Year 1

Academic year 2024 -25

Year 1 teaching team

Miss Nicola McGregor

Mrs Fiona Keeley 

Mr Chika Nnorom 

Welcome

welcome, welcome to Yr 1!! We are excited to get to know you and in particular journeying through our learning this year.

Key Information

PE Day: Our PE day is on Friday with Miss Hall and Mr Donkin. You will need a PE kit including; black/navy joggers or shorts, black/navy jumper, white t-shirt and appropriate trainers.

Reading books: Your child will be read with/ asked about reading at home once a  week and their book will be changed or if they have finished their book sooner and would like to change it they only need to ask a teacher.

Other: please record your child's reading on the Go Read (Boom reader) App when you enjoy a book at home together. Your child also has access to TTrockstars to help learn and practice multiplication and division facts.

Curriculum Coverage - Autumn

In English we will be looking at Poetry (exploring pattern & rhyme), we will also be exploring setting descriptions, stories with familiar  settings, Instructional writing finally, shape  poems and calligrams. Our core books for this term are BEEGU by Alexis Deacon and Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.

In maths we will be covering Number- in particular place value within 10, Addition & subtraction within 10  and Geometry -Shapes

This term we will be learning Seasonal changes and daily weather, plants, Animals including humans in Science. Digital images, Algorithms and Beebots in Computing, As well as, looking at Historical changes within living memory for History. Continents, Oceans and Countries of the UK in Geography.

WC: 16.09.2024

Maths in Year 1 has been focusing on numbers up to 10. The children have been learning to recognise numbers as words, as well as counting backwards and forwards. The children have been using a range of concrete manipulatives to support them in their understanding of number. They had great fun using tens frames and cubes to represent different amounts.

           WC: 23.09.2024

In our English lessons we have started reading one of our core texts for autumn term – Beegu, by Alexis Deacon. The children have been predicting what might happen and retrieving information from Beegu and other texts to answer questions.

Over the first few weeks of term, during our writing focus the children have been writing sentences remembering to use capital letters and  full stops. We have also been identifying and using nouns and verbs.

This week in writing the children had to rewrite sentences that had duplicate words or missing words.

WC 30.09.2024

In History we have been learning about our community and looking at how things have changed. We started learning about things that have happened beyond living memory and within living memory. We know that living memory is anything that happened in our Grandparents lifetime, not ours.

The community of Great Ashby is part of the bigger community of Stevenage. We looked at pictures of shops in Stevenage and thought about the things they sell and why.

We then had a look at pictures of shops from the 1950’s and compared them to the shops of today. We looked at the tills from the 50’s and how we pay now. We also noticed that people had to queue outside shops before they could be served. We had some fun thinking about how those people must have felt standing in long queues waiting for the chance to get shopping.

The children took turns role playing how the customers of the 50’s must have felt.

WC 07.10.2024

In Year 1 Art, the children were introduced to the work of Piet Mondrian. During the lesson, the children created textured surfaces by layering various materials in horizontal and vertical patterns, mirroring Mondrian’s style. Using the dip, dip, dab painting method, they used primary colours to paint their prepared surfaces, exploring how the different textures influenced their brushstrokes. The children also looked at the illustrations in the book ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ exploring the brushstrokes used and practised refining their own techniques by imitating the patterns they identified.

WC 14.10.2024

This week in Maths we've been learning about Number facts family. Using number bonds within 10 to help secure addition sentences, we used lots of concrete, pictorials and abstract approaches to help secure our number facts family. Such as whole part model, bar models, rekenrek, lots of visuals and many more resources to represent different number bonds and recognise systematical patterns within the different bonds.         

WC 04.11.2024

This week Year 1 had been retrieving and making inferences on ‘Where the wild Things Are’. On Wednesday we picked our favourite event from the book and created a freeze frame of this event. We had to think about our facial expressions and using our body for gestures or representing an object.

WC 11.11.2024

In computing we have all been given our usernames and passwords to log in to the laptops. We have all been excited to use the laptops, even if it is a challenge to type our usernames.

We all opened the paint application, some of us tried to draw a poppy as it was Remembrance Day.

WC 18.11.2024

Year 1 will be practicing songs for our Christmas production on the 18^th December. We are looking forward to having parents over to watch and encourage our beautiful archangels.

Jingle Bells with Lyrics | Christmas Songs HD | Christmas Songs and Carols

Little Donkey

Year 1

Five Little Reindeer - Author Unknown

Five little reindeer playing in the snow

The first one said, “Can you see my nose glow?”

The second one said, “Listen to me sing!”

The third one said, “I can hear the bells ring.”

The fourth one said, “Let’s eat the pie!”

The fifth one said, “I’m ready to fly.”

Then clomp went their hooves

And the snow fell white

                    As the five little reindeer flew out of sight.

WC 9:12:2024

Over the last few weeks of our Science learning we have been thinking about the features of different animals. This week we asked the question: What do animals eat?

We learned about carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. We now know that carnivores eat other animals, herbivores eat plants and omnivores eat everything.

All of the children found it hilarious that we then started to talk about Poo!!!

What would we find in a carnivore’s poo? Children hypothesised finding bones and fur.

What would we find in an herbivore’s poo? We might find grass or leaves was suggested.

What about an omnivore’s poo? We could find bits of grass and fur because they eat animals and plants.

We investigated what was in poo!

Once the children realised the poo (playdough) didn’t smell they all enjoyed using the magnifying glasses and deciding what was in the poo and then what type of animal it could have come from.

Also this week.... the children visited Santa at his grotto. They got the chance to talk to Santa and finalise their wish list for Christmas. Santa of course did not disappoint and gave them all a present for their wonderful behaviours and accomplishment this year.

As part of our Enrichment Day and focusing about an inspirational person. The children were learning about Great Thunberg and Greta and the Giants. They wrote a letter asking Greta to help the forests. Greta recognises trees as a powerful tool to control climate change, restoring the ecosystems, and reducing carbon footprints while inspiring global participation in restoration.

WC 07: 01: 2025

This week in science. The children had a chance to explore different materials...we identified, classified and grouped each material during our experiment. It was a chance to secure their knowledge on some the various materials such as wood, plastic, metal and fabric.  Objects were placed in an opaque box or wrapped around with a cloth to disguise the object. The children were directed to use their sense of touch to uncover the object.

WC 13: 01: 2025

In Physical Education this week we have been exploring travelling in gymnastic. The children have been having fun demonstrating wide/narrow/curled rolls whilst making fundamental gymnastic shapes. They also, got the chance to give suggestions to their peers on alternative ways of travelling and making shapes. 

WC: 20. 01. 2025

In Year 1, the children explored the vibrant and textured artwork of artist Anne Kelly, drawing inspiration from her unique use of fabric and mixed media. They then experimented with different fabric manipulation techniques, adding texture and detail to their own creations using a range of materials.

WC 27: 01: 2025

In science this week the children have continued their studying of materials. The focus this week was materials that absorb or repel water.  A question we discussed was when do materials need to be waterproof?

In our experiment the children looked at 5 different materials to identify which one would be best to repair a hole in a cup.

The materials were toilet roll, kitchen roll, cotton fabric, tin foil and a plastic bag.

Each material lined a cup and then water was added. The children then had to choose which was the best or worst at being waterproof.

The children decided that the toilet roll was definitely the worst and the best was the plastic bag.

WC 3:02:25

In PE we  have been exploring ways of sending and receiving objects by rolling; track a rolling object; describing what they are doing and making suggestion to new ideas. They were taught to develop a good rolling action; roll towards a target; take turns playing a game in a group use basic underarm throwing skills; develop catching skills; describe the rules of a game practise and improve their throwing and catching skills; play a 1v1 aiming game.

WC 10:02:25

In English this week we looked at Calligram and Shaped poems. The reasons behind how poems are presented, discussed the meaning of words from a poem and develop our own shape poem to perform. In the Rainbow class we chose to perform a tiger shape poem with adjectives and verbs  to depict a tiger. The children had so much fun getting into their roles as a tiger. 

Summer Term 

We hope you all have had a lovely Easter holidays. We are very excited to welcome all the children back. 

This term in English, we will be exploring different texts, including 'There's a Rang-Tan in my bedroom' by James Sellick  and 'Tango makes three' by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell as well as learning about writing informal letters. In maths we will expand our number knowledge to numbers up to 100 and beginning to solve one step problems using multiplication and division. Our science learning will focus on identifying different plants and trees as well as exploring plants in the local environment and looking at life cycles of plants. 

In Summer 1 we will focus on Art and will be making sculptures by exploring shapes and textures.  In Summer 2 our DT learning will focus on creating bridges with recyclable materials. In History we will be finding out all about lives of significant individuals whist in Geography we will be learning about the continents and oceans of the world. 

WC 24:02:2025

In year 1, design and technology centred around key questions, " Can you build with bread?" The children explored a variety of materials and their properties, sorting them according to specified criteria. They investigated materials response to changes such as the addition of water or heat. In their exploration of bread as a building material, the children discovered that fresh bread was too soft and flexible for construction. However, when heated to create toast, the bread became a harder, more stable material suitable for building. drawing inspiration from the work of architect Frank Lloyd wright, the children constructed small houses using toasted bread and icing cement. This learning allowed them to apply their understanding of material properties while suing their creativity and architectural skills.

WC 10: 03: 2025

This week in Maths, we were learning to use non-standard units to measure length and height. We used non- standard units such as cubes, hands, paper clips to  measure length and height. The children were able to decided the most suitable units themselves, and place their non-standard unit in line with the object to get an accurate measurements.

WC:    24.03.2025

This week in PE we have been learning Tennis. Our learning intentions were to attempt to catch a small ball, to throw and catch the ball with some control and to catch the ball with control. The children were reminded on the importance of throwing a ball and having control of the toss. Also, they were reminded to catch the ball and shown techniques to improve their catch.

WC 23:04:2025

This week in English, the children explored Poetry- focussing on  pattern and rhymes.  They were introduced to different poems with rhyming words, had fun counting syllables in  poems  whilst, paying attention to the consonants and vowels.  Finally,  they were asked to recognise words that rhyme by writing our own poem.

WC 28.05.2025

This week in Personal Development lesson, we learnt about How families differ. The children were told families come in all shapes and sizes. Some children have brother or sister, some children don't and some might have lots of brothers and sisters. The children were also told that some children live with their mum or dad, both of their parents or maybe their granny or auntie and uncle. The message was that families offer love and support and that different families may be made up of different people.

WC 06:05:2025

This week in Maths, Year 1 have been solving problems involving multiplication, by calculating the answer using concrete objects, pictorial representation and arrays. They made connections into grouping quantities in twos, fives and tens.

Spring term

We hope you all have a lovely Christmas and New Year. We are very excited to welcome all the children back. 

This term in English, we will be exploring different texts, including 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit' by Beatrix Potter and 'Look up!' by Nathan Bryon as well as the poem 'Chocolate Cake' by Michael Rosen. In maths we will expand our number knowledge to numbers up to 505 and begin learning to tell the time to O'Clock and half past. Our science learning will focus on naming parts of the body as well as beginning to classify and group animals in different ways. 

In Spring 1 we will focus on Art, in particular sketching and shading techniques. In Spring 2 our DT will look at combining tastes in creating a sandwich. In History we will be finding out all about Christopher Columbus whist in Geography we will look at locating place on a different maps. 

Please note - our PE days are Monday AND Friday for both classes.  

Home learning expectations

Each week the children are expected to complete the following home learing:

* Reading with an adult at least three times and recorded on Boom Reader   BoomReader — The Digital Reading Record (go-read.co.uk)

* Read the e-book set on Oxford Owl in conjunction with our phonics learning   Oxford Owl for School and Home

* Practice new sounds on their phonics key rings

* Have a go at the phonics challenge set on the class page

* Log into Times Table Rock Stars (log ins to come soon)   Times Tables Rock Stars – Times Tables Rock Stars (ttrockstars.com)

Key dates - Spring term

Monday 8th January - return to school

Thursday 1st - Friday 2nd January - cross curricular days

Monday 12th February - Parents consultation

Wednesday 14th February - Parents consultation

19-23rd February - Half term

Thursday 14th March - House afternoon

Friday 28th March - Term ends

Week beginning 15th July 2024 

This half term the year 1 children have been learning about maps in Geography. This week they have made maps of the school and placed where the treasure was placed on their map. 

Week beginning 8th July 2024

Year 1 have been working really hard in preparation for the music festival and have really enjoyed rehearsing in class and practicing their song and the actions!

Phonics Challenge 

Play a game of 'I spy' - can you write the word and spell it using your phonics? 

Week beginning 1st July 2024 

This week the children have been building bridges as part of their DT learning. They have been using cardboard to work out how to make a strong bridge 

Phonics Challenge 

This week the children have been learning alternative graphemes for the 'er' sound - 'our' / 're' - challenge yourself to find as many words as you can with these graphemes. 

Week beginning 24th June 2024 

This week in year 1, the children have been starting to learn about imperative verbs (command statements). They have then been using these verbs to create a step by step guide of how to make something (such as a sandwich) using these verbs and sketches.

They have needed to think carefully about ordering the steps of how to make a sandwich so their instructions make sense. 

Phonics challenge 

Practise reading a range of words that use 'wh' grapheme such as what, when, who, whose - can you spot the different sounds it makes. 

Week beginning 17th June 2024

This week in phonics the children have been learning the alternative sound for 'f'' - 'gh' as in cough. They have also been learning that in certain words the 'o' sound is written as 'ou'.

They have been practising to read and write there words and then applying this knowledge when writing sentences. 

Phonics challenge

Practise reading words with 'ed' - write a list of the words you find. 

Week beginning 10th June 2024 

In maths this week, the children have been measuring the length and height of objects in centimetres and comparing the size of more than one object. 

Phonics challenge 

Play I spy with your family looking for words that have the split digraphs i_e/ o_e

Week beginning 3rd June 2024

In geography, the children have been learning about hot and dry places and hot and wet places in the world and how they vary. They have discussed what would be a good area to live and why. They have also been learning about the different continents and oceans of the world and where the equator is. 

Phonics challenge 

Play a game from www.phonicsplay.co.uk - resources page. Concentrate on phase 5 sounds. Can you identify the real and the fake words? 

Week beginning 20th May 2024 

In Science lessons this half term, we have been learning about different types of plants and trees and what plants need in order to grow. The children have particularly enjoyed comparing wild and garden plants; identifying deciduous and evergreen trees by their leaves; and learning about the life cycle of a plant. This week the children will be bringing home their radish seeds to continue growing at home!

Phonics challenge 

Go on an I spy hunt - how many things can you find that have a split digraph - eg - stone. Can you then write a list of those words? 

Week beginning 13th May 2024

In music, we have been learning about pitch and how to use dot notation to determine how high or low each note is. The children have been really great at combining this with their prior learning about pulse and rhythm, and clapping along to the beat of various songs. The children have also been exploring different genres of music, from classical to Bruno Mars!

Phonics Challenge:

Spot the trigraphs in words - ear/ air - can you find words with alternative graphemes and make a list of them? 

e.g - bear (sounds like air) / deer (sounds like ear) 

Week beginning 7th May 2024

This week in Maths the children are learning how to make equal groupings and investigate numbers that can make equal groups. They have used concrete manipulative to investigate before moving on to pictorial representations.

Phonics Challenge:

We are currently practicing all our previously learnt sound. Make a list of all the words you can with the split digraphs a_e, o_e and u_e.

Can you spot words that have split digraphs in your reading books?

Week beginning 29th April

In our reading learning, the children have been exploring the book ‘There’s a rang-tan in my bedroom’. We have been exploring the rhyme and rhythm of the book and the children have used percussion instruments to enhance this.

Week beginning 22nd April 2024

In our music learning year 1 have been exploring rhythm and pulse in words and songs.

Week beginning 15th April 

This week in year 1, the children have been learning about syllables and patterns in poems. They have counted the syllables in poems and then used a set pattern to write their own poems about animals 

Week beginning 4th March - Measures in Maths

This week we have been exploring measures as part of our maths learning. As well as discussing different vocabulary linked to measures we have used non-standard units of measure to measure the length, height, mass and capacity of different objects across the week. We were set a challenge to see how many multi-link cubes long the classroom was. We also had to predict how many cups of water it would take to fill different sixed containers. 

Week beginning 26th February 2024 - Word processing

Over the last few weeks we have been learning how to log onto the school computers. We have been issued our unique usernames and had a go at logging on in school. This week we were able to log on independently. We then opened up word and learnt what word processing it. We began by writing our names in full. Then we wrote three words before finally writing a sentence. We learnt that we should never share our log in details with anyone! 

Phonics challenge:

This week we learnt that <o> can make an 'u' sound. What words can you think of that have the 'o' sound in them?

Week beginning 12th February - responses to reading (Reading, English)

We have enjoyed learning about the book 'Look up' by Nathan Bryon. We read the book together as well as other texts that shared a theme. On Friday we created images of the meteor shower like we saw in the book. 

Phonics challenge:

This week we have been completing phonics assessment. Please keep reading lots at home ass adding to Boom reader. 

Week beginning 5th February 2024 - Exploring the violin (music)

This week we were treated to a performance from Mrs Thomas on her Violin.  She played us a song using the bow - it was very good!  Then she explained the different parts of the instruments and what they do.  Finally she played some songs and we had to move around to reflect how the song made us feel.

Phonics challenge:

'ay' sounds

we have been learning lots of different 'ay' sounds (a, ey, ea, eigh)

make a list of different words that match each sound.

Week beginning 29th January 2024 - Making doubles (maths)

This week in maths, we have been exploring making doubles. We used lots of manipulatives to help us including multi-link and counters. Once we were confident, we rolled a number on a dice and made a table to show its double.  It was fun using the manipulatives to help us work out the double.

Phonics challenge:

Spot the harder to read and spell words.

Play an investigation game as you read your books for any harder to read and spell words that come up!

Week beginning 22nd January 2024 - Our house (Geography)

Our Geography focus this half term has been our local area. We have looked at different maps of Great Ashby and Stevenage and began labelling key features of the town. We also looked at the different houses around the school. We drew a house and labeled the different parts.

Phonics challenge:

This week we have learnt that <a> can make an 'a' sound (sat), 'ay' (acorn) or 'o' (swan).  Make a table of words for each sound made by the <a> grapheme.

Week beginning 15th January 2024 - Poetry performance (English)

This week we have been exploring calligrams and shape poems as part of our writing unit. We discussed the use of actions as part of a performance and all the children had a turn at performing their weather poem. Scan the QR codes to see some of the performances.

Phonics focus:

This week we have been looking at alternative pronunciations for 'ay' (hay, baby, grey, sleigh). Which words can you find for each different sound?

Week beginning 8th January 2024 - E-Safety posters (Computing)

We have had a busy week being back in school this week. In our computing learning we will be focusing on how we can stay safe online. We began this week exploring what the internet is. The internet lets us connect with other computers all over the world. It allows us to read and share information too. We discussed ways we could stay say online. We also spoke about the report button that can be found on most websites. The children then made a poster with top tips on how to stay safe online.

Phonics challenge:

This week we have been assessing children's reading levels. New books will be sent out next week inline with their new level. In the meantime, keep a look out for harder to read and spell words in the texts you share with your children. Encourage them to read them for you.

Week beginning 18th December 2024 - History of toys workshop (History)

On Monday year one had a fantastic day exploring the history of toys in our history workshop. The children thought about their own toys, what they were made from and how they were constructed. They were then guided through making replicas of toys from the past themselves. They made a teddy, a spinning top, a football player and many more. The children enjoyed making and playing with their toys. 

Phonics Challenge:

Read a festive story at home with your children. What harder to read and spell words do they recognise?

The year 1 team would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and happy, healthy holiday. Thank you for all your hard work this term!

Week beginning 11th December 2023 - Christmas productions (Music)

This week we've been getting Christmas-y with our production. The children performed the poem 'I had a little snowman' before singing the song 'Stable under a Star'. They performed both poem and song superbly and made us all proud of how well they did. We also enjoyed our Christmas dinner on Thursday. Thank you to all the kitchen and lunch time staff for making it such a fun afternoon!

Phonics challenge:

What words can you find in the words 'Christmas' and 'holidays'

Week beginning 4th December 2023 - DT project

This week we completed out sewing project as part of our DT learning. We have been exploring simple running stitch and how to add different decorations to our simple patterns. We designed and created gingerbread decorations for the festive season. After we completed the project we used our evaluation skills to review our creations.

Phonics challenge

This week we will continue with phonics assessments.

Keep a log of the harder to read and spell words you find in your reading and Oxford owl books. Which ones do you know well and which ones do you need to recap?

Week beginning 27th November 2023 - Bee-Bots (computing)

This half term we have been programmers. We have learnt about algorithms - these are a set of instructions that form part of programming. We learnt through exploring with the Bee-Bots that you can get an algorithm wrong. We learnt that we can debug our algorithm to make it do what we want it.

We used the iPads and the Bee-Bot app to extend our learning further. We wrote down our algorithms to complete the challenges and debugged them when they didn't work as we wished. This helped us to be successful programmers!

Phonics challenge:

This week we have begun our phonics assessments for the term. Keep recapping the sounds we have learnt this year. 

Week beginning 20th November 2023 - Science investigations

This half term, Year 1 have been learning about different materials in their science lessons. We have explored some of the properties of metal, plastic, wood, glass and water. We have completed investigations to see how waterproof the materials are so we could pick the best material to make an umbrella from. The children have enjoyed exploring some of the new vocabulary linked to our materials project such as rough, stretchy and opaque. 

Phonics challenge

Explore the tri-graphs 'ear' 'air' 'ure' with the children. What words can you think of?

Week beginning 20th November 2023 - Chanukah story RE

This week in RE we have been exploring the Chanukah story. This is a Jewish story about a miracle that happened linked to oil in a temple. We learnt about how Jewish people light a special mannorah with 8 branches using a special servant candle.

Phonics challenge

We're currently recapping sounds we've learnt so far. Please keep a note of sounds the children are struggling with in their books and practice these at the end.   

Week beginning 13th November 2023 - Telling the time - Maths

This week we began exploring the time in maths. We have looked at different units of time (such as number of days in a week, number of months in a year, minutes in an hour, hours in a second). We also began exploring how to tell the time (O'Clock). We made our own cloks to help us with our learning and also used them to learn about the different hands on the clock. 

Phonics challenge:

Write a poem with some words containing the a-e, e-e, u-e split vowel digraphs. 

Week beginning 6th November 2023 - BeeBots - Computing

This half term in computing we will be looking at computer programming. We began last week by learning about algorithms. An algorithm is a set of instructions that tell a programme what to do. We began to create simple algorithms for the BeeBots to follow. The children were completing challenges like 'make your BeeBot draw a square'. The childre enjoyed learning all about the BeeBots and how to programme them. 

Phonic challenge

This week we began exploring the split vowel digraphs.  Make a list of words you find in your reading book and Oxfor owl book with split vowel digraphs in.

Week Beginning 30th October 2023 - Shape hunting - Math

This week we have been exploring shapes in our maths learning. We have looked at both 2D and 3D shapes across the week. We discussed their names and properties. On Thursday we had a 3D shape hunt across the school. We found 3D shapes in the playground as well as in the classroom.

Phonics Challenge

This week we will focus on the 'oe' (as in doe) sound. What examples of this sound can you find in your books as you are reading? Can you make a list of words with 'oe' in them.

Week beginning 16th October 2023 - Perfectly presented (English)

This week we have been writing our own version of Mr Wolf's Week. We spent the beginning of the week planning out what happened each day. We used stem sentences to extend our writing and spent some time editing our writing adding in adjectives. Finally we published our writing by perfectly presenting it. This means we used our best handwriting and wrote out the learning with all our editing and improvements in.

Phonics challenge:

Recap all our sounds leant so far on the key rings.  Why not challenge yourself to find the most objects with each sound in around the house and garden.

Week beginning 9th October 2023 - Art

This week in art we have been exploring our primary and secondary colours. We made a colour wheel to show what happens when we mix the colours together!  We will be using this knowledge to inform our art learning over the rest of the term.

Phonics updates

This week we have been completing our first phonics assessment. At parents evening, you will be given a sheet for any phase 3 sounds you may still need to work on.

Whilst out and about this week, why not encourage your children to sound out some of he things you see. For example letter box - l.e.tt.er b.o.x

Week beginning 2nd October 2023 - Geography

In their geography lessons this week, Year 1 children began developing their skills of map reading. The children explored a map of the United Kingdom and learnt that there are four countries that make up the UK - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The children learnt about the different flags linked to each of the countries, as well as the national flower of each country. The children then had to work as a team to correctly cut and stick pictures of the flags and flowers next to the corresponding country. The children had a lot of fun and enjoyed retaining their knowledge in a practical way.

Phonics update

This week you will have recived the new sounds learnt in phonics for your key ring. In addition to this, on the lilac card are some harder to read and spell words. All the children were also given a wallet to help keep the sounds safe. Please keep add the sounds to the key ring and keep recapping them.

Your challenge this week is to make a collage are object in the home with the 'ie' sound in.

Week beginning 25th September 2023 - The circus! (Cross-curricular)

On Thursday the children were very excited to see the circus had come to school.  We had two exciting days of circus themed learning. In English we shared the book 'Clown' by Quentin Blake and wrote captions for some of the images. In maths we explored pictograms of our favourite circus acts and made a timetable of acts for our own circus show. In music we sang a circus themed song and in Art we drew a picture of the circus.

As well as this we had a circus workshop delivered by the performers. We balanced feathers, juggled hankies and span plates. On Thursday afternoon we were treated to a fabulous circus show from the team at Circus Sensible. 

Phonic Challenge:

This week the children were given their first phonics key ring. You can use these to support the sounds we have learnt this week. You could spot the sounds as you are out and about or challenge your children to make list of words linked the the sounds. Don't forget to read your new oxford owl book which focuses on the sounds from this week. 

Week beginning 18th September 2023 - Subtraction (maths)

This week the children in Mr Paice's group have been exploring subtraction. They have used different resources to support them including Deans blocks, counting beads and multilink. The children then moved on to using a number line and showing their jumps to support their working.

Phonics Challenge:

Gather some household objects. Have a go at writing labels using your phonics skills to write the words. underline any digraphs or trigraphs used.

Week beginning 11th September 2023 - Taking photos for purpose (Computing)

This week in computing we continued to explore taking photos on the iPads.  Last week children learnt how to unlock the device, find the camera app, and take a selfie.  This week we spoke about why we might want to take photographs. One pupil said 'To remember happy moments' another said they wanted a picture of their mummy and daddy. We then spoke about taking photographs for a purpose - such as for the school newsletter. We went outside a took some photos of the KS1 playground. We spoke about the need to frame our pictures in the screen to make sure we had a good quality photograph.  We came back into class and explored the editing setting, focusing on brightness and colour saturation.

Phonics challenge:

This week your challenge is to log in to Oxford Owl and find and read your first e-Book.  Why not write a short book review to encourage others to read it too!

Week beginning 4th September 2023 - Using adjectives (English)

We have been really impressed with how quickly the children have settled back into the school year.  In English this week, the children have been exploring the book 'Where's my Teddy?'.  We have read the story and used the illustrations to help us generate some cloud words (adjectives) about the characters.  On Thursday we went to look at some of the woodland at the edge of the school grounds. We used our senses to help generate some more adjectives about the setting and used this in our writing. Next week we will explore nouns and have a go at sequencing the story.

Welcome to Year 1

Academic Year 2022-23

The Year 1 Team

Miss Murphy (Matisse)

Miss Broad (Hockney)

Summer Term 

Welcome to the Summer Term of Year 1! We are looking forward to sharing lots of exciting learning with you over the coming term. 
 

Important Days
Our PE days are Tuesday and Friday. Please ensure your child has their full PE kit including black/navy joggers, black/navy jumper and appropriate trainers at school every day. Please ensure children wear suncream as we approach the warmer days. Please ensure all items are clearly labelled with your child's name.
 

Key Information 

Children will be read with once a week and books will be changed weekly. Please record your child's reading on the Go Read/Boom Reader App when you enjoy a book at home together.

Your child can also use the Times Tables Rock Stars app to practise their times tables or NumBots app (same login as TTRS) to practise number bonds, addition and subtraction facts.

Spellings will be sent home every Friday and can be returned any time up to the following Friday.

Curriculum Coverage

In English we will continue practising our use of phonics and applying this to reading and writing skills, by exploring new texts such as 'Little Red Riding Hood', 'How to wash a Wooly Mammoth' and a non-fiction text on bats. We will be developing our writing skills through writing letters, stories, description, poetry and non-fiction texts.
 

In Maths we will be exploring number and place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in Summer 1 and then fractions, shape and measurement and statistics in Summer 2.

This term we will enjoy learning about plants and seasons in Science, sculpture in Art, construction in DT, Neil Armstrong and The Great Fire of London in History and weather in Geography. Keep an eye out on our class page for weekly updates! 
 

Week Beginning Monday 17th July 2023

This week, the children got to show their music performances to parents and carers in our musical festival. We showed our understanding of pulse and performed as a year group and we other year groups.

We have had a very enjoyable last week with the children and would like to thank them once again for their hard work, enthusiasm and kindness throughout the year. Thank you to parents and carers for your support throughout the year and kind words, cards and gifts at the end of term - it is greatly appreciated. We are excited to watch the children continued to be successful in Year 2!

We wish you all a happy and safe summer break!

The Year 1 Team

Miss Murphy, Miss Broad, Mrs Faulkner and Mrs Clark

Week Beginning Monday 10th July 2023

Phonics:

Miss Murphy's group:

Recap of adding ing, ed, er and est suffix and adding s and es (bands or fizzes)

Miss Broad's group:

ai, ee and oo family

Mrs Clark's group:

u_e, ue, ew

cube, cue, chew

Weekly update

This week in science, we learnt about Mae Jemison, the first black female in space. We learnt about her achievements at NASA and how she stayed determined to achieve her goals. We made fact files on what we learnt during our learning. 

Week Beginning Monday 3rd July 2023

Phonics:

Miss Murphy's group:

Adding the suffest 'est' to great adjectives:

fine = finest (drop the e and then add est)

big - biggest (When a vowel precedes the final consonant, double the final consonant before adding ed)

coldest = coldest (not change)

funny = funniest (ends in a y, change to an i and add est)

Mrs Faulkner's group:

Miss Broad's group:

Green sounds recap and 'igh family'

igh - night

ie- pie

i-e - kite

i - mind

Mrs Clark's group:

Green trick words and split i_e digraph -

kite, mine, time

Use the following trick words in sentences:

they, were, where, there

Weekly update

On Monday 3rd July, Year 1 visited Knebworth Park. We explored the gardens and made curriculum links to science and maths. We collected different plants that we could see and used our science learning to help us name trees and plants. We also found out interesting facts like how the trunk of a red wood tree grows so big, a car can drive through it (it's true, we saw picture evidence!). All children showed fantastic Round Diamond learning behaviours on the trip. More pictures can be found on our Facebook Page.

Week Beginning Monday 26th June 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy’s group:

“W special” - a making an /o/ sound after a w - warm, wasp, was, wash

o making an /ur/ sound - word, word

Miss Broad’s phonics group:

Split vowel digraph recap:

a_e - made

e-e - these

i_e like in line

o_e - bone

u_e - like in tube or flute

Mrs Faulkner’s group: 

tch like in pitch

dge like in fudge 

Alternative pronunciations: s spelt st (bristle), s spelt se (mouse), u spelt o (come).

Mrs Clark’s group:

ee like in been

ea like in sea

e_e like in theme 
 

Practise your groups sounds on phonics play (Phase 5 games). Mrs Faulkner and Miss Murphy’s group, you can choose some phase 5 sounds to practise or play the Pond Plural or Planetary Plural game on there.

Weekly Update

 In history, we have been learning about the Great Fire of London. We have chronologically ordered the events of the fire and compared fire fighters today and in 1666. This week we designed houses that would not burn as easy as the ones in 1666. We made our houses of brick, far apart from other houses and not near cloth factories based on the historical fact we learnt in the lesson. 

Week Beginning Monday 19th June 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy’s group:

Past tense verbs - adding the suffix -ed

Short vowel sounds: Brushed

Long vowel sounds: Chased

Words with one consonant after the vowel: hopped

Words that end in y: tried

Miss Broad’s phonics group:

Green sounds and tricky words recap

Mrs Faulkner’s group: 

Alternative pronunciations: s spelt st (bristle), s spelt se (mouse), u spelt o (come).

Mrs Clark: oe like in toe, ue like in glue, au like in August. 
 

Make up a story using as many green tricky words as possible: oh, Mrs, people, their, called, Mr, looked, asked, could.

Weekly Update

 In music, we looked at organising musical sounds with a focus on rhythm and dynamics. We looked at different images of summer and chose instruments that matched things we saw, like a guiro to show a bike in the park, a maraca to show watering plants or bells to show a bird tweeting. We then put these instruments together into a group composition. 

Week Beginning Monday 12th June 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy’s group:

Alternative Pronunciations - ch spelt ‘t’ like in mixture and ‘tch’ like in catch and ‘j’ spelt ‘dge.’ like in nudge.

Miss Broad’s phonics group:

Green sounds recap

Mrs Faulkner’s group: 

Alternative pronunciation recap

Look out for alternative pronunciations in your reading books 

e.g ‘a’ spelt ai, ay, a-e, a

Weekly Update
In maths, Year 1 have been consolidating their understanding of measurement. We have applied our knowledge of measurement vocabulary and applied this to measurement problems such as measuring the capacity of a container in cups, comparing the mass of objects and finding objects that are heavier and lighter than 50g. 

Week Beginning Monday 5th June 2023

Phonics 

All groups have been recapping green sounds this week particularly the ew, au and aw digraphs, as well as the spilt vowel digraphs (a-e, e-e, i-e, e-e and o-e)

Please continue to engage in the phonics resources below to practice segmenting and blending real and alien words in preparation for the children's phonics screening check. Please encourage your child to segment using robot arms or draw sound buttons to help them blend with accuracy - especially on alien words! 

Please note you shouldn't need a login for these sites, to access the games on phonics play please click on the resources tab. There are some games you can access without logging in. 

Weekly Update

This week, we had two Cross-Curricular Days on inspirational people. We had a visit from Paul Sturgess and Darren Edwards. The children had a fantastic two days and learnt so much about the power of self-belief and the opportunities that can come from challenges ⭐️

Our learning included writing a letter to an inspirational person, celebrating our differences and learning how to point score. 

Week Beginning Monday 22nd May 2023

Phonics

All groups have been recapping green sounds this week particularly the ew, au and aw digraphs, as well as the spilt vowel digraphs (a-e, e-e, i-e, e-e and o-e)

Please continue to engage in the phonics resources below to practice segmenting and blending real and alien words in preparation for the children's phonics screening check. Please encourage your child to segment using robot arms or draw sound buttons to help them blend with accuracy - especially on alien words! 

Please note you shouldn't need a login for these sites, to access the games on phonics play please click on the resources tab.

Weekly update

In Science we have been learning about plants. We have looked at evergreen and deciduous trees as well as exploring wild and garden plants. We compared different types of plants and labeled the parts or different flowers. We finished our topic by planting sunflower seeds and bean plants. We can't wait to see what they look like after half term!

Week Beginning Monday 15th May 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy's and Mrs Faulkner's sounds:

Recapping green sounds - au, ew, g (j), ea ( e & ee), ai, ay, a, ey

e.g. autumn, crew, gem, bead, bread, rain, pay, acorn, grey

Miss Broad's sounds: i-e, o-e, u-e

e.g. bike, stone, tube, flute

Please engage in the resources below to practice segmenting and blending real and alien words in preparation for the children's phonics screening check. Please encourage your child to segment using robot arms or draw sound buttons to help them blend with accuracy - especially on alien words! 

Please note you shouldn't need a login for either of these sites, to access the games on phonics play please click on the resources tab.

Weekly update

In Miss Murphy's English class we learnt that a contraction is two words put together to make a shorter word. We read different contractions and then highlighted contractions we found in our story, The Gingerbread Boy. We then discussed the repeated phrases and why repeated phrases are helpful when reading.

Week Beginning Monday 8th May 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy's and Mrs Faulkner's sounds:

Recapping green sounds (o-e, i-e, u-e, aw, au)

Miss Broad's sounds: au, ey, a-e, e-e

e.g. autumn, monkey, cake, theme

Please engage in the resources below to practice segmenting and blending real and alien words in preparation for the children's phonics screening check. Please encourage your child to segment using robot arms or draw sound buttons to help them blend with accuracy - especially on alien words!

Weekly update

In art this term we have been learning about sculpture. This week, we manipulating materials into desired shapes by creating people out of tin foil. The children had to cut and scrunch the tin foil in order to make it look like a person. We then discussed how we could have improved our final outcome.

Week Beginning Monday 1st May 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy's sounds:

Recapping green sounds

Miss Faulkner's sounds: ey, a-e, e-e

e.g. monkey, bake, concrete

Miss Broad's sounds: ew, oe

e.g. crew, new, toe

Please engage in the resources below to practice segmenting and blending real and alien words in preparation for the children's phonics screening check. Please encourage your child to segment using robot arms to help them blend with accuracy - especially on alien words!

Weekly update

In RE this term we have been learning about special books. This week, we explored 'The Torah' which is the religious book of Judaism. We learnt about the Jewish creation story and sequenced the story to help us remember the order of events. 

Week Beginning Monday 24th April 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy's sounds:

Recapping

Miss Faulkner's sounds: ew (oo), ew (you), oe, au

e.g. blew, few, toe, august

Miss Broad's sounds: aw, wh (w), wh (h), ph

paw, claw, whisper, wheel, who, phonics, alphabet

Click the link below to practise reading with your child. Please encourage your child to segment using robot arms to help them blend with accuracy - especially on alien words!

Weekly update

This week in Miss Broad's maths class we have been learning all about addition. To deepen our understanding we have been doing some problem solving. Flick through the pictures to see our solutions!

Week Beginning Monday 17th April 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy's sounds:

Alternative pronunciation of a (ar, o and or)

e.g. last, what, walk

Miss Broad's sounds: ue ('oo' and 'you')

e.g. glue, blue, tissue, due, argue, rescue

Write a sentence that includes a word that contains the digraphs you have focussed on this week.

Weekly update

This terms art topic is all about sculptures. We have begun our topic by experimenting with paper. We practised folding, cutting and sticking by creating a playground for a bug.

Week Beginning Monday 27th March 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy's sounds:

Alternative pronunciation of letters (graphemes) -

ie make long e sound like in field or chief

ea making a short e sound like in bread or ready

Miss Broad's sounds: ay, ou, ie, ea, oy, ir

e.g. day, cloud, pie, sea, boy, bird

Over the Easter holidays, practise writing sentences about the activities you do. Try to include words with your sounds in.

Weekly update

On Monday, Year 1 had a visit from David, the minister from Great Ashby Community Church. They had an exciting afternoon completing activities which symbolised Easter such as celebrating new life and looking at the meaning of the cross.

Week Beginning Monday 20th March 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy's sounds:

Alternative pronunciation of letters (graphemes) -

ch - making /k/ or /sh/

like if school and chef

Miss Broad's sounds: ir, oy

e.g. bird, boy

Alien words are words that are not real but they can be segmented and blended using phonics sounds. See if you can come up with your own alien words for the sounds you did this week.

e.g cherp, hirf, foyt

Weekly update

In DT this week, the children made their sandwiches that they have planned. We made sweet and savoury options and practised our skill of spreading to create the sandwich, before adding a filling or ham, cheese, chicken and jam,

Week Beginning Monday 13th March 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy's sounds:

Alternative pronunciation of letters (graphemes) -

g  making a j sound - gem, gentle, giant

u making a yoo sound - music, human

u making a oo sound - pull, push, full

Miss Broad's sounds: ea

e.g. sea, bead, dream

Alien words are words that are not real but they can be segmented and blended using phonics sounds. See if you can come up with your own alien words for the sounds you did this week.

e.g kreab, gentip, pulf

Weekly update

In English, Miss Murphy's group looked at finding appropriate adjectives and verbs to describe the caterpillar in our new story 'Caterpillar shoes'. We used a thesaurus to help us up level words like nice to thoughtful and walked to strolled. We worked in groups to come up with our new vocabulary and applied it to a setting description on Tuesday. Next week, we will wrote reports on the lifecycle of a caterpillar. 

Week Beginning Monday 6th March 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy's sounds:

Alternative pronunciation of letters (graphemes) -

s making /zh like in treasure or television

o like in gold vs focus

i like in milk vs item

 c like in city vs cake

Miss Broad's sounds: ie

e.g. tie, pie, tried

How many words can you write down with these sounds in? Play Bingo with an adult using these words.

Weekly update

This week in computing, we continued to look at word processing using laptops and iPads. We compared how you type differently on both devices and the different ways that you could format the text using colour, bold, underline or italics. We also practised how we log on to a laptop, open word to type and then log off the laptop.

Week Beginning Monday 27th February 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy's sounds: split digraph recap - a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, u-e

e.g.  made, these, five, phone, tube, June

Miss Broad's sounds: ou

e.g. cloud, proud, mouth

Can you write a short story for World Book Day using some words with your sound in?

Weekly update

We had a fantastic day for World Book Day on Friday! The day started off with 'Teleporting Teacher' where we enjoyed a story read by a different teacher (Miss Coker for Matisse and Mrs Parker for Hockney). We really enjoyed our visit from author, James Campbell, who told us lots of funny stories and how wonderful it is to be a writer. We also did an art activity based on our class story for the day: 'Here We Are' by Oliver Jeffers. In the afternoon, we were very lucky to be joined by lots of parents and siblings to share a cosy story together. Thank you to all staff, parents and children that made World Book Day a fantastic day!

Week Beginning Monday 20th February 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy's sounds: i-e, o-e, ue

e.g.  five, phone, tube, June

Miss Broad's sounds: ay

e.g. may, pay, stay

How many things can you find outside of your house that have these sounds in?

Weekly update

In science this week, we have started to look at animal groups. We first had pictures of a range of animals and sorted them using our own categories such as lives in water and doesn't live in water. Then we learnt about the five animal groups: mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians. We learnt about the features of each of the groups and then used the same pictures to group the animals into the five animal groups.

Week Beginning Monday 6th February 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy's sounds: au, ey, a-e, e-e

e.g. august, monkey, bake, evening

Miss Broad's sounds: pr, sc, thr, str

e.g. prank, scarf, three, string

Draw and label a picture of something which has these sounds in.

Weekly update

Here are some photos from our rockstar day. The children had lots of fun exploring times tables by playing games, battling other year groups and modelling their costumes.

We hope you have a lovely half term!

Week Beginning Monday 30th January 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy's sounds: oe, wh, ph, aw

toe, whirl, phone, paw

Miss Broad's sounds: sl, sp, tw, sm

slip, spell, twin, smell

Can you find an object with one of these sounds in?

E.g. twig, whisk

Weekly update

This week our maths learning has been all about multiplication. We have made the link between counting in 2s, 5s and 10s to what the number sentence really means. We linked this to repeated addition showing 2 x 5 means 2 groups of 5. Here our some pictures of us matching the repeated addition number sentence to a pictoral representation of the grouping.

Week Beginning Monday 23rd January 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy's sounds: ou, ie, ea, oy

mouse, pie, treat, royal

Miss Broad's sounds: sk, sn, nch, scr, shr

skill, snail, lunch, scrap, shred

Can you write a sentence which has one of this weeks sounds in?

Weekly update

In RHSE we have been learning about responsibility. We have discussed things which we are responsible for and this week moved on to learning about responsible and irresponsible choices. We sorted the scenarios and discussed what we would do in each situation. Here our some of our ideas.

Week Beginning Monday 16th January 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy's sounds: ay, a-e

day, bake

Miss Broad's sounds: fl, gl, pl

float, glitch, plain

How many words can you think of that have one of this weeks sounds in?

Weekly update

This week we explored lots of exciting instruments in music. We discussed how to play each instrument and whether you bang or shake the instrument as well as discussing whether the instrument made a high or low sound.

Week Beginning Monday 9th January 2023

Phonics

Miss Murphy's sounds: ue (oo and yoo), ew (oo and yoo), u-e

blue, statue, blew, stew, cube

Miss Broad's sounds: br, fr, bl

brown, fresh, black

Can you find any objects in your homes which have these sounds in? 

E.g. A fridge has the 'fr' sound in. 

Weekly update

This week year 1 began their new science topic 'Animals including humans'. We have begun by looking at different parts of their bodies and what their function is. Here you can see us exploring a human skeleton and pointing at all the intricate details we could see.

Week Beginning Monday 19th December 2022

Year 1 have been exploring Christmas poetry. We performed the poem 'Cold' by Shirley Hughes and then wrote our own acrostic poems. We have also been doing lots of Christmas crafts and singing songs.

The year 1 team would like to say a huge thank you for all of the generous gifts we have received! We wish you a safe and happy Christmas break!🎄

Week Beginning Monday 12th December 2022

Year 1 had a fantastic day on Thursday exploring toys and being toy makers during our History of Toys workshop! We got to explore a toy museum, investigate artefacts in dig boxes and then make our own traditional toys from a range of different materials. Thank you to our staff and parent volunteers who helped to support a great day. 

Snow day 12.12.22

Good morning Year1!

As you will know school is closed today due to the snow. Here are some activities which you can complete at home today based on our learning this week. 

We hope you have a safe and enjoyable day.

Here is some English learning:

Here is some maths learning:

Here is some afternoon learning:

Week Beginning Monday 5th December 2022

In Science this term we have been learning all about 'Everyday Materials'. We have discussed lots of materials and what objects we know which are made of these materials. We have also used lots of key vocabulary to describe the properties of the materials. This week we sorted the objects based on their properties. We looked at whether materials are 'waterproof' or 'not waterproof', 'transparent' or 'opaque' and 'rough' or 'smooth'. 

Week Beginning Monday 28th November 2022

In English we have started a new text called 'Mog's Christmas Calamity'. We began by sequencing the story by putting the pictures in order. We added time adverbs to help show others the order of the text.

Week Beginning Monday 21st November 2022

This week in English, we have been exploring the core text 'Farmer Duck.' To help us sequence the story, we worked in groups to act out different parts of the story. In this book, the animals talk using animal sounds, so we thought about how the animals may be feeling and what they would say, and included these in our improvisations. 

Week Beginning Monday 14th November 2022

This week in computing, we applied our knowledge of algorithms and directions to Bee-Bots 🐝

We worked in groups and had to direct the Bee-Bot towards different places on our tables. We had to consider whether it needed to move forward, backwards, left or right and estimate how many spaces. 

_{Week Beginning Monday 7th November 2022}
 

This week in music, we used body percussion to create different dynamics to show the sounds of a rainstorm. You can see a video of this  below. We discussed how the loud and quiet dynamics makes you feel like you can hear different types of weather in the rain storm ⛈️ 

In DT, we developed our cutting skills and cut out a paper template ready to start our sewing of a Christmas decoration this half term 🧵🪡 

Week Beginning Monday 31st October 2022

At the start of this half term, our core text in English is Handa's surprise. This week, we got to taste different fruits from the story. We got to taste banana, tangerine, mango and pineapple and thought of adjectives to describe these fruits using our senses: taste, touch, smell, see. We used this learning to help us write descriptions of the fruit. 

Week Beginning Monday 17th October 2022
 

We have had two very exciting cross-curricular days themed around space. We have read lots of exciting stories including 'The Way Back Home' by Oliver Jeffers and 'Field Trip to The Moon' by John Hare. We designed and described characters who we would want to meet on the moon and even measured our bodies for a space suit. We even had a visit from an inflatable planetarium. These are just a few of the wonderful things we have been up to. Please look through our pictures to see what else we have been up to.

Week Beginning Monday 10th October 2022
 

This half term in geography, we have been learning all about the world around us. We have been using our new maps around school to help us place the continents and this week we used them to locate the countries that make up the United Kingdom. Please ask us questions about the maps before or after school.

Week Beginning Monday 3rd October 2022
 

In music this week, we were exploring pulse and rhythm through songs. We learnt that the pulse in the song is a steady beat and that rhythm is a pattern of sounds of different lengths. We used the boomwhackers to show the pulse and rhythm of different songs. We also discussed how shorter boomwhackers has a higher pitch and a longer boomwhacker had a lower pitch. 
 

Week Beginning Monday 26th September 2022
 

In maths, we have been exploring equal to, more than and less than using our place value knowledge. We used Numicon and other images to create numbers and show equal and then thought of our own numbers that were more and less.

Week Beginning Monday 19th September 2022

This week in English, we begun exploring the text “Plenty of Love to Go Around.” First we looked at the title and front cover and predicted what would happen. This week we have also learnt how to write lists and captions and describe a character using adjectives. Next week we will go on to retelling the story. We will be using this learning for our corridor display outside Year 1. Make sure you come to take a look during Parent Consultations! 
 

Week beginning: 12.09.22

In history this week, we explored our new school history timeline to learn about the key vocabulary "old" and "past". We then looked at some old toys from the past and came up with questions that we wanted to know the answer to about the toys. We will use these questions to research the answers next week. 

Week beginning: 05.09.22

This week we have started lots of lovely topics in our afternoon learning. In computing we will be learning all about images and photographs. We began this topic by using our school IPad's to take some pictures of our friends and things around the classroom. We then learnt how to delete these images off the IPad's.

Welcome to Year 1 

Academic Year 2021-2022

The Year 1 Team

Miss Lamont (Matisse)

Miss Broad (Hockney)

Welcome back to the Spring Term of Year 1! We are looking forward to sharing lots of exciting learning with you over the coming term. 
 

Important Days
Our PE days are Tuesday and Friday. Please ensure your child has their full PE kit including black/navy joggers, black/navy jumper and appropriate trainers at school every day. 
 

Key Information 

Children will be read with once a week and books will be changed weekly/when finished. Please record your child's reading on the Go Read App when you enjoy a book at home together.

Your child can also use the Times Tables Rock Stars app to practise their times tables.

Curriculum Coverage

In English we will continue practicing our use of phonics, exploring new texts such as Here Comes ‘Mr Post Mouse’ and ‘The Last Noo Noo’ and poetry about different animals. 
 

In Maths we will be exploring number and place value, addition and subtraction and multiplication and division in a range of fluency, problem solving and reasoning contexts. 

This term we will enjoy learning about the human body in Science, sketching in Art, The Stuart’s in History and our local area in Geography. Keep an eye out on our class page for weekly updates! 
 

For further information on our curriculum please look at the documents attached below. 

Week beginning: 09.05.22

This week we were fortunate enough to have a visit from the Stevenage Fire Service. We were able to ask some of our unanswered questions about how the fire service has changed since The Great Fire of London and how they manage to do such a good job.

Week beginning: 13.06.22

In DT, we have linked our sculpture learning to our history topic about The Great Fire of London. We have decided to create a sculpture of St Paul's Cathedral. We have focussed on the dome shape of the cathedral and used Papier Mache to create our masterpieces.

Week beginning: 06.06.22

In Computing, we have been exploring powerpoint. We have learnt how to copy and paste a picture, type sentences and change the font and colour. We have really enjoyed exploring all of the many features on powerpoint.

Week beginning: 23.05.22

This week we took a day off timetable to celebrate our Queen's jubilee. We discussed who our queen is and how she has reigned for 70 years. We created artwork and researched all about her life. We learnt some special songs and really enjoyed our day.

Week beginning: 16.05.22

Over the last few weeks we have had butterflies. We watched them grow into big green caterpillars before they went into their chrysalis. They then crawled out of their chrysalis and became beautiful butterflies.

Week beginning: 09.05.22

In Geography, the children have been learning about different types of weather and what the weather is like in each season. This week, we explored weather charts and temperature. The children worked responsibly as a team, labelling each day and what the weather was like.

Week beginning: 02.05.22

In science we have been identifying and classifying common plants and wild plants. We went onto the school field to look for common wild plants and flowers. The children were determined to find as many as possible, they found lots and lots of daisies and dandelions! 

Week beginning: 25.04.22

In English this week we have been reading the traditional tale of Little Red Riding Hood. The children were energised when acting out the story. They practised using body language and changing their voice to show which character they were. 

Week beginning: 18.04.22

In music this week we have been practising some of our key vocab: rhythm, pitch and pulse. The children enjoyed marching to the pulse and practising the skill of singing high and low notes.

Week beginning: 28.03.22

Here is a video of some of our maths learning earlier on in the term. This term we have looked at measurement and geometry. This video shows you a snippet of our learning on time. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4gyQ1H0C3LI&feature=youtu.be

Week beginning: 21.03.22

In DT we have been learning about different foods and where they come from. This week we practiced our baking skills by learning to mix the chocolate and rice krispies together. We each chose our favourite toppings to add on top.

Week beginning: 14.03.22

This week in geography we went for a walk around Great Ashby. We were looking out for physical and human features to write down on our clipboards. We linked this to our RSHE learning where we discussed road safety and how to be sensible near the roads.

Week beginning: 07.03.22

This week in computing we were learning about word processing. We were all energised when exploring 'word 2016' where we typed a biography all about ourselves. Some of us were able to change the size of our text. 

Week beginning: 28.02.22

This week we celebrated world book day by dressing up as our favourite character from a story book. We all had an energised approach to all of the exciting activities we took part in. Thank you to Miss Conroy and Mr Longland for making this special day possible. Here is just a small part of what we got up to.

Week beginning: 21.02.22

This week Mr Haig organised a 'Wellbeing Wednesday' based off the NHS campaign '5 ways to wellbeing'. We took part in lots of different activities which all helped to improve our mental and physical wellbeing.

Week beginning: 07.02.22

In maths, the children have been practising their 5 times tables. Below are some videos that we use in school which may support your child to count in 5’s at home. Don’t forget, you can also log in to Times Tables Rockstar’s to practise :)

Week beginning: 31.01.22

In music this half term, the children have explored rhythm, pitch and pulse in a range of ways including marching to a beat, singing the high low song and using the glockenspiel’s. The children showed determination to use instruments that they had not used before and were successful at finding the high and low notes. Well done :)

Week beginning: 24.01.22

In computing the children have been learning all about keeping safe on the internet and ways they can be responsible online. This has included creating rules, posters and even a password rap about how to create a strong and safe online password. The children showed energised learning when creating their very own raps!

Week beginning: 17.01.22

In History this term we are learning all about the Stuart’s. To begin our topic, the children answered the big questions “What is history?” and “What is a Historian?”. The children learnt that we are historians that learn all about the past using sources such as books, artefacts and photos. 

Week beginning: 10.01.22

Science: Awe and Wonder 

In science this week the children were introduced to a new topic, The Human Body. They thought of body parts they knew and their functions. Then, they were able to explore a skeleton. All of the children showed responsibility during this lesson, well done :)

Week beginning: 05.01.22

Happy New Year! 
This week Year 1 have had an exciting start to the Spring term with our cross curricular days. They have taken part in lots of activities to improve Life Skills such as: making jam sandwiches, recycling and British Sign Language. 

The children were especially determined when learning the alphabet using BSL. Below you can enjoy a video from each class. 

Week beginning: 13.12.21

Year 1 have had a very successful first term, the year 1 team are so proud of how determined the children have all been. We have been practicing these two Christmas songs throughout the last few weeks and wanted to share them with you. We hope you enjoy them. 

We wish you a healthy and happy Christmas and look forward to welcoming you back in the new year.

https://youtu.be/dXg5x3HmBPg

https://youtu.be/zg5bYLdlzFA

We also enjoyed a yummy Christmas dinner this week, all the children in year 1 enjoyed their lunch. It was lovely to see the children singing along to festive songs and spending time chatting and having fun with their friends. Thank you to everyone who works in the kitchen for making this possible.

Week beginning: 6.12.21

Year 1 have enjoyed Christmas jumper day raising lots of money for 'Save the Children'. We also had a special visit from Santa Claus, the children were very excited to receive their presents - they were all on the good list!

Week beginning: 29.11.21

This week we have been exploring money and using the coins to help us count in 2s, 5s and 10s. We have also explored different ways of making a coin by adding different coins together. We began the week by ordering the coins in order of their value so children knew how much each coin was worth.

Week beginning: 22.11.21

This week we have enjoyed hearing a range of many interesting texts during our story time at the end of the day. Take a look at these recordings of story time in year 1 where you can see Miss Broad reading 'Jabari Jumps' to Hockney class and Miss Lamont reading 'Conker the Chameleon' to Matisse.

Year 1 Hockney https://youtu.be/M0x5tN6ONz0

Year 1 Matisse https://youtu.be/1yGhoS7czW0

Week beginning: 15.11.21

This week in DT we learnt how to make a template. We cut out our template on paper and then drew round it on felt to make the exact same shape on the felt. We practiced this to help us make our felt Christmas decoration in a few weeks.

Week beginning: 08.11.21

This week we began our new English topic looking at the book 'Handa's Surprise'. We began the week by acting out the story and then looked at adjectives to write descriptive sentences. On Thursday we tasted the fruit to help us to describe what the fruit tasted like in sentences on Friday. 

Week beginning: 01.11.21

This week we learnt all about parliament. We held a debate where the children used their energised learning to state their arguments for and against a school uniform. In Hockney class the against school uniform team won, but in Matisse class, the children voted to keep the school uniform.

Week beginning: 18.10.21

This week the children retold the story of Mr Wolf's Week during our English learning. They were determined to complete this  and were able to make a cross curricular link with Science which we have been learning all about the seasons in throughout this half term. The children wrote fantastic stories, using their phonics to spell and remembering the sentence rules. Well done on a successful first half term, Year 1!

Week beginning: 11.10.21

In maths, we have been focusing on our 2 and 10 times tables. In Miss Broad’s set, the children have been extremely energised when taking part in the 2 x table and 10 x table BBC Super Movers. In Miss Lamont’s set, the children have been enjoying the counting in 2’s and 10’s videos which are linked below. It’s great to see the children having fun and making progress. Don’t forget to log on to TTRS this week and have a go at the times tables that have been set on there :) 

Week beginning: 04.10.21

In history, the children have been learning all about toys from the past. They were very excited to explore toys from the Victorian era and have a chance to research what they were made from, how they move and what they were used for in the past. They learnt the names of lots of old toys including the Diablo, Jacob’s Ladder and a cam toy. All of these were very popular with the children! 

Week beginning: 27.09.21

This week in our maths learning, we have been exploring number bonds to 10 and 20. We have learnt that finding number bonds means we are looking for two numbers that add together to make 10 or 20.  The children have used Numicon, multi-link and tens frames to support their learning. They also enjoyed listening to Farmer Pete’s number bond song and writing the number sentences independently. 

Week beginning: 20.09.21

This week in English, we began a new text called ‘Where’s My Teddy?’. We have focused on the vocabulary in the text and used this to generate lots of our own adjectives to describe the characters and the setting in the story.
 

The children were all extra energised on Tuesday during our English lesson as they were able to bring in their own teddy to support their learning. We drew, labelled and described our teddy’s. Well done Year One :) 
 

Week beginning: 13.09.21

This week in our art learning, both classes enjoyed finding out more about their class artist. In Matisse, we created a collage in the style of Henri Matisse ‘The Snail’. Hockney class reimagined David Hockney’s “Rocky Mountains” painting, using lots of different patterns and colours.

We then discussed what it means to “evaluate” a piece of art and came up with examples of what we thought went well, and ways we would improve our collage/painting next time. 

Week beginning: 06.09.21

This week in our computing learning, the children were exploring the camera app using the iPads. They were able to unlock the screen, find the camera and take pictures confidently. We then discussed how to delete pictures from the camera roll and we also learnt the skill of flipping the camera around to take a selfie. The children were energised during this lesson and enjoyed finding lots of things around the room to take a photo off.

Week beginning: 30.08.21

It was great to welcome the children back into Year 1 on Thursday 2nd September. We spent the first two days in our home classes, getting to know each other, our new classroom and finding out all the things we’d be learning about in Year 1. Both classes enjoyed making some lovely art work for the reading areas and cloakroom displays.

Over the summer, some children completed the home learning tasks that were given to them on Move Up Day. It was fantastic to see so many children participate and take pride when sharing their learning. They knew lots of facts about their class artists (Henri Matisse and David Hockney) and were able to share lots of key vocabulary that will support them with their learning in other subjects such as science and history. Below are some examples of the children’s learning.

2021-22

Week beginning: 19.07.21

The Year 1 team just want to wish you a safe and happy summer. Thank you for your determination, resilience and positive attitudes towards this challenging year. Enjoy the summer holidays and we will see you when you’re in Year 2!!

Miss Lamont, Mrs Jones, Mrs Faulkner and Mrs Lavery xx 

Week beginning: 12.07.21

This week we used all the skills we have been practising in our Art learning this term, such as fastening techniques, to create our own house using junk modelling. We discussed what we would need to create a successful house including, windows, a roof and a door. The children loved being creative and finding different ways to make openings and add features to their house in their own way. We then displayed our learning outside as a gallery for our grown ups to look at before taking them home. 

Week beginning: 05.07.21

This week in computing we started to make our own book using PowerPoint. We chose a traditional tale such as Little Red Riding Hood or The Gingerbread Boy. We then created a title page, designed the background, changed the font and font size and even learnt the skill of how to add a new slide for each page in the story. We had lots of fun!

Week beginning: 28.06.21

This week in our maths learning we have been learning all about 2D shapes. We identified, named and sorted lots of 2D shapes and we enjoyed listening to the shapes song to help us. We also discussed the features of 2D shapes. We know that squares and rectangles both have four straight sides, circles have one curved side and a semi-circle has one curved and one straight side. 

Week beginning: 21.06.21

This week we started a new text in our English learning - The Gingerbread Boy. We reminded ourselves of the common features in traditional tales such as; story language, repeated phrases and good and bad characters. We then used acting skills to retell the story. We practised different voices and actions to show the audience which character we were portraying. We all loved pretending to be the cheeky Gingerbread Boy and shouting “run run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man!” and lots of us enjoyed pretending to be the sly fox swimming him across the river!

Week beginning: 14.06.21

This week we had our Healthy Lifestyles cross-curricular days. We had so much fun learning about the Olympics and different ways to keep ourselves healthy. We were able to experience some Olympic inspired activities such as wrestling, canoeing and relays. We also learnt about skills for being a great athlete such as courage, determination and respect. Below are some pictures of some of the activities that we took part in. 

Week beginning: 07.06.21

This week in English we began exploring a new text called Bats. This is a non-fiction text that taught us real facts and information about bats. We have been learning about features of non-fiction texts such as labels, headings and a contents page. We were able to label our own picture of a bat using the correct scientific vocabulary. We also learnt that at nights bats see through using their hearing. They squeak and the squeak bounces back at them to tell them if an obstacle is there. We tried out being bats using squeaking noises to help us to see. Then we used our VIPERS skill explaining to explain if we would want to see like a bat. We made sure to use the conjunction ‘because’ to help us to explain. 

Week beginning: 24.05.21

This week, we completed our papier mache art project where we created the dome of St Paul's Cathedral. First, we applied layers of newspaper and a glue mixture onto the top of a balloon to create the dome of the cathedral. We had to wait for this to dry. The next day, we painted the dome and then added detailing to make it appear more realistic. We chose the correct thickness of paintbrush based on what we we were painting (e.g. thicker paintbrush for painting larger areas). Some children also colour mixed  their paint to create their own perfect colour for St Paul's cathedral. Next, we created tin foil sculptures of a cross. After the dome is dry, we will put the cross on top of the dome. We look very forward to seeing the final products. 

Week beginning: 17.05.21

This week we took part in Well-Beeing Wednesdays. We were able to discuss ways to be mindful and strategies to help when we are feeling worried or upset. For example, reading a book, gardening or painting. In the classroom, we sponge painted some butterflies to create symmetrical patterns. Outside with Mr Haig, we were able to plant flowers and learn about the important pollinators. We loved being able to spend this time outside. This was an enjoyable afternoon for all! 

Week beginning: 10.05.21

This week in art we continued our learning journey about sculpture. We looked at some of Alberto Giacometti’s art and discussed the features of his sculptures. Using what we know about the human body, we then made our own sculptures out of tin foil based on Alberto Giacometti’s work. Once our sculptures were made, we had lots of fun manipulating the tin foil in different ways to make our sculptures run, dance and jump.