sequenced our Christmas Day into the four major parts of the day: seeing if Santa had been to visit; opening the presents; eating Christmas dinner; playing with our new toys. First of all, the children drew their special day onto a story board and then used this story board to help them with their writing. Our writing included adverbials of time (first, next, then, after that, finally) and we challenged the children to think of engaging adjectives to describe both their new toys and also their Christmas dinner; some of the excellent adjectives included: scrumptious, delicious, wonderful, incredible and fabulous. 

In Maths, we are revisiting addition and we have been looking more closely at using our number bonds, which most of us now know very confidently, to help calculate addition equations to 20. 

Example: 

If we know that 8 + 2 = 10  

Then we should know that:

8 + 2 = 10 

so 

18 + 2 = 20 

as we have added an additional TEN to the 8 units, now representing 18, when we add them together (18+2) we now have two TENs; therefore our answer is 20 (TEN + TEN; 10 + 10). 

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST & PYJAMA DAY 

On Thursday morning we were very fortunate to have a wonderful pantomime production company come into our school and deliver a fantastic performance in the comfort of our own school hall, whilst we sat and watched wearing our own PJ's and dressing gowns. The children watched a brilliant production of 'Beauty and the Beast' and whilst a few children were initially a little unsure about the scary-looking Beast, they were soon cheering him on as he fought the arrogant Gaston for Belle's hand in marriage. There was a lot of "he's behind you" and "oh no he isn't" chanting going on and the children absolutely revelled in the constant interaction. Take a look at some of the pictures below: 

Home Learning Spring 1: Week 1

Maths

Please use the videos in the links below to help you with each day’s Maths worksheet; this week we will be looking specifically at ‘Addition within 20’ and different strategies we can use to do this.

Tuesday 4^th January:

https://vimeo.com/490879463

Complete ‘Add by Counting On’ worksheet.

Wednesday 5^th January:

https://vimeo.com/490879867

Complete ‘Add Ones Using Number Bonds’ worksheet.

Thursday 6^th January:

https://vimeo.com/490882337

Complete ’Find and Make Number Bonds’ worksheet.

Friday 7^th January:

https://vimeo.com/492195041

Complete ‘Add by Making 10’ worksheet.

English

Tuesday 4th: Create a story board of your Christmas Day. Using a piece of A4 paper, split this into 4 sections. Using adverbials of time, (first, next, then, after, finally etc.) think about four sentences that sequences your Christmas Day. Today you will draw the four pictures, these could be: checking if Santa came, opening your presents, eating your Christmas Dinner, seeing family, playing with toys etc.…. you decide. This story board will help your writing on Wednesday and Thursday.

Wednesday 5^th & Thursday 6th: Using your story board drawings, on the template provided in the resources section, you will write a couple of sentences for your first couple of boxes. Think about the sentence starters (First, Next, Then etc.). On Thursday, complete the sentences that would accompany the pictures on the story board (After that, Finally etc.). Check through your sentences and ensure your handwriting is neat, you have used finger spaces, capital letters and full stops; also, try and add some adjectives into your sentences to make them more exciting and informative.

Friday 7th: The picture below has been taken from our new story. The title will be revealed tomorrow, but today we would like you to have a close look at the picture and make some predictions.

Talk to an adult and answer the following questions:

• What can you see?
• What time of year could it be?
• What could the present be? Who is it for?
• Who left the present?
• What do you think the little boy likes doing?
•  

Put your predictions, the answers from above, into full sentences.

Phonics

Please work through the worksheet provided and also check your Reading Eggspress, as you have been assigned a task to complete.

Topic

History

This term we will be looking at new and old toys and comparing them. It is always a fun topic, as parents and grandparents can also share their favourite toys, which they played with as children, and we can see if the toys of today are any better (or much different)  than those of yesteryear. Please see the worksheet in the resources section.

R.E

Watch the following video on YouTube ‘What a wonderful world’ by Louis Armstrong:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21LGv8Cf0us

Today we will think about our wonderful world and why it is so fascinating. Can your child draw something that may be special to them or something that they find wonderful (rainbows, weather, lightning, beaches, trees, flowers, mountains, volcanoes etc.)

Sentence example:

Our world is wonderful because we sometimes have warm sunny days and sometimes we can have cold and snowy days.

PSHE

In PSHE we will be thinking about being ‘Healthy’. There is a cut and stick activity in the resources section for you to work through and you can discuss why it is so important to ensure you remain healthy.

Reading

Please try and aim for at least 20 minutes of reading every day and supplement this with Reading Eggs. There is still a host of reading materials available on the Oxford Owl website and there are other reading comprehension activities on Reading Eggspress too.

Merry Christmas

On behalf of all the staff in school, we would like to take the opportunity to say an enormous 'Thank You!' once again for your unwavering support throughout 2021. As a Year 1 staff, we have been overwhelmed by your generosity this Christmas and between us all, we should have enough chocolate to satisfy breakfast, lunch and tea until at least March 2022. 

May we once again wish you a very, very Merry Christmas and here's to a prosperous New Year. 

Thank you all and we look forward to seeing you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on the 4th January 2022; we also can't wait to hear what the big bloke with the red coat and white beard left under your tree....

Be Merry and Be Safe, 

Mr. Law , Mrs Mears and the Year 1 Team 

Thursday 16th December 

English

This week in English we have re-told the Buster the Boxer story, our second visual literacy unit of the term. It is remarkable to see how the children’s writing has progressed across the autumn terms and they should be very proud of all their hard work in English this term. Our writing is now much neater, having had another push with handwriting and a focus on forming all letters correctly using our pre-cursive style; children are being reminded much less often to include capital letters ad put full stops at the end of their sentences. Once our stories were finished, we had a day spare to write our letters to Santa, which will be delivered by our trusty classroom Elves. The Elves brought an envelope full of letter templates that the children used to get their Christmas requests in; let’s keep everything crossed that these letters have successfully made their way to the North Pole and reached Santa directly.

Maths

A week of consolidation on place value and subtraction / addition has been interspersed with some Christmas themed challenges; we have cut and stuck Christmas puddings in order from smallest number to largest and we have calculated different addition and subtraction problems and used the corresponding answer to colour the correct section to make a special Christmas picture; those who made little mistakes ended up with blue Santa hats, as opposed to red. Again, as with English, the children have worked extremely hard this term in maths and they should have no problem counting all of the Brussel sprouts on Christmas day and ordering who ate the most roast potatoes to who ate the least.

Art

In art this week we used different tools and methods to create our own space rockets. The children added a little water to make their clay more supple, before using rolling pins and their own hands to kneed the clay to make it more workable. Once the clay was workable, the children used cutting tools, clay knives and cutting rollers to make different shapes. Once the children had a collection of different shapes, they used a ‘pinching’ technique to put their shapes together to make their own space rockets. The children really enjoyed working with clay and we will be using clay again later on this year for another exciting project.

Christmas Party

On Tuesday 14^th December, the Year 1 classes had their very own Christmas Party. A full afternoon of music, games and lots of sweets resulted in 60 very happy and excited (and sweaty and tired) children who are totally in full Christmas mode. The children played pass the parcel, music statues, the corners game and even had a dance off before returning to the infant hall to welcome a very special visitor…..Santa Claus! Santa was pleased to confirm that NO CHILDREN were on his naughty list, though Mr. Law was still on the ‘Naughty List’ for fourth consecutive year, and all children could expect a visit from him on Christmas Eve night. Before departing with Rudolph, who was parked up outside, Santa kindly brought an early Christmas present for each child in Key Stage 1 and he told everybody, including Miss Duce, that his Classroom Elves had been really impressed with all of the children in the lead up to Christmas.

On behalf of all the KS1 team we would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We look forward to welcoming the children back to school on Tuesday 4th January and hearing all their lovely Christmas stories! 

Friday 10th December 

English

This week in English we have continued our second visual literacy unit of Buster the Dog and we began to add our own dialogue to accompany the video. The children used the thought bubbles of Buster, the little girl and the girl’s parents to inform what they all might be thinking and therefore say to each other. The children then had a drama lesson where they acted out the different roles of the characters in the film. It was certainly a sight to behold to see so many different children /animals jumping on the children with others (mum, dad and the girl) looking on in amazement.

Maths

This week we have been consolidating on some of our tens and ones work and also looking at        comparing numbers and ordering them from greatest to smallest – and smallest to greatest – whilst continuing to work predominantly within 20. The children have also been recapping some of their adding and subtracting skills as part of their independent morning tasks. Next week will see us consolidating some of the new skills that we have been learning this term.

Design Technology

This term in DT we have been looking at healthy eating and making better choices with the foods that we eat and the drinks that we consume. We have talked about the importance of eating at LEAST 5 portions of fruit and vegetables per day, as part of a healthy and balanced diet. The first part of the project saw the children label as many different fruits as they could recognise before choosing 6 different fruits that they would like on their own ‘fruit kebab’. Using their own plans, the children then made their own kebabs this week by cutting their own fruit using a child safe cutting knife (a key kitchen skill) and then placing them on to their own skewer. Once the children had made their fruit kebab, they were allowed to eat them; children were encouraged to try different fruits and once we had eaten our kebabs, we conducted an evaluation of our fruit kebabs, explaining what we liked and what we didn’t and also what we may do differently next time.

Christmas Jumper Day and Christmas Lunch

On Wednesday 8^th December, all of the children came to school in their wonderful Christmas Jumpers and were treated to a wonderful Christmas dinner, with turkey, sausage, potatoes, gravy and other trimmings. Once the children had demolished their plates of festive food, the afternoon started by our ‘Santa Dash’ for St Catherine’s Hospice. Unfortunately the inclement weather meant that we could not go outside, as originally planned, and dash around the playground, so we had to make do with a big Christmas dance off inside in our Santa hats. The children got very active, had lots of fun and ultimately, much needed money for St Catherine’s Hospice was raised so it was a success all round despite the weather!

Drinking Water and Water Bottles 

Just a quick reminder about water bottles and hydration in school:

* Children are only to fill their bottles with WATER; this is not flavoured water, juice, fizzy drinks or 'pop'. 

* Children in Year 1 have a choice of Milk or Water with their school dinner, the children don't take their water bottles into the hall at lunchtimes, as drinks are made available by the welfare and catering staff; cups are also refilled.

* Should your child forget to bring their water bottle in to school, we have spare cups in class which will be filled for your child so they will always have access to water throughout the day.

* Children are encouraged to drink water at regular intervals throughout the day (two break times - both before and after, during lunchtimes, after P.E or any other physical activity); please see the school's 'Food Policy' which further states: 

Water for All Water is freely available throughout the school day to all members of the school community. Every child has been encouraged to bring in a water bottle to store their water in. Children may drink their water at any time except during assembly and direct teaching times. All children are also reminded to drink water at their break time.

* As a staff, we actively encourage our children to drink plenty of water but sometimes children may also need additional prompting at home. 

* If you child has a known medical condition that requires additional consideration to the Food Policy above, please speak with your class teacher or the school office. 

English

This week we have written up the full version of our visual literacy unit ‘Man on the Moon’ the John Lewis advert from 2015. Working across three days, the children dissected the clip into three significant parts – the beginning, the middle and the ending – and used ‘still shot’ pictures from the clip to write their longest piece of independent writing to date. Whilst focussing predominantly on our current writing objectives, including handwriting, capital letters and the use of full stops, it was nice to see the children begin to include adjectives into their work without support. The finished pieces have been a joy for Mr. Law and Mrs Mears to mark.

Maths

This week in maths we have been looking at numbers between 10-20 and paying attention to numbers that are ‘one more’ and ‘one less’ than a given amount. During our fluency sessions, the children have been using Dienes to represent tens and ones, when partitioning numbers.

E.g. the number 27 can be represented as 27 ones (using lots of ones) or with our Dienes we can clearly show that 27 is made up of 2 tens and 7 ones, which when we complete a part-whole diagram will read as two parts: 20 and 7 with 27 being the whole number (or total).

RE

In RE this week we have looked at the Christian Nativity Story. The children watched a short clip showing Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem and how there was no room for them, except for a lowly stable. The children had a go at retelling the story before sequencing the events by completing a cut-and-stick activity. The Nativity Story got us feeling very ‘Christmassy’ and this feeling continued as we learnt some Christmas carols/songs during our singing assembly.

Elf Visits 

We have been joined in 1L and 1M this week by a pair of Santa’s elves. Lolly in 1L had to nip to the hospital on Wednesday afternoon to get his ears checked (it was a little too loud for his peculiarly shaped / sensitive ears), though he did return and he has kept a watchful eye over the children as they have worked so hard all week. On Thursday, we came in to see he had read 15 different books from our reading shelf and he had treated himself to lots of Mr. Law’s special reading stickers! We are already wondering what he will get up to next week.

Friday 26th November 

Maths

This week in Maths our children have been looking at 2D and 3D shapes. We have explored the properties of different shapes and familiarise ourselves with some of the more common shapes we come across in our daily lives. We now know that tins of beans are actually ‘cylinders’ and that our rubbers in class are ‘cuboids’ and the dice we roll are cubes. We also introduced some new vocabulary including: dimensional, vertices, faces, sides, flat, straight and curved. Some of the 2D shapes we looked at included: squares, rectangles, triangles (4 different ones) and circles; the 3D shapes we explored included: spheres, cuboids, cubes and pyramids.

English

Our visual literacy unit this term is ‘Man on the Moon’, the wonderful John Lewis advert from 2015 (which both Mrs Mears and Mr. Law think it is way better than this year’s ‘disappointing’ advert). Rather than reading a story or looking at a specific novel, the children used a video with no spoken dialogue to infer character feelings, make predictions about how the man ended up on the moon and created their own version of the story. Some excellent vocabulary came out in the sessions and the children really enjoyed the heart-warming nature of the Christmas story; it has certainly got us all in the festive spirit.

Christmas Role Play

We have had a special visit from one of Santa’s helpers who has come into our classroom, taken over our role play areas and turned them into Santa’s own working Post Office. The children have taken great pleasure in becoming Santa’s little helpers and making arts, crafts, cards, presents and other Christmas related items that they can send off to the North Pole when the time comes.

Friday 19th November 2021 

English

This week in English, we have been looking at a new story, ‘Whatever Next!’ by Jill Murphy. The story sees an imaginative teddy bear who creates a space rocket (out of an old cardboard box) and zooms off with some of his friends to the moon, where he then has a picnic with an owl he befriended on the way. The children inferred the teddy bears feelings, they create quotations for the teddy bear and acted these out and finally the children put pen to paper by re-writing the story before eventually creating their own version, using similar themes but making subtle tweaks along the way.

Maths

This week in Maths, we have been recapping our subtraction work and reintroducing addition to create some comparison problems. These two and three-part problems can be very tricky and the children have been working through them systematically, using many of the counting on and subtraction strategies we have been practicing in the previous weeks. Here is an example question:

7 + 2 < 5 – 2

Is this equation correct? Explain your answer.

'Kiddy Cook' Workshop

We hope you enjoyed your vegan chocolate cake /brownie (dependent on how long it stayed in the oven!). The children had a great time, and made plenty of mess, putting all the ingredients together to create a mixture that they could take home. The cooking workshop was intended for our ‘Life Skills’ week but unfortunately had to be rearranged; it was certainly worth the wait though! We hope you enjoyed it and it got you in the mood for the Great British Bake Off final.

Dancing

This term in PE, we have a specialist dance coach from South Ribble Sports Coaching who has been teaching us new moves and sequences to learn. The sessions are lots of fun, very loud with music the children love and most importantly, the sessions are extremely active. Have a look at some of the pictures below.

English

This week in English we have started to look at a new story – The Darkest Dark, by astronaut Chris Hadfield. The children started their English  by simply looking at the front cover of the story and turning to the first page, without looking or reading  any of the words! Using only the illustrated pictures, the children had to predict what they thought the story might be about. Looking at the illustrations, we could see that Chris had rockets in his bedroom, a poster of the moon on his wall and space suits were strewn across the front cover, the children correctly predicted that the story will likely be about 'Space'. The children then put their predictions into their English books, using the conjunction ‘because’ to give reasons for their predictions. As we read on through the story, we reached the point where Chris is now struggling to go to sleep; together as a class, we discussed different ways that we can prepare for bedtime to ensure we have a good night’s sleep. The different ideas included having a warm bath, putting on your favourite pj's, reading a story and having a cuddle from mum. The children wrote these ideas up, as a set of instructions in their English books.

Maths

In Maths we have been learning about different strategies to help us ‘take away’ or ‘subtract’. We have used number lines and tracks, tens frames and counters / spots to cross out or take away. Once the children could explain that we have started with an amount, we remove a part and we are left with a new total (which a number that a smaller than what we started with); as the week’s learning progressed, the children became more confident in writing these into equations using the proper symbols and ordering the equations correctly. Revisiting our part whole models, the children were able to use the parts and total to write different subtraction equations and spot number fact families.

Reading

This week we have had a real push on reading at home and it has been excellent to see so many more children reading at home and having this inputted in their Home Reading Diaries. We are also using Reading Eggs more regularly in school, this app is a great way for us to consolidate our phonics learning and support our spelling. The children love to collect eggs and we have seen some excellent progress being made by the children who are using this software regularly. Within the app, there is also  'Reading Eggspress', which has longer texts and accompanying challenges; this is likely to be more challenging than both Fast Phonics and Reading Eggs. 

Topic

In topic this week, we have been looking at different fruits and talking about making healthy choices. We identified as many fruits as we knew and then learnt about some that we didn’t know. In the coming weeks, we will be using our designs to create our very own ‘Fruit Kebab’, which we will make, eat and evaluate. It was wonderful to hear that so many children love to eat different fruits and we are hopeful that the children will be willing to try something new when we make our fruit kebabs.  

Friday 5th November

Maths

This week in maths we have completed some ‘tests’ and the children have done amazingly well. The tests looked at many of the different objectives we cover in Year 1 and the children even had a go at some of the topics we haven’t looked at yet; it is amazing how much the children know. Some of the questions were arithmetic based and some of the questions were presented as word problems and the children were challenged to solve a series of one and two-part problems. Next week in maths, we will be returning back to place value and looking specifically at subtraction and introducing different strategies that we can use to ‘take away’.

English

As it is Bonfire Night tonight, we have used this opportunity to practice writing instructions with a focus on how to use sparkler safety.  The children thought of sensible and safe ideas that they could write into a set of instructions for somebody to enjoy using sparklers safely. The instructions started with wearing sensible clothing and gloves, where to stand, how to light the sparkler (an adult to help), a reminder to not run with sparklers and not throw them and finally how to get rid of a used sparkler – putting it in cold water. We hope anybody who is attending a bonfire this weekend has a great and safe time!

RE

In RE this week, we have been looking at Diwali; known as the festival of lights, Diwali is part of a five-day celebration that pays homage to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and is celebrated by Sikhs, Hindus and some Budhists. People light lamps, set off fireworks and gather with friends and family to exchange gifts and enjoy holiday meals together, they celebrate their community and a new year. Our children watched a short video, they retold the story and then acted this out in Drama – using a host of Diwali resources to help them.

PE

In PE this term we have a specialist coach in from South Ribble who will be teaching us Dance every Tuesday morning. The children had great fun moving to the music, learning routines and being very active in the process. As always, the children were excellently behaved and the coach praised both classes in how well all the children did for their first Dance session.

Friday 22nd October 

English

As you may have guessed from last week’s blog post, this week we have had a surprise visitor in class – Fleb. Fleb is a friendly alien who has got lost on his travels and has found himself in Year 1 here at Lostock Hall; after his spaceship set off without him on another search for Underpants we have been making friends with Fleb, by writing him letters and telling him more about ourselves and our planet, and we finished the week by making him a special spaceship that will hopefully be suitable for him to get home to his family (cue the E.T soundtrack). The children used a wonderful array of adjectives in their writing this week and started to look at the basic lay out of a letter. Fleb enjoyed the letters so much that he sent two in return, which were hand delivered by the school office!

Maths

In maths this week we have been looking at addition and different strategies that we can use. Supplemented by a plethora of resources (number lines, 100 squares, tens frames and counters) we have been able to add different ‘parts’ together to create a ‘whole’ or ‘total’ for a given addition equation. The children were able apply their previous understanding of part-whole models and spot some familiar number bonds along the way (1 + 9, 2 + 8 etc. to make 10). We will be spending more time on addition and subtraction after the half term break and it is fundamental that the children are able to recognise all of their number bonds to 10; we practice these regularly during our maths fluency sessions (formerly ‘mental maths’) on Tuesdays and Thursdays. See if your child can tell you all of their number bonds to 10 over this half-term break.

Life Skills Week

This week in school has been slightly different to most weeks, as we have been focussing on ‘life skills’ week. Across the school, we have had visitors from many different sectors of society who have come in and delivered age-appropriate seminars to our children on lots of different topics associated with ‘life skills’. The children in Year 1 have had visits from HSBC Bank and they were able to handle coins, understand the value of money and think about different things they could save up for. The children also discussed what their dream home would be like (not that HSBC can offer mortgages to Year 1 children at the moment) and what their dream job would be when they are older.

The children also attended a mental health and wellbeing seminar, where they learnt about coping strategies and understanding that sometimes that we may not always feel our best and that this is normal and we have people around us who can help with that. Many of the feelings that were discussed were feelings that we have touched upon during our PSHE lessons but it was nice for the children to hear about these strategies from a different voice and to remind the children that there will always be somebody to talk and support them, should they ever need it.

During the week, both Year 1 classes also attended a Dog Awareness assembly. During the assembly the children learnt about what dogs need in order to be happy and to feel loved. Many children in school have dogs at home and they were able to help answer most questions but it was also an excellent opportunity to raise awareness for those who didn’t; using some of the key themes, we also spoke in class about caring for other pets we may have in a similar manner.

Thank You

Amazingly we have reached the end of our first half term. Whilst the term has almost been 8 weeks long, it feels like only yesterday that the children walked into their new classrooms for the first time. We would just like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you for all the support this half term; we have seen some excellent homework, wonderful spelling scores and reading diaries being filled in daily, which is fantastic!

Please have an excellent week off, recharge the batteries, stay safe and we shall see you all again bright-eyed and bushy-tailed a week on Monday (1^st Nov).

Mr. Law and Mrs Mears 

Friday 15th October

It has been a very busy couple of weeks in school and it has been great to see a lot more children reading at home with parents writing in Reading Journals following on from the discussions held at Parents’ Evening. Reading Eggs should now be working again and is a great resource to supplement our reading and phonics learning.

Maths

This week in maths we have been looking at part-whole models and looking at partitioning numbers. The children have taken different amounts and have been able to separate the total into different parts; this has then been explored further and we have been able to add these parts together to make the total (addition) or removed one of the parts from our total to make a subtraction equation. The children have enjoyed using counters, ten’s frames and part-whole diagrams to explore these concepts further.

English

In English we have been using the text Aliens Love Underpants by Claire Feedman and Ben Cort. The children have described the aliens, retold the story and even designed their own underpants (which may entice the aliens to visit our classroom next Friday!). Again we have been reminding the children to use their capital letters, full stops, finger spaces and pre-cursive handwriting. The children did an excellent job of retelling the story and using adjectives to really show off their writing!

PSHE

This week in PSHE we have been discussing our feelings and how our behaviours can impact other both positively and negatively. We discussed some of the things that can make us sad and we talked about different strategies we can use when we are feeling sad, such as: talking to friends, telling the teacher, speaking with mums and dads/grandparents. The children also talked about things that make us happy (lots of playing out!) and having fun with friends playing games on the yard.

RE

In RE we have been looking at Christianity and specifically how Christians believe that God created the world. The children were able to draw pictures that documented the creation of the world, from starting with night and day on Day 1 to finishing with a rest on Day 7. When discussing Christianity, lots of the children shared some of their experiences of going to church – for weddings, at Christmas time, christenings etc. – and how many of the children’s parents go to church on Sundays. When teaching RE, we always remind the children that different people have different beliefs and that we should always respect each other’s beliefs and values, whether they are the same as ours or different.  

Friday 1st October 2021

Maths

This week in maths, we have been looking at ordering numbers. We started with the smallest number and worked our way along to the greatest number. The children solved problems by ordering random numbers (within 20) and even started to order them from greatest to smallest. After a few days ordering numbers and introducing ordinal numbers, we began to work with number lines and number tracks. Some children used counters to count along 100 squares, working towards the greatest total or counting back towards the smallest amount. We will be using these 100 squares and number lines again next week, as we reintroduce addition and subtraction.

English

This week in English, our children have been designing their own aliens and using adjectives to describe them in their work. Again, we have had a real focus on handwriting, finger spaces and the correct use of capital letters and full stops. Some of the aliens we created were quite scary, some were kind and friendly, and some were simply mind-blowing. The children certainly used their imaginations and used their writing skills to bring these wonderful ideas to life. Once the children had drawn their aliens, they then used adjectives to describe them and then we discussed putting these ideas into accurate sentences. We had so many good ideas that we needed to extend our sentences so we decided to introduce some ‘conjunctions’ to help us do so.

Art

This week we have been painting self-portraits to create our new display board in our Key Stage 1 corridor. The children enjoyed using iPads to take ‘selfies’ and observe themselves. We looked at our hair styles, our eye colour and other distinguishing features (including a few missing teeth) that make us different from our friends. We started our artwork by placing our paper in a portrait position, not landscape, and then we sketched our outline. Once we had drawn our faces we mixed different paints before finally letting loose with our paint brushes. Along with our self portraits, we also made our Christmas cards. That is not a typo, we have made our Christmas cards…in September (blame Miss Franklin!).

Rugby

Both Year One classes had a wonderful Rugby ‘taster session’ on Monday afternoon, provided by specialist sports coaches from South Ribble School Sports Partnership. As is often the case, the weather scuppered plans for going out onto the field but the children still had plenty of fun indoors and there was literally, rugby balls everywhere. The children learnt some basic handling skills, passing the ball without dropping it and even had a go at scoring a touchdown. 

Should your child wish to pursue Rugby going forward and you need any information in making this happen, please drop us an email and Mr. Law or Mr. Jardine will happily help guide you in the right direction. 

Take a look at some of the action shots from the afternoon: 

Friday 24th September

Phonics and Spellings 

We had much better scores this week with our spellings and it was excellent to see so many people had practised their spellings by writing words in their blue books. The spellings help to underpin the phonics sounds we have been learning each week. Whilst we are very grateful for all the support with spellings at home, it isn't a replacement for reading at home; reading is still imperative and thank you again for all the reading diary entries this week.

English 

This week we have been writing a non-chronological report about the Gruffalo. We have used some excellent adjectives to enhance our work and brought many of our ideas to life by writing extended sentences. When writing, we remind the children about capital letters, finger spaces and full stops but encourage the children to apply their phonics knowledge when writing independently. We have been blown away with some of the work we have read this week. 

Maths 

In maths this week, we have still been working on numbers within 10 (and 20 for some groups) but focussing more specifically on comparing numbers, objects and groups. We have used mathematical language including: 'more than', 'less than', 'greatest', 'least', 'equal to' and the 'same as'. We used our crocodile symbols to identify more than and less than and the children loved showing their crocodile teeth to eat the greatest amount of pizzas (andnaught school children!).

PE

In Pe we have been working on our fundamental movement skills and also our throwing and catching. Each unit is linked to two novels that we have read in class and the children have brought the stories to life using the characters within the stories. We have dodged balls (evil peas) in Supertato and we have travelled to the South Pole in a variety of different ways (run, jump, skip, crawl etc.) in the novel Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers. 

An Enormous "Thank You!" 

On behalf of all the Year 1 staff, we would like to take this opportunity to say an enormous thank you for all of your support this year. 

We have endured lockdowns, school closures, partial openings and the infamous period of 'home learning'.  

Whilst different challenges presented themselves along the way, none of the hurdles we have faced throughout this academic year have been insurmountable; the resilience the children have shown throughout has been remarkable and it is a glowing testament of the support that you have afforded these wonderful children. 

With a light at the end of the tunnel and a return to 'normality' on the horizon, may we wish you a fantastic summer break and that all the exciting things you have planned can duly go ahead. Stay safe. Read books. Have fun. And relax ahead of Year 2. 

You have all been truly wonderful and we are certain you will be just as amazing in Year 2. 

Best wishes and thanks again, 

Mr. Law, Mrs. Mears and the Year 1 Team 

Year 1 Sports Day

This week Year 1 have taken part in a fun-filled sports day. Everyone who took part showed a super attitude and cheered all their friends on! Events included; the obstacle race, hula hoop race, sprint and bat and bean bag race. The children thoroughly enjoyed it! Please see slideshow underneath for some pictures of the afternoon. 

Weekly Update- Friday 2^nd July

English- Hello Lighthouse

This week we have been reading the story ‘Hello Lighthouse’ by Sophie Blackall. The children have shown some super knowledge about lighthouses and have focussed on using adjectives to make their writing more interesting. Some even rose to the challenge of using double adjectives and

similes!

Maths-Time (to the hour and half past)

This week we have been consolidating our knowledge of time and focussing on ‘half past’ on an analogue clock.  We have also been learning about how many minutes there are in an hour and found out that half an hour is the same as 30 minutes! The children applied their knowledge of counting in 5’s to help with this task! 

History- Seaside Old and New

The children have loved looking at seaside pictures from the past and comparing historical images to pictures that we would take at the seaside today. We have even dressed up in some 1920’s beach clothes which we thought was really funny!

Class trip

The children were delighted to go on their school trip to Bring ‘Yer’ Wellies this week. As always, the children represented our school incredibly well, with everyone being on their best behaviour. Activities included, den building, pond dipping, educational talks about life cycles, an obstacle course, cork boat racing and toasting marshmallows, which was definitely a favourite amongst the classes! Well done once again to all the children for listening so carefully and being super ambassadors of our school.

End of Term Update- Friday 28^th May

A huge well done to all the children this half term for all of their hard work and enthusiasm towards their learning; we are so proud of everyone who has returned to school and given 100% effort!

Learning about Lifecycles

This half term, we welcomed some new additions to our classroom in the form of tiny caterpillars!

The children have extremely enjoyed watching them grow from babies into enormous hairy caterpillars. We have observed while they formed their cocoons and become Pupa/Chrysalides.

Unfortunately, having waited so patiently, the butterflies haven’t yet emerged so Mrs Mears has kindly taken them home and has promised to video the progress, which will be sent via e-mail on Purple Mash- so keep your eyes peeled!  

English

We have finished this term by reading MeerKat Mail by Emily Gravett. The children have loved following the Meerkats on their adventures all over the world. In addition, we explored non-fiction fact files and created our very own MeerKat  fact files. We loved learning about them and all of their funny habits!

Maths

This term we have been learning lots about positional language, which can be quite a tricky concept but the children have risen to the challenge as always and have been superstar learners. We have also been concentrating on consolidating those number bonds to 10 and 20 and focussed on place value of numbers within 100. We are really enjoying our Maths' role play areas, where we can explore numbers further and show off our own independent learning.

RE

We have been learning about Hinduism and investigating the unique qualities of each of the deities!  The children have particularly loved the story of the elephant God Ganesh and how he gained his trunk.

Topic

In Geography this term we have been comparing Blackpool and Lostock Hall. Those of us that have been to Blackpool, enjoyed sharing our experiences. We have used mapping skills and compared modes of transport from each place.

We have also shown off our ICT skills by collating information about our favourite pets; we then used this data to create a pictogram.

In PSHE we have been learning about how to keep our bodies clean and healthy. We particularly enjoyed our ‘germs’ experiment, where we used oil and glitter to investigate how quickly germs can spread. From this, the children made a connection with the importance of hand washing and maintaining personal hygiene.

FA Schools Football Day 

On Wednesday 26th May, all children in school took part in the FA organised 'School Football Day'. Children up-and-down the country played games against their classmates with the intention of simultaneously holding the world's biggest football match. The children in Year 1 played three games against their classmates and had loads of fun in the process. It wasn't all about winning, though we did enjoy scoring lots of goals, and the children all played the game in the correct spirit and showed RESPECT for their opponents/game. It was wonderful to see so many different football teams represented, though there was a shortage of Burnley ones!

Weekly Update - Friday 16th April

It was lovely to welcome all the children back to our classrooms on Monday morning and we think you will all agree that those two weeks of half term simply disappeared. As we start a new term, we have lots of new learning to embark upon.

In Maths this week, we have started looking at ‘Multiplication and Division’, using our knowledge of 2’s 5’s and 10’s and applying these to equal groups.

The children have again worked tremendously hard in their phonics groups and we are very proud of the scores that we have seen this week in our spelling tests. Make sure you are practising these for a few minutes daily after you have read at home.

For English, we have been looking at poetry and the children have used the wonderful ‘Superworm’ by Julia Donaldson to introduce rhyming words; the children even had a go at writing their own acrostic poem.

The children learnt about the surrounding seas of the United Kingdom in Geography and labelled these on a map before using Google Earth on the iPads to explore this in more detail. We also used the globe to find the UK and point at the surrounding seas.

In RE our children were introduced to some of the Hindu Gods and they were amazed by the both the appearance of these Gods and what they are believed to do. Using the fascinating images, the children drew their own God, which had special powers that meant something to them.

As the weather has been so lovely this week, we took the opportunity to have a walk around the school field and into our orchid on the look out for the signs of spring that we could remember and also to look for various different types of deciduous and evergreen trees that we have been learning about in science. We found lots more deciduous trees than evergreens and we could spot little buds starting to appear on some of the branches.

In PE the children had a really fun multi-skills lesson with one of our South Ribble sports and in their second PE lesson they went outside and took part in an athletics lesson with lots of running, bouncing and being very active.

In computing this week we have looked at pictograms and the children planned how to collect data to create their own 1L/1M class pictogram about the pets they have at home.

After all of the amazing work the children have produced this week and the effort that they have put in, our children enjoyed a special Zoom call on Friday afternoon with the Year 6 classes. We shared work and celebrated our achievements for the week.

Home Learning- Wednesday 24th March (SCHOOL CLOSURE DUE TO WATER SUPPLY) 

Good morning everyone, 

As you will know, we have had to make the unfortunate decision to close school today due to having no water supply. Please ensure to complete the home learning tasks for today and return completed work to school tomorrow. 

English

We have been watching the story of ‘Zahra’ on Literacy shed and investigating her different character traits.

Watch the story again here: https://vimeo.com/23455377  

Today we are going to be using adjectives to add to a ‘Zone of relevance’ chart.

Using the resources provided, you are going to add each adjective to the zone of relevance chart.

The closer the adjective is to the middle section; the more it is relevant to Zahra.

For example, ‘strong’ would be placed more centrally than ‘nervous’.

You may imply reasons for character traits but try and use evidence from the clip to support your reasoning.

Phonics/Reading Eggs

Your child has been allocated a book to read, relevant to the phonics phase they are currently working at. Please login to your Reading Eggs account to access this and  select  'Reading Eggspress'. 

Maths

Please see the PowerPoint and worksheet attached in the resources section. This week we have been looking at volume and capacity, as a further activity to your worksheet today, have a look in the kitchen and see if there are any pots, pans, bowls, cups or bottles and see if you can compare the volumes of these from largest to smallest.

Topic – Science (Plants)

This term we have been looking at plants and today we shall be looking closely at trees, both deciduous and evergreen. Attached within the resources section is a PowerPoint, which will highlight some of the differences and a worksheet/resources to look through. As it is meant to be sunny this afternoon, why not go on a nice walk and take photographs of the trees that you see and when you get home, try and identify each one and decide if you think it is deciduous or evergreen.

Underneath you will find Mrs Mears explaining your morning tasks and stay tuned to the blog for Mr Law's video on deciduous and evergreen trees. 

Virtual Steps Challenge

Friday 26th February to Thursday 4th March

30 Minutes maximum per day.

Take a look at the PowerPoint below to take part in the whole school Virtual Steps Challenge.

https://youtu.be/9gorJc6ht8M

Record your daily scores and see how many steps you can climb in a week.

Move on up!

Remote Learning 2021

As we find ourselves in another period of national lockdown, all home-learning will be posted daily onto this Year 1 Blog; it will also be accompanied by any additional resources or support materials. Each day, your child will be expected to complete a Maths, English and phonics activity alongside a designated topic activity, in accordance with the guidance supplied by the DfE.

We kindly request that all completed Maths work sheets are retained, so they can eventually be filed alongside your child’s ‘in-school’ folders when we return back to school. At the request of your class teacher, certain pieces of English work will need to be scanned (or photographed) and sent to the Year Group email; topic work can also be kept either in a workbook or a collection of sheets that are filed and brought back along with other pieces of work. Work undertaken on PurpleMash will not need to be printed out, as we can monitor this remotely, and the same applies with ReadingEggs usage.

Please submit any completed tasks, when requested to do so, to the following year group email address:

Year1@lostockhallcps.co.uk 

With your child’s class and name in the subject header as follows:

1L Child A

We fully understand the difficulties that come with home learning and are extremely grateful for all that is being done to support our children during these peculiar times. Should you need any further assistance or support with any home learning tasks, please feel free to email the same address, as emails to this address will be responded to within school hours. For any other enquires or communication, parents should follow normal procedure and email the School Business Manager.

Thank you once again,

Mr. Law & Mrs. Mears

Friday 12^th February 2021

English

Write a letter to the Hoctopize to cheer him up. Tell him not to worry and tell him about all the lovely party ideas you have for him- See Mrs. Mears video from yesterday for a good example.

Please send this to: year1@lostockhallcps.co.uk

Once you have written your letter, sit back, relax and enjoy the rest of the story: Toys in space final  

Phonics

Today is your spelling test day so have a little practice of writing your words beforehand.

Once completed take some time to recap on any sounds you need extra practice with by accessing

‘Phonics Play’ or an ‘Alphablocks’ episode.

Maths

Please find today’s PowerPoint and worksheet in the resources section. Pease also have a go at Mr. Law’s ‘True or False?’ daily challenge.

Music

This week as well as thinking about pitch (last week’s learning), we are going to be thinking about tempo. Tempo describes the speed at which the music is playing.

Listen to this piece of music and describe what happens https://video.link/w/vdle

Hopefully the children will notice that the music gets faster and faster!

Today, we are going to be exploring pitch and tempo together today on Purple Mash. You will find the 2DO in your area. Watch the demonstration clip before you use this as it will show you how to record and how to adjust the tempo of your music.

Thursday 11^th February 2021

English

Watch Mrs. Mears explain todays lesson here: Toys in space part 4

Phonics

Red group 

Today we are learning the soft ‘c’ sound and reading it within words. Watch this teaching video to help you learn, make sure you have a pencil and piece of paper to record your phonics.   The soft 'c' sound

Blue and Green groups

Today we are recapping on split diagraph learning. Watch this teaching video to help you learn, make sure you have a pencil and piece of paper to record your phonics.

Review of the week

Yellow and Orange groups

 Today we are recapping on phase 4 learning so far. Watch this teaching video to help you learn, make sure you have a pencil and piece of paper to record your phonics. Review of the week  

Maths

Please find today’s PowerPoint and worksheet in the resources section. Pease also have a go at Mr. Law’s ‘True or False?’ daily challenge.

Foundation - RE

Over the past few weeks we have been learning traditional stories from the Islam religion and understanding more about to Whom Muslims pray. We have thought about Allah and how Muslims believe him to be the one true God.

This week we are going to be learning about ‘prayer’ and how Muslims incorporate prayer into their daily lives.

Watch this clip and answer the questions below: Islamic Prayer

What is the Holy Building called where Muslims go to pray?

Why do Muslims pray?

In what places can Muslims pray as well as at the Mosque?

Watch Mrs. Mears show you some special features of Mosques and learn some traditions that Muslims do before and during prayer: The Mosque  

Once you have answered the questions and understood more about prayer in Islam, I would like you to draw a picture of a Mosque. Research some pictures and see if they have anything in common.

Wednesday 10^th February 2021

English

Watch Mrs. Mears read the next part of your story and explain your task for today: Toys in Space Part 3

Phonics

Red group

Today we are going to be comparing and reading words with the ‘air, ear, and are’ sounds in them.

Print of or re-create the worksheet in the resources section ‘Graphemes word sort’.

Blue and Green groups

Today we are going to be learning the ‘u-e’ split diagraph sound. Have a look at the video of Mrs Mears teaching the red group this sound a few weeks ago: Mrs Mears Teaching Video  

Yellow and Orange groups

Today we are going to be incorporating our phase 3 graphemes into our phase 4 learning. Watch Mrs. Mears teach your lesson here: Yellow and Orange group phonics

Maths

Please find today’s PowerPoint and worksheet in the resources section. Pease also have a go at Mr. Law’s ‘True or False?’ daily challenge.

Topic – PE

Please use the following links to access your PE / Physical activity for this week; Lancashire Sport have provided you with resources again to use (I have kept the School Games Challenge up from last week for those who might not have had the chance to complete it yet); there is a dance option link and please try and be extra active this week and have a go at one of the other activities linked below:

Challenges:

https://lancashireschoolgames.co.uk/spar-lancashire-school-games-stay-at-home-heroes-challenge/

Resources:

https://lancashireschoolgames.co.uk/spar-lancashire-school-games-2021-year-1-2-resource-area/

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L-UWgbjcACzWWvt8rXtPhb3YB7I5z2X7/edit

Once you have had a go at the video above, please feel free to have a go at any of the physical activity options from the list below (make sure to get mums and dads to join in too!): 

Yoga: https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

Joe Wicks (Exercise): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAxW1XT0iEJo0TYlRfn6rYQ

Tuesday 9^th February 2021

English

Watch the next part of the story here: Toys in space Part 2

 Today I would like you to make a prediction as to what you think will happen next in the story.

Use the question hand prompts to help you with your discussions.

Who is in the spaceship? Where are they taking them? Why are they there? What are they going to do with them? When will they bring them back? How are they going to get home?

These are questions that I have created to help you with your predictions using our question words.

Write your predictions in your home learning books or on paper in full sentences remembering our capital letters, full stops and finger spaces. Remember to use lots of creativity in your writing and use lots of description.

Phonics

Red group  

Today’s we are learning an alternative way to make the ‘air, ear’ sound. This is ‘are’.

In the resources section you will find a phoneme spotter activity to have a go at called ‘Clare at the Farm’. Underline the ‘are’ words as you are reading, when you have finished have a go at putting three of these words into sentences.

Blue and Green groups

Watch Mrs. Mears play ‘Best Bet’ with the o-e and ow diagraphs: Blue and Green Phonics

Yellow and Orange groups

As with yesterday we are continuing on our phase 4 learning. You will find a similar activity for today in the resources section, however this time the adjacent consonant is at the beginning of the word.

Maths

Please find today’s PowerPoint and worksheet in the resources section. Pease also have a go at Mr. Law’s ‘True or False?’ daily challenge.

Topic - Art

Today you are going to be using the photographs you took of your toys to create an observational drawing. For a tutorial on observation drawing have a look at this lesson from the Oak Academy: Oak Academy observational drawing

Once you have had a practice here then you should be ready to create your very own picture.

If you wanted to include a background to your picture, you might like to take the time to paint/shade your paper first (this is optional). In Nigel Humphries artwork, he uses some lovely combinations of colour to create effective back scenes, so this might be worth a look.  

Maths Seeds

We have set all the children up with an account on Maths Seeds. This is a maths learning platform designed to be a fun and engaging way of consolidating maths skills; much like Reading Egg’s is for phonics and reading, Maths Seeds is the same for all things maths and number.

You can find this on your Reading Eggs app- once you have logged in, you will see this tab as an additional selection. Once you have selected ‘Maths Seeds’, click on ‘Lessons’; this will take you to the placement test which, once taken, will determine what level your child will begin at.

If you find the allocated level is either too easy or too hard, please let us know and we can manually adjust this for you. We can’t wait for you to have a play and explore this wonderful app and we are sure the children will absolutely love it!

Monday 8^th February 2021  

English

This week we are going to be reading the final story of this term. The story is called ‘Toys in Space’ which is written by Mini Grey (the same author as Traction Man!).

Please watch Mrs. Mears read the story and explain your task here: Toys in Space Part 1

Phonics

Red group

Today we are going to be learning the ‘ear’ (air) sound- watch Mrs. Mears introduce this and explain your activity here: Red Group Phonics

Blue and Green groups

Today we are going to be learning the ‘o-e’ split diagraph sound. Watch Mrs. Mears introduce this and explain your task here: Blue and Green phonics group

Yellow and Orange groups

We are moving onto ‘Phase 4’ learning. In this phase we learn to blend words which feature adjacent consonants. Today I would like you to have a go at blending sounds to make words and then drawing a picture. Find your activity in the resources section.

Maths

Please find today’s PowerPoint and worksheet in the resources section. Pease also have a go at Mr. Law’s ‘True or False?’ daily challenge.

Topic – Science

Continuing with our Science topic of ‘Everyday Materials’, today we return again to Miss Harris for our final virtual lessons provided by the online National Oak Academy website for this topic: ‘Which materials are absorbent?’ and ‘Which material is best for different objects?’

Both lessons feature videos from Miss Harris has another video for you to watch and there is another practical experiment for you to have a go at; we loved hearing the positive feedback last week about how much you loved the ‘will it sink?’ experiment! In the first lesson, you will be investigating ‘absorbency’ in different materials (you will find out what ‘absorbent’ means soon!). In the second lesson you will be learning about which materials are better for certain objects or ‘things’, why are windows made out of glass? Etc.

For the upcoming experiment in the first lesson, you will need:  a sponge or cloth, plastic bag or cup, foil, cardboard or paper, cotton wool or tissue. If you do not have these materials, you can watch Miss Harris complete the experiment while observing the outcomes

Please do not feel the need to print off all of the different worksheets, you can simply answer the questions on a piece of paper instead if you prefer. Also, it is not imperative that you complete both lessons today, perhaps you can do the second one later in the week; both lessons can be accessed via the following links:

https://teachers.thenational.academy/lessons/which-materials-are-absorbent-6tk3er

https://teachers.thenational.academy/lessons/which-material-is-best-for-different-objects-60vkar

After the half term break, our new topic will be ‘Plants’. Should we be treated to any nice weather during the half-term break, try and get our into the garden or go for a walk to the park and see if you can spot any flowers; maybe take a camera with you and take some pictures of the different plants you might find. Good luck!

Weekly Update 

Another great week in school and at home (looking at some of the fantastic work we have received all week)! Well done to everybody who has done so well in completing the tasks that have been uploaded this week and in previous weeks; we really appreciate all of your continued support. 

It was lovely to see you all on Zoom and it seems like you are all ready for the weekend. Have a great weekend and we shall see you all again on Monday. The work for next week is already on the blog, should you want to access this early. 

Take care and stay safe and thanks again. 

The Year 1 Team 

Friday 5^th February 2021

English

Watch the last instalment of the velveteen rabbit here: Velveteen Rabbit -Final  

Today as a treat, watch an animated version of the Velveteen Rabbit: The Velveteen Rabbit animated story  

As an optional piece of writing, can you draw a picture of your own fairy and tell me what you would wish for if a fairy came to visit?

Phonics

Today is your spelling test day so have a little practice of writing your words beforehand. Once completed take some time to recap on any sounds you need extra practice with by accessing ‘Phonics Play’ or an ‘Alphablocks’ episode.

Maths

Please find today’s PowerPoint and worksheet in the resources section. Pease also have a go at Mr. Law’s ‘True or False?’ daily challenge.

Music

This week as part of our music ‘Superheroes’ theme, we are going to be investigating pitch. The pitch of the music describes which notes are high and which notes are low.

First of all we are going to be moving around like superheroes; interpreting and expressing this song through our body movements.  https://youtu.be/KOqiIX1Z5Fo 

Next we are going to learn about pitch in music and look at some examples of high and low notes.

https://youtu.be/5hkjb5gfH2Y

Now have a go at making your lowest and highest notes, if you have instruments at home you might like to try and create different pitches using these or alternatively- pots and pans.

As a final activity, play the ‘Superman’ song again through the link above and see if you can move your body differently this time. It might be flying low for low notes and high for the higher pitch parts.

Thursday 4^th February 2021

English

Watch Mrs Mears explain todays lesson here:

The Velveteen Rabbit Part 3

Phonics

Red group 

Today we are going to be learning another digraph to represent the ‘e’ sound. The diagraph is written this way, ‘ea. Watch the video underneath and make sure you have a pen and paper for the activity parts.

Teaching Video 'ea' (e)   

Blue and Green groups

Today we are going to recap on some sounds we should already know. Watch the teaching video below and join in as much as you can. Can you spot any of our recent learning?

Sounds Recap

Yellow and Orange groups

 Watch this teaching video which will help to consolidate most sounds from phase 3.

Review of sounds

Maths

Please find today’s PowerPoint and worksheet in the resources section. Pease also have a go at Mr. Law’s ‘True or False?’ daily challenge.

 PSHE

Today we are going to be thinking about times we might feel nervous, anxious or worried.

Discuss with an adult how you might feel in the following circumstances:

• Your best friend comes round to play
• You’re going to a party
• You’re asked to tidy up your toys / games
• You can’t go out and play because it’s raining
• You’ve got no-one to play with at playtime
• Someone asks you to join in a game at playtime

Then talk about, when we feel nervous, worried, anxious or sad, what effect physically that might have on our bodies. For example; we might cry, feel sick, hot, need the toilet or our faces might go red.

Complete the sheet in the resources section to illustrate who might be able to help us when we have these feelings.

Wednesday 3^rd February 2021

English

Watch Mrs. Mears explain your lesson for today here: The Velveteen Rabbit Part 2

Please ensure this piece of work is uploaded to the Year 1 email address: year1@lostockhallcps.co.uk

Phonics

Red group

Using these words, play ‘Best Bet and put the words in the correct columns.

You will need to write 3 titles: a-e, ai and ey. Ask an adult to read these words out for you and see if you can put them in the correct columns.

Train, crane, they, rain, make, survey, strain, bake, prey, slave, grey

Can you think of any more words as an extra challenge?

Blue and Green groups

Today you are going to learn the ‘igh’ sound with the new ‘I’ grapheme. Watch this clip to learn more, if you would like to skip the initial 10 minutes, please do so as this is a long teaching video. As long as you start on the introduction of the sound.

Teaching video 'i'

Yellow and Orange groups

Watch this clip featuring the ‘er’ diagraph. After watching closely and reading the words get a pen and paper and make your very own game of matching pairs.

'er' sound video 

Maths

Please find today’s PowerPoint and worksheet in the resources section. Pease also have a go at Mr. Law’s ‘True or False?’ daily challenge.

Topic – PE

Again, following the success of last week’s PE and with a lot of people saying they have enjoyed the variety of different options, we will again post the same links; please try and complete the lesson uploaded by Lancashire Sport (‘Resources’ link) and please have a look at the PDF that has been saved in the resources section, (linked to Children’s Mental Health week) designed as a brochure with age specific challenges to complete.

Challenges:

https://lancashireschoolgames.co.uk/spar-lancashire-school-games-stay-at-home-heroes-challenge/

Resources:

https://lancashireschoolgames.co.uk/spar-lancashire-school-games-2021-year-1-2-resource-area/

Once you have had a go at one of the videos above, please feel free to have a go at any of the physical activity options from the list below (make sure to get mums and dads to join in too!): 

Yoga: https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

Joe Wicks (Exercise): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAxW1XT0iEJo0TYlRfn6rYQ

Dance: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rkUsuzOksT0SvGG1vuOb2qVaS7EDvizg?usp=sharing

Tuesday 2nd February 2021

English

Re- read the first part of the story from yesterday. We are going to be thinking about the Skin Horses message to the Rabbit. How did the Skin Horse explain what REAL means? How did he explain to the rabbit how to achieve it?

Complete the worksheet attached to answer some questions about the Skin Horses message.

Phonics

Red group  

Today’s new learning is the ‘ow’ sound but this time it is represented with the ‘o’ letter.

Go through these words with the children and put on sound buttons.

No, so, go, old, don’t, gold, cold, told, cold, hold.

Using these words play the matching pairs games from Monday.

Blue and Green groups

Today we are going to be comparing the ‘igh’ and ‘i-e’ graphemes. Play along with Mrs Mears and see if you can place your best bet: Blue and Green Phonics Group

Yellow and Orange groups

Today we are going to be learning the sound ‘ure.’

Watch Mrs. Mears Teach you the sound here: Yellow and Orange Group

Maths

Please find today’s PowerPoint and worksheet in the resources section. Pease also have a go at Mr. Law’s ‘True or false?’ daily challenge.

Topic - History

This week we are continuing our learning in ‘History of toys.’ Watch the PowerPoint attached and play the ‘Is it old or new’ game. Today we are going to look at the particular dates certain toys were made and create a time line. You might like to discuss the idea of a timeline before you begin to order the toys. For example; illustrate a simple timeline of your child’s life thus far.

Once this concept has been understood, order the toys, from the document in the resources section, and put them in date order. There are quite a lot of toys here; you might like to choose a selection. If you cannot print- create your own illustrations on paper or in your home learning booklet.

Monday 1^st February 2021  

English

This week we are going to be reading a children’s classic story book about a toy rabbit. The story is called, ‘The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams.’ This was one of my favourite stories as a little girl, I hope you enjoy it.

Watch Mrs. Mears reading the first part here:

The Velveteen Rabbit Part 1

You can find the worksheet in the resources section.

Spellings

This week's spellings can be found in the resources section; please select the correct group of spellings. Your child will know which spelling group they are in. Well done to all those who got full marks last week and for those who didn't, see if you can beat your last score this week!

Phonics

Red group

Watch Mrs. Mears Teach todays lesson and introduce your game: Red Group Phonics

Blue and Green groups

In this video Mr. Thorne teaches the spilt diagraph i-e: Mr Thorne i-e

Once you have done this, play the ‘Matching Pairs’ game using words from the video clip. This game is very simple, all you need to do is write each word down twice on different pieces of paper and turn them over. The aim of the game is to get as many matching pairs as you can.

Yellow and Orange groups

Use these ‘ar’ words to read and once you have done this play ‘Matching Pairs’ game. This game is very simple, all you need to do is write each word down twice on different pieces of paper and turn them over. The aim of the game is to get as many matching pairs as you can.

Dark, bark, smart, car, jar, start, cart.

Maths

Please find today’s PowerPoint and worksheet in the resources section. Pease also have a go at Mr. Law’s ‘True or False?’ daily challenge.

Topic – Science

Continuing with our Science topic of ‘Everyday Materials’, we return once again to Miss Harris for another virtual lesson provided by the online National Oak Academy website for our fourth lesson: ‘How can I describe an object?’

Miss Harris has another video for you to watch and there is a practical experiment for you to have a go at. In this lesson, you will be investigating different materials and their properties. We will explore which materials float and which materials sink, then we will be making comparisons while looking at their properties. Do all hard materials sink? Do all soft materials float? You will need a piece of paper and a pencil. If you would like to take part in the experiment you will need a coin or small metal object, a cotton ball or pad, stones, a pencil and a bowl of water.

Please do not feel the need to print off the different worksheets, you can simply answer the questions on a piece of paper if you prefer. The link for this fourth lesson can be found below:

https://teachers.thenational.academy/lessons/which-materials-float-and-sink-cdj66c

Enjoy the experiment!

Weekly Update 

Thank you once again for all of your support this week. The children are doing so well and it was fantastic to see the children waving at each other on Zoom. We are hoping to schedule another two meetings again for next week; though we will be changing the days to Tuesday and Friday afternoons. Work is now on the blog and ready for next week. 

We really appreciate all of the effort that has been going into all of the home learning again this week and we are thankful for all of the pieces of work that have been submitted. As a school, we understand and appreciate that it is a difficult time for many families and would like to again remind you of the support available from school and please don't ever hesitate to contact us. 

Thank you again, 

The Year 1 Team. 

Friday 29^th January 2021

English

Today we are going to re-telling the story of playmate by ordering pictures from the story.

You have a couple of options here; you can either cut them out from the saved document or draw them.

If you choose the cutting out option; place them down on a table in order. Once this has been done, talk through the story and see if you can re-tell it. If you are drawing the pictures- choose 6 key events in the story to re-tell it. You might like to tell the story to a family member who has not seen the story before!

Phonics

Today is your spelling test day so have a little practice of writing your words beforehand.

Once completed take some time to recap on any sounds you need extra practice with by accessing

‘Phonics Play’ or an ‘Alphablocks’ episode.

Maths

Please find today’s PowerPoint and worksheet in the resources section. Pease also have a go at Mr. Law’s ‘True or False?’ daily challenge.

Art

With the artwork of Nigel Humphries still in our minds, this week we are going to focus on compositions. This basically means, how we arrange our artwork to get the best effect from our pictures. I would like you to choose a selection of toys that will all fit onto a piece of A4 paper. It could be a Lego brick, piece of playdough, a small teddy, small doll etc. Position the toys until you think they look good. You might want to think about: small objects being in front of larger objects or are you going to put them in height order?

Thursday 28^th January 2021

English

Today I would like you to watch the dream scene from the story, where the little boy is in danger and the Robot is trying to save him. From this we are going to write about the dream but we are going to imagine that we are the little boy and we are writing a diary entry about the dream.

This means we are going to be writing in the ‘First Person’. For more clarification on this, watch this clip to help you understand. BBC Bitesize- First Person

Your diary entry might begin with:

Dear diary, last night I had a horrible dream…

Phonics

Red group 

Following on from yesterday’s learning please complete the worksheet in the resources section to consolidate and compare different ‘igh’ graphemes.

Blue and Green groups

 In the resources section today you will find an ‘ey’ word search activity. Before searching for the words, put some sound buttons onto the words and read them, this might help in spotting the letters.

Yellow and Orange groups

 Watch this teaching video which will help to consolidate this week’s teaching on the ‘ear and oi’ sounds:   

Teaching Video ear ow oi

Maths

Please find today’s PowerPoint and worksheet in the resources section. Pease also have a go at Mr. Law’s ‘True or False?’ daily challenge.

Computing

Last week we were practising editing our pictures by adding animations to them. Please log back in to Purple Mash and continue with your story. This week, you might like to concentrate on typing up your sentences. This may take a little time until you get used to where the keys are on the keyboard or keypad; however the more you practice the quicker you will become.

Wednesday 27^th January 2021

English

Today we are going to be thinking about emotions and how the characters feel in our Playmate story. Watch the clip again and stop regularly to discuss emotions. Emotions you speak about may include; happiness, jealousy, anger, sadness etc.

Your challenge today is to choose 3 parts of the story where you felt the characters were feeling an extreme emotion. Use the worksheet in the resource section (emotions) to draw a picture and then write an emotion with an explanation.

You might write:

The little boy is feeling angry because Robot ruined his game.

Please ensure this piece of work is uploaded to the Year 1 email address: year1@lostockhallcps.co.uk

Phonics

Red group

Watch this clip which is a teaching video to teach you the new sound ‘I’ (igh), make sure you have a pencil and paper at the ready for writing down any words.  Teaching Video i

Blue and Green groups

Watch Mrs. Mears teach a lesson on the ‘ey’ sound: Mrs Mears Teaching Video   

Yellow and Orange groups

Today we are going to be revising the ear sound. Watch Geraldine getting up to mischief finding things around the house featuring the ‘ear’ sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EneZ1UubxSA&safe=active

After watching, find the ‘ear’ phoneme spotter activity in the resources section and have a go at highlighting all the ear words as you read.

Maths

Please find today’s PowerPoint and worksheet in the resources section. Pease also have a go at Mr. Law’s ‘True or False?’ daily challenge.

Topic – PE

Following the success of last week’s PE and with a lot of people saying they enjoyed the variety of different options, this week we have left the same options but added additional resource materials provided by Lancashire Sport; follow the links below for KS1 resources and also a link to Virtual ‘At Home’ Challenges:

Challenges:

https://lancashireschoolgames.co.uk/spar-lancashire-school-games-stay-at-home-heroes-challenge/

Resources:

https://lancashireschoolgames.co.uk/spar-lancashire-school-games-2021-year-1-2-resource-area/

Once you have had a go at the video above, please feel free to have a go at any of the physical activity options from the list below (make sure to get mums and dads to join in too!):  

Yoga: https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

Joe Wicks (Exercise): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAxW1XT0iEJo0TYlRfn6rYQ

Dance: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rkUsuzOksT0SvGG1vuOb2qVaS7EDvizg?usp=sharing

Ball Skills (Catch the Apple challenge):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B70PHrKl77Y&safe=active

You can make this more challenging by moving further away from the catcher; make sure that you use balls that bounce high enough.

School Games - Sports Hall Athletics (VIRTUAL) Pentathlon 

Today, in school, we will be taking part in a pentathlon and we would love for you to join in at home. This doesn't have to be done today, feel free to take part at any stage throughout the week. The School Games have created a format where our children working remotely from home can also join in and their recorded scores can be inputted into the overall competition standings. Please find the guidance document attached and a scoresheet too. 

Please feel free to take photos and send them in to school along with your child's score. If you are taking part, try your best but most importantly have lots of fun!

Tuesday 26^th January 2021

English

Today we are going to be exploring the video clip ‘Playmate’ in a bit more detail. Watch the clip again and remember the main messages from the story. Using the worksheet in the resources section (dialogue), find each clip from the pictures and think about what the characters might be saying at that point in the story. Write in each box what you think the dialogue would be if the characters were speaking.

For example, in Box 1 you might write:

I love playing with you Robot, you are my best friend!

Phonics

Red group  

Watch this clip which is a teaching video to revise all those alternative graphemes and will enable you to revisit the u-e sound from yesterday:

Tuesday u-e sound alternative graphemes  

Blue and Green groups

Watch this teaching video which will review the ‘a-e’ sound from yesterday and compare this to other corresponding graphemes:

 Teaching Video Compare a-e ay ai

Yellow and Orange groups

Watch Mrs. Mears teach the oi sound:

Mrs. Mears Teaching video  

Maths

Please find today’s PowerPoint and worksheet in the resources section. Pease also have a go at Mr. Law’s ‘True or False?’ daily challenge.

Topic - RE

Last week, we learned about how Muslims believe that Allah was responsible for all of creation. Today we are going to be watching a story about the Prophet Mohammed; a messenger of Allah (God) and how he taught others to look after animals.

You can find the story here: 

The Prophet and the Ants story

Draw a picture and write what the main message was from the Prophet Muhammed. 

Monday 25^th January 2021

English

This morning we are going to be exploring our History Topic of ‘Toys’ through our English work.

Take a look at this clip called ‘Playmate’ which is a story about a little boy and his toy robot:

 Literacy Shed- Playmate

Watch the clip a couple of times so you fully understand the concept of what the story is about.

Can the children talk through the clips and explain what is happening in each part?

What do you think the moral of the story is; and what message do you think the creator is trying to send?

Today’s English should be focussed on talking through the story and understanding the key messages within it. There is no need to write down the answers to the questions but you may if you like.

Phonics

Red group

Watch Mrs. Mears teach you a lesson all about our new sound the u-e split diagraph:

Mrs. Mears Teaching Video  

Blue and Green groups

Today we are going to be learning the ‘a-e’ split diagraph sound. Watch the clip underneath which will introduce this sound:

Learning the a-e sound

Once you have watched this clip see how many words you remember and have a practice at writing them down.

Once you have had a good practice at writing these words down; get an adult to dictate this sentence for you. Ask them to repeat it 3 times. Write down the sentence using capital letters and full stops.

Make a cake and it will bake.

Yellow and Orange groups

Today we are going to be learning the ‘or’ sound. Watch the clip underneath which will introduce this sound:

Learning the or sound  

Once you have watched this clip see how many words you remember and have a practice at writing them down.

Once you have had a good practice at writing these words down; get an adult to dictate this sentence for you. Ask them to repeat it 3 times. Write down the sentence using capital letters and full stops.

The stork had a fork in the storm.

Maths

Please find today’s PowerPoint and worksheet in the resources section. Pease also have a go at Mr. Law’s ‘True or False?’ daily challenge.

Topic – Science

Continuing with our new Science topic of ‘Everyday Materials’, we return once again to Miss Harris from the online National Oak Academy website for our third lesson: ‘How can I describe an object?’

Miss Harris has another video for you to watch and there is another worksheet to complete and an online quiz to attempt. We have also uploaded another set Science Worksheet for you to have a go at, labelled ‘Describing Materials’, try and fill out the missing words/ sentences using appropriate adjectives to describe the different materials; you may even want to find the objects in your home in order to make the lesson more practical.

Please do not feel the need to print off all of the different worksheets, you can simply answer the questions on a piece of paper instead if you prefer. The link for this third lesson can be found below:

https://teachers.thenational.academy/lessons/how-can-i-describe-an-object-c9h38c

Zoom 'Catch Ups' 

Good morning everybody. Just a little update on yesterday's Zoom 'Catch Ups' - they were so much fun and the teachers really enjoyed having them (we hope you all did too!). It was lovely to see so many familiar faces, albeit virtually and in your own habitats, and quite a new experience to have both a scavenger hunt and story time delivered online. 

We are going to have another 'catch up' tomorrow (Thursday 21st January) at the same times as yesterday; 1M at 1pm and 1L at 2pm. Again, the details for the zoom meetings will be sent out via PurpleMash and these will be sent out in the morning, so keep your eyes peeled. 

Thank you once again for your engagement and continued support with all of the home learning.

The Year 1 Team 

Zoom 'Catch Up' Calls 

Good afternoon, we hope you've all had a lovely Monday. We have been very busy in school and hope that you have been equally as busy at home with all of your home learning. Tomorrow (Tuesday 19th January 2021) , we will be hosting TWO Zoom 'meetings'; one meeting will be at 1PM for class 1M and one at 2PM for class 1L. 

These meetings will be great opportunity for the children to see each other and wave at friends, who they may not have seen for some time. We kindly request that you read the 'Zoom School Rules' (Posted on the Year1 Blog) and adhere to these throughout. The log in details for the meetings have been posted to your child's Purple Mash email address so please check your inbox and let us know if there are any issues. 

Mr. Law and Mrs. Mears are both looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and will also read a short story to you all on Zoom. We shall see you very, very soon!

Friday 22^nd January 2021

English

As a fun Friday activity, today you are going to create a comic strip of your story using bright colourful pictures, speech marks and speech bubbles. Ensure that you have at least one speech and one thought bubble per picture to show what the characters are thinking and saying.

Phonics

Please complete spelling tests at home. If there is a sound your child has particularly struggled with, take a little time for extra practice on this sound. It might help to search for an ‘Alphablocks’ episode which features this sound to help reinforce blending it into words.

Maths

Please see the resources section for another PowerPoint to work through before giving today’s worksheet a go. Have you got all of this week’s ‘True or False?’ challenges right this week?

Topic – Religious Education

Continuing with our learning on Islam, today we are going to learning about ‘Allah’ and what Muslim’s believe. Muslims believe that Allah is the one true GOD and he created everything. Watch this video to find out more about Islam beliefs Islam

It is very similar to when we learned about Christianity and the creation story.

Split a blank piece of paper into 4/6 or 8 sections. Once you have done this try and draw and label all the things Muslims believe Allah created.

Thursday 21^st January 2021

English

Today I would like you to complete the final 2 parts of the story. How will Traction man break free from the Evil Scissors? How will the story end? I will look forward to reading your super stories!

Please share them with us on our year group email.

Phonics

Yellow/Orange groups

Today we are going to recap on our new learning this week, ‘oa’, ‘oo’ and ‘ar’.

Look back on your learning from this week and read and write at least 3 words with these sounds. Put a word featuring each sound into a sentence, so you should have 3 full sentences.

Green/Blue groups

Today you are going to make 3 lists of words (3 columns). Your columns will be titled, ‘y’, ‘ee’ and ‘ea’. Make a list of words which have these sounds. Can you think of a rule for each grapheme?

Once you have made a list, cut up the words and play ‘Beat the Timer’ from Tuesday’s lesson using the words you have generated.

Red group

Today you are going to make 3 lists of words (3 columns). Your columns will be titled, ‘y’, ‘igh’ and ‘i-e’ (split diagraph). Make a list of words which have these sounds. Can you think of a rule for each grapheme?

Once you have made a list, cut up the words and play ‘Beat the Timer’ from Tuesday’s lesson using the words you have generated.

Maths

Please see the resources section and work your way through the worksheet for today’s maths lesson.

Topic – PE

With the limitations that lockdown has presented in terms of PE, Sport and Physical activity, today we have provided links for four different tasks for your child to have a go at (Dance, Yoga, Exercise and Ball Skills). Feel free to do whichever suits you best.

From next week we will have additional resources from Lancashire Sport so we can again take part in some virtual challenges, which children working from home and those in school can all participate in. Please see the links below for this weeks’ home learning activities:

Yoga: https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

Joe Wicks (Exercise): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAxW1XT0iEJo0TYlRfn6rYQ

Dance: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rkUsuzOksT0SvGG1vuOb2qVaS7EDvizg?usp=sharing

For the dance lesson, please follow the link to KS1. 

Ball Skills (Throwing and Catching – a different part to last week): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYS9o-__MwI

Wednesday 20^th January 2021

English

Today you will begin to write up your story. Complete the first two sections: beginning and problem.

Write super sentences to explain what is happening in your story.

My example for the start of the story is:

Traction Man is relaxing on a stripy book and he is lying next to his loyal friend Scrubbing Brush. He is wearing his dark sunglasses because the sun is shining brightly.

Right now he has not got a care in the world or so it would seem…

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING SPELLINGS- THE YELLOW AND ORANGE GROUP NOW HAVE THE SAME SPELLINGS- EVEN THOUGH THE DOCUMENT FOR SPELLINGS SAYS 'YELLOW' and 'ORANGE, BLUE AND GREEN'; PLEASE IGNORE IF YOU ARE IN THE ORANGE GROUP. TO CALRIFY, THE ORANGE GROUP SHOULD LEARN THE SPELLINGS IN THE DOCUMENT 'YELLOW GROUP SPELLINGS

Phonics

Yellow/Orange groups

Today I would like you to watch the online lesson which features our new sound ‘ar’ Year 1 lesson 'ar'

When the teacher writes, ensure you have a pen and can write at the same time.

Green/Blue groups

Today I would like you to watch the online lesson which features our new sound ‘y’ (ee) Year 1 Lesson 'y'

When the teacher writes, ensure you have a pen and can write at the same time.

Red group

Today I would like you to watch the online lesson which features our new sound ‘y’ (igh)

Year 1 Lesson 'y' (igh)

When the teacher writes, ensure you have a pen and can write at the same time.

Maths

Another day of subtraction challenges. Please see the resources section for a PowerPoint to have a look at before working through today’s worksheet. Make sure to give the 'True or False?' challenge a go!

Topic – ICT/ Computing

This term we are going to be creating an animated story book. The story we are going to be re-telling is ‘The Sink Adventure’ we have been writing from our Traction Man adventures.

For this you have been assigned a ‘2do’ in PurpleMash.

Mrs. Mears has created a video to demonstrate how to create your story. You can find it here Creating an animated story

Tuesday 19^th January 2021

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING SPELLINGS- THE YELLOW AND ORANGE GROUP NOW HAVE THE SAME SPELLINGS- EVEN THOUGH THE DOCUMENT FOR SPELLINGS SAYS 'YELLOW' and 'ORANGE, BLUE AND GREEN'; PLEASE IGNORE IF YOU ARE IN THE ORANGE GROUP. TO CALRIFY, THE ORANGE GROUP SHOULD LEARN THE SPELLINGS IN THE DOCUMENT 'YELLOW GROUP SPELLINGS

English

Watch the final instalment of Traction Man here:  

Traction Man Part 5

Today we are going to be planning Traction Man’s next adventure. I have attached an example copy of a plan to help you break down the story into; beginning, problem, resolution and ending.

Once you have looked at some of my ideas, see if you can think of any creative ideas of your own.

Complete the blank story plan which is a separate document in the resources section.

Phonics

Today we are going to play a game called ‘Beat the timer’. The concept of this game is very simple. Write down the words from your child’s group underneath on post-its or small pieces of paper. Screw them up and put them in front of you. Set a minute timer, see how many words you can unwrap and write in a minute. Have a few goes and see if you can beat your score.

Yellow/Orange groups

Today we will recap on the oo and ee sounds.

Use the words underneath to write on post-its or paper and include also the key words from your spellings for this week.

Moon, spoon, zoom, boot, cool, food, weep, seem, street, creep meet, week

Green/Blue groups

Quickly recap on the ‘oe’ sound which is our new learning and the ‘ow’ sound from last week.

Use the words underneath to write on post-its or paper and include also the key words from your spellings for this week.

Toe, doe, foe, woe, goes, heroes, blow, crow, snow, elbow

Red group

Recap on our new learning, the ‘ey’ sound and last weeks learning on ‘ie’.

Use the words underneath to write on post-its or paper and include also the key words from your spellings for this week.

Money, honey, donkey, valley, trolley, chimney, key, turkey, thief, chief, relief, grief.

Maths

Please find all materials required for today’s maths lesson in the resources section; feel free to have a go at Mr. Law’s ‘True or False’ challenge.

Topic- History

This week we are continuing our learning about toys. Please watch this clip from BBC Bitesize about toys during World War 1:

Toys during war time

In the ‘2do’ section of Purple Mash you have been set an activity to compare an old and new toys.

Monday 18^th January 2021

English

Watch Mrs Mears reading the next part of Traction Man here:

Traction Man Part 4

Today I would like you to devise a plan to help save the spoons from the kitchen floor. Traction man and Scrubbing Brush are sitting on the kitchen cliff and need to think fast if they are to save the spoons. Think of resources they have in the kitchen or something they could use, how will they use that item to collect the spoons and pull them to safety?

Draw a picture and write about ‘The Plan.’

Phonics

Yellow/Orange groups

Today we are continuing our learning with the ‘oa’ sound. Watch this short clip to help you blend sounds together to read words featuring the ‘oa’ sound. 'oa' sound

Go to PurpleMash and find your differentiated phonics activity.

Green/Blue groups

Today we are learning the ‘oe’ sound. Watch this short clip which introduces the sound 'oe' sound

Go to PurpleMash and find your differentiated phonics activity.

Red group

Today we are learning the ‘ey’ sound. Watch this short clip which introduces the sound 'ey' sound

Go to PurpleMash and find your differentiated phonics activity.

Spellings

Please see all the spellings for this week in the resources section.

Maths

Another week of maths home learning to start. Each day you will find a PowerPoint to read and work through and an accompanying worksheet; all these materials are in that day’s resources section. Mr. Law has also uploaded another ‘True or False?’ challenge for you to have a go at each day.

Topic – Science

Continuing with our new Science topic of ‘Everyday Materials’, we return to Miss Harris from the online National Oak Academy website for our second lesson: ‘What objects are made from.’

Miss Harris has another video for you to watch (we joked in class last week about Miss Harris pronounces the word “glass” and how it differs slightly from how Mr. Law says the same word) and there is another worksheet to completer and an online quiz to attempt.

Please do not feel the need to print off the worksheet, you can simply answer the questions on a piece of paper instead. The link for this second lesson can be found below:

https://teachers.thenational.academy/lessons/what-are-objects-made-from-61gp8d

Weekly Review 

Good afternoon everybody. We hope you are all safe and well! First if all, 'Thank you!' to everybody who has sent in work this past week. It has been great seeing all of your wonderful work and more importantly, it is so reassuring to see so many people engaging with the materials that have been posted online (all of next week's learning will be going up this afternoon!). Well done to everybody who did well with their spelling tests today and if you didn't do as well as you'd hoped, there is always next week for you to improve your score. 

Starting next week, we will be engaging in a couple of 'Zoom meetings' for both classes; this will be a great opportunity for the children in each class to see and wave at each other and for us all to come together, albeit virtually. More details about these Zoom meetings will be posted out in due course, with regards to accessing the meetings and some ground rules for each session etc.; details will be sent out via Purple Mash. Again, the year group email can be used (year1@lostockhallcps.co.uk) should any issues arise. Further details will be sent on Monday 18th January.  

Thank you once again for all of your kind messages of support, it really is appreciated. We are also so grateful for all of the incredible support that is being provided for our children at home during this peculiar time. 

Have a lovely weekend and speak soon, 

The Year 1 Team 

Home Learning Friday 15th January

English

Watch the clip of Mrs Mears reading on yesterday's link. Traction Man was really excited to receive his present. Do you think that Traction Man liked his present? On the worksheet attached you have to complete speech and thought bubbles for the characters in the scene to show what they are saying and actually thinking. 

In Traction Man's speech bubble for example you might write; 'Thank you Granny, I love you my new outfit!'

In his thought bubble it might say; Does she really want me to wear this?

Complete this for all characters on the sheet and then submit your work to the year group e-mail. 

Phonics

Today is your spelling test day, ask an adult to help read your spellings and let us know your results.

Login into Phonics Play where you can find lots of nice games to help you read tricky words and practice this weeks sounds. 

Login with the following details

username: jan21

password: home

Maths

See if you can solve Mr Law's true or false question of the day. 

Check out the teaching video for today's learning and then go through the PowerPoint featuring teaching slides about today's learning. Complete the attached worksheet which corresponds to this. 

Topic: Art

This term we are going to be creating a still life drawing inspired by the artist Nigel Humphries.

Research this artist and look at some of his work. Children should choose the artwork they most like and explain why.

Look at how the artist captures the shapes and patterns. You will notice that Nigel Humphries has created lots of still life drawings involving sweets and chocolates.

Today you can either choose an idea from the internet to copy or use a sweet or chocolate of your own. Decide where you will place your object and begin to sketch a rough outline of the shape, ensuring it is an accurate size. Have a go at incorporating any patters you see on your object.

You may wish to add colour but remember this is only a practice lesson to get us ready for a masterpiece sketch in a few weeks’ time.

Thursday 14^th January 2021

English

Watch Mrs Mears read some more of the Traction Man story: Traction Man Part 3

Listen up to the part where Traction Man rescues the dolls from the Wicked Professor Spade.

Your task for today is to re-tell this jungle adventure. Attached, you will find pictures from the story and some key words and vocabulary you might like to use. You may have some super exciting vocabulary of your own you would like to use.

Cut out the pictures; alternatively you could draw them if you do not have access to a printer.

Once you have stuck them down in order, write sentences next to or below them to explain what is happening in each one.

Maths

Please have a watch of today’s ‘True or False?’ video and then work your way through the PowerPoint before having a go at the worksheet in today’s resources section.

Phonics

Red group

Watch this clip to recap on blending words with the ‘ie’ sound 'ie' sound  

Get an adult to read these words to you and put them in the correct columns- ‘y’ or ‘ie’

Happy, chief, sunny, relief, thief, sadly, field smelly

Can you come up with a rule for the grapheme? Where in the word is the grapheme normally found?

Orange, Green and Blue group

Today we are recapping on the ‘aw’ and ‘or’ graphemes.

Can you put these words into the correct categories, ‘aw’ and ‘or’

Sort, fork, lawn, yawn, worn, raw, torn

Can you come up with a rule for the grapheme? Where in the word is the grapheme normally found?

Yellow group

See if you can read along with the pirates in this fun video Pirate 'ar' video

Play the game attached in the resources section. Role a dice and read the word that corresponds to the number. Once you have read it you can cross it off. Try and cross all the words off on the sheet. 

Topic – PE

From next week we will be starting virtual PE lessons, games and activities that are being provided, once again, by Lancashire Sport. As a nice PE challenge for today, reflecting on some of the skills we worked on last term, have a go at some of the ball skills challenges shown in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3kvqbiohC8

If you really want to challenge yourself, try and use a smaller ball; football to tennis ball to maybe even a golf ball sized ball.

To really test yourself, get your parents to time you and see how many catches you can make in a specified time.

As an extra physical activity challenge and to make sure we stay active during this period of lockdown, please feel free to complete one of the following sessions. Rest assured, Mr. Law will be doing some of these at home, as he is trying to burn off all of those Christmas treats. The links below are for Yoga and Joe Wicks, both of which can be done safely at home. The new Yoga video will go live at 2pm.

Yoga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWIt7mVwbD0

Joe Wicks’ Home Workout (here we go again!): https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBodyCoachTV/videos

Wednesday 13^th January 2021

English

Today you are going to be writing your very own version of your sink adventure.

If you would like, cut out the pictures from the worksheet from yesterday to help you. You can stick these down into a book or on a lined piece of paper to help you write.

Your writing must include capital letters, full stops and finger spaces. Ensure to add conjunctions to make your sentences longer and adjectives to make your sentences exciting and interesting to read. 

For example; the start of my story would look like this:

The brave Traction Man is diving down into the murky water of the dirty washing up bowl because he has volunteered for a special mission!

Phonics

Today have a look in your PurpleMash 2do’s to find your differentiated phonics task.

Today you should also take some time to practice your spellings for Friday’s spelling test.

Maths

Again, please find today’s Maths activities and supporting materials in the resources section. There is another episode of ‘True or False’, we wonder if anybody will get all 5 correct this week?

Topic - PSHE

Today we are thinking about why sleep is very important. Answer the questions with an adult.

• Why do you think we all need a good night's sleep? [To help the body rest and grow]
• How do we know when our body is tired? [We feel sleepy, we may yawn, feel like we don't have much energy etc.]
• How much sleep do you think children should get? [Although this will vary from child to child the average sleep required for a 5 year old is 11 hours. See NHS information on children’s sleep requirements – click on link in Resources section]
• Why do babies and children need more sleep than adults? [Their bodies are still growing]
• What do you do before you go to bed?
• What helps you to sleep well?
• How might you feel the next day if you haven't had enough sleep?

See the activity sheet attached. All the pictures are taken from Harold the Giraffe’s bedtime routine.

Cut out the pictures and order them according to your bedtime routine.

Tuesday 12^th January 2021

English

Take a look back at the video from yesterday. On the worksheet in the resources section; complete the middle picture to show your evil characters part in the story. You might even like to include a speech or thought bubble to make it look like a comic book. Once you have included your character in the story, answer the questions to help you get ready for writing up the sink adventure tomorrow.

Phonics

Watch the video of Mrs. Mears showing you how to play ‘Cross the river’.  Cross the river phonics game

Use these words to play the game and then add 2 of these words into a silly sentence.

Red group –First watch Geraldine teaching the ‘ie’ (ee) sound Geraldine 'ie' sound

thief, chief, relief, shield, priest, shriek, belief ( You can add some key words to this for an extra challenge)

Orange, green and blue group

First watch Geraldine teaching the ‘ue’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BOih-iw1u4

Clue, glue, blue, true, issue, tissue (You can add some key words to this for an extra challenge)

Yellow group

Right, fright, sight, night, high (You can add some key words to this for an extra challenge)

Maths

Please see the resources section for today’s maths activities. Have another go at Mr. Law’s ‘True or False’ challenge and see if you can get it right today.

Topic – History

Continuing with our topic of ‘Toys’, watch the PowerPoint of some old/new toys and use time related vocabulary to compare.

Discuss what the toys might be made of and encourage discussion and key vocabulary.

Discuss the fact that some toys may be really old, yet they are still relevant and remain just as popular today e.g. Lego.

Discuss the technological aspect of toys and how they were different in the past; how motorised and computerised toys have replaced the previous ‘wind-up’ and ‘cog’ mechanisms. 

Categorise the toys by completing the cut and stick worksheet in the resources section.

Monday 11^th January 2021

Reading

For the children of ‘key workers’ who are continuing to attend school, we have continued with our guided reading sessions as normal. With that in mind, we still encourage you to continue reading at home alongside the other aspects of home learning. Reading is of paramount importance in Year 1, and all other years, and your child should be reading daily.

With many children working remotely, unfortunately the two reading books that are sent home on a weekly basis are no longer available. We do, however, have several means for accessing reading material from home:

Reading Eggs – (with Fast Phonics options available) which your child has log in details for.

Purple Mash – there is plenty of reading material to work through; particularly with a topic based focus.

Reading Eggspress – within the ‘Reading Eggs’ software, there is an option for Reading Eggspress; this area of the app is far more text based and will test comprehension skills. A placement test will suitably pitch the correct reading material for your child to access.

Oxford Owls – a free online resource with a plethora of texts to access.

Several parents have asked about what types of books their child should be reading; in response to this, there really is no hard and fast rule, whatever your child wants to read, let them. As long as your child is enjoying their reading and is supported in doing so and is reading regularly they will inevitably make excellent progress.

English

This morning we are going to be continuing on our Traction Man adventures. See Mrs. Mears introduce your task here:

Traction Man Part 2

Phonics

Yellow group

Today we are going to be recapping on the ‘ai’ sound. Watch this short Alphablocks clip and read some of the ‘ai’ words.  

Alphablocks 'ai'

Afterwards can you write down all the words you can remember using you phoneme fingers to help.

Have a go at the worksheet in the resources section.

Orange, Green and Blue group

Watch Geraldine learn the ‘ew’ sound here.

Geraldine 'ew'

Have a go at recognising the real and non-real words on today’s worksheet.

Red group

Today we are going to be learning the ‘y’ sound (ee). Have a look at this video, ‘Mary the Fairy’ on YouTube Mary the Fairy

Watch the video and learn the song. After see how many words you can write from the song. Use 3 of these words to put into sentences and as an extra challenge, use a conjunction to extend your sentence. (because, so, but, and) 

Spellings for w/c Monday 11^th January

You can learn these spellings as you would normally at home. Practice them regularly and complete the spelling test at home on Friday. Please share the results if you wish.

Yellow group

train                coat

rain                 boat

night

fright

Orange, Green and Blue group

stew                 claw

crew                stork

blue                 fork

glue                where

straw              they

claw

Red group                       

happy                       thief

sadly                         relief

sunny                       face      

chief                         tide

heavy                       nice

Topic – Science

Today we will continue our new science topic, which is ‘Everyday Materials’. Please click on the link below and you will be taken to an online lesson provided by Oak National Academy. There is a video to watch (roughly 20 minutes long) and then there is a worksheet and final quiz to complete. The worksheet is presented over several pages, it is not necessary to print this out; feel free to number the questions and answer them on a piece of paper. The link is below:

https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/what-is-a-material-74u30t

Maths

A PowerPoint presentation and a worksheet are available in today’s resources section and today we will be looking into 'number bonds'. Mr. Law has also recorded a ‘True or False’ video question for you to have a go at, so good luck!

Home Learning- Friday 8^th January

English 

Have a look at Mrs Mears reading the first part of your story on YouTube. Traction Man Part 1

Your task for today is to create a ‘role on the wall’ of Traction Man.

Basically, this is a roughly drawn outline of Traction Man’s body. Inside his body, you will write what he is like as a character based on what we have read so far. This might include words like; determined, brave, clever, fearless.

On the outside of his body you would write what he looks like, for example; combat boots, styled hair, strong muscles.

Maths

As a mental maths starter; practice some counting whilst exercising https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbHobZOKY5w

As a continuation of yesterday’s learning; today you will be completing the final part of the worksheet on ‘adding one’s using number bonds’.

Before you do this take a look at the video demonstration and discuss questions within the PowerPoint attached to remind yourself of some key strategies that should help.

Phonics  

Blue orange and green groups.

Today you will be practicing blending your sounds together as we recap on some phase 4 phonemes.  Please go to https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ and click resources.

From here go to the ‘Buried Treasure’ game and click on phase 4. Select ‘Set 1-7 plus digraphs’. Have a go at sorting the real and nonsense words.

Yellow group

Visit https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/

Choose a sound in the buried treasure game that your child needs to more secure in recognising. As a challenge you might like to access some phase 4 games to practice some trickier blending.

Red group

Today I would like you to access the Phonics Play site: https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/

Find a game in the resources section and from phase 5; select a sound that your child needs more support with. As an extension choose some real words placed in the treasure chest to write into sentences.

Topic: Music

This term in music we are going to be learning about the pitch and tempo of music.

The link below is a teaching video which is a nice way to begin and understand the concept.  

https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/understanding-pulse-cdk38c?activity=video&step=1

Home Learning- Thursday 7^th January

English

The picture below has been taken from our new story. The title will be revealed tomorrow, but today we would like you to have a close look at the picture and make some predictions.

Talk to an adult and answer these questions:

• What can you see?
• What time of year could it be?
• What could the present be and who is it for?
• Who has left a present for him?
• What do you think the little boy likes/likes doing?

Put your predictions into full sentences ensuring you have capital letters, finger spaces and full stops.

Maths

As a mental maths starter; see how many number bonds you can remember to 10.

If you find this easy; try 20 and then 100.

Today we are going to be learning how to add units to a number by using our number bond knowledge to help us.  

Find the resources below, along with a useful video to demonstrate how to help your child with this concept.

Complete the first two pages of the worksheet today and finish the final two tomorrow. 

Phonics  

In the resources section you will find a copy of the sound mat which shows every sound in each phase. Use this each day before a phonics session as a recap for sounds taught thus far.

Here is a demonstration for parents to help children with finding the number of phonemes in a word. Hopefully this will help in phonics activities and during writing tasks.

Blue orange and green groups.

Today we are going be recapping the ‘oy’ sound. Watch Geraldine finding items around her house featuring the ‘oy’ sound. Geraldine 'oy' sound

Choose 3 oy words from the video and put them into sentences.

Yellow group

Today we are going be recapping the ‘air’ and ‘ure’ sound.

Visit https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/

Click onto resources and then buried treasure. From here you can select ‘Phase 3’ and then the ‘air’ or ‘ure’ sound. Have a go at sorting the words into real and nonsense words.

Red group

Today we are going be comparing our new split ‘o-e’ sound, ‘oa’ and ‘oe’.

Split your paper into 3 sections with the different sounds at titles.

Ask an adult to read you these words and see if you can choose the correct column they should go into.

home, boat, toe, load, doe, bone, erode, cloak, phone

Topic: PSHE

What sort of things do you think we can all do to stay healthy? [Have a good night’s sleep, eat healthy meals and snacks, do exercise every day, wash hands before eating meals and after going to the toilet; cleaning teeth before leaving for school etc.] 

Why is it important to have a good night’s sleep? [Because our bodies rest and grow when we’re asleep] 

Why is it important to exercise regularly? [To keep the body as fit as possible and to make us feel good] 

Why is it important to eat healthy food? [To give the body all the special things it needs to grow strong and healthy. NB: see 'I can eat a Rainbow' lesson plan for more in-depth work on healthy foods] 

Why is it important to have a wash and to brush our teeth? [To keep the body clean and reduce germs, to keep the teeth strong and healthy and help stop them decaying] 

Use the worksheet in the resources section to decide; which items do we need to help us stay alive, to stay healthy and those which should be for an occasional treat?

Wednesday 6^th January 2021

English

Your English lesson today will be to complete the last two parts of the Christmas recount. We are sure that Santa is extremely keen to read your recounts. Just like Mr. Law and Mrs. Mears, Santa is a huge fan of adjectives and neat handwriting. We are pretty sure that he will remember the really good ones ahead of next year’s visit!

Maths

Start the lesson by recalling what you learnt yesterday; give your child a few easy mental maths starters and then get gradually trickier; you can even ask your child to give you some challenges too. Once your child has 'warmed up' their maths brain, have a go at some of the ‘mastery’ questions. Some of these are a little bit tricky, so please take your time and don’t rush through them as that is when we make mistakes.

Phonics  

Before each session, please ensure to recap on all sounds taught so far by referring to your phase sound mat.

Blue orange and green groups.

Today we are going be recapping the ‘ea’ sound. Access your PurpleMash account to find your differentiated learning activity.

Yellow group

Today we are going be learning the ‘ure’ sound and recapping on the ‘air’ sound.

Watch Geraldine find things around the house featuring the ‘ure’ sound. How many things can you remember?  Can you write them down?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwCzf71flBA 

Access your PurpleMash account to find your differentiated learning activity.

Red group

Today we are going be recapping on some of our split diagraph sounds.

Access your PurpleMash account to find your differentiated learning activity.

Topic: RE

As am introduction to our topic of Islam, we are going to be thinking about the meaning of ‘special’. Whilst out on a nature walk try and observe all the special things around you. Why are our surroundings so special? 

Try and think about our amazing planet and what life would be like without all the beauty. When you return from your walk, create a picture with items of all the ‘special’ things you have seen. Ensure you label and colour your picture.

Tuesday 5^th January 2021

English

Today we are going to be writing up the first part of our letters to Father Christmas. We really want to impress him so let’s focus on using our neatest handwriting.

We are going to be writing about the first two boxes on our plan from yesterday. Talk through the pictures and include any key words you included. Once you have a good sentence in your head, say it three times.

When you are ready, begin to write your letters remembering your capital letters, finger spaces and full stops.

Your first sentence might looks like this:

First, I jumped out of bed and rushed downstairs because I was so excited!

See if you can include; a time conjunction, an adjective and a connective (and, so or because).

Write at least 2 sentences for each of the 2 pictures. 

Phonics  

Please ensure you are using your phoneme mats to recap on all phase sounds.

Blue orange and green groups.

Today we are going to be sorting words into ‘oa’ and ‘ow’ sounds.

Split a piece of paper into 2 sections with the titles ‘oa’ and ‘ow’. Ask an adult to say the words listed underneath. See if you can write them in the correct box.

Words: blow flow boat coat cloak glow snow goat moat

Can you find what the words have in common in each column? Where does the sound feature in each word?

Yellow group

Can you remember how many items Geraldine found which featured the ‘air’ sound?

Write them down and then watch again to see how many you got right.  Geraldine air sound

Choose 3 words from Geraldine’s video and write them into your own sentences.

Red group

Can you remember how many items Geraldine found which featured the ‘i-e’ sound?

Write them down and then watch again to see how many you got right. Geraldine split i-e

Split a piece of paper into 3 sections with the titles ‘i-e’, ‘igh’ and ‘ie’. Ask an adult to say the words listed underneath. See if you can write them in the correct box.

Words: nice, flight, tie, time, night, lie, dice, fright, cried.

Can you find what the words have in common in each column? Where does the sound feature in each word?

Maths

Please see the resources attached; today there will be a PowerPoint to work through, a true or false starter activity and also a worksheet to complete.

We will be revisiting addition and subtracting over the next couple of weeks; start the lesson off by asking your child to explain any of their counting on strategies or methods they are comfortable using when adding or subtracting.

Topic: History

In this topic we are going to be exploring toys of past and present and comparing them. Look at this video which illustrates which toys were from each decade. Can the children recognise any toys? Are there some toys which are quite old and you hadn’t realised? What types of toys did your parents play with when they were younger?           Toys Past and Present

Use the worksheet provided to complete a fact file about your favourite toy. It might be a toy you have got for Christmas or one which you have had for a long time that has some sentimental value. See if you can find out any more information about the history of your toy.

Monday 4^th January 2021

First of all, Happy New Year! As we move forward in 2021, please continue to use this blog to access essential home learning; work will, again, be provided on a daily basis for those who are unable to make it into school.

English

We are so lucky to have been left with a video message from Father Christmas! (See the link attached) He would like us to write to him and to tell him all about our Christmas Day. So today, for our English lesson, we are going to be planning a recount; we will need to show Father Christmas our very best writing using excellent sentences with the correct grammar rules and showing off our excellent vocabulary by using adjectives and conjunctions.

Take some time to talk about your day together using time conjunctions; first, then, next, after that and finally.

Separate an A4 piece of paper into 4 equal sections. Using this break your day up into 4 main events. This will be different for each individual. It might include: getting up, opening presents, Christmas dinner, playing with toys and then bed time.

Draw a picture in each section leaving some space to include a time conjunction or an appropriate sentence starter and some key words. These key words might be how you were feeling or a short description of what you did and including an adjective.

Phonics  

Please ensure to use your personal phoneme mats to recap on all phase sounds.

Blue orange and green groups.

Today we are going to be leaning to read words that include the ‘ow’ sound (ow as in blow). Take a look at Geraldine the Giraffe on YouTube trying to find things around her house which feature this sound Geraldine 'ow' sound

After the video see how many of the items you remember and write them down.

As an additional task, find the phoneme spotter task in the resources section. Read the sentences and highlight the ‘ow’ words. Choose 3 words you have highlighted and include them in your own sentences.  

Yellow group

Today we are going to be learning to read words that include the ‘air’ sound. Take a look at Geraldine the Giraffe on YouTube trying to find things around her house which feature this sound Geraldine air sound

Have a look at the phoneme spotter activity in the resources section. See if you can read and then highlight all the words which feature the ‘air sound. Can you write your own sentence featuring one of these words?

Red group

Today we are going to be learning to read words that include the split ‘i-e sound. Take a look at Geraldine the Giraffe on YouTube trying to find things around her house which feature this sound Geraldine split i-e

As an additional resource, see if you can find all the split diagraph ‘i-e’ words in the word search. You will find this is in the resources section.

Maths  

Please see the PDF ‘Addition by counting on’ attached in the resources section and work your way through the PowerPoint. As a further activity, choose any number within 20 (or 50 through to100, if you are feeling confident) and ask your child to add on using their fingers. Here is an example of how to word the challenge:

“Start with the number 11, using your fingers, add 5 more” (11 + 5 = 16).

Feel free to use any of the following equations, or choose any ten of your own:

12 + 3 =     11 + 6 =      8 + 4 =      33 + 2 =       14 + 6 =

 50 + 7 =     88 + 3 =     97+3 =       0 + 10 =      66 + 3 =

Your child does not need to write these answers down, as this is more of a mental maths challenge.

Science

This term in science we will be looking at ‘Everyday Materials’. Attached within the resources section is a PowerPoint to look through and an accompanying worksheet to complete. With support from an adult, try and work out what material(s) your favourite toy is made from.

It’s Christmas!!!!! (*Noddy Holder style*)

And just like that, we have reached the final day of another fantastic term. Christmas Day is drawing ever closer and we are perilously close to finally waving a royal goodbye to 2020 and it is fair to surmise that 2020 has been ‘some year’.

Despite the fact the world has been spinning quite differently for large parts of the year, it has been truly inspiring (as a staff) to see how the children have adapted, grown and flourished during these peculiar and challenging times; social bubbles, hand sanitizing, washing, cleaning, spacing, distancing – you name it – they’ve embraced it all and shown unparalleled resolve in doing so. 

We are incredibly proud of the children in Year 1, and all of our children in this wonderful school, who have achieved so much during such difficult times. We are also so grateful for all of the home support our children received during unprecedented periods of lockdown and for the ongoing support that you all continue to provide; we could not do this without you. On behalf of all the staff in Year 1, THANK YOU!

Furthermore, we have been totally overwhelmed by all of your kind gifts and feel extremely spoilt – so thank you once again. Finally, may we take this opportunity to wish you all the happiness in the world this Christmas and wish you all the very best for the New Year! Please stay safe and we can’t wait to see you back in school in 2021 (once we’ve had our ample share of turkey, mince pies, chocolates and possibly even a celebratory drink).

We hope that Santa and his team of reliable reindeers bring you everything you hope for and more!

Best wishes,

Year 1 team. 

P.S. If you find yourself all 'Netflixed out' over the Christmas break, head over to the Year 2 Blog and please watch the Year 2 Nativity; it gets 5 stars from us.

Maths

This week in maths, we have been revisiting some of our learning from earlier on in term and the children have once again worked so hard during their maths and mental maths lessons. Within our number work, we have looked specifically at partitioning numbers and using tens and units/ones in more detail (e.g. recognising that 23 can be represented as 2 tens/2x10 and 3 units/3x1). The children have worked so hard with their number this term that they should have no problems counting down the remaining doors on their advent calendars.

English

The children in both classes have been writing up the story of the ‘Man on the Moon’ (John Lewis advert) and have used some wonderful vocabulary along the way; their write ups are even better than the original televised advert and probably better than this year’s actual advert. Children in both classes have been using excellent adjectives to bring their stories to life and many have started using excellent conjunctions to lengthen their sentences and give the reader more information. We have well and truly been blown away. Let’s hope our letters to the North Pole are equally as elaborate next week!

Topic

This week both classes joined a virtual Zoom ‘meeting’, where Mrs Gleeson from the Church and she kindly gave us a wonderful version of the Nativity Story and went on to explain how Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus and how the nativity story still plays a very important part in the life of Christians all over the world today. The children also loved the novelty of seeing themselves and each other class on the big screen and waving at each other.

Spellings

Some fantastic scores again this week and more importantly, it has been great to see so many people practicing at home and consolidating their learning from each week’s phonics lessons. No spellings have been given on this week (call it an early Christmas present)!

Well done Nectaria 1M 

Weekly Update 

The children have once again had another super busy week! We started the week off in style, literally, by wearing odd socks on Monday to raise awareness for 'Anti-Bullying Week'. Both classes also spent time discussing this and exploring ways that we can be kind, caring and the best of friends to each other. 

In Maths this week, both classes have been looking at 2D and 3D shapes and have blown both Mr. Law and Mrs. Mears away with their knowledge of shapes; don't be too shocked this weekend if your child refers to the tins in the kitchen as "cylinders", or starts to refer to their football as a "sphere" instead. We have also looked at making repeating patterns with our shapes. 

In English we have continued to read the text, the 'Darkest Dark' by Chris Hadfield, which centers around a small boy who dreams of becoming an astronaut. From using this text as a reference point, we have been able to describe space, the moon, his rocket and even looked at the Moon Landing of 1969. The children have written some fantastic independent sentences using all of their brilliant ideas. 

This week for D&T, we have planned, made and evaluated our own Fruit Salad. The children designed their own fruit salads and then plated them up after using child friendly kitchen utensils to chop up their fruit pieces . Lots of children were really adventurous and tried different fruits they haven't tasted before. Lots of children seemed to enjoy mango and kiwi fruit, though the avocado didn't prove to be too popular. They finished their project by writing up an evaluation.

Thank you once again for all your support from home. It is great to see so many children using the Reading Eggs software and ultimately developing their phonics skills. It is always nice to read comments in the children's reading journals about the super reading they are doing at home each night too; we really do appreciate it! Finally, the homework for Autumn 2 has now been sent out, please try your best to complete some of the tasks posted. 

Have a lovely weekend and thank you once again from all the Year 1 team. 

End of Week 1 

The children have been really busy during our first week back; from telling us about their wonderful Halloween outfits from last weekend to the firework displays some saw this week. Some sounded very scary indeed (their outfits, not the fireworks)!

We have spent time this week during our English lessons writing some instructions on how to stay safe using sparklers or fireworks and during our Maths lessons, we have been revisiting subtraction and using different strategies; ask your child to share one of these with you. 

During our Topic lessons, we have been looking at our local area, Lostock Hall, and discussed our school address. Now that the children understand a postal address a little better, they should have no problems when it comes to writing their letters to Santa Claus in the coming weeks. 

Reading Eggs 

It has been fantastic to see so many children using the Reading Eggs program so far (log in details are still in the front of your child's Reading Diary). Class champions have been announced for over the half-term holidays and the new competition is underway for the person who completes the most Reading Eggs lessons this half-term. We have all had a go on Reading Eggs this week and it's fair to say that all the children absolutely love it. Let's see who can get the most eggs ......... Good Luck!

End of Term

On behalf of all the Year 1 staff, and the wider staff in school, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all parents and guardians for their unwavering support during this first term back. Following on from such a disrupted academic year previously; the way the children have settled into their new Year 1 classes is remarkable – they certainly deserve a ‘pat on the back’ (social distance permitting!).

We would like to wish you all a wonderful week off and enjoy the hard-earned break.

Don’t get too spooooooooooked by the Halloween activities!

Mr Law & Mrs Mears and the Year 1 Team.

READING EGGS

Your child has now been provided with their own personal log in details for ‘Reading Eggs’; these have been stuck into the front of their Reading Diaries.

Reading Eggs is an online reading program that fundamentally helps children learn to read; it also helps to support the phonics we are teaching in school and is suitably differentiated.

With hundreds of online interactive reading lessons, phonics games and books for all abilities, the children seem to love ‘reading’ on the iPad / computer. As a school, we can monitor each child’s progress and see how they are getting on (and how many eggs they have collected).

If you could take the time to do the initial ‘assessment’ on the game with your child, which takes about 5 minutes, the program will then be set to use at the right level. We have found that children who have used this software regularly have really improved their phonics, spelling and writing results. Furthermore, the children love playing the game too: WIN - WIN!

Home learning Thursday 22nd October 

Reading: as yesterday 

Phonics: Today we are learning the er sound. Use the phoneme spotter activity in the resources section to highlight any 'er' sounds. 

English: See yesterday

Maths

Today we are going to be applying our new subtraction knowledge to the 'Part/Whole' model. Have a go at the worksheet in the resources section to practice this. 

Topic: History- 'Curriculum Catch Up'

We would like you to research old forms of transport. Have a look at this clip on YouTube about the history of transportation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25IaUQ_oUyM

Can you draw a picture of an old form of transport and a newer comparison. Can you write some features of each and compare? 

Home learning Wednesday 21st October 

Reading: Either read one of your home reading books or find an appropriate text on the Oxford Reading Owl website. 

Phonics: Today we are recapping on our new sounds air and ear. Complete the worksheet in the resources section to practice these. 

English

Today we are writing up the next part of our own stories. You should be up to the part of the story where we introduce the story setting and what your monster loves. 

Your sentences may look like this: 

The scary monster lives in the enchanted forest. The forest is magical and has lots of beautiful flowers. 

The monster loves flowers and likes to steal them from peoples back gardens!

Please bear in mind that your story will sound different based on your story ideas but make sure that you include lots of good description and try and use 'and' to extend your sentences. 

Tomorrow will be writing the next part of your story. How does your creature steal the things he loves? 

Maths

Can you recap on addition and create some addition number sentences using a dice to generate numbers? Use counters or draw illustrations to help you. 

Today we are introduced to the subtraction symbol. Using counters or anything from around the house complete the worksheet in the resources section. 

Topic: Geography- 'Curriculum Catch Up'

We are thinking about our journey to school. Can you use Google Maps to map your journey. Try using directional language such as, forwards, turn, straight ahead, right and left. Once you have mapped your journey as an extension task can you draw a rough map of your journey including roads you drive/walk down and adding any buildings you walk past, E.g. a church, shops, houses? 

Home learning Tuesday 20th October 

Reading- See Monday 

Phonics

Today we are learning the 'ear' sound. Can you use the phoneme spotter in the resources section to highlight any ear words?  You might also see other sounds previously learned. 

English: See Monday 

Maths

Using a number line, can you count forwards and backwards from 0-20?  Can you choose a number and say one more or one less?

Today we are introducing the idea of subtraction through stories. Complete the worksheet provided to practice this. 

Topic: Science 'Curriculum Catch Up'

Today we are going to be investigating shadows. If it is a sunny day you could head into the garden and try and create some shadows of your own. You could place paper onto the floor and draw around shadows you create. If the weather is not permitting then have a look at the experiment in the resources section where you can use a torch to create shadows. How do you think shadows are made? What do we need to create shadows? 

Home Learning Monday 19th October 

Reading

Choose one of your home reading books to read for at least 10 minutes. Can you spot any of our new phonics sounds in your reading book? 

Phonics

You have been set a learning task on PurpleMash all about the 'air' sound. Before you do this task think of some words with the 'air' sound in them and write them down. 

English

This week we will be writing our own story using our story alternatives from the Aliens love Underpants story. 

Today you will practice writing super sentences about the first part of your story. This should include an introduction to your character. You should look back at your adjectives created last week about your character. 

Your sentences might look like this: 

Once upon a time there lived a scary Monster. He had a sharp pointy teeth and green slime coming out of his mouth.

Use today's English time to practice your sentence writing and editing any mistakes. Ensure to have a capital letter, full stop and finger spaces. In addition, practice your neatest handwriting and making sure you have included lots of good vocabulary. 

Tomorrow you will write your introduction up in your neatest writing. 

Maths

As a Maths starter activity, can you write down all your number bonds to 10?

We are now going to use our addition knowledge to apply to number stories. Have a look at the worksheet attached and complete. 

Topic: RE

This week we are having a 'Curriculum Catch Up' week  where we are learning about some areas of topics which were missed in the last academic year. 

Today have a look at the Ramadan PowerPoint attached to learn about Ramadan as part of the Islam faith. 

Ramadan is a time of patience and giving. 

Can you think of some ideas of how we give to others? You might like to think about the upcoming Harvest and how we give during this time. It could be examples of what we do in our daily lives to give. Draw and write some examples. 

Home learning Friday 16th October 

Reading 

Choose an appropriate text from the Oxford Reading Owl site. Read and explore the text and ask questions about what it happening. 

Phonics

Today we are going to practice writing our words from our spelling test list. 

Go through your Phase 3 sound mat and make sure you are confident with these. 

English

Hopefully you will have created some story alternatives for your version of the story. Today our lesson will focus on building vocabulary about your choices. Split an A4 sheet into 4 sections and number them 1-4. Use the ideas from your story alternatives and draw in the boxes. Leave some space around the pictures to write in exciting vocabulary you will use when you write your own story. 

Maths

Practice counting on a number line or hundred square. Can you count backwards from a given number? Can you count in 2's, 5's and 10's? 

Today we are using our new knowledge of 'addition' to apply it to number problems. See the worksheet attached.

Topic: PSHE

Today we are thinking about 'rules' and why we have them.  Make a list with an adult of what rules you have at home. Why do you have these rules? Then talk to an adult about rules we have in school. Can you make a list of our classroom rules? Use the worksheet provided or create your own rules poster. 

Home Learning- Thursday 15th October

Phonics

Today we are learning the 'ear' sound. Write down some words which have the 'ear' sound in them and place sound buttons on them 

Complete the worksheet where you will have the opportunity to decide if the 'ear' words are nonsense or real.

English

Now we have re-written our 'Aliens Love Underpants' story we are going to have a go at writing one of our very own. Have a look at the sheet attached and create some story alternative in pictures and words. Today is all about talking our ideas through to get a good idea what will happen in our version of the story. 

Maths

We are learning our number bonds to 10. As a starter sing along to 'Farmer Pete' as the children will be familiar with this song from class. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poJmS5iWfEs&safe=active  

Then as teaching tool, watch the video to help you understand today's task: https://vimeo.com/463894279

Complete worksheet attached in resources section. 

Topic: Geography

Refer back to our aerial view maps we created of the classroom during last weeks lesson. Can you say why an aerial map is different to a street view map? Some of you might have created your map in school so you might like to try and make one of your bedroom instead. This week we are going to transform our paper aerial map into a 'Messy Map'. Here are some ideas you might like to use:

Home learning- Wednesday 14th October 

English

As with previous days- for at least 10 minutes per day. 

Phonics

Yellow group: Continue with activity booklet.

Blue group: Today we are learning the 'oi' sound. Can you spot words with the 'oi' sound in the phoneme spotter activity attached in the resources section? 

English

Today we are writing up the final part of our story. Remember the words generated for this picture and orally construct some sentences about it. 

Remember to include capital letters, full stops and fingers spaces when you are ready to write your sentence. 

Try and include to say a sentence about what Mum is feeling like. 

Maths

Today we are learning about number bonds within 10 again but writing them down in a systematic way so we know we have got all the possibilities. Look at this clip to help clarify: https://vimeo.com/463893092  

Have a go at the worksheet provided and see if you can also illustrate the questions using objects from around the house to bring numbers to life!

Topic: PE

Try a bit of 'Cosmic Yoga' and go on a journey with Squish the Fish. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhYtcadR9nw&safe=active