Year 1 Blog

Weekly Update: Monday 30th September - Friday 4th October 

English 

This week in English, we concluded our retell of Alan's Big Scary Teeth. The children used a variety of different 'time word' openers, before finishing their last sentence with 'Finally'. Both Mr. Monckton and Mr. law were very pleased with the children's handwriting this week. 

Maths 

In Maths this week we have been exploring part-whole models and we have partitioned lots of different numbers within 10. We did this by using counters to split into two different groups and then we used systematic number bonds to write these down into number stories (equations). 

Geography

On Monday, we went on our Geography Field Trip to Lostock Hall Recreational Park, Tardy Gate. We made a tally chart of different things around the park (recording data) and we also sketched what we could see (observational drawing). And once our work was done, there was a little bit of time left over to play. 

Weekly Update: Monday 23rd - Friday 27th September 

English 

This week we concluded our retell of 'Peace at Last'. In addition to using our time word openers, this week we have introduced the pronouns 'He' and 'She'. We also made sure to check for capital letters and full stops too. 

Maths

In Maths we have been looking at Part-Whole Models. The children have been working within ten and used counters to partition a given number into two parts. as the week progressed, we began to concentrate specifically on the number 10 and we have started to learn all the number bonds to 10; using a ten-frame really helped us with this.

Science

We took our Science learning outside the classroom this week, as we went on a scavenger hunt using our five senses. The children were given a check list of things to find, smell, feel and hear (we saved taste for our fruit at breaktime). Have a look at some of the pictures below: 

Weekly Update: Monday 16th - Friday 20th September 

English 

This week we have introduced some 'time words' to begin our sentences. The children have retold the story 'Peace at Last' by Jilly Murphy and have used openers including: first, next, then, after that and finally. 

Maths 

This week in Maths, we have been looking at more than, less than and equal to; this included using the symbols >, < and =. Towards the end of the week, we used a number line to find numbers that were greater and fewer.  

PE

This week in PE, the children had their first lesson on the newly installed MUGA. The children were honing their throwing and catching skills as part of the module, 'Lost and Found'. See some of the pictures below: 

Weekly Update: Monday 9th - Friday 13th September

English 

In English this week, we have been developing our handwriting even further and have been looking closely at correctly forming our capital letters. We have reminded the children to always keep their letters stood on the line. 

Maths

We have been continuing our work with Place Value and have been ordering numbers within 10 and 20. We have introduced tens-frames and represented different amounts using counters. 

PSHE 

The children have decided upon a set of Class Rules, which we will now follow to ensure that we have a learning environment where we can flourish and learn safely; to be the best that we can be. 

Geography

The children have been looking at directions and have been introduced to the compass; we have learnt about North, East, South and West. We will use our direction skills in future weeks to map a route to the park in Lostock Hall. 

Week One: 2nd - 6th September

'Welcome to Year One!' On this blog you will find weekly updates of what we have been up to. 

English

This week we have been working on our handwriting and refining our letter formation; concentrating on keeping our letters on the line and focussing on our 'curly caterpillar letters' (c, o, a, d, g) and our 'ladder letters' (l, t, i, j, u, y). 

Maths 

In Maths we have looked at our number formation, counted by crossing out (within 20). We finished the week by matching the number word to the numeral. 

Ju-Jitsu 

On Friday afternoon, the children had a taster session with Nippon Ju-Jitsu. More details about Ju-Jitsu sessions are on the letter in your child's reading bag. 

Weekly Update: 24^th – 28^th June

English

This week in English, we have been looking at the beautiful story ‘The Snail and the Whale’ by Julia Donaldson. The children have been using lots of adjectives this week to create character descriptions for both the snail and the whale. On Friday, we independently wrote a setting description and some children even tried to include a simile into their writing.

Maths

In Maths this week, we have been looking at money. The children have been learning all about the different coins we have in our currency and understanding how each coin has a different denomination. The children have ordered the coins by their value and as the week progressed, we began to make a given value using the coins we have available. Example:

There are different ways to make 46p; we could use 10p + 10p + 5p + 1p; we could also use 2 x 20p’s + 3 x 2p’s.

Topic

On Friday morning, we had a very special assembly all about Sikhism. The children learnt all about the Sikh faith; they learnt a few letter-sounds in Punjabi; we were shown photographs of a local Gurdwara and we learnt all about the Sikh Gurus. Some lucky children also got to try on some traditional Sikh headwear.

Weekly Update: 10th - 14th June 

Maths

In Maths this week, we have been revisiting place value and looking closely at numbers between the 50-100 range. We have compared numbers, using greater than and less than; we have also looked at tens and ones, and compared numbers by looking specifically at how many tens or ones a number has. We also used dienes to make these numbers. 

Phonics

A huge 'Thank You' for all your help and support this year with Phonics. The children sat their statutory Phonics Screening Test this week and they all tried their best and it was amazing to see how much all of the year had progressed from the start of the year to now; Well Done to all!

Topic

This week in Computing, the children used iPads to explore spreadsheets. The children logged in to their PurpleMash accounts and used an app to create their own spreadsheet, inputted data and then finally saved their work. 

Weekly Update: 20 - 24th May 

English 

This week we have been writing animal riddles. The children thought about different animals and used their characteristics to write some really fun and tricky riddles. The children also used a question mark, to finish their riddle by asking the reader 'What am I?'. 

Maths 

In Maths we have been looking at fractions; creating quarters. We have also looked at ordinal numbers and some directional instructions/position; looking again at right and left. 

Cake Sale 

Thank You so much for all who brought cakes in on Friday. The children loved spending their money and picking a cake of their choice. We took these back to class and ate them whilst watching Peter Rabbit, as a special Friday treat.

We hope you all have a lovely half term break and don't forget to practice your phonics and to keep reading!

The Year One Team  

Weekly Update: 7th - 10th May 

English 

This week in English, we have been finishing off the final parts of the 'Going on a Lion Hunt' story retell. The children have paid really close attention to the suffixes 'er', 'est' and 'ed'. Some excellent examples included: zoomed, rushed, squelched, larger and scariest. 

Maths 

In Maths, we have been looking at finding halves of shapes and understanding that a half of an item or shape, will leave us with one of two equal parts. We have looked at some 2D shapes and used a ruler to divide the shapes in half. Next week we will continue with fractions and looking further at halves before starting with quarters. 

Topic 

On Tuesday, the children enjoyed their delayed 'Toys Workshop' that had to be rearranged from earlier on in the year. The children had two full sessions playing with toys from yesterday and some toys even dated back to the Victorian period (no iPads or Nintendos in sight!). 

Friday 3rd May - Celebration of Football Day

The children in Year 1 all took part in the 'Celebration of Football Day', which saw them play games in the morning against each other and some children attempted to score against Mr. Biggs. We all had an excellent time and it was amazing to see so many different football shirts on display across school. Thanks once again for your kind donations and supporting the school. 

Here are some of the photographs captured today: 

Weekly Update: Monday 18^th – Friday 22^nd March

Maths

In Maths this week, we have been looking at capacity and volume. We have looked at different containers and discussed how these containers can hold different amounts. We explored the relationship between volume and capacity and we compared different sizes and used our mathematical language to compare capacities. We also looked at some word problems linking to capacity, e.g. If it takes 4 cans to fill 1 bucket, how many cans will I need to fill 3 buckets?

English

We have looked at the story of the Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, who is also the artist who has inspired our recent drawings, paintings and sculptures using clay. We retold the story in the first person, as a diary entry. The children really enjoyed being the greedy caterpillar and getting fatter and fatter each day. Once full up to bursting, the caterpillar made himself a home (his cocoon) and after a couple of weeks of rest, he was amazed to discover he was now a butterfly.

Topic

In RE, we have been looking at the Easter story in Christianity. We read about Jesus returning to Jerusalem and how he was betrayed by Judas; sentenced to death on the cross and how his body was moved to a tomb before he returned to visit his disciples again.

S.T.E.A.M Week (Science. Technology. Engineering. Art. Mathematics)

Our S.T.E.A.M week has been lots of fun; we started with a 'Mad Science' assembly on Monday morning. On Tuesday we had a Spike Lego workshop, building Cave Cars, which we coded using the iPads to light up in the dark. We had a different Lego workshop and built Big Ben, linking to our Topic on London. We also had a workshop in class, where e learnt all about worm, we even took one home!

Weekly Update: Monday 4^th – Friday 8^th February

English

In English this week we have been writing instructions on how to plant a bean. The children used bullet points to write down what they would need and then they used instructional language to explain how it should be done.

Maths

In Maths, we have been looking at measure; we have introduced the concepts of length and height. The children have measured using cubes and later in the week, they used a ruler to measure accurately using centimetres. We have also used terms such as ‘longer’, ‘shorter’, ‘taller’ and ‘smaller’ to compare different items.

World Book Day

A big ‘Thank You’ for all the effort that went into the costumes on World Book Day on Thursday 7^th March. The children looked wonderful and enjoyed reading lots of different books throughout the day.  

Weekly Update: Monday 26^th February – Friday 1^st March

English

In English this week, we have re-written Jack and the Beanstalk and changed many components of the infamous fairy tale. Jack was replaced, the giant was and there was no beanstalk to be climbed anymore. It was great to see the children use their imagination and change the story. Luckily, all versions finished with a ‘happily ever after!’.

Maths

In Maths, we have been consolidating our learning of tens and ones and we have now started to add up two amounts using tens and ones. We are now able to partition numbers, into tens and ones, and using these parts we have been filling in part-whole models. We also revisited number lines and 100 squares, moving on from 20 and now working on our place value understanding within 50.

Geography

This week we have started to explore London and have looked at some of the major landmarks of our capital city. We will be comparing London and Lostock hall and have already spotted some similarities and differences between the two. If you have access to Google Earth, have a look at some of those landmarks in greater detail at home.

PSHE

In PSHE we have been talking about special people; these have been family members, key figures (such as the King) or people with important jobs, doctors, police officers, teachers etc. We also revisited our Year 1 sporting role model, Usain Bolt, and as a class we discussed why these people are special and how would we welcome a special visitor into our school.

Weekly Update: Monday 19^th – Friday 23^rd February

English

In English this week, we have retold the fairytale of Jack and the Beanstalk. The children enjoyed the Giant bellowing “Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!”. We were all happy that Jack and his mother eventually got to live happily ever after.

Maths

In Maths, we have been partitioning numbers into tens and ones. We have used dienes (Base 10) to make numbers and then we could clearly see that 43, for example, is made of 4 tens (40) and 3 ones. We were also able to put this into part-whole models, once we had partitioned into tens and ones.

Science

In Science this term we will be looking at plants. This week we looked at the parts of a plant and we labelled a diagram. Next week, we will be planting our own bean plants and will watch how these grow over time.

PE

In PE this term we will be working on our gymnastics skills. Using the fairy tale of Jack and the Beanstalk, we will be having fun learning balances and movements that are inspired by the tale. The children this week enjoyed travelling on all fours, as per the cow on his way to the market; or balancing magic beans.

Weekly Update: Monday 5^th – Friday 9^th February

English

This week in English, the children visited the fairytale Three Little Pigs. The children acted out some of the scenes and used their voices in Music to convey how scary the wolf was and how the little pigs might be scared; we took this role play and applied it in our writing. The children retold the fairytale in their own words and used a new group of sentence openers to bring extra detail to their work. All of the children were unanimous in thinking the pig that built his house with bricks, was certainly the wisest; very little sympathy was shown for the plight of the wolf either. The writing this term, on the whole, has been excellent and the children should be very pleased with their progress.

Maths

This week in Maths, we have completed our work on place value within 20; looking specifically at subtraction using a number line, related number facts and finding the difference, which can be a tricky concept. The children made connections with previous learning and started to rearrange equations during their work with related number facts. Example:

20 – 3 = 17 so 20 – 17 = 3

When putting this into a part-whole model, or bar model the children could see that:

17 + 3 = 20 or 3 +17 = 20

Topic

In RE this week we continued our work on Christianity and looked at the story of Jesus meeting with Mary and Martha. The children watched the story and acted out parts of it before we discussed what the meaning of the story was. The children concluded that Jesus was teaching Christians that it is so important to spend time with friends; more so than anything else. As a class, we discussed friendship and explained that we should always make time to be with our friends and to get along. This led itself to revisiting some of our PSHE work this term where we discussed what constitutes being a good friend.

Thank You

A final “Thank You!” goes to Miss Hindle who will be finishing her placement at Lostock Hall this term. All of the children and staff have loved having Miss Hindle in 1L, since September, and we wish you all the best of luck in your next (and final) placement at New Longton; they will be lucky to have you in their school.

Weekly Update: Monday 29^th January – Friday 2^nd February

English

This week we have been looking at the text Toys in Space, by Mini Grey (the same author who of Traction Man). The children pretended to be one of the toys that had been left out in the garden one summer night and for the remainder of the week, they wrote a diary entry pretending to be one of the toys that had been beamed into the Hoctopize’s space ship.  Thankfully the toys all returned back to earth safely, after having a party in space, and were reunited with their happy owner.

Maths

As it has been assessment week in school, we have tested our maths learning so far in Year 1. The children completed two different tests; a reasoning a problem-solving paper and a numeracy test. In addition to the maths tests, we also had tests in phonics and reading and finished the week with an assessed piece of independent writing. All of the children tried their best and did a great job all week; they should all be very proud of their efforts.

Topic

This week in Music we used instruments to accompany the fairytale of Three Little Pigs. The children explored low and high notes and following on from our previous lesson where we used our big, scary voices pretending to be the wolf; we also used our vice differently to portray the emotions of the three little pigs. The children enjoyed exploring the different instruments and exploring the different sounds they make and applying this to a familiar story to add more excitement.  

Weekly Update: Monday 22^nd – Friday 26^th January

English

This week in English we have been writing a character description for Traction Man. We looked at what Traction Man has been wearing for his dangerous missions, from his sub-aqua suit in the sink adventure, to his camouflage army regalia when saving the dolls in distress. The children shared their adjectives and we tried to put these into our sentences. We didn’t want all of our sentences to sound the same so we thought of different openers we could use to keep our writing interesting.

Maths

In maths this week we have been looking at ways of Making 20 and also explored some doubles up to 20. The children learnt that adding the same number creates our double; in coming weeks, we will learn about halving and children will start to see that 10, which is double 5, will half to 5. The children also had lots of fun this week with the mental math’s challenges. Test your children on their number bonds to 10 and then how to make 20 (by adding an extra ten to one of their parts).

Design Technology

In DT this term, the children will be making their own moving picture using a slider mechanism. The children have looked at a variety of different moving picture books and we discussed how mechanisms, mainly levers, create the movement. In one of our books, when we pulled the lever, Cinderella changes ‘magically’ from her servant’s clothes in to her beautiful ball gown. The children then created their own moving picture by fixing the dangerous ‘Shark Scissor’ character to their lever (wooden lolly stick) and they could slide this along their background picture to sneak up on Traction Man.

Weekly Update: Monday 15th - Friday 19th January 

English 

This week in English, we have written recounts of the 'Sink Adventure' within Traction Man, by Mini Grey. The children enjoyed listening how Traction man braved the murky depths of the sink and how he was eventually saved by Scrubbing Brush, his new best friend, and how collectively they managed to defeat the poisonous Dishcloth. The children used their time openers to retell the story but added additional information by including extra sentences starting with a suitable pronoun. 

Maths 

Our work with Place Value continued in Maths and we spent more time looking closely at the numbers from 11-20. We used dienes to express these numbers and we then broke them up (partitioned them) into tens and ones; 14 is made from one ten and four ones. Later in the week we also counted forward in ones from a given number and then we ordered numbers within this range from smallest to largest and then from largest to smallest. 

Topic

In History this term we are looking at Toys from the past and comparing how they differ from the toys we play with today. This week the children thought about their favourite toys and the children drew their favourite toy and they thought about what materials it is made from and why it is their favourite. In coming weeks, we will be introducing some toys from yester year (dating back to the Victorian era) and we wonder if the children will be keen to swap their LOL Dolls or Nintendo Switch’s for a Rag Doll or a Spinning Top.

Happy New Year – Welcome Back

Weekly Update: Monday 8- Friday 12th January 

We would like to say a huge “Thank You” for all the cards, gifts and presents that we received before Christmas; as a staff we were overwhelmed by your kindness. We sincerely hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with loved ones and that Santa delivered everything you hoped for. Furthermore, we also hope you managed some rest, as this term already looks like it will be another busy in Year 1!

English

This week in English, we have been writing all about our Christmas Day. It was so nice hearing all about what the children received from Santa; what the children ate for breakfast (lots of chocolate!!!!); all about playing with their favourite new toys; who they ate lunch with and what film they watched in the afternoon. We loved reading all the writing at the end of the week and it almost felt as though we were part of the special day. Next week we will be starting our new story, ‘Traction Man’ by Mini Grey.

Maths

In Maths, we have been learning more about the numbers 11-19. This has seen us introduce dienes (tens and ones’ blocks) and it is a great way for the children to see that 14, for example, is made up of one ten and four ones. The children then started to explore how we can partition these and we also ordered them to 20; counting both forwards and backwards. The children also matched the numeral to visual representations for the given amount and the written number. We also combined two ‘tens-frames’ to clearly see that 17, as an example, is different to 20 as it does not have two full tens – it is three counters short.

Topic

In Science we are looking at Everyday Materials. The children searched around the classroom and were tasked with finding different everyday objects that are made from: wood, plastic, glass, metal and fabric. Over the coming weeks the children will start to explore their properties and begin to understand why certain everyday objects are made with the materials they are.  

Weekly Update: Monday 11^th -  Friday 15^th December

English

This week in English we completed our re-tell of the John Lewis Christmas advert, ‘Buster the Boxer’. Using their ‘time words’ to start their sentences, the children re-told the video in their own words. We all found it very funny watching the various animals bounce on the trampoline before Buster finally got his opportunity on Christmas morning. Handwriting has been a real focus area this year and again we stressed the importance of writing on the line, using clear ascenders and descenders and ensuring that their letters are close together and their words are apart. The presentation has really improved throughout the term and the children should be very proud of their independent writing.

Maths

In Maths this week, we have been recapping on some of our learning this half term. Consolidating on our prior learning the children have revisited some of the key learning in place value, practiced their subtraction using number lines and assorted 3D and 2D shapes from last week. When we return after half term, we will be looking again at place value but this will be extending from 20 to working within 50. We will also be continuing with our fluency sessions to improve our mental math’s skills.

Topic

In PSHE this week we looked at ‘What is means to be a good friend’ and the children discussed what they expect from their friends. We explained that sometimes people can make choices that don’t make us feel great and that our actions can impact other people’s feelings. We created huge bank of ideas what a good friend does and then the children drew some of these on a ‘good friend’ model picture. Some of the ideas included: being kind to each other, helping people when they are hurt and making sure people always have someone to play with. Good friends always have nice things to say to their friends and we used this as a reminder to only say kind things to others.

Weekly Update: Monday 4th - Friday 8th December

English

This week in English we have been retelling the ‘story’ of Edgar the Dragon, the John Lewis advert from 2019. The children have really enjoyed watching this week’s story, as opposed to a more conventional text in story book form, and they have produced some excellent independent writing. They have all grown to love Edgar and his excitable ways and empathized with the dragon, as he simply struggled to tame his flames in bouts of excitement. We still have a couple more days of writing remaining before we start Buster the Boxer (another John Lewis advert, from 2016) next week. The children are really enjoying getting into the Christmas spirit through their writing!

Maths

In Maths this week we have been looking at geometry and more specifically, 3D and 2D shapes. The children started off by looking at 3D shapes and learning the names of some, every day 3D shapes: sphere, cylinder, cuboid, cube, cone and pyramid. We explored these in class and compared these shapes; we experimented with these shapes and worked out which ones could stack on top of each other and which ones couldn’t; from this, we could observe that some shapes have curved faces and some are flat. Later in the week, we looked at 2D shapes: squares, triangles, rectangles, circles.

Christmas Jumper Day

On Friday 8^th December, the children all enjoyed their ‘Christmas Jumper Day’ and their special Christmas dinner, accompanied by an ensemble of Christmas songs and carols. Please have a look at some of the photographs on the blog:

Weekly Update: Monday 27th - Friday 1st December 

English

This week in English, we have written a host of instructions of how to create a fruit kebab. Taken from our learning over the weeks in DT, the children were able to create instructions using ‘time openers’ and ‘bossy verbs’ in order to create a list of coherent instructions for the children in Reception class who will be making their fruit kebabs next year. On Thursday and Friday, the children had a ‘Star Write’ and put all their instructions together in a single piece of independent writing. Children were prompted to use their ‘Clever Writer’ skills but were tasked with writing independently and both Mrs. Mears and Mr. Law were very, very impressed. Well done guys!

Maths

In Maths this week, we have been concluding our work with place value and challenging the children to recall some of their place value facts and number bond work mentally. The children have taken away using a number line and we have also used 100 squares to move from a start point to either add or subtract; we will be using 100 squares a lot more in coming months. Next week we will be looking at shape; exploring both 2D and 3D shapes and looking closely at their properties.

Design Technology

This week we have made our fruit kebabs. The children planned which fruits they wanted to try and what they would be putting on their skewers. The children designed their kebabs first and then we had a lesson all about food safety and hygiene. On Monday the children finally got to chop up their fruits and put them on their skewers before finally getting around to eating them. The children then evaluated their kebabs and they thought about things they would change if they made them again. They all looked very tasty!

Weekly Update: Monday 20 - Friday 24th November 2023 

English 

This week in English we have finished our retell of Supertato. The children have still been focussing on their sentence openers, which we teach as 'time words', and they have been following many of the other 'I am a Clever Writer' approaches, including: capital letters to start, finger spaces, handwriting and presentation, full stops and applying our phonics. We have been blown away by the independent writing this week - Keep it up Year 1!

Maths 

In Maths this week we have been continuing with our number work and place value within 20. We have also been exploring number stories and used counters and other practical resources to help calculate these problems. These are examples of some typical number stories: 

Subtraction

First there were 9 birds sitting on a tree. Next 3 of the birds flew away. How many birds were left in the tree? 

Addition

First there were 6 children sitting at a table. Next 2 more children joined them. How many are at the table now?

PE

In PE this week, the children have been working on their throwing skills and specifically the skill of the 'underarm throw'. the children have been mastering this skill over the last couple of weeks and are now starting to apply this technique by aiming for specific targets, having challenges against each other and also using it in a game setting (like an adapted game of dodgeball); feel free to practice these skills at home in the garden, if it isn't too cold. 

Weekly update- 13th November- 17th November

English- this week we have been reading the story of Handa's Surprise. The children have been working hard to re-tell the story using some exciting vocabulary whilst cross referencing their work against the 'I'm a clever writer' checklist. 

Along the way we have been learning some interesting spelling patterns when it has come to spelling the names of the animals and the interesting fruits! We can't believe how beautiful the childrens' handwriting is becoming! 

Maths- This week we have been learning about subtraction. We have been creating some fact families from our part whole models and creating subtraction number sentences from these. Once we had understood that subtraction is taking an amount away from a whole number we then proceeded to use our knowledge to work out number problems in subtraction number stories. We have been using tens frames and making pictorial representations to help our understanding and work out the problems successfully. 

Science- Last week we went for a walk in the outdoor environment to find some signs of autumn. We all came to the conclusion that the temperature has definitely dropped a few degrees! We also found lots of lovely autumnal leaves of all colours and collected them. This week we have used the leaves to create some autumn trees by printing them onto our creations using paint. The children have had a fantastic time making these! Please see pictures underneath. 

Anti-bullying week- This week we have been having class discussions about bullying. We talked about how we can treat our friends to show kindness and consideration. The children have created some anti-bullying posters as part of a school competition. We are waiting eagerly for the results of this!

Children in Need- today the children celebrated Children in Need by dressing up in their own clothes and making a donation towards the charity. Many thanks to all those who made donations! See pictures below of the children in class looking fabulous! 

Weekly Update: 6^th – 10^th November

English

The children finalized their re-tell of Oliver’s Vegetables and at last, Oliver was able to turn the potatoes he had picked into some scrumptious chips. The children finished their re-tell by using the sentence openers: Then and Finally. Some children also added some excellent adjectives to their independent writing, which certainly added more detail for the reader. Next week, we will be looking at the story Handa’s Surprise, which links in with our upcoming DT project making Fruit Kebabs.

Maths

This week in Maths, we have been looking at addition sentences and have used different adding strategies. In addition to this, pardon the pun, we have also been having lots of mental maths challenges and the children are becoming much quicker at reciting their Number Bonds to 10.  Within our addition, we have posed word problems to the children, such as:

There were 6 birds sitting on a branch, 3 more flew to join them; how many birds are now on the branch?

Topic

This week we celebrated ‘Learning Outside the Classroom’ and both classes went into the Outdoor Classroom to observe ‘Seasonal Change’, which is our new unit in Science. The children were surrounded by fallen leaves and we talked about how the weather now feels much cooler, as we push further into Autumn and closer to Winter. The children also collected some of the leaves to have a close look at when we got back inside and next week we will be creating some artwork using these leaves.

On Wednesday afternoon, the children all joined in a minute’s silence ahead of this weekend’s Armistice Day. The children were also treated to a live performance of ‘The Last Post’. 

Diwali

The children have been learning about the religion of Hindu Dharma, particularly in light of the upcoming celebration this Sunday- Diwali. We have enjoyed reading the story of Rama and Sita and acting out the story using puppets.  This story shows why  Diwa lamps are very important and how Hindu's use them as part of their celebrations today. 

Weekly Update: 30^th October – 3^rd November 3, 2023

English

This week in English, we have been looking at the story ‘Oliver’s Vegetables’. The children have been using their time words to start sentences (First, Next, Then, Finally) to retell the story and have written this up independently. Oliver had a tough time finding the potatoes in order to make his beloved chips but he also enjoyed trying new vegetables from his Grandpa’s vegetable patch along the way.

Maths

This week in Maths we have been revisiting part-whole models and applying our knowledge of number bonds to 10 in order to construct some addition sentences. The children also had a go at partitioning whole numbers using part-whole model diagrams and counters; starting with a ‘whole number’ of counters, the children broke these counters into two parts (and some even separated their whole numbers into three parts).

Topic

In PSHE this week we have looked at gifts and why we may give them to our friends and to our family members. The children shared some of the gifts and presents that they have received for birthdays and Christmas’ and other occasions. We explained that we should be grateful for receiving gifts and also how gifting to others can also make us very happy.

In PE this week we have been working on our Underarm Throw. The children have learnt this technique and applied this in fun games.

Weekly Update: October 16 – 20^th  

What busy first half term and it only feels like yesterday since the children started their Year 1 journey. We have been delighted with all the progress they have made so far and we loved sharing all of this positivity with parents and guardians during Parent’s Evening on Tuesday afternoon; thank you for all of those who attended. Next term is already looking like it will be very busy again so please take some time over the next week to relax and recuperate (parents as well!).

Black History Month

On Friday, the children spent some time learning about Lewis Hamilton and understanding his story. Ina celebration of equality and diversion, coupling up with the start of Black History Month. The children read his story book and learnt some facts, which they put into a worksheet and finished by drawing a portrait of Lewis. We spoke to the children about celebrating difference and this is a theme we will continue throughout the year.

Life Skills Week

This week in school we have all enjoyed ‘life skills week’. Various workshops have been taking place and children have been learning a whole host of different skills and information that can be helpful in our everyday lives.

In Year One, we have had workshops pertaining to Dog Safety, Money and Mental Wellbeing.

Our Mental Wellbeing seminar took us on a stroll through the ‘wellbeing jungle’ where the children met with ‘Calm Croc’, ‘Chatty Parrot’ and ‘Soothing Monkey’ and they learnt a variety of techniques to help us relax, sleep better and unload our problems and talk about our worries.

Our Dog Safe assembly, delivered by the Blue Cross, gave the children tips on how to safely handle and behave around dogs. We learnt some of the cues that dogs can give us and we even practiced strategies to stay safe around unfamiliar dogs or dogs that are of their lead. We also talked about the needs of dogs and other animals we might have at home.

On Thursday, we had a visitor from HSBC Bank who delivered a workshop all about Money, which linked really well with our Math’s learning this week about the coins we use. The children had to dig in sand and search for REAL coins; when they had found two each, they took them back to their tables and using crayons, ‘rubbed’ their coins, creating an image of the coin on their paper. Despite several requests, unfortunately we weren’t able to take the real coins home with us. We also learnt about saving money and spending it. After asking the children, it appeared that spending money sounds like more fun.  

Please see the photographs below:

Weekly update- Friday 29^th September

English

In English this week we have been continuing with our ‘clever writer’ approaches to writing. We have been continuing to focus on the text of Peace at Last by Jill Murphy. Using our ‘clever writer’ checklist, the children have been concentrating on using time words in their re-tell and capital letters and full stops in their sentences. We have been so impressed with the level of writing the children are producing!

Maths

This week in Maths we have been learning the new vocabulary of ‘greater than’ and ‘fewer than’. The children have been working practically making groups of numbers and comparing the numbers using our new mathematical words.

Geography

We have had lots of fun in Geography this week leaning about maps and different map views. The children have loved using Google Earth to fly over school and see the familiar things around us. We have learned the new vocabulary of ‘aerial view’ or ‘birds-eye’ view and created messy maps of our classroom with this new learning in mind. See pictures below!

Art

In Art this week we have been looking at some famous artists renowned for their work on self-portraits. We have been analysing pictures created by Vincent Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo and saying what we like about each piece. We are very excited to create self portraits of our vey own!

Weekly Update Friday 22nd September

English- this week we have been listening to Peace at Last by Jill Murphy. The story is about a bear who struggles to get to sleep. The children have really enjoyed this story and have been telling us about times when they have struggled to get to sleep. 

Maths- This week we have been comparing numbers and using vocabulary of, 'greater than, fewer than and equal to'. 

This is quite a tricky concept to understand but was helped by a visit from the greedy crocodile who liked to eat big numbers!

Religious Education- This week we have been learning about the creation story and how Christians believe the world started. The children liked this story and asked lots of questions to our enquiry owl, 'Abbey'. 

Science- This week we have been learning about our senses and thinking about what we use particular parts of our bodies for. The children enjoyed asking questions and completing activities on this. 

Well done to all children in their first spelling test this week! The children tried really hard and achieved well. We are also very impressed with the number of children reading each and every night...keep it up!! New spellings for next week can be found in your child's home spelling books or alternatively , you can find them in the spellings section of our blog just above. 

Have a lovely weekend, 

The Year 1 Team

Year 1 PE Days

Just to confirm, as per the app message sent out last week, children will need to be in PE Kit (or their purple hoodies) on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Should this change at all throughout the year, parents will be notified. 

Thanks once again, 

Mr. Law & Mrs. Mears 

Well, what a fantastic week the children have had settling into Year 1. It’s not always an easy transition to make but the children have taken it all in their stride and are gradually settling in to their new school routine!

This week the children have had the opportunity to be reunited with their friends and access some provision activities in the classroom as well as accessing some whole class teaching.

We have been learning the classroom rules and becoming familiar with new routines. The children have all been superstars and we are really proud of how they have adjusted to their new classroom environments.

Next week, we are going to begin our daily phonics teaching and guided reading sessions. The children will also be coming home with a list of spellings on Friday 15^th September. These will be tested on the following Friday.  This will be the same each week.

The children will be allocated 2 reading books each week will be changed every Monday. The books will align with the Phonics sounds they have been learning the previous week to help with consolidation.  Please ensure to write in your child’s reading diary every time they read; thanks to all those who have already done so.

P.E. days for Year 1 are on Wednesday and Thursday and on these days the children will be expected to wear a full school P.E. kit including their purple hoody.

Thank you, 

The Year 1 team 

Thank You

On behalf of all the staff in Year 1, we would just like to say an enormous ‘Thank You!’ for all your generosity and kind gifts; they are really appreciated and we are all very grateful.

It has been a terrific year and only when we take a moment to reflect that we realise what we have achieved and how busy we have been. The children have been incredible throughout and it’s been a pleasure taking the children on trips to Bring Yer’ Wellies, the Church, Blackpool Zoo and also hosting several afterschool clubs for the children to attend and enjoy.

We’ve made Jewish ‘Challah’ Bread in RE, Fruit Salads and Victorian Beach Huts in DT; danced, run, jumped, thrown and caught in PE; we’ve learnt about animals, humans and plants in Science; discovered things to do in London and Blackpool in Geography; we also taught the children about New and Old Toys in History and much to the children’s shock, iPads haven’t always been around.

The children have worked so hard in English and Maths and we hope the amazing progress all the children have made is clear to see when you browse through their books that were sent home last week. As a year group, our Phonics Screening Test results were fantastic and the children need a big pat on the back for how hard they have worked with this. Going forward, all the children have been given targets, these are highlighted on their end of year reports, and we hope they work hard next year to meet and exceed these targets.

Finally, we would just like to say another big ‘Thank You!’ this time for all of your help and support with your child’s learning this year. The home learning has been a great success again this year and some of the project pieces have been amazing! It is also so reassuring to see so many children reading at home and evidencing this by writing in your Reading Diaries; we cannot stress the importance of reading enough so keep it up next year.

Have a well-earned and well-deserved Summer break; stay safe and enjoy your break with your families, whatever you are getting up to, and we will look forward to seeing all of your faces again in September (albeit next door in Year 2).

Well done again on a wonderful year – you’ve all been amazing!

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

Weekly Update 3rd-7th July

English- This week we have been writing a recount of our fabulous trip to Blackpool Zoo. The children have mainly been focusing on using joined up handwriting and using time word sentence openers. The children have produced some fabulous writing and are clearly showing that they are Year 2 ready!

Design and Technology- The children have been very busy planning, designing and creating their beach houses. They have been working hard to cut, stick, assemble and create patterns as part of the design process. They are very nearly finished now and once we have evaluated our end products the children will be able to bring them home to show off their masterpieces! 

Butterflies! 

We have absolutely loved watching the caterpillar to butterfly transformation process and it this week it was time to let our beautiful butterflies fly free. See video below to see the children in awe of this final stage! 

Moving up day! 

The children all had a brilliant time on their 'moving up day' with Mrs Cookson and Miss Franklin being super impressed with the children's behaviour and abilities! 

Weekly Update 19^th-24^th June

This week has been assessment week in school and the children have blown us away with all the progress they have made! The children have all been working really hard in Science this week where we have been learning about carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. We have also looked at the classification of different types of animals and we were astounded with the knowledge the children already had.

Caterpillars!

In class we have gained some new furry friends and they are very quickly growing. The warm weather has helped this growth and we think that very soon they will be making their cosy homes.

The children are very excited to see the transitional process as we have recently completed an English topic of the butterfly life cycle!

Blackpool Zoo

The children have had an amazing time at Blackpool Zoo this week! The children were fascinated by all the animals with a particularly the dinosaurs! See pictures below of the fun we had! 

Weekly Update: 12th - 16th June 

Phonics

This week the children have been really busy with their Phonics Screening tests and we would just like to say a huge "Thank You!" for all the help you've given your child in preparation for the tests this week. The children all tried their best and we are really proud of their efforts. The scores will be added to your child's end of year report. 

Sports Day 

On Thursday morning, the children took part in their annual Sports Day and it was great to see so many parents coming in to school to watch and cheer the children on. Many races were very tight and for next year, there has been talk of introducing VAR. Despite it being very hot, a nice change from avoiding rainstorms, the children still ran as fast as they could and had lots of fun in the process. Congratulations to everybody who took part on the day!

Weekly Update 22nd-26th May  ‘STEAM’ week!
This week the children have had lots of fun in school taking part in a ‘Kapla’ workshop. The aim of this workshop was to stack blocks to make cube structures. Each structure was put together and miraculously the end product was a castle. Our dinner hall has been slowly transforming into a village of building and animal creations and the children have loved seeing it all come together! We hope you enjoy the tour if can come down to school and see it this afternoon. 
 

In addition to this we have been programming Lego parts to help us create a cave car that lights up.  Our Lego kits came with a back story of a boy who needed a car that could light up in a dark cave. The children rose to challenge of following instructions on the I Pads to create their masterpieces. The final part was to program the parts which was so much fun as we got to change the colours on the front of vehicle! 
 

After what seems to be a very busy half term of learning we hope that the children and their families have a lovely break enjoying the sunshine which has been forecast! 
 

Many thanks for your ongoing support. 
 

The Year 1 team. 

Weekly Update 15th-19th May

English 

This week in English we have been doing our visual literacy story called 'Catch it', about a group of silly meerkats who spend their day worshipping a precious dragon fruit. Little did they know that a vicious vulture would swoop from the skies and snatch their beloved fruit from right under their little noses! The children have loved watching this story and enjoyed re-telling it using some new exciting vocabulary. Our focus of learning has been on using split diagraphs correctly in our writing. 

Maths 

This week in Maths we have begun our work on fractions; specifically looking at halves and wholes. The children have been learning the concept that there are 2 halves in a whole and using lots of practical resources to help support their learning. 

RE

This week we have been continuing our learning in Judaism and the Shabbat celebration which starts each Friday. In previous learning we have learned all about what special things we might find on a Shabbat table. To consolidate this, we had a go at plaiting some 'Challah Bread' which the children had lots of fun trying to do. We thought about symbolism and why they might do this and recognised that for it to be on a traditional 'Shabbat' table the bread would need to be blessed. See our pictures below! 

Weekly Update: 9^th – 12^th May

English

This week the children have been writing recounts of their school trip to Bring Yer’ Wellies last week. Across the four days in school, the children have used different fronted adverbials to write up different parts of their trip in order. The children also extended their sentences by adding conjunctions and tried to include a range of adjectives where appropriate. We paid close attention this week to the ‘ed’ suffix when writing our recounts; being used in words such as: walked, talked, watched, toasted, raced etc.

Maths

This week we have been looking once again at multiplication and division. We have been using lots of practical resources this week to arrange things into ‘equal groups’. For example, the children were given 12 counters and they were challenged to put them into equal groups; we then discussed the different ways we had been able to do this:

1 X 12 = 12      2 X 6 = 12   3 X 4 = 12    4 X 3 = 12 

Topic

Our new artist this term is Michael Brennand-Wood and we have been looking at some of his artwork online. We used iPads to carry out some research on our new artist and we learnt that Michael Brennand-Wood likes to use different textiles to construct this artwork. He also uses lots of ‘weaving’ in his art forms and we had our first go at weaving; we weaved pieces of card through a pre-cut template. The children found it tricky at first but soon got the hang of it.

Weekly Update 2-5th May

Coronation Day! 
What a fantastic day we all had celebrating the Kings Coronation! The children took part in lots of activities including making crowns, creating Union Jack flags and learning a special coronation song. We even got to perform our masterpiece in Mrs Webb’s Coronation assembly for the whole school! 

Year 1 School trip to Bring ‘yer’ Wellies

Wow, what a fantastic day both classes had on our class trips! The children were great ambassadors for the school showing exemplary behaviour throughout the day. They took part in lots of activities including map reading, pond dipping and much more! See photos below to see what a wonderful time we all had. 
 

Weekly Update: 20^th – 24^th March

English

This week in English, we have been looking at our new class novel, ‘Superworm’ by Julia Donaldson. The children spent the first couple of lessons thinking about Superworm the character, discussing his traits, his appearance and behaviours. The children enjoyed listening to the different tasks Superworm undertakes to save his friends and then the children constructed a letter, in the first person pretending to be Superworm, to ask for their help to save him. This persuasive piece of writing required the children to use conjunctions, such as ‘because’, to give reasons why their friends should help save him from the Wizard Lizard and his Evil Crow.

Maths

In Maths, we have been completing our unit on ‘Measure’ by looking specifically at capacity and volume. We have brought different containers into the classroom and compared volumes by filling them into water and then decanting them into other containers. Children used the correct mathematical terminology to compare the capacities, using: more-than, less-than, greatest, least etc. and then they were also able to describe the liquid content within the containers using the following terms: full, almost full, half full/empty, almost empty and empty.

Topic

This week in Geography we have been comparing Lostock Hall and London. The children explored some of the famous landmarks in London (ask them to name some of the ones they can remember) using Google Earth and then we sent the satellite over our school and Lostock Hall to compare how the two different places looked from the sky. We could see notable differences in green spaces (fields); London had a lot more sky scrapers and tall buildings, whilst Lostock Hall seemed to have more houses on the street; London had a major river running through it and in both places we could see streets, major roads and train tracks.

Science Week 2023

This week in school we have all been enjoying Science Week. We started the week by Zooming some other Year Once classes in London. They explained to us that they will be doing experiments linked to their ‘scientist of the week’ John Dunlop, the inventor who worked with rubber and developer of tyres.

Our Science topic linked to Plants, which is what we have been learning about this term. The children have made their own ‘cress heads’ and we discussed planting vegetables and creating some of the food we eat. We will continue to monitor our cress progress in the coming days and weeks.

We also started making posters to promote ‘Grow What You Eat’ and hopefully some of the children will take their new found enthusiasm to grow their own food home with them and get planting in their own gardens or allotments.

As a bit more of an incentive, we looked at a famous gardener (though, not exactly a ‘scientist) Gerald Stratford, who is a self-proclaimed ‘big veg grower’. Some of Gerald’s vegetables blew the children away and they admired his extra-long carrots and his 150lb pumpkin.

Please see some of the pictures of what we have been up to this week:

Weekly Update: 20^th - 24^th February

English

This week, we have start the famous fairy tale ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. The children had lots of fun listening to the story and bellowing “Fee, Fi, Fi, Fo, Fum!”. The children used role play to act out parts of the story and we had a ‘hot-seat’, where the children sat on the step and answered questions from the audience in the role of Jack.  On Friday, both classes had a very unexpected and equally unwelcomed visit by the Giant; tables had been flipped over, chairs toppled and books strewn all over the classroom. After consulting with the office, who checked the CCTV footage, we were able to work out that this chaos had been caused by the Giant. On learning that he was still on the loose in school, we quickly set about devising ‘Wanted’ posters, which included details about this dangerous fiend.

Maths

This week in maths we have been looking at measure. Looking at length and height, children have been learning about how we can measure things (using non-standard units of measure) and some of the fundamentals required to ensure we always measure correctly. The children have used terminology including ‘taller, tallest, shorter and shortest’ and similarly ‘longest and longer’ when comparing different items. Next week the children will be continuing their work with measure but will also start to look at standard units of measure, using a ruler.

Science

This week in science the children started their new unit on Plants. The children learnt the names of the different parts of a plant and used their own observational skills to pin-point these exactly on some real flowering plants that had been brought into the classroom. The children particularly enjoyed looking closely at the roots of the plant and in coming weeks, the children will be planting some seeds themselves and hopefully they will grow some of their own plants that they can label.

Spellings

The spellings for next week are now on the blog and hard copies will be printed out on Monday. There will also be a change of school books on Monday.

Weekly Update: 6th - 10th February 

English 

This week in English we have been continuing with Toys in Space by Mini Grey and the children thought about the character's (the toy's) feelings, as they were left outside for the night by their owner. The children shared different ideas before reading on to learn about Hoctopize and his enduring search for his long, lost companion Cuddles. The children used their own words to write their own ending for the story, using only pictures to interpret. The children were all challenged with including conjunctions in their writing and to add a suitable adjectives where possible. 

Maths 

In Maths this week, we have still been working on place value, exploring tens and ones before concluding the week by counting in two's and then in five's. The children used tens frames and counters to start adding two (starting from zero). The children have spent lots of time over the last couple of weeks using concrete resources, base ten, tens frames, counters, etc., to represent place value and work out different addition and subtraction equations. Feel free to challenge your child this half-term by seeing if they can answer correctly some of the following questions mentally: 

How many tens are in 34?

How many ones are in 17? What number comes next, 12, 14, 16, ___ ?

Can you tell me what two more or two less is from a given number (within 50)? 

Sports Coach 

This morning coach Andy from South Ribble School Sports Partnership came in to school and held two excellent sessions with both of our Year 1 classes and we had the opportunity to learn and play some different para' sports. The children played a host of different games and used resources that real para' athletes would also use; from sound-balls, to specially weighted equipment and some children also completed activities using a blindfold. The children had excellent fun and it was great to see games being played that are inclusive for all. Coach Andy was very complimentary of our children. 

Reading 

Should you require any reading material for the half-term holidays, online books have been allocated on Bug Club Phonics. Under your child's name tab, suitable books have been allocated that tie in with the phonics phase / phonemes and graphemes that they have been learning. 

Please have a wonderful and relaxing half-term. 

The Year1 Team.

Weekly Update: Monday 30^th – Friday 3^rd February 2023

Maths

This week in maths we have been using practical resources to further our understanding of place value. The children have used tens frames and dienes to recognise how totals can be partitioned and we have also explored this in relation to greater-than and less-than; revisiting symbols we learnt earlier in the year. Furthermore, this week we also had a practical workshop with HSBC Bank, where the children had the opportunity to count coins and some even used notes (up to £50!!!!); our visitors were really impressed with the children’s counting skills and concluded that we would have lots of sensible ‘savers’ when our children get a little bit older. Well done guys!

English

This week we have finished our unit on Traction Man. The children had their own chance to end the story of Traction Man exactly how they wanted it to end. All of the children read the last page of the book, where the Shark Scissors were ominously swimming towards the hapless Traction Man and Scrubbing Brush, and then had to write their own ending, as to what happened next. There was lots of creativity and mostly happy endings for the gallant Traction Man, though some did take a rather sinister twist. The children have really enjoyed reading and writing about Traction Man and the author Mini Grey, has other Traction Man titles should your child be keen to read more.

Topic

This week in history we have explored some old toys, which we have loaned from Lancashire Museum Service. The children played with old toys and discussed what they liked and disliked about these toys. They then compared these toys to the toys that they got for Christmas, with the general consensus being that older toys are ‘more boring’ and ‘less fun’, though the teachers definitely saw all of the children enjoying themselves playing with these toys. After we had played with these toys, we created a time line and started to fill it with toys from past to present. The children frowned in disbelief as they were told by their teachers that iPads and tablets did not exist when they were in Year 1.

Week commencing: Monday 23rd to Friday 27th January 

Maths

This week in Maths we have been working on place value within 50 and recognising tens and ones to help us. We have used number tracks, 100 squares and tens frames to help add and subtract within 50. Working practically, the children used tens and ones to make a given number, example:

46

The children would use 4 tens and 6 ones to represent this number; we also showed this on our wipe-boards, in apart-whole model as 40 and 6. In addition to our place value work, the children have also been learning to count in tens to 100 (both forwards and backwards).

English

In English this week we have written up the part of the story where Traction Man ends up with a ghastly knitted romper suit from Grandma at Christmas. We pretended to be Traction Man and wrote in speech bubbles, inferring the characters feeling and thoughts. Traction Man seemed really disgruntled with his new suit so a new mission was just what he needed. We read on as Traction Man helped save the spoons that fell off the kitchen side before we reached the end of the book, which left us with a real cliff hanger; Traction Man lounging with Scrubbing Brush, with evil shark-like scissors approaching behind him. The children then acted this scene and decided how the story might end; next week they will write this up.

Poetry Performance

We would just like to say a big thank you for all of your support and we sincerely hope you enjoyed the toy-themed poetry performance on Monday. The children worked really hard to remember their lines, learn the songs and master the actions. It is not easy to perform in front of such a large audience and it can be quite nerve-wracking, especially with being so young, but the children were amazing and we are so proud of them. Well done Year 1!

Weekly Update: 16^th – 20^th January 2023

Maths

This week in maths, we have been looking at related number facts when completing addition and subtraction problems within 20. When we can recognise different number relations, it makes solving equations much easier. E.g. If we know that 3 + 5 = 8 then we can easily spot that 13 + 5 = 18.

We have spent a lot of time this year learning all of our number bonds to 10. Confidently knowing these equations has helped us to learn our number bond to 20 (with the addition of an extra 10 to one of our parts). E.g.

We know that 6 + 4 = 10, so when we add a ten to 6, it will become 16 + 4 = 20; similarly, we can add our ten to either part (6 can become 16, or 4 can become 14), which, when added to the other part will make 20.

English

In English this week, we have read the next mission of Traction Man, which entailed our protagonist saving 3 buried dollies who had fallen foul to the Evil Spade. The children rejoiced as Traction man again proved to be the hero of the hour, ‘all in a day’s work for Traction man!’. The children then acted out this scene, deciding on character roles from Scrubbing Brush, the Evil Spade, the three trapped Dolls and the brave Traction Man.

The following day, the children rewrote this mission in their English books and were tasked with including a variety of different adjectives and conjunctions.  

Topic - Science

In Science we have been looking at different Everyday Materials and on Monday afternoon we went outside, despite the cold, to look for different materials we could see from our infant playground. The children took a tally chart out with them and working in pairs, the children marked off different materials and how many of each they could find.

Once back inside the warmth of the classroom, the children looked for different materials in the classroom to add to their tally charts. The children really loved exploring and searching the school grounds and it was amazing to see how many random things they actually found and were then able to identify the material they were made from.  

Weekly Update: 9^th – 13^th January

Maths

This week, we have revisited addition and subtraction using number lines and have extended to working within 20, as opposed to work within 10 in previous units. Using number lines to support their learning, the children have begun to ‘cross 10’, with both addition and subtraction equations; an example of crossing 10 would be: 12 – 4 = 8 or 8 + 4 = 12. The children have also started to familiarise themselves with the number bonds to 20, using the number bonds they already recognise to make 10; example: 2 + 8 = 10 so we know that 2 + 18 = 20. Across the week, we have also been noticing and pointing out ‘tens’ and ‘ones’ when writing out equations and our answers.

English

This week in English, we have been looking at the story, Traction Man by Mini Grey. First of all, the children made predictions about that they thought the book would be about, using only an image of the front cover. After reading the opening pages of the story, the children were then tasked to find adjectives that had been used to describe the superhero. After finding ones that had been used in the story, the children then thought of adjectives of their own, to describe both his appearance and his character/attributes, which we then used to compose a full bank of words that we could use later on in the week when writing our character description. The children really enjoyed writing about their new favourite superhero and then we finally read all about Traction Man’s first mission – in the kitchen sink!

Topic: ICT

This week in ICT, the children have been using PurpleMash to create a story / moving picture. Using the in-app program ‘2Create A Story’, the children used the program to draw either a crocodile or a snake, with the green-scaled paint applicator, before writing a sentence underneath using the keypad. Once they had completed this, the children ‘brought their images to live’ by adding sound, movement or both to their slide. The children explored the different effects by trialing them; the effects included sliding to the side, going up or down, fading in or out, spinning or wobbling; sounds included clapping, animal noises or musical instruments. The children then learnt how to save their ‘project’ and we explained how we can revisit saved ICT work at any point in the future.  

Weekly Update: Tuesday 3rd to Friday 6th January 

Welcome back and Happy New Year – 2023!

English

This week in English, we have written a recount of our Christmas Day in a letter to Santa. The children really enjoyed sharing their days with the class, from what they ate (lots of pigs in blankets and not too many sprouts!) to the toys that Santa left. The children used excellent adjectives to describe their day and the way they felt opening their presents.

Maths

This week in maths we have revisited addition and looked more closely at adding numbers together with a focus on tens and ones. An example being:

If we know that 3 + 4 = 7

Then when we are presented with 13 + 4 =, we should be able to recognise that the ‘ones’ are still the same, so we will still have 7 ones but we now need to add the 1 ten (in 13). So our answer will now be 17.

Adding, by recognising tens and ones, will make larger calculations much easier.

Pantomime

On Tuesday morning, the children were treated to a wonderful pantomime showing of Robin Hood that was staged in the hall. The children loved shouting back at the evil Sheriff of Nottingham and cheered when Robin Hood and the Maid Marian got married at the end. The band of merry men kept the children entertained with their humorous endeavours and even some of the teachers managed to get on stage and joined in with the dancing to Gangnam Style, Baby Shark and several other classics linked to Robin Hood. It was lots of fun and there were definitely some croaky throats after all the shrieks of “he’s behind you” and “oh no you’re not”.  

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year !

And just like that, we have reached the end of another half-term and when learning resumes, we will be in 2023! The children have worked so hard this year and are certainly ready for a hard-earned break (just like the teachers!).

When we come back in the New Year, we will have lots of exciting things going on so make sure you fill up on plenty of festive food and get plenty of sleep in preparation for a very busy Spring term.

It would be remiss to not mention the tragedy that has befallen the families of Solihull over the weekend; can we please echo the safety warnings that have subsequently followed regarding open water and ice in this current cold snap that we are experiencing. Having plenty of fun is always important but staying safe is absolutely imperative!

Lastly, as a Year 1 staff, we would like to take this opportunity to say a very meaningful and heartfelt ‘Thank You’ for all your kindness and generosity this week. We have been overwhelmed by your thoughtful gifts, especially given the current economic climate; we really appreciate them all.

Please do have a wonderful Christmas and fingers crossed the big man from the North Pole delivers on all of your wishes.

Thanks once again and see you all in the New Year!

The Year 1 Team

Weekly Update: 5^th – 9^th December

English

This week in English, we have been continuing with our visual literacy unit of ‘Man on the Moon’ the John Lewis advert from 2015. The children practiced writing questions, with the introduction and teaching of the question mark, using openers: when, what, why, how and where? The children thought up many different questions that they would like to ask the man on the moon.

Once the children had written their questions, we pretended that we were all in the same predicament as the little girl, in that we couldn’t get our letter to the moon. We then read, ‘Seven Ways to Catch the Moon’ by Mark Robertson, which provided the children with many imaginative ways that they would be able to transport themselves/their letters to the moon. Once they had their ideas, the children independently wrote their ‘plan’ on how to get it to the man.

Maths

This week, the children have been looking at both 2D and 3D shapes. The children looked at 2D shapes and explored how many sides the different shapes had; we then explored their properties, a square has four sides of equal length etc. which will help us identify a ‘square’, as opposed to a ‘rectangle’. We then looked at different triangles and learnt that triangles can come in different ways, sides can be the same length, some have a right angle and some have all three sides that are a different length.

Looking at 3D shapes, the children used concrete resources to hold and explore the following shapes: cylinders, pyramids, spheres, cubes, cuboids and cones. The children started to count faces, vertices and edges. Once the children became familiar with recognising these shapes, we started looking around the classroom for day-to-day objects that fall within these categories; a can of coke is a cylinder; a football is a sphere; the sharpened tip of a pencil is a cone etc.

Topic

This week in DT, the children have finally created their fruit kebabs that they designed previously. The children chose their favourite fruits and placed these onto a skewer and then ate them. After eating them, the children evaluated their fruit kebabs and evaluated what they liked, what they didn’t like and what they would change if they were to do another fruit kebab in the future. We were very proud of the children who jumped out of their comfort zone, to try fruits that they have never tried before. The fruit kebabs proved to be a nice afternoon ‘desert’ following on from our Christmas Dinner earlier in the day. 

Getting into the Christmas Spirit! 

This week the children have had their Christmas Dinner in the hall. We enjoyed Turkey with all the trimmings or vegetarian alternative, a snowman biscuit and listened to some festive songs. We had a brilliant time filling our tummies and singing along to the songs we recognised. 

Weekly Update: 28^th November – 2^nd December

English

This week in English, we have started a new visual literacy unit on ‘Man on the Moon’, the John Lewis Christmas advert from 2015. The children watched the advert and we discussed characters feelings before writing a prediction on how the man got to the moon and why he might still be there. We also paused the film as that man sat pensive on the bench; the children considered what the man might be thinking about and we wrote some of these thoughts down. Some excellent ideas were shared and many thought the man might be sad because he is missing his family but most of the children thought he might be sad because he had no presents to open.

Maths

This week we have been revisiting addition and subtraction and applying these statements to different part-whole models within 20. The children have spent more time working with concrete resources this week to create different number stories to show examples of partitioning, adding and subtracting. An example of this:

The children all had 10 counters each and could create any number of their choice; they could pretend that their counters were pizzas, for example.

10 – 7 = 3

“I had TEN pizzas and was really hungry so I ate 7 of them. Now I only have 3 left.”

4 + 6 = 10

“Tommy had 4 pepperoni pizzas and Henry had 6 cheese pizzas. All together they had 10 pizzas.”

Church Trip

On Tuesday morning, both classes went to St James’ Church in Lostock Hall to enhance their understanding of the Christian Nativity Story. Father Matthew kindly retold the story of the birth of Baby Jesus before opening the floor to questions. He explained what happens in different areas of the church and dispelled the theory that he stands and “whacks with a hammer” at the pulpit (we think there might have been a slight misunderstanding between judges, auctioneers, priests and their respective roles). Jokes aside, it was a lovely trip and the children really enjoyed listening to the story and answered some excellent questions. Furthermore, the children were so well behaved and were a credit to the school. Well done Year 1. 

Weekly Update (21^st – 25^th November)

This week the children have been completing termly assessments in Maths (Arithmetic & Reasoning), Phonics, of their Year 1 Key Words, a Salford Reading Assessment and made a start on their independent writing assessment. The children have worked so hard and have applied lots of what they have learnt so far in Year 1; we could not be prouder of their efforts.

Due to the strenuous nature of the testing this week, the children’s spelling test (for 25^th November) will be put back to next week (Friday 2^nd December) with the same set of spellings being tested.

Whilst we have been really busy this week with assessments, we have still had plenty of fun in school this week and Monday afternoon’s World Cup Party will hopefully live long in the memory; lots of staff could recall watching England play against Brazil in 2002, which they watched in school, – some as children, some as staff!

In Art this week, the children have started designing their Christmas decorations. The children will be using clay and paint to create their Christmas tree decorations, these will be completed before we break up for the end of term and the children should hopefully be able to add these to their trees at home. Again, in the Christmas spirit, we have created our personalised Christmas cards, which will soon be available to order with details to be provided in coming weeks.

Next week the children will be visiting Lostock Hall St. James’ Church to learn about Christianity and the Nativity Story, which they started last week. The slips that have been sent out will need signing and bringing back in to school on Monday 28^th. 

Weekly Update ( 14^th - 18^th November)

English

This week we have been learning about the famous moon landing in 1969. The children had great fun taking on the role of Neil Armstrong in an interview scenario. We researched the moon landing and found out lots of interesting facts which we were fascinated by. We ended the week writing up a detailed factual piece all about the event. We have been trying really hard to include lots of fantastic vocabulary in our writing whilst ensuring accurate sentence structures.

Maths

This week in maths we have been comparing number statements. We have familiarised ourselves with the addition and subtraction symbols including reintroducing the ‘equal to’ sign. Although this is a very tricky concept to understand the children have been working super hard and have impressed us with their perseverance and determination.

Athletics

Our children had a great time this week taking part in a variety of athletics taught by Coach Andy from the South Ribble Sports Development team. We were taught lots of new skills so we could perform our best as a team in relay races!

RE

Over the past couple of weeks we have been talking about special gifts we might receive during times of celebration. This week we listened to the Christmas story and talked about how Christians believe that Jesus was a special gift from God to the world. The children absolutely loved acting out the story and taking on character roles.

Weekly Update (4th- 11th November 2022)

English

This week in English, the children have started a new class novel, The Darkest Dark, by Chris Hadfield. On Monday, the children just looked at one of the pictures in the book, where the young Chris was sat on his bed, and the children had to write a prediction about the book from what they could see. The children could see that Chris’ bedroom was littered with space paraphernalia and it was fairly obvious that the book would be about space. As the week went on, we read up to the point in the story where Chris was struggling to get to sleep so as a class, we spent a few days writing some instructions, using time conjunctions, to help Chris get to sleep; from firstly having a bath, to then brush his teeth and finally having a cuddle before getting in to bed.

Maths

In Maths we have been using number lines to help with our subtraction equations and we have been revisiting number families and looking at ways to present these in different equations. As an example, using the numbers 9, 4, & 5, we are able to create the following set of equations:

4 + 5 = 9       5 + 4 = 9

9 = 4 + 5       9 = 5 + 4

9 – 5 = 4       9 – 4 = 5

4 = 9 – 5       5 = 9 – 4

Topic

In Science this week the children have been learning all about seasonal change. We talked about different things we do in the year and how the temperature and weather changes at different times throughout the year. Looking at the transition between seasons, Autumn to Winter and then Spring to Summer, we thought about the clothes that we wear during different seasons. The children are very excited by the prospect of snow in Winter, and having to wrap up warm, whilst the teachers seemed more excited by the Summer sunshine.

Remembrance Day

Today the children in Year 1 joined all of the other classes to pay our respects on this Remembrance Day. The children observed a beautiful moment of silence before sitting quietly through a poignant rendition of The Last Post. Can we also take this opportunity to thank all parents who have kindly donated to this year’s Poppy Appeal, in the form of purchasing snap bands, wrist bands, reflectors and stick on poppies.

Weekly Update – 31^st October – 4^th November  

English

This week in English, the children have been writing instructions for Bonfire Night. With Bonfire Night on Saturday we discussed all the things that we can do to make Bonfire Night as much fun as possible, whilst keeping safe at all times. The children watched videos on ‘Sparkler Safety’ and then created a list of things we can do to ensure we can enjoy using sparklers safely. In their writing, the children also used instructional sentence starters (or sequence adverbs) such as: Firstly, Next, Then and Finally.

Maths

In Maths this week, the children have been using their Part-Whole Models to help with subtraction. We started the week off by using ‘crossing out’ as a method of subtraction before moving on to using their part whole models. Using counters, the children could create a ‘whole’ of their choice and then subtract a ‘part’ from this; remaining would create the second ‘part’. From this we could then start to see different ways to subtract from a given whole. The children then started to create different equations that matched with their Part-Whole Model.  

E.g. 10 is the Whole; 7 is a part; 3 is a part.

7 + 3 = 10       10 = 7 + 3     10 – 3 = 7

3 + 7 = 10       10 = 3+ 7     10 – 7 = 3

Mental Health Workshop

On Thursday morning, the children had a visitor from Open Education who delivered a workshop on Online Safety and Mental Health. The children were introduced to lots of different animal puppets who all had their different challenges and the children learnt all about how the different animals coped with their issues and discussed some of the strategies that they use to help them feel better.

Topic

In Topic this week, we have looked at old aerial photographs of Lostock Hall and compared them to Lostock Hall today (2022). We looked at similarities and differences and noted some of these. We could still see the railway line, certain roads and fields. The major difference was the amount of houses and roads we could now see in Lostock Hall. The children loved using Google Earth to walk around the streets of Lostock Hall; getting particularly excited when they saw KFC and Kings Castle deserts. 

Weekly Update: Monday 17th October- Friday 21st October 

This week Year 1 have taken part in 'Life Skills' week. The children have been taking part in lots of exciting activities which have helped build skills to help them in everyday life. Our 'KiddiCook' workshop was fantastic where we made some chocolate orange overnight oats and developed our vocabulary for measurements. We hope all the children's creations tasted as delicious as they looked.

We had a 'dog safety' assembly where the children learned about how they should behave around unfamiliar dogs which was very informative and provoked some interesting conversations in the classroom.

We watched some stories of different scenarios where children might have needed a good friend to support them in a time of need or loneliness and role played some different  ways we could help. The children thoroughly enjoyed this activity and highlighted the kind and caring nature of our children. 

We also took part in some mindfulness activities which helped us to reflect on all the super learning we have done this term and how much progress we have made. We talked about being proud of ourselves for all our hard work!

Well done to all the children for a super first half term! We hope all the children have a well earned rest and you manage to spend some quality family time together.

Weekly Update: Monday 10th - Friday 14th October 

English 

This week in English, the children have been looking at word categories and have been identifying nouns, verbs and adjectives. Using the theme of 'Space' the children worked together to build a word bank of adjectives and verbs that linked to a telescope, a rocket, an astronaut, stars and an alien. Using these adjectives, nouns and verbs the children were able to create a poem at the end of the week. Here are some of the excellent lines we found: 

Messy aliens talking. 

Brave astronauts floating. 

Shiny rockets zooming. 

Maths 

In Maths this week, we have been looking at part-whole models. The children were able to look at a specific number, which they put into the 'whole' circle of the model, sometimes using counters, and they were able to partition this number into two parts. With lots of different amounts, the children began to see that most numbers could be partitioned in different ways. As the week progressed, we revisited our number bonds to 10 and then we began to look at different fact families using the part-whole model.

Using the part-whole model, we could then write out the following addition equations (e.g. 8 as the whole number, with parts being 3 and 5):

5 + 3 = 8 

3 + 5 = 8

8 = 3 + 5 

8 = 5 + 3

Topic 

This week in Geography we have looked at physical and human features in the world around us. The children thought about their journeys in to school and about some of the things that they see on the way. We then asked the children about some of the differences, between a hill and a shop for example, and why they were different. This lead our discussion into some of the natural wonders of the world, from mountains, cliffs and rivers and how these are different to some of the wonderful man-made creations we see in our every day lives. Children then drew pictures of different physical features and human features and were able to put them in the correct category and explain why. 

Weekly Update - Monday 3rd - Friday 7th October 

English

This week in English, the children have created their own ‘phonic aliens’. The children looked at a variety of different aliens before designing their own and drawing them in their books. Once the children had drawn and coloured their aliens, they began to look at the features of their own alien and thought about creating some independent sentences to describe them. The children also really enjoyed naming their aliens; to do this, the children used phonics phase mats and put random phonemes together but they had to remember to use a capital letter, as we always should when writing a name.

Maths

In Maths this week, we have been looking at place value again and have started to use number lines to support our learning. The children have been able to use counters on a number line and then count forwards or backwards, depending on whether we are finding one more or one less. The children also looked at finding two more and two less and we began to write these challenges down as an equation. Seeing how the numbers relate to each other, e.g. starting on number 8 moving two spaces forward and finishing on 10 on the number line, actually shows us that 8 + 2 = 10; the inverse being 10 – 2 = 8.

Topic

In RE this week, the children have learnt about the creation story in Christianity. The children were taught about what Christians believe God created and the order in which he created the world. The children were shown a video on the creation story and then they drew pictures to show what God had created on each specific day. Ask your child if they can remember what Christians believe God did on the seventh day.

Weekly Update (26th - 30th September)

English 

This week the children have written a non-chronological report about the Gruffalo. the children constructed independent sentences that described the Gruffalo's appearance, his habitat, his diet and also finished with a 'did you know?' question about the Gruffalo. On Friday, the children also looked at the poem, Aliens from Planet Trouble, and they created actions that could accompany the poem. 

Maths 

In Maths, the children have been comparing objects and numbers all week. Using key mathematical vocabulary, such as 'greater', 'larger', 'less' and 'fewer' the children were able to compare different numbers and amounts. We introduced the 'crocodile's mouth', which we use to eat the largest number. In addition to comparing greater and less-than, the children also learnt about the equal symbol and how sometimes we can have amounts that are the same. 

PE

In PE this week the children carried on with their scheme of lessons on Superatato. Using Supertato as our familiar text, the children had to carefully balance their bean bag, which was actual a pretend pack of frozen pees, safely around the hall / supermarket. Not only did they have to balance the pees, they had to jump safely with them and throw them in to designated safe areas of the supermarket. Luckily we all survived the Evil Pea this time around.  

Weekly Update (19th - 23rd September)

English

This week in English the children have been differentiating between 'Fiction' and 'Non-Fiction' books. Looking at the different types, the children are now able to recognise some of the features associated with the different text types. Later on in the week, the children looked at a text about Jellyfish and they attempted to label some of the different features they found in the 'Jellyfish Factfile', from subheadings to a 'Did You Know?' section. 

Maths

In Maths this week, we have been continuing with our work on place value (Within 10). The children have been using number lines, tens frames and 100 squares to explore 'one more' and 'one less'. We will start to use this deeper understanding to create number families in coming weeks. In addition to our work on 'one more' and 'one less', the children have also been familiarising themselves with the number bonds to 10. 

Geography

In class we have been creating our own 'messy maps', which represent an aerial view of our classrooms. We spotted significant areas in the classroom, such as tables and reading areas, and then added these onto our maps using different classroom items; a counter might represent a chair and a rubber might represent a book shelf. In addition to our messy maps, we also discussed North, East, South and West and used these terms to navigate around the classroom. 

Weekly Update (12th - 16th September) 

English 

This week the children have been designing their own forest creature that could feature in the story of The Gruffalo; the children drew their creatures (worms, snails, bugs, snakes etc.) and then attempted to write a sentence about their animal creations. In addition to their writing, the children also created birthday cards for the Gruffalo, whose birthday we all celebrated on Friday afternoon by having a little 'party'. The children watched the animated version of the Gruffalo whilst nibbling on popcorn and eating owl ice-cream. 

Maths 

In Maths this week, the children have been looking at different representations of values (within 10). We have used counters and tens frames, to accurately count different objects. Using our tens frames, we began to familiarise ourselves with the number bonds to 10. We will be exploring more Place Value next week. 

Reading

Reading books and reading diaries were sent home this week. Since starting in Year 1, the children have all completed some mini phonics and reading assessments and the books that they are provided each week, should reflect where your child is currently at on their phonics journey. As we continue progress at different stages, books levels will also continue to change as we go along; some weeks you may find the books over challenging and some weeks the books may appear slightly easier. 

Of the two books that will now be going home weekly, one will specifically link with the phonics sound(s) that we will be learning weekly and the other decodable book is a little more challenging; feel free to share this reading with your child and maybe take turns with sentences or pages. In school, we will also be reading daily and there will be another book read by the children with a member of staff, which will stay in school, that will link specifically with your child's phonics learning. 

In the coming weeks, we will also be assigning an additional book online for your child to access; log in details will be provided in due course and your class teacher will allocate the appropriate reading material for your child. Furthermore, you will find a 'Reading Eggs' log in stuck in to the front of your child's reading diary. This app, which can be accessed online, on an iPad or smartphone, is an excellent way for your child to consolidate their phonics understanding. We use this app quite a lot in school and the children seem to really enjoy the child friendly games (they don't realise they are working and learning!). 

We are encouraging children to read EVERYDAY and we are especially grateful for the support of parents and carers who continue to read with their child daily, it benefits your child's learning tremendously. Whenever you read with your child, please input this into their reading diary. Both 1M and 1L have different reading challenges ongoing and teachers will be checking who has read each night; awards will be given for regular reading at home. 

Thank you again for your continued support. 

Spellings 

This year we will be having a spelling test on a Friday afternoon in class. Spellings will not be sent home but they will be posted on this blog each Friday. The children are currently in three different phonics groups (1L and 1M are merged) and the spellings for each group can be found below:

Mr. Law's group 

whip

wham 

whizz

when 

which 

dolphin 

graph 

photo

photograph

phonics

phantom 

Mrs. Mears' group 

start 

bark

fork 

snort

burn 

splurt

town 

crown 

coin 

foil 

Mrs. Cross & Mrs. Williams' group

chomp 

chop

ship

fish 

thin 

ring 

Your child should know which group they are in but if they don't, please don't hesitate to ask your class teacher . 

Welcome to Year 1 

The children have settled in to life in Year 1 really well. Over the last week or so, the children have been exploring their new classrooms, coming to terms with their new routines and ultimately settling in and becoming comfortable in Year 1, as it is considerably different to Reception. Despite only being back for little more than a week, the children have been ever-so busy; writing, drawing, counting, reading and revising their phonics. After catching up with our Phonics this week, and completing some mini-assessments,  the children will receive their weekly reading books from Monday next week. We will add more about this to the blog in weeks to come. 

English 

This week in English we have been looking at the Julia Donaldson story 'The Gruffalo'. The children were very familiar with the story and were able to predict what was about to happen next. Using this text, we were able to label the Gruffalo's body parts and begin to introduce some adjectives into our writing. Next week, we will be looking at 'The Gruffalo's Child'.

Ju Jitsu 

All of our Year 1 children enjoyed a taster session into Ju-Jitsu this morning. With professional instructors from Nippon Ju-Jitsu, our children learnt some basic self-defense moves and put them in to practice. They also incorporated some Ju-Jitsu into fun games at the end of the session. Ju-Jitsu is a club that runs every Friday afterschool and is very popular with the children; there will be a leaflet about the club in your child's reading pack with more information.  

Thank You and Goodbye!

Can we first start of by saying an enormous, 'Thank You!' for all of the kind gifts that we have received today? All of the staff have been blown away by your kindness and generosity and we are so grateful for all of your thoughtful gifts and kind wishes. 

We have had an amazing year and we have been amazed by the effort and dedication all of the children have put in this year. Given the tumultuous last couple of years, it has been remarkable how well all of the children settled in Year 1 and pushed on to achieve such fantastic results this year; we are incredibly proud of them. 

It feels strange summarising the year, as it only seems like yesterday that this academic year began. We have squeezed so much into the year, with trips to Blackpool Zoo, the Library and Bring Yer' Wellies; we performed our Performance Poetry Assembly (I still wake up in the middle of the night singing the London Rap); we had Sports Day for the first time in years; we caught up on missed learning, we embraced new learning and we did it all with enthusiasm and big smiles upon our faces. 

We could not be prouder of this group of children and we wish them all the very best for Year 2.

Please have a wonderful summer break (though keep up the reading!) and please do enjoy yourselves and most importantly, stay safe and well. 

Thank you once again, 

The Year 1 Team 

Friday 8th July- Weekly Update 

We were extremely lucky this week to watch one of our class butterflies emerging from its cocoon. It was so lovely to be able to see this as we have watched them grow from tiny caterpillars. We have watched them with awe and wonder and cared for them along the way! We released the butterflies yesterday and they are currently flying in the great outdoors enjoying the lovely weather! 

Here is the link to watch this incredible transformation!  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiXVUgIG1o8

On Monday 11th July, you will already be aware that Year 1 are taking part in their performance poetry assembly and we look forward to seeing you all there. Please can we remind you to ensure your child comes to school with a cap and some sunglasses for a special performance. 

The children have been working extremely hard in preparation for this. Below you will find the links to a couple of songs if you would like to have a practice. 

The London Rap:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFndDB8DyWw&t=2s

Platinum Jubilee Song

Who can you see on every penny?

Who graces every little stamp?

Who can you see on every twenty?

Who has a royal flag?

Who has a crown of gold and rubies?

Who loves to ride upon a horse?

Who has a soft spot for a corgi?

Queen Elizabeth of course!

Jubilees we’ve had a few

Silver, golden, diamond too

This one’s special, you will see

Platinum Jubilee!     X2

Who’s been a true and loyal servant?

Who do we see on Christmas Day?

Who loves the church and her family?

Who gives the best royal wave?

Who Troops the Colours every birthday?

Who’s travelled all around the globe?

Who is the longest reigning monarch?

Who wears a crown and robe?

Chorus x2

Remember- practice makes perfect!

Sampler Day

On Wednesday 6th July the children will take part in a sampler day, where they get to experience their new learning environments and teachers. We are extremely excited to meet the new children coming into Year 1 and have an action packed day of fun and learning with them. Please see our 'Meet the Teacher' PowerPoint below to find out what our classrooms have to offer and more about the expectations as your child transitions into Year 1. 

At the end of the school day, please ensure your children know where you will be stood so they can confidently find you and the teachers can identify who you are. 

Many thanks, 

Mrs Mears, Mr Law and the Year 1 Team.

Weekly Update: 27^th June – 1^st July

English

This week in English we have been looking at our new class novel, ‘Hello Lighthouse’ written by Sophie Blackall. We have read the story and this week we have retold the part where the lighthouse keeper rows out in a terrible storm to save some sailors who are stranded in the water after their ship has crashed into the rocks; we have discussed the purpose of a lighthouse and the different jobs a lighthouse keeper has; we finished by writing a journal entry in the Lighthouse Keeper’s Log Book.

Maths

In Maths this week we have been looking at money. The children have been learning to recognise different coins and notes and towards the end of the week, the children started to make certain amounts using the coins they had. It was excellent to see the children creating different totals on different ways. As an extra challenge, we specified how many coins we wanted the children to use.

E.g. Make 63p using 6 coins = 50p, 5p, 5p, 1p, 1p, 1p or 20p, 20p, 20p, 1p, 1p, 1p

If you go shopping this weekend and end up with any change in your purses or wallets, pass this to your child and see if they can identify all of the coins and maybe add them up.

Dance from the Heart

On Tuesday morning, the whole school went outside to perform this year’s Dance from the Heart 2022 routine. Whilst the whole routine was a bit of a challenge to remember (just ask the staff!), the children had a great time following the dance leader and perform the whole 5-minute routine. Unfortunately, ‘Dance from the Heart’ has been cancelled over the last couple of years due to the pandemic, so it was lovely to see every child in school outside all together dancing to the same tune with big smiles on faces. A big thanks to all involved from South Ribble School Sports for their support.

Weekly Update: 20^th – 24^th June

English

This week in English we have been looking at postcards and their features. We have pretended to be ‘Little Phil’ from our latest class story, ‘Ugly Sharkling’ and written a postcard to our mum or dad and told them all about our day at the seaside and adventure with Norman, the shark with no teeth. The children also copied our school address and we reminded them about using capital letters for place names.

Maths

This week the children have been learning all about telling the time. This is always a tricky concept but the children have worked exceptionally hard to understand telling the time to both ‘o’clock’ and to ‘half-past’ using a 12-hour analogue clock. The children are becoming much more familiar with the different hands: second, minute and hour.

Topic

This week in Science we have been looking at grouping animals into the following categories: mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish. The children used their investigative skills to look at different animals and see where they would fit best. There were definitely some tricky ones (particularly between the amphibians and reptiles) and some misconceptions about birds (whether a bird is a bird if it can’t fly). The children also found out that we, as humans, are actually mammals. 

STEAM Week (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths)

We have also had fun this week celebrating creative arts in school. The children had an objective to create art using nature. We started by collecting natural objects from the outdoor area. Using these, we printed the patterns from the objects onto clay. Our special visitors are going to come back next week to finalise our creations by putting them in a kiln. See pictures below: 

Today 1M went on a trip to Lostock Hall Library. We had an introduction to the library session and enjoyed some story telling. We were so pleased as we got to bring a book home to look at with our families. Please ensure that if your child has brought home a book that it is returned by the collection date and that it is taken care of. Thanks to the amazing staff at the library for welcoming the children so nicely!

See slideshow below: 

Weekly Update- Friday 17th June

It was wonderful to have all parents and children together for somewhat of a 'normal' sports day once again. It was great fun seeing the children competing against each other whilst having a great time. See slideshow below for some of the highlights. 

Year 1 Update- Friday 10^th June

We hope you all had a fantastic half term! As usual, the children have returned to school well rested, a super positive attitude and ready for our new learning this term.

Phonics Screening

Well done to all the children who have completed their Phonics Screening Assessments this week. We are so proud of everyone for all their hard work and progress they have made this year in Phonics.

Punch and Judy

Today we have been so lucky to watch a ‘Punch and Judy’ show in school. The children were very excited and contributed enthusiastically throughout the show whilst maintaining high standards of behaviour. Afterwards, we took part in a workshop where the children were able to interact with the puppets and learn a little about the history of Punch and Judy. 

Lastly, please ensure your child is wearing their full PE kit on Tuesday 14^th June (next Tuesday), as it is our KS1 sports day in the morning. The children have been having great fun practicing for this and are looking forward to the big event!

Weekly Update: 23rd - 26th May

English

This week we have been writing instructions about how to look after caterpillars and if we do this correctly, they may turn into beautiful butterflies. We have watched the metamorphosis happen in class live but watched the instructional video we had been sent when our kits arrived. We broke the writing into 6 parts and started by arranging them in the correct order before choosing appropriate sentence starters to create our own independent instructions. The children now all know how to care for our butterflies (currently at the chrysalis stage) and hopefully they will see several fluttering butterflies when we return back to school after half term.

Maths

This week in maths we have been recapping on previous learning and consolidating our understanding of shape (both 2D + 3D); we have had practical sessions on subtraction and revisited place value and reminded ourselves of ‘more than’, ‘less than’ and ‘equal to’. When we return after the holidays we will be spending more time on Place Value and this will extend to number work beyond 50 and within 100.

Jubilee

On Wednesday 25^th May we had a day of celebration in school to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II and her 70 years on the throne. The children have designed and created patches that will be put together to create bunting, we have coloured many quintessential British ‘things’ (tea pots, letter boxes, London busses, Union Jack’s etc.) and we even attempted to sing the national anthem, as part of our singing assembly. The children in Year 1 also created and coloured their own crowns, which they wore throughout the day along with their ‘red, white and blue’ non-uniform.

Thank You

As we reach another half term, with only one more to go this academic year, can we once again extend our thank you for all of you support again this term? The children have worked really hard and have certainly earnt their break. When we come back after the break we will be starting our Phonics Screening, so obviously we would encourage you all to keep reading daily or as often as you can. Have a wonderful break and we shall see you all soon for a very exciting Summer 2 term.

Thanks again,

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

Weekly Update- Monday 16th -Friday 20^th May

English

This week we have continued to watch our visual literacy clip, ‘Catch it’. The children have loved investigating this and discussing what the characters are thinking and feeling.  We have looked at some examples of diary entries and can now understand that these must be written in the first person and also in the past tense. The children have worked extremely hard and completed a superb finished piece which reflected the success criteria for their writing.

Maths

This week we have been learning about directional language; left right, above, below, forwards and backwards. We found finding our left from our right was most tricky! We learnt that if you can create an L shape using your fingers and thumb then this is your left hand and the other must be right. The children had lots of fun directing each other around the classroom using all their new maths vocabulary.

Geography

This week we have been looking at different modes of transport that we might see in Blackpool. It was really good fun to watch a video of Blackpool from a webcam and see all the different types of transport go by. We even saw some trams and horses which was super exciting! We used a Tally chart to record our information and then discussed which was the most and least popular.

Outdoor Classroom Day

We were especially lucky to have had a beautiful day for our outdoor classroom day! We took part in lots of different activities including; weaving baskets, doubling and halving numbers using practical materials, reading and Jubilee art. We are so lucky to have such beautiful surroundings to facilitate our outdoor learning!  Take a look at our pictures…

Weekly Update: 9th - 13th May 

English

This week in English, we have started a new visual literacy unit, using the clip 'Catch It', which can be found on YouTube. The clip sees the evil vulture steal the dragon fruit from the onlooking meerkats; a chase ensues before vulture loses possession of the fruit, dropping it after hurtling into the cliff face before the meerkats make off with the fruit (all very rugby-esque). Using this clip, we have completed two different grammar tasks and looked at using adverbs correctly. The children have blown us away with some of their word choices, including: ferociously, brutally and viciously. 

Maths

In Maths this week, we have been looking at 'Finding a quarter'. We started the week by looking at finding the quarter of a given shape before moving on to find a quarter of a given total. We practiced sharing counters amongst 4 people and this helped the children to understand that when we divide an amount into four parts, we can then find a quarter. The children were reminded that, just like when we were working with halves last week, all parts should be equal. Some children also began to recognise quite quickly that to find a quarter, we simply need to half it (number or shape) and then half this again. 

Topic

In RE this week we have been looking at the story of Ganesha and how he came to have an elephant's head. The children have really enjoyed learning about the Hindu Gods so far. In Music we have been listening to different music clips and have discussed the tempo; how a change in tempo can affect how we feel and how certain musical pieces can make us feel happy, scared, excited, etc. The children listened to a very famous piece of music, full of drama, and we imagined that we were under water and the children had to imagine what might be lurking under the water - it was all very exciting (albeit a little bit scary!). 

PE Kits Year 1 

With upcoming changes in regards to school PE kits, can we just remind you all that Year 1 PE lessons are on Wednesdays and Thursdays; this is for both 1L and 1M classes. Your child will require a PE kit to join in with both lessons during the week. 

For any afterschool clubs or additional activities in school, information about kit requirements will be mentioned on the letter. 

Thanks again, 

Year 1 Team 

Weekly Update: 3rd May - 6th May 

English 

This week the children have been writing their own version of a story from another culture, using many of the ideas from the story they learnt last week. Changing the protagonist, from an Elephant who had no nose/trunk, to a Tiger who had no stripes. The children thought of creative ways that the Tiger could get his stripes; we discussed how the Tiger may be feeling, without his stripes and then when he finally got them. We had many lovely ideas and we settled for the Tiger getting a cuddle from the Zebra when he was feeling down and, as if like magic, the Tiger's stripes reappeared. 

Maths

This week in Maths we have been looking at making equal groups and specifically, towards the end of the week, making half. We have shown the children shapes and cut them in half, or shaded them, to represent that two EQUAL parts. Later on in the week, we shared counters equally and then made the link to halving numbers. This will lead on to odd and even numbers. 

Bring Yer Wellies 

Both classes this week went on their PE Enhancement Trip to Bring Yer Wellies in Hoghton. Both days were a real success and the children and staff absolutely loved their trips. The focus of the trip was predominantly Outdoor and Adventurous Activity with Orienteering, den building, assault course and treasure hunt, but we also managed to get some pond-dipping done to look for mini-beasts and bugs, we explored the worms' habitat (linking with our English last term, when we complied fact files about worms) and we even finished the day with toasting marshmallows on the campfire, using the wood that the children collected, and racing cork boats down the stream. It was brilliant to see the children enjoying themselves and throwing themselves into new activities but most importantly, both classes were so well behaved and well-mannered; this was commented on throughout the day, at different intervals, by all of the Bring Yer Wellies staff, all of the teachers could not have been any prouder of our children. Well done Year 1!

Weekly Update- Monday 25th- Friday 29th April

English

This week in English we have been looking at a new story from the Tinga, Tinga Tales called ‘Why Elephant has a Trunk’. To start the week, the children read up to the part where the Elephant had been tricked by the naughty monkeys and in class the children acted this scene out as drama / role play activity. As the week went on, we read more and more of the story and explored the characters and used different adjectives to describe all of the wonderfully diverse different creatures. Starting on Thursday, the children began to rewrite the story in their own words and this took two days; we were all blown away with their independent writing and it was brilliant to see all the different adjectives that the children managed to include in their work.

Maths

This week in maths we have started to look at multiplication and division. We have introduced the children to sharing different amounts and doing so equally:

Using 12 counters, the children divided these equally into 4 different groups, with each group having 3 counters etc.

As the week went on, we began to represent this, and other equations, differently and started to create arrays consisting of columns and rows. Using these arrays, we began to explore the relationship between the rows and the columns and how this created equal ‘lots’ or ‘groups’ and ultimately how these could be represented as a multiplication equation. We will spend more time on division and multiplication as the term goes on.

Topic

In RE this week we have been looking at Hinduism. Following on from our start last week, the children were reminded of the main symbol of Hinduism before we began to look closely at some of the Hindu gods. The children enjoyed looking at the different gods and were fascinated to learn about what each different god could do. We spent time looking specifically at Brahma, the god of god, and the children learnt about his significant importance, whilst also touching upon the ‘Trimurti’. If you have forgotten what the Trimurti is in Hinduism, feel free to do some home research this weekend.

Bring Yer Wellies

Next week we will be going on our PE Enhancement trip to Bring Yer Wellies in Hoghton. Thank you so much for all the parents who have already signed the reply slip and brought this back into school; for those who haven’t, please endeavour to return these to school on Tuesday 3^rd May.

Enjoy your Bank Holiday and keep up the excellent home reading! 

Weekly Update: Tuesday 19^th April- Friday 22^nd April 2022

English

This week we have been completing our non- fiction reports all about worms. The children had to ensure their report had a title, sub heading, a labelled diagram and a ‘did you know’ fact.

We researched some really interesting information to help us with this and this was one of our most interesting facts! Did you know that worms do not have a skeleton like a snake, instead they use their strong muscles to move around in the soil?

Maths

This week we have been adding together groups of numbers by counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s. This has progressed onto learning about arrays for multiplication. This was very tricky but using practical resources helped us to develop a greater understanding.

Art

The children have really enjoyed learning about the artist Eric Carle! We loved looking at his illustrations in the stories, ‘The Bad Tempered Ladybird’ and ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’.

We created our very own Eric Carle inspired mini-beasts using clay. We had to pinch and mould the clay for it to take the shape of our chosen creature. Once the clay had dried we painted our mini-beasts using acrylic paint and choosing an appropriate brush that helped us create the detail we needed.

Geography

Using I-Pads we conduced some research about Scotland and its capital city Edinburgh.  We learned all about the national flower- the thistle. We were really surprised to see that that the animal of Scotland was a unicorn, but even more astonished to find that sausages in Scotland are actually square!

Weekly Update: Monday 25^th March – Friday 1^st April

On behalf of all the Year 1 Team, we would just like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support this half term. We have been tremendously busy this term and the children have worked so hard, not only in class but also at home; we are so grateful for the reading that is being done at home on a daily basis and also for the wonderful homework that has been sent in this week.

Thank you once again and please have a wonderful relaxing half term!

English

This week in English we have started to look at non-chronological reports. Linking to the story of Superworm that we have been reading his term, the children have been finding out lots of information about worms. The children have used their research to begin to plan their fact-files that will eventually for the basis of their non-chronological reports. Did you know that worms have tiny hairs that help them move? And did you know that worms love the rain, as they use these days to transport themselves to a new home? Neither did we!

Maths

This week in maths we have been recapping on some of the topics we have looked covered already this year. We revisited shape, looked at some word problems and spent a few days revisiting addition and subtraction. It is nice to see so many children now beginning to work so confidently within 100. If you would like to practice your maths at home this half term, an excellent challenge is to provide your child with a set of maths equations and a 100 square and see if they can show you some of the strategies that they know to help them work out these equations. Also, test your child to see if they can count forwards (and backwards) confidently in 2s, 5s and 10s.

Phonics

This week in Phonics we have been revisiting some old test papers and it was great to see so my children improve their score from previous attempts. Attached in the documents are a couple of previous test papers and the sound mats attached to each phase. Feel free to print these off and see what your child knows. The pass score for resent phonics screening assessments has been 32/40.

Weekly Update: 21^st – 25^th March 2022

English

This week in English the children have been exploring another one of Julia Donaldson’s wonderful stories, ‘Superworm’. The children are only halfway through the story and Superworm is currently in a world of trouble; the evil Wizard Lizard has cast a spell and he is currently in need of help to escape the Lizard and the terrifying black Crow. Our children have written letters to other forest creatures of their choice and asked them for help; writing in first person, as Superworm. Fingers crossed that the children’s letters of persuasion will result in some much needed help against the two evil sorcerers. Again, we reminded the children of the importance of using capital letters, finger spaces, full stops and adding adjectives to enhance our work.

Maths

A week of recapping and end of unit assessments. A lot of recapping on measure: length and height, capacity and volume, weight and mass. The children have used practical resources including weighing scales and different water containers to carry out their own maths ‘experiments’ in order to ascertain which contain has a greater volume, less volume etc. which item is the longest, using a ruler or deciding which item has the greatest mass, using balance scales. Next week we will revisit place value (within 50), revisit subtraction and also revisit shape (both 2D and 3D).

Topic

This week in Science we managed to take our learning outside the classroom, thanks to a pleasant turn the weather has taken, and we took the opportunity to plant some bulbs. The children used gardening tools to separate the compost, spread it evenly in containers before eventually creating small holes using their fingers to position the bulbs in. Once the bulbs had been planted, the children put more compost on top and softly patted it down before a select group of children used the hosepipe to water the newly planted bulbs. In the coming weeks, all children will have a chance to water the pots and as the weeks progress we will hopefully see the process of germination take place. The children also discussed some of the key things that plants need to grow, including: water, sun, nutrients (from the soil/compost) and some space.

Weekly Update: Monday 14th - Friday 18th March 

English 

This week in English we have been looking at some poetry; specifically associated to mini-beasts. The children had an opportunity to bring their poems to life through performance and they were able to create actions for their minibeasts, including: wriggling, crawling, creeping and stomping. Later in the week, the children created their own version of 'Ladybird, Ladybird, what can you see?' by picking their own minibeasts and using adjectives and verbs to include in their poem. 

Maths 

This week in Maths we have been looking at measure again. During the unit of measure we have looked at length (including: measuring height and comparing lengths), we have discussed mass and comparing weights (using balance scales) and this wee we have looked specifically at Volume and Capacity. The children have used practical resources to measure capacity and they have used appropriate language to describe capacity and varying volumes. 

Diversity Week 

To celebrate 'Diversity Week' in school, children across all year groups have had special visitors, seminars and workshops focusing upon, and celebrating all things, diversity. Year 1 had a wonderful talk from Megan from SCARF Education who taught us all about celebrating ourselves and our bodies and what we can do to help our bodies (by staying healthy); there was also a surprise visit from Harold the Giraffe, which the children loved. 

RE

This week in RE we have been looking again at Judaism and specifically the festival of 'Hanukkah'. The story of Hanukkah celebrates the tale of the Maccabees, who defeated the Greek King Antiochus' troops after a three year war. After the war, there was a shortage of oil to keep the candles burning; the Jewish people believed the candle would only burn for one night but instead it remained alight for 8 days; hence the duration of the Hanukkah festival. In addition to learning about Hanukkah, the children also had a go at making their own version of Jewish bread - Challah. Take a look at the pictures below: 

Our weekly update- Monday 28^th February - Friday 4^th March

English

This week we continued our story of Jack and the Beanstalk. We have been focussing on re-telling the story and creating some story maps to help us with our writing. We have re-told the story using lots of descriptive vocabulary whilst remembering our capital letters, full stops and exclamation marks!

Maths

This week we have been continuing our learning of length and height. Moving on from non-standard methods for measuring, we used a ruler and investigated how long an object was in cm. The children have really enjoyed this, especially when problem solving where they had to either add two lengths together or find the difference.

Geography

Our current topic is ‘Countries of the United Kingdom and their capital cities’. This week we plotted Lostock Hall and London on the map. The children especially enjoyed accessing Google Earth and finding out some of the features of this. We then compared Lostock Hall and London and talked about their features, including their similarities and differences.

World Book Day 2022

We would like to say a huge well done to all the children and parents for their amazing efforts on World Book Day! We had some amazing costumes and all the children were excited to talk about the story character they had come as. As well as enjoying an extended story time with friends, we had the opportunity to watch an interactive story time, delivered by Burnley Theatre Group. See pictures below that show the great fun we all had!

Yoga

This week we have been extremely lucky to have Coach Charlotte from Mini-Mantra to teach us some Yoga techniques. The children learned lots of new stretches and different ways to position their bodies whilst practicing some relaxing breathing techniques.

We hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

Weekly Update: Monday 21^st – Friday 25^th February

Maths

This week in Maths, we have been looking at ‘Measure’. The children have been learning about length and height and they have compared various different things, using vocabulary including: tall, taller, tallest; long, longer, longest; high, highest, higher; short, shorter, shortest.

We will continue measure again next week, when we will start to use a ruler and look at measuring ‘accurately’ using metric systems of measure. This week we have exposed the children to ‘non-standard’ units of measure. An example being: The pencil was 6 cubes long.

Within measure, we will also be looking at capacity and time in coming weeks.

English

Our new text in English is Jack and the Beanstalk. The children have absolutely loved the story, with many having never heard the story of Jack before, and for those who did know the story, they still felt the surprise of their teacher bellowing, “Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum!”

Across the week, we have written about Jack’s feelings at different parts of the story; we have pretended to be Jack (hot seating, drama) and asked him questions; written a character description and even edited sentences about the story that had missing capital letters and full stops.

Not to mention we also had a very surprising, and very unwelcome, visitor on Wednesday morning ….

Topic

This week in topic, we have been looking at the United Kingdom in Geography. The children have learnt about the UK and which 4 countries make up the United Kingdom. The children, many of them knowing about London, then learnt the names of the capital cities belonging to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Using a map of the UK, the children then used string to create their own ‘outline’ of the UK and then used name cards to label the countries and positioned counters to show where the capital cities are in each country.

In coming weeks, we will be looking more at the UK and its surrounding seas and we will also compare our very own Lostock Hall to the geography and demographic of our capital city - London.

Weekly Update: Monday 7^th – Friday 11^th

This week in school we have been looking at ‘Children’s Mental Health’ and the week started with a wonderful poetry performance by Year 4 who highlighted some of the issues that young children face and explored some of the strategies that young people, and adults, can use to improve all aspects of our mental health. In class we talked about some of our worries and fears and as a class, we discussed how we can deal with the issues that came up.

In addition to this PSHE focus we have worked our socks off to complete all loose ends and ensure we have ticked every last remaining box for Spring 1; the children have worked so hard this term and it was wonderful to see the amount of effort that had gone into the homework this term – thank you for all of you who competed this and brought it in on time!

Maths

This week in Maths, we have been looking at place value within 50; we have compared amounts and objects, ordered numbers and used different representations to show place value. In addition, we have also introduced counting up in 2’s and 5’s (most of us are pretty confident at counting in 10’s already!); counting in 2’s and 5’s will allow us to count accurately, place things into groups (which will lead to division) and consolidate our understanding of odd and even numbers. Next term, we will be focusing on measure, so if you would like to do any Math’s work over the half term holidays, feel free to get the meter ruler, measuring jug and weighing scales out.

English

In English we have still been working through ‘Toys in Space’ by Mini Grey. The children have been using this text to create a Lost and Found poster to help Hoctopize find his favourite toy ‘Cuddles’. In addition to the work we have been doing in our English writing books, we also used the iPad’s this week to create a ‘Moving Pictures’ with sentences attached underneath; combining our English and ICT skills saw the children create some excellent animations using Purple Mash, as they retold parts of the Traction Man escape in the deep, dark, depths of the kitchen sink.

Thank You!

Again, as we reach the end of another half term, may we again take the opportunity to thank you all for your ongoing support? As mentioned above, the homework has been fantastic this term and we are certainly seeing more contributions being made in our Reading Diaries. The children have worked so hard this term, whilst having lots of fun along the way and we will certainly have more fun to come next term, so please take this opportunity to have a wonderfully relaxing (and thoroughly well-earned) half term break.

Thanks once again,

The Year 1 Team.

Home Learning

Wednesday 9^th February

English- Watch the story of Toys in Space by Mini Grey here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivex8zdOBMs

Watch up to the part where the Hoctopize is upset because he has lost his Cuddles. Today we would like you to plan a party for him. Think about the theme of the party, the type pf cake, which party games will you play and what treats will you have. Remember you need to think of things that are going to cheer the Hoctopize up. Use the sheet provided to plan the party. Draw a small picture and write some key words around it.

Maths – Complete the worksheet where you are asked to compare numbers to 50. Use a number line or a hundred square to help you if needed. You could also use practical things around the house to help you visualise the numbers.

Phonics- Today practice our new learning ‘wh’ using the attached ‘Roll and Read’ activity. Can you think of any more words that include this sound?

Topic – As part of our History topic we have been learning about old toys. See the attached worksheet where you are asked to sort old and new toys. See if your child can remember any old toys we have been looking at in class.

Thursday 10^th February

English- Using your party planning sheet from yesterday you are going to write a letter to the Hoctopize to tell him all about the party you have organised. Remember to write in your best handwriting and use conjunctions to extend your sentences.

Maths- Use this worksheet of ‘ordering numbers to 50’, over the next two days. There are quite a few questions that might require a lot of thought so take your time. Start you Maths session with counting forwards and backwards to and from 50.

Phonics- Today practice reading and spotting words with the ph sound. Complete the ‘ph’ word search attached.

Topic – As this week is Mental Health Week, we are thinking about ways in which we can celebrate ourselves. What is amazing about you? Complete the worksheet and explain why you are so marvellous!

Friday 11^th February

English- Complete the story of ‘Toys in Space’. What did you like about the story? Today you are going to be completing a book review. See the attached resource.

Maths – See Yesterday.

Phonics- Complete the ‘wh’ and ‘ph’ worksheet attached. Have a go at completing your spelling test at home. Good luck!

Topic – As this week is Mental Health week, we would like you to spend this afternoon doing something which you love to do. It might be reading a book, playing with your favourite toys or it could even be having a nice relaxing bath. If you would like to, you can write about what you did this afternoon and explain how doing your favourite thing made you feel!

Weekly Update: 31^st January – 4^th February

English

This week in English we have started a new text: Toys in Space by Mini Grey (same author as Traction Man). The children have loved the book so far and it links in well with ‘Toys’, as this is also our theme in Topic this term. The children have read up to certain points in the story and made predictions along the way. In addition to making predictions, the children have also discussed and written about each character’s thoughts and feelings as the story develops.

Maths

This week in Maths we are revisiting place value but extending the working area to numbers within 50. The children have again been looking at partitioning numbers and exploring the relationship between tens and ones (formerly referred to as “units”). The children have used dienes to see this in a more abstract / concrete manner and this method also helps the children to visually see the number broken down into parts. Using tens and ones in this way helps the children to see that the number 47, for example, is made up of 4 tens (longer dienes comprising 10 single cubes stuck together) and 7 ones (seven individual cubes that the children can count out individually).

Topic

History & Art

This week in both History and Art we have again been looking at our topic theme of ‘Toys’. In History, the children used a timeline to put toys in order from oldest to newest, thus placing them chronologically; we explained to the children that we can order things in many different ways but using the timeline of toys we could clearly see which toy came first (oldest) and which was last on the line (newest). The children are still convinced that the toys of their generation are considerably better than those used by children many years ago. In Art, the children have begun to sketch pictures of their favourite toys. Placing different toys in the middle of the table (or scene), we discussed how the placement of different toys (composition) will affect their drawing and final art piece. 

Home Learning Tasks (Tuesday 1st February - Friday 4th February)

Tuesday 1^st February

English

We have now come to the end of the Traction Man story by ‘Mini Grey’.

Even though we have come to end of the story it seems like the adventure doesn’t end for Traction Man! The children have been coming up with ideas for what might happen next and what Traction Man’s next adventure will be. Last week we created a story board (attached underneath) to break the story into 4 parts. Your child will have done this is class. 

Today we would like you to complete the story board again and begin to add key vocabulary including pictures. This will help remind you of what your ideas were and you could even change your plan and include something different. 

Maths

Tens and Ones

Today we will again be looking at ‘tens and ones’, which is something that your child has looked at before and should be able to recognise.  Please use the resources available in the weekly resources section and work your way systematically through the week’s math resources in order.

Phonics

Orange Group- Read some words with the ‘aw’ sound- .claw, paw, straw, crawl.

Complete the ‘aw’ worksheet in the resources section.

Red Group- Read the u-e spilt diagraph words on the word search sheet and put sound buttons on them. See if you can spot the difference between the words which make the ‘you’ and ‘oo’ sound.

Topic- Today is Chinese New Year! Watch the story of ‘The Great Race’ here on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVClAj8q_lY

Once you have listened to and understood the story can you complete some research on Chinese New Year and find out what animal year you were born in? See if you can re-tell the story of the Great Race to an adult.

Wednesday 2^nd February

English

Using the story board from yesterday recap on the first 2 boxes from your storyboard (The beginning and the problem). Talk through these parts of the story with an adult using good sentence structures including a conjunction, for example; and, so, but, because.

Write up the first part of the story in a notebook or on lined paper. Ensure you check your sentences for Capital letters (especially for names of characters), full stops, and finger spaces.

Maths

Represent Numbers to 50

Please complete the work sheet on ‘Representing numbers to 50’ and find the accompanying PowerPoint that will supplement this worksheet.

Phonics

Orange Group- Have a go at the ‘aw’ snakes and ladders game in the resources section.

Red Group- Following on from our learning on ‘u-e’ split diagraph words yesterday, use sound buttons on u-‘e words in the phoneme spotter activity in the resources section.

Topic- In science we have been learning about materials and their properties. Watch this YouTube clip all about materials to familiarise yourself with our previous learning -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2td5mfgf1OI

Attached, you will find a materials hunt activity in which we would like you to search around the house for things that are made of each material. Make a list of all the things you can find. Along the way talk about their properties which might include, what they look like, feel like and whether they are absorbent or not.

Thursday 3^rd February

English

Continuing our story from yesterday we would like you to now finish the story. Don’t forget to use lots of exciting adjectives to make your sentences really interesting and check your writing for mistakes.

Maths

One More, One less (Part 1)

Today’s maths worksheet is to be completed in two parts across both today and tomorrow (so don’t complete it all in one go); again, there is a PowerPoint with excellent example questions to supplement the worksheet. These are certainly worth observing before embarking on the worksheet. Please only complete Questions 1 & 2.

Phonics

Orange group- Today we are learning the ‘ue’ sound. Look at the words in the resources section and sound them out. Can you make a list of real and nonsense words? Use 3 of the real words and include them in sentences.

Red Group- Today we are reading words with the e-e split diagraph. Complete the ‘Read and Match’ worksheet in the resources section.

Topic

n PSHE we have been thinking about feelings and emotions and learning ways of dealing with feelings that we cannot control. Today read the story attached and think about how Harold the giraffe felt when he lost his favourite toy. On the sheet are key questions that you can ask at each part of the story. Think about a time that you have lost something. Split a piece of A4 paper in half and on one side draw a time when you lost something and jot down the emotions you felt and similarly on the other side for when you found it again.

Friday 4^th February

English

On Tuesday, you should have done some research about Chinese New Year and found out lots of interesting facts about this special time of year. Today we would like you to write some sentences about the pictures on the worksheet attached.  Make sure to use lots of exciting vocabulary and extend your sentences using conjunctions where possible.

Maths

One More, One less (Part 2)

Please complete the second part of the work sheet (Q3 onwards). An accompanying PPT has been attached in the resources section to help you teach through the task with your child. As an extra task, as a mental maths challenge throughout the day, call out random numbers to your child (within 100) and ask to give you the number that is either one more or one less:

“Give me one more than 34” “What is one less than 76?” “What comes after 88?”

Try and use slightly different wording to keep your child on their toes.

Phonics- Both groups to complete the spelling test using words that you have in your blue spelling books.

Topic:

In Music we have been learning how to use different sounds to enhance story telling.

Last week we used different voices and tones to represent the characters in the 3 Little Pigs story.

We are now moving onto using instruments to represent what is happening in the story. Find some items around the house that will make sounds to reflect and enhance different parts of the story.

For example, when the Big Bad Wolf is knocking at the door you might use a pan and wooden spoon to bang. You might like to use a lighter more delicate sound for the pig who builds his house from sticks, like banging cutlery lightly together.  Take some pictures of the different instruments you have created.

Weekly Update: 24^th – 28^th January

This week across school, we have been completing assessments in Reading, Writing, Maths and Phonics. The children have undertaken different test papers and completed an independent piece of writing all without adult support. Assessment week is very helpful in establishing if there are any gaps in learning, to ascertain where each child is in regards to their year group expectations and from this data suitable intervention support can be put in place going forward.  

Maths

The children have completed two Maths papers (Numeracy & Problem Solving) and the tests included topics that the children have  covered thus far: 2D / 3D shape, part whole-models, place value, number lines, addition and subtraction. The children were reminded to always use their strategies to complete the questions (even if they were able to work the answer out mentally straight away); we discussed using suitable jottings / drawings to show their working out.

Phonics

The children completed two assessments in Phonics; firstly, the children completed a previous statutory assessment test paper issued in 2018 (previous Phonics Screening papers can also be found online on the Government Website) where the pass score was 32/40. In addition to the Phonics Screening test, the children also identified different phonemes spanning Phases 2 to 6. Whilst not all children met 32/40 on the Phonics Screening Test at this juncture, it is worth reminding that we are roughly only half way through the year and we still have new phonics learning to come. The statutory assessment for this academic year will commence in June 2022.

English

The children were tasked to write an independent non chronological report about ‘Toys’. The children were given a brief about what they were expected to include within their writing and the classes then shared a few ideas before they then embarked on their writing in a wholly independent capacity; no support was given to spelling, grammar or punctuation. Whilst writing independently can initially seem daunting, it is reassuring to see the writing produced during this assessment evidences significant progress from the writing assessments completed in Autumn.

Reading

The progress of reading is predominantly informed by the daily / weekly guided reading sessions with your child’s teacher or classroom support assistant; in addition to this ongoing weekly formative assessment, this week the children attempted the Salford Sentence Reading Test. The Salford Sentence Reading Test helps to test ‘reading ability’ by testing both reading accuracy and comprehension; by totaling these scores, the test is able to determine both a standardised reading age and also a comprehension reading age for each child.  Alongside the Salford Sentence Reading Test, the children also read through the collection of Year 1 Key Words, with each word they recognized being marked off; these words can still be found in the front of your child's Reading Diary should you ever wish to practice these at home. 

Throughout the week, as a year one staff, we have championed the message that these tests are nothing to be worried or anxious about and that they are simply a tool to help us, as teachers, find the areas where we can help the children improve the most. Our mantra across both classes has firmly been to “try your best and give it a go” throughout the week. It has been wonderful to see the children work so well throughout the week and show a real maturity to the task in hand.  

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: