Langland Community School

What a great first week back! All the children have returned to school enthusiastic and ready to learn. 

In English this week, we have been looking at different settings, We used the stimulus of a frame with a lovely image inside to base our writing on. We then explored adjectives, verbs and sentences of 3. We have practised forming sentences by beginning with a caption, then adding an adjective, some prepositional language and a character. We also made sure we were using capital letters, spaces and full stops so lots to think about by my goodness, some of their writing is fantastic! 

In maths, we completed our unit of work on weight and capacity. We have been using the vocabulary of full, empty, mass, capacity, volume, weight, heavier, lighter amongst others. We are really working on our problem solving and reasoning and I am very pleased with how hard they are all working. 

In Science, we are learning about plants and we kicked off the unit with planting a seed of our own which we will be observing over the next few weeks to see how it grows and what the different stages are. 

One of the highlights of our week was a visit from the Milton Keynes Music Hub. Four members of the hub came to give us a musical performance and introduced us to instruments that some of us have never seen before. There was a clarinet, an oboe, a bassoon, a flute and a piccolo. They played some beautiful pieces including some that we recognised from well known Disney films. 

What a great first week back! 

This week in Amazing Ash we went on a hunt to find clues which would lead us to finding out the story, our Talk for Writing unit was going to be focussing on. We found a basket, a wolf, a red cape, a cottage and some images of a woodland with crooked branches. Using our knowledge of stories, we quickly worked out that we are doing Little Red Riding Hood. We have learnt some key vocabulary that is in our story such as crimson, hooked, writhed, ajar, slayed and we also used the model text to create some black out poems which we really enjoyed doing. We read the model text and picked out some interesting words that we really liked, these were circled and the rest of the poem blacked out to create an effective, suspenseful poem.

In Science, we continue to observe our seeds that we planted and they are starting to sprout which is super exciting to see. This week, we also discussed the difference between wild and garden plants then sorted them into two groups.

We are such fantastic mathematicians! We began our unit of work on multiplication this week, starting with counting in 2’s. We looked at the twoness of two first then moved on to understanding what a group is! Using the language of ‘2 groups of 2’ and there are 4 spots altogether, the children have become very good at looking at groups and counting in 2’s to find the total.

We have also been historians, looking at the history of the railways and one of our favourite tasks this week was recreating the work of Piet Mondrian using a paint programme on the computers. We had to use the shape tool and the fill tool which was lot of fun and the results speak for themselves.

Thank you, Year 1, for all your hard work this week! Have a super weekend.

Mrs Woods

Enter Accordion text...

We have had a super start to the term!

In Talk for Writing, we have used a poem called When I blew the magic dust written by Pie Corbett to create our own versions. The first verse uses alliteration which we are now very good at using in our writing, the second verse uses personification and the ideas he used (and we created) made the children laugh a lot! Then the third and fourth verse use similes. The children have really enjoyed this short unit and will look forward to sharing their work with you in a couple of weeks at TLC’s.

In Maths, we have started our unit of work on subtraction, beginning with subtracting ones and looking at subtraction using numbers beyond 10. We work hard to read the question, look at what it says, and then talk about what it means.

We continue to learn about the properties of materials in science this term, beginning with an investigation where we looked at a range of materials and decided if we thought they were hard, soft, rigid, smooth, rough… lots of lovely vocabulary and discussion was had.

Our work in Geography this term will take us to Hunstanton, and we will be discussing and answering the enquiry question Where would you rather live? Milton Keynes or Hunstanton? This week we reminded ourselves that the UK was made up of four countries, discussed capital cities and then had a go at creating our own 3D maps of the United Kingdom making sure we labelled them correctly!

Don’t forget that next Thursday is World Book Day! Children are invited to come into school dressed as a word. You may come in wearing a variety of different colours and your word could be rainbow or multi-coloured, you may choose to wear your pyjamas and your word could be exhausted or fatigued. There is no expectation to spend any money on dressing up clothes and there are plenty of ideas out there on the internet for words you could dress up as.

Have a great weekend and see you on Monday!

This week we began our new unit of work in Talk for Writing which is all about Butterflies. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be observing our own caterpillars as they go through the metamorphosis process and transform into butterflies.

In Maths we have now finished our unit of work on addition and subtraction, and I am so impressed with how well the Year 1 children have understood the different methods. They are great at looking at an equation, spotting the symbol then thinking about what it really means.

On Thursday, we celebrated World Book Day which was such a great day for everyone. In class we discussed the ‘words’ that we had come dressed as and thought of alternative words as well. We made bookmarks, book jackets, created comic strips, played rhyming games, built words, and shared stories and poetry. Some of us visited Tesco to collect our World Book Day book and others were able to collect theirs from school at the end of the day. We would also like to say a huge thank you to all the parents that were able to join us for the family reading event in the afternoon; it was so lovely to see so many people there celebrating a love of reading.

This week has been a busy one!

The children are really enjoying our unit of work on butterflies! This week we looked at using ‘Did you know…’ questions to entice the reader into our non-fiction text. Using our knowledge of butterflies, we wrote some super rhetorical questions. We also learnt about and described the life cycle of a butterfly using the vocabulary of metamorphosis, larva, chrysalis, and pupa. One of our favourite things to do now is watch the process for ourselves by observing the larva that we have in our classroom. They have all now turned into chrysalis so are ready to be transferred to the butterfly net!

In Maths, we are leaning about numbers up to 50. This week we looked at a 100 square and discussed the pattern of the numbers. The children were excellent at identifying some missing numbers within a 100 square and on a number track.

In Geography, we identified the differences between Hunstanton and Milton Keynes and looked at the physical features of Hunstanton including the coast, sea, cliffs, and beach.

Then in Science, we continue our work on materials, this week looking at properties and their opposites such as dull/shiny, smooth/rough, hard/soft. We then placed the properties at opposite ends of a piece of string and using objects, placed them on the string discussing whether something was harder or softer than something else and using the language of softest or hardest. 

Finally, we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to visit the fabulous concert venue The Stables where we watched Ensemble 360 perform The Chimpanzees of Happy Town through beautiful pieces of music. The children were invited to join in with songs and helped create sound effects using their voices and bodies. We had such a wonderful afternoon! 

The past couple of weeks have seen a great end to the Spring term for Year 1.

We have loved our unit of work on butterflies and completed our unit of work by writing an information text all about the beautiful insect. We have become lepidopterists (people who study butterflies) since nurturing our own caterpillars and can confidently tell you the metamorphosis of a butterfly using the correct vocabulary as well as some very interesting facts about butterflies such as; Did you know they use their proboscis to sip nectar from a plant? We also watched 7 out of the 10 caterpillars transform to butterflies which was fabulous to watch and then Mrs Woods took the remaining one’s home as they hadn’t emerged before the beginning of the holidays. We can’t wait to see the video of them being released!

In Maths, we have learnt all about length and height by using standard and non-standard measuring. We know how to use a ruler correctly to do some accurate measuring and are super at comparing two items.

In Science, we have completed our work on materials and used our knowledge of properties to complete an investigation to find out which materials would be best to make a pillow for Goldilocks. We also went out for a walk to observe what Spring looks like for us. We discussed the weather, the trees, the plants, the temperature and listened to sounds in the environment. We then watched a video to see what happens in the farming world during Spring and what animals are starting to be born.

In Geography, we completed our work on Hunstanton V Milton Keynes by writing where we would rather live and our reasons why. The children are so good at articulating their thoughts and backing them up with some excellent reasons. Milton Keynes was a very popular choice however, Hunstanton is somewhere we would all love to visit…

What a term! We have really shown our skills as scientists, writers, mathematicians, computer experts, artists, geographers, readers and so much more. We can’t wait to see what next term brings!

Have a safe and wonderful Easter break. See you on Monday 15^th April!

Mrs Woods.

This week in Amazing Ash, we started our new unit of work in Talk for Writing which is based around the story of Billy’s Beetle by Mick Inkpen. It is a losing tale, all about a boy called Billy who has lost his beetle and enlists a whole motley crew of animals and people to help him find it. We began our unit by discussing minibeasts and thinking about their habitats or where we might find them. We then went on a very chilly mini beast hunt… due to the weather, we didn’t find very many however we talked about what we might have found if the weather had been warmer. The children then wrote a list of mini beasts that they could have found and decided on their favourite ones.

We then did some work around alliteration and used our own names to understand what alliteration is, so in our class we have Marvellous Mason, Bouncing Brooke and Kicking Kai. Once we had chosen our mini beasts and understood the meaning of alliteration, we then had a go at naming our chosen mini beast (character). The children wrote some fantastic sentences introducing their characters.

In Maths, we have been working hard to understand tens and ones. We are now counting to and back from 20 and are using concrete resources to help us understand that in a teen number there is one ten and ____ ones. So, for example, in 18 there is one ten and 8 ones.

In History, we are learning all about Mary Seacole and Edith Cavell. This week, the children did a great job at jumping into role and becoming Mary Seacole. They wrote some great speech bubbles with ideas of what they think she would have said all those years ago. Ask them what they know!

One of the most exciting experiences we had this week was a visit from the theatre! We thoroughly enjoyed the production of Beauty and the Beast and were immersed in the magical story which also included lots of singing and dancing.
Finally, our week ended with another successful swimming session. The children are all doing incredibly well with their swimming, and I couldn’t be prouder of each and every one of them.

Have a wonderful weekend all.

In maths this week, we have completed our unit on 2D and 3D shapes. The children are very good at recognising and naming different shapes and most can discuss the difference between 2D and 3D.

In English, they were all given an image that they had never seen before. We then discussed what they could see and what might be happening, then they went off and wrote some fantastic independent stories about the image. They are getting very good at remembering capital letters, finger spaces and full stops.

In Science this half term, the children are learning all about materials. We can confidently name different objects and tell you what material they are made from. This week, the children were introduced to the vocabulary source and classify. We identified the source of different materials and sorted images to show source > material > object so, tree > wood > building blocks. We then went on to look at a range of images with different objects on and the children used a simple sorting diagram to sort two different materials.
In Art, the children used different coloured powder paint to explore mixing colours. With this they completed a grid showing different shades of the same colour. We were very impressed with their artistic skills!

Finally, they enjoyed their second swimming lesson which they are loving. Their confidence is growing each time they go!

We have had such a fantastic week in Year 1.

In English, the children explored verbs and adverbs and wrote some super sentences about their characters describing the movement they make and how they move e.g. Black Bob crawls slowly. We have also drawn our text maps and are excellent at retelling it the story of Billy’s Beetle.

The children are practising hard with their phonics and reading. Please make sure they continue to practise as often as possible at home by watching the video links in the QR pack and reading their phonics books.

We have been learning about tens and ones in Maths and are able to confidently look at a number up to 20, build it with dienes and tell you how many tens there are and how many ones there are in the number.

In Science, the children have continued to look at materials. This week, we looked at a range of images and thought about what materials were needed to make that object. We concluded that not all objects are made from one material.

Swimming was a huge success this week. The children have really grown in confidence and are thoroughly enjoying their sessions.

Finally, our week finished with a visit from the Toscana Stings orchestra. This fantastic orchestra told the story of Monkey Puzzle by Julia Donaldson through the art of storytelling, music, and ballet. The children were engrossed in the performance and really enjoyed joining in with the dancing.

And just like that January is over! 

We've had a super week of learning this week. The children have used the skills that they have learnt over the past few weeks to write some fabulous poems. They remembered capital letters, spaces between words and alliteration to describe different animals and what they were doing e.g. I am a big, brown bear bouncing on a ball.

We have now completed our unit of work in maths focussing on place value up to 20. Most of the children can confidently recall how many tens and ones there are in each number, and they can compare three numbers, putting them in order from fewest to the greatest number. In fluency, we are beginning to learn how to count in 2’s from a given odd or even number.

In History, the children read some statements about Mary Seacole and Edith Cavell then matched them to the person they were referring to. We are good at recalling facts about these significant individuals and have really enjoyed this unit of work. Ask us what we have learnt!

To complete our busy week, the children enjoyed their swimming lesson followed by celebrating number day. All the children across the school came together in groups to complete some fun maths challenges. It was so lovely to see the older children supporting and playing alongside the younger children and so much fun was had by all! Please continue to log on to Numbots and TTRS as the impact it is having on your learning is fabulous to see.

Also, just a gentle reminder to please ensure children bring in their reading books every day!

See you on Monday.

These weeks are flying by!

This week in Talk for Writing, we have started to plan our innovation which is our own version using the structure of the model text.

We took the text map of Billy’s Beetle and used post it notes to change key parts of the story such as the main character, the ‘thing’ that they lost and the characters that they met as they tried to find it. We have some very imaginative friends in Ash class, and I can’t wait to see the stories that are produced next week.

In Maths this week we started to look at the relationship between number bonds. ‘If I know 4 + 6 = 10, then I know 4 + 16 = 20’. The children used resources to help them see the relationship between the two.

In fluency, we have been looking at counting up and down in 2’s. First, we identify whether the number is odd or even as this helps us to work out if the sum is going to be the next odd or the next even number.

We concluded our history unit on Mary Seacole and Edith Cavell by creating some fact files on each of them. We can tell you who they were, where they were born (and identify the flag for that country), what they did and how they inspire us.

Then in science, we took ourselves outside to experience what Winter looks like for us. The seasons are an ongoing topic for us and something that we talk about all the time. The children wrote some beautiful sentences describing how we know it’s winter.

Our week finished as always with swimming. I can’t believe how much progress they have all made this term.

Next week is our final week before half term and we look forward to seeing you all next Thursday 15th for our Be our Best Writing event.

Have a great weekend.  

Well, that's it! Spring 1 is over, and we are now halfway through Year 1! And we certainly had a fantastic final week to celebrate...!

In our learning this week we finished our English unit of Billy’s Beetle by completing our innovated write where most of the children used their own ideas to change the model text. They have all worked incredibly hard on their writing and so much progress has been made. On Thursday, we had our fantastic Be Our Best Writing Event, which the children thoroughly enjoyed. All the KS1 children and some of our parents who were able to attend, worked together to create a KS1 poem using key grammar skills such as adjectives, nouns, verbs and alliteration. Thank you so much to all those who came to support us!

In Maths, we have concluded our unit of work on Addition within 20 and next term we begin Subtraction within 20. We are very confident at looking at an equation, and really thinking about what it says and what it means!

Then in Science, we concluded our unit of work by answering our enquiry question… What materials are in my home? The children were given an image of a room and wrote some full sentences describing the objects and the materials they are made from. ‘The windows are made from glass’.

We have also now finished our swimming lessons for this year. The children are now so much stronger and more confident in the water, and it has been an absolute pleasure to see how far they have come in such a short space of time.

Our fantastic week was finished off by a great Valentines disco on Thursday which involved a lot of dancing and alot of snacks! The children and staff all had an amazing time.

So, all that is left to say is WELL DONE on such a fantastic term and I hope you all have a wonderful week off before we see you back again for Spring 2 on Tuesday 27th Feb. Relax, have fun and stay safe!

We've had a super first week back! 

This week in Amazing Ash we have started our new Talk for Writing text which is Paddington Bear's Day Out. Our model text is all about Paddington's day out in London. To get our unit off to a great start, we found a treasure map and took ourselves off on a treasure hunt. We then wrote a recount of what we did on the hunt... Yesterday we went on a treasure hunt. It was so exciting! First... Then... After that... Finally. 

The children have worked incredibly hard on their writing making sure to remember our everyday toolkit of capital letters, full stops and spaces between words amongst others. 

In Maths, we have started our addition and subtraction unit of work. We are excellent at our part part whole models and can explain what is happening when looking at a mathematical story. We can use a part whole model to spot a number sentence and can count on using number lines. 

In Geography, the children learnt all about where we live within the world. We started looking at google Earth and zoomed into Europe, the United Kingdom, England, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes and then of course Netherfield or other areas that the children live in. 

The children have come back to school ready, respectful and safe. Thank you Amazing Ash for another super week. 

This week, the children have worked really hard on their writing. We are now in the innovation stage of our writing unit, where we took the model text and used post it notes to change key parts of it, making it our own. So instead of Paddington going to London, we went to Milton Keynes and instead of going on a train, we went on a bus or a bike. The children really enjoyed the innovation process and are now in the middle of writing their own recount. 

In Maths, we started our unit on Subtraction. We are using counters, tens frames, part whole models and number lines to help us understand how whole numbers can be broken into parts and how we can find the missing part when we are only given one of them. We are also able to look at a part whole model and use it to write number sentences. 

In Geography, the children have learnt about the difference between human and physical features. They are able to articulate the differences between the two and successfully sorted a range of images into human and physical. 

Then in Science, we are continuing to learn about our senses. This weeks task was to investigate different smells. We used our sense of smell to work out what had been poured on to each cotton wool ball. We then wrote some super sentences about what we smelt. 

Finally, under the 'useful resources' tab on the website, you will find a PDF document with the RWI QR codes on which were shared with you during TLC's. They are for Set 1, Set 2 and Set 3. The majority of the children are Set 2 onwards. Please encourage your child to watch a video every day (if possible) to support them with their reading journey. If you have any questions, then please come and speak to me at the end of the day :-) 

In English this week, we completed our unit of work on Paddington with some incredible writing. As a class, we innovated on the model text to create a new diary extract which was based on visiting places around Milton Keynes. Then, the children were given the opportunity to innovate to create their very own diary extract which they then wrote independently and wow, I was so impressed with their writing! Each and every one of them are using our everyday tool kit to support their writing and the results are fantastic. 

In Maths, we have started to work on subtraction using part whole models, bar models, counters and number lines to support. They are really grasping the difference between addition and subtraction and are confidently able to explain how they are finding the answers. Such a marvellous bunch of mathematicians. 

In Geography this week, we continue to look at where we are located within the world. We zoomed into Netherfield and our surrounding areas to discuss what services there are available to us. For example, doctors, shops, restaurants, supermarkets, post office etc. 

I am also very impressed with how well the children are getting on with Numbots. We are going to be using it more and more to support the children with their number skills and fluency and what a difference it is already making. 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! 

What an exciting week we have had. The rehearsals for our nativity are in full swing! The children have been practising our songs and those with lines have been reading them beautifully! Everyone has an important part to play with our performance and we can't wait to share it with you on Monday 18th December at 10.30am. 

In English, we began our new unit which is focussing on writing instructions. Over the next few weeks we will be learning how to make a bee bath using our model text. This week already we have learnt some new vocabulary such as thrumming, gathering, pollen, pollination, toing and froing and we have used some of this vocabulary to create riddles and questions about bees. 

In Maths, we have been using fact families represented within part whole models and bar models to write 8 different number equations. So for example, the numbers 10, 6 and 4 can be represented as: 

4 + 6 = 10                       10 = 4 + 6

6 + 4 = 10                       10 = 6 + 4

10 - 6 = 4                         4 = 10 - 6 

10 - 4 = 6                         6 = 10 - 4

In science we have been looking at Autumn as part of our senses unit. We went outside and discussed what we could see that shows us it's Autumn. How do we feel? What is the temperature? Then the children wrote some super sentences describing the weather and how they feel about it. 

Well done Year 1, another fabulous week of learning. 

The Year 1 and Year 2 children have been practicing their nativity this week and we are so incredibly proud of how well they are doing. Some of the children are having to learn lines and they are all having to remember when to come on and what to do as well as several songs! We are so excited about performing to you all on Monday 18th December at 10.30am.  

In maths, we continue to work on addition and subtraction. We are looking carefully at the symbol and noticing what type of equation it is so we know how to work it out. The children have also been introduced to bar models and are using them more and more to support them with tricky maths questions.

We are all very confident at naming our 5 senses and have used our super writing skills to write a sentence to describe something that we can see, touch, hear, taste and smell. 

In geography, we used loose parts to build a map of our school from an aerial perspective. The children identified key features within our school such as the playground, the classrooms and the car park. 

Thank you, Ash class, for another fabulous week. Have a super weekend and I look forward to seeing you on Monday for more exciting learning. 

What a fabulous, fun week we have had Year One! 

We are so proud of how hard the children across Key Stage One have worked on our nativity. Lines have been learnt, songs have been mastered and dance moves perfected! We have been practicing every single day and are so excited to share it with you all on Monday 18th December at 10.30am. You are all in for an absolute treat!

The cinema trip on Thursday was such a huge success. The children and staff thoroughly enjoyed watching Elemental and we were even treated to popcorn, a drink, and some sweet treats. We couldn't be prouder of our children and their behaviour.

Not only have we been busy practicing our nativity, but we have also been working hard in our learning. In English, we have completed our unit of work focusing on how to write a good set of instructions. The children have learnt about using questions, subheadings, bullet points and numbers to ensure their instructions are in the correct order and imperative verbs. We used the structure of our model text and innovated it to create a set of instructions for ‘How to plant a bee garden’.  We’re going to use our instructions when we get out into our own KS1 garden to plant our own bee garden ready for the summer.

And wow, we are a bunch of marvellous mathematicians! This week we have been working on problem solving with addition and subtraction. The children are getting very good at looking for the symbol first so that they know what type of equation they are using and at working through the process of finding the answer by using bar models and number lines. 

We completed our geography by completing a fact file all about our local area. The children can confidently name their school, the area we live in and the city that we live in. They are also able to identify human and physical features within their locality.

We are looking forward to an incredibly exciting week of Christmas activities next week including our nativity and the Christmas disco as well as some festive activities that we will be running in class. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Well, what an incredible first term we have had in Year One! Mr Cobley, Miss Laura, and I couldn't be prouder of how hard the children have worked and how far they have all come since September. 

What a busy but brilliant final festive week it's been. On Monday, we shared our Christmas performance of ‘The Big Little Nativity’ with our families. You all did an outstanding job and every one of you were incredible!! A huge well done to you all.

The rest of the week saw us dancing at the disco, making Christmas calendars and cards, Christmas crafts, our of course our class Christmas party.  

So, 2023 is over however we are extremely excited to welcome all the children back on Thursday 4^th January 2024 for another term of fun and learning. 

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas. Stay safe and enjoy!!

Wow! What an incredible start to Year One we have had! I am so proud of how well the children have settled in. They have been introduced to a new teacher, a new classroom, a new part of the school and new routines and they have done so with great resilience and positivity! We are so excited for this half term. 

So far, we have proven ourselves to be writers, explorers, construction workers, mathematicians, historians and artists plus so much more. 

In Maths we are discovering how to sort objects in to different groups as well as counting and writing numbers up to 10. 

In History, we are beginning to learn all about our monarchy, past and present. We can tell you the types of toys that Queen Elizabeth used to play with and have had a go at playing with similar replica's in our very own classroom. 

In Science, we have learnt what mammals are and as we move forward through out unit, we will be learning about animal groups and what belongs where and why. 

Year One, thank you for being so amazing this week!

Amazing Ash have been super busy this week!

In English, we have been learning what prepositions are and using images to write some simple sentences describing where something is. For example, The dog is in the box. We are working really hard on saying our sentences out loud, on repeating a word, thinking about how many sounds are in the word and using our sound mats to sound out the word for spelling. We are also learning to use green for capital letters and red for full stops to remind us of these very important parts of a sentence. 

In Maths, we have been counting up to 10, backwards from 10 and looking at one more. We are super at subatising and can use our fingers to represent a number up to ten thinking about it as 5 and a bit. 

In History, we looked at pictures of The Queen throughout her life and sequenced them to create a timeline of key events that happened within her lifetime. The children are very good at recalling the names of the King before Queen Elizabeth, the Queen herself and our current King. 

In Science, we are learning all about animals and this week we found out that not all birds fly. The children were able to label the parts of a bird and discuss why each part is important.

Finally, we started our Art unit on drawing and learnt all about tone and shading. We have some very talented artists in Year 1 and they produced some super pieces of work demonstrating their understanding of tone very well. 

Thank you Year 1, it has been a fabulous week. 

Well done Year 1! This week you have truly lived up to our class name of Amazing Ash!! 

In English this week, we started our new unit of work based around the model text of Paddington visits London. We wrote some fantastic poems... one was poetry using our senses and one was poetry using similes which we are fantastic at! We watched a clip of the film Paddington and began to learn our text map. 

In maths, we have been comparing groups, objects and numbers using the language of greater/more than, fewer/less than and equals/same. In our fluency sessions, the children have been using their knowledge of ten to look at tens frames with various arrangements and recall the number that they can see. We are excellent at subitising! 

In history, we continue to remember Queen Elizabeth II through exploring key events within her life. This week we created a timeline that represented her life on a time line. And in science, we learned some interesting facts about Reptiles. 

We all thoroughly enjoyed our art lesson this week. We practised our work on tone from last week then learnt all about lines, drawing wavy lines, zig zags, horizontal, diagonal and vertical lines, cross hatching plus many more! 

Well done Year 1, another wonderful week of learning and exploring!

What another fantastic week we have had in Year 1!

In English, we have been learning how we can innovate on a sentence by changing the time of day and the place we are visiting so instead of 'Early one afternoon, they set off across London to see Big Ben', we changed it to 'One rainy day, they set off across London to visit London Zoo'. We have also been using our knowledge of adjectives to write some simple captions and fronted adverbials for sequencing using the vocabulary first, next, after that and finally. 

In Maths, we continued to compare objects and numbers using the symbols of <, > and = and explored number lines and number tracks. 

In History this week, we discussed the past and the present by comparing houses during Queen Elizabeth's childhood to todays homes. We talked about what was the same and what was different, for example, baths! 

We are also a super bunch of artists! This week we learnt what cross hatching was and used a range of tools to create some examples of cross hatching in our art books. 

Just a gentle reminder, to please make sure that all reading books are returned daily. We may read with your child that afternoon, or they may need their books changing during phonics. 

Year 1, you have been amazing. 

This week in Talk for Writing, we went on a scavenger hunt around the school and described how we moved around, using prepositions e.g. First we walked out the door. Then we walked along the corridor and past Miss Christy's office. 

When it came to writing our sentence, we first hold it in our head and say it out loud a few times. We then tap it out to really break it down. When we come to each word, we use our Fred fingers and our sound mats to help us break it down into it's individual sounds which helps us to spell. We also make sure we use green for go (capital letters) and red for stop (full stops) and of course, we try not to forget to space our words. 

In Maths, we are continuing to work on part whole models and are beginning to understand related facts. We now know that it doesn't matter what order the addends are as the sum remains the same e.g. 2 + 3 = 5 and 3 + 2 = 5. 

In science this week, we had fun dissecting poo! The children weren't so sure at first but once they realised that it wasn't real poo, they got stuck in to pulling it apart and searching for clues that would tell us if the animal that left it was a herbivore, carnivore or omnivore. Well done for embracing the poo! 

Our art work just keeps getting better and better. So far this term we have looked at tone, line, crosshatching and stippling. This week we focussed on observational drawing and used our skills acquired from previous weeks, to really look hard at an item and to draw it! Our art books look fabulous. 

On Monday, at 2.30pm, we will be hosting our Be our Best Maths event where we will be sharing some of the work the children have done so far and we will also be introducing you to some maths games that you can play at home. If you are unable to attend, then please do let us know so we can make sure someone else is able to be there with your child. 

Another amazing week for Year 1. 

As we come to the end of this half term, we wanted to say a huge well done to each and every one of our Year One class family! You have all worked incredibly hard over the past few weeks and we couldn't be prouder of you all. 

We have had such wonderful last week! 

This week we completed all our wider curriculum units of work and I have been so impressed by all the information the children have learnt and been able to recall. 

Our Be our Best Maths Event was a huge success and we'd like to thank all the parents who were able to attend. We hope it was useful for you all and please do not hesitate to come and speak to me if you'd like any further ideas for supporting your child at home with maths (or any other areas of the curriculum). I will be sending home some maths games after half term. 

We also really enjoyed performing Big Red Combine Harvester in front of the rest of the school during our Harvest Festival assembly. 

We wish you all a very happy half term! Have a wonderful time filled with lots of exciting things and we look forward to hearing all about it when you return to school on Tuesday 31st October.