Langland Community School

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. 

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.