We are reaching for the stars in Year 1

17th December 2024Farhana Siddique

Year 1 have been reaching for the stars this term! The children have been displaying growth mindset and excellent independence.  They have been continuously showing their teachers that they never give up and keep trying. They have been doing a fantastic job at finding and using resources to help them in lessons, which has blossomed their progress in their learning. Here are a few of the wonderful things we have been learning in Year 1.

English

In English we learnt about the story ‘How to catch a star’ which is about a boy who loved stars very much and wanted one of him own. So, he thought of various methods to try and catch a star: he climbs a tall tree, uses a lifebelt to lasso the star, uses a seagull to help him fly up in the sky and wants to fly his rocket. The children enjoyed changing the story to something else the boy would like to catch: Jupitar, Pluto, Saturn, an alien and moon. The children sequenced the story to get a better understanding of its structure. They learnt about what a verb is and how to write in the past tense. Have a look at these amazing creations:

Maths

We have marvellous Mathematicians in Year 1. The children have been working on Addition and Subtraction using the concrete, pictorial and abstract procedure. They enjoyed solving problems using cubes, rekenreks, bead strings and numicon. They have applied their knowledge of part-whole models to find addition and subtraction fact families and used counters and ten frames to identify number bonds within 10. Year 1 superstars have been learning about Subtraction by drawing dots and crossing them out to represent taking away numbers. Have a look at some magnificent work:

Reading

We are rockstar Readers in Year 1! The children have been exploring the book ‘Jolly Postman and other people’s letters’ which is about a postman delivering letters and postcards to traditional tale characters. They learnt new vocabulary which is key to the text: wicked, cackle, thimbleful and nightingale and applied these into sentences. Children worked on building their fluency and confidence in reading by adding reading hooks to represent pauses in sentences. Also, the children learnt the skill of authorial intent in which children delve deeper on the author’s illustration and choice of words in the book.

RE

In RE we have been delving in deep and enriching ourselves in both Christianity and Islam which has allowed us to view the world from a different perspective. We have been sharing with our friends what we are grateful for through the Islamic perspective of Shukr (gratitude). In addition to this, we have also worked as a class to create a friendship tree, using our leaves to represent different beliefs and values, in turn demonstrating our diversity as a year group. This has therefore aided us in developing an understanding of appreciation of different viewpoints in regard to what makes us human.

Science

In Year 1 we have lots of children that are super scientists who love exploring and investigating during these lessons. This terms topic has been about Autumn and Winter. In these lessons’ children have learnt about how the weather changes between the seasons and what impact this has on the hours of daylight. Not only this, they have explored how these seasons effect plants and animals.

History

This term Topic has been a blast from the past as we have learnt about Toys. The children have really enjoyed this History topic. Year 1 were lucky enough to do a toy workshop at Wardown Museum where they got to play with toys from the past. Their favourite toys from this workshop were the spinning top, tumble down the ladder, hobby horse and the metal hoop.

Jigsaw

In Year 1 the children celebrated differences in the classroom and explored about the value of the month…Independence! The children have completed a range of activities and identified similarities and differences between people in the class. They learnt about what bullying is and who they can talk to if they were feeling unhappy or being bullied. This is some of the amazing work our children have created:

Year 1 Blog

18th October 2024Farhana Siddique

In Year 1 we’re off to a flying start! Our Year 1’s have started school with a positive attitude and exemplary resilience. They have shown their teachers that they are ready to learn and try their best.  Here are a few of the excellent things we have been learning in Year 1.

 

Maths 

The children in Year 1 have been learning about Addition. They have been using the part-whole model to partition numbers. The children have been using the stem sentences to show their understanding and confidently add two numbers together to identify the whole number. They have been using cubes and counters to help them solve these Mathematical problems. Then the children learnt about number bonds to 10. They identified two numbers that can be added to make any number within 10 or to 10. The children used counters and ten frames to help them understand these Mathematical concepts.

 

English

If your child has come home talking about pirates then this will be because of our English unit. The children have been learning about poems. They have learnt about nouns, adjectives and rhyming words. Using these skills, they created fantastic poems! The teachers in Year 1 are proud of how hard they have working and of their creativity.

Reading

In Year 1 the children have been diving into the book ‘Winter Sleep’. They have learnt new vocabulary that is key to the text and explored the season Winter. This book was about hibernation. The children learnt that a bat, dormouse and bear hibernates during Winter, it was lovely to see the engagement and enthusiasm that this created in our classrooms.

Science

Our children in Year 1 have shown themselves to be excellent scientists! They have loved investigating and exploring different objects and materials. The children have carried out an amazing investigation where they decided which material would work best to keep the teddy bear dry. They found out that plastic is the most suitable material because it is waterproof and not absorbent.

 

Jigsaw

In Year 1 the children have taken in their stride, the value of the month…Resilience! The children have completed a range of activities. They created goals they would like to achieve in 2024 and celebrated diversity in our classrooms. This is some of the amazing work our children have created…

Topic

In Geography, the children have explored about their local area…WIGMORE! They have been learning about a variety of local landmarks and are now familiar with the local area and what makes it special. Whilst exploring our local area, the children identified the different types of homes and jobs.

Art

In Year 1 we are Amazing Artists! The children have learnt about the primary colours, blue, yellow and red. They explored the famous artist Andy Warhol and his style of work: Pop art. The children used this style and created vibrant, eye-catching artwork. Have a look at some of these great examples

The teacher’s in Year 1 will look forward to all the new adventures we are going to have in Autumn 2.

Time is moving quickly in Year 1.

2nd February 2024Damien Johnston

Reading and writing 

Year 1 children are showing great progress in their writing already this year. They are learning how to use full stops and capital letters correctly and are beginning to use adjectives to describe. They have learnt the story of Handa’s Surprise and enjoyed tasting a variety of tropical fruits to hook them into the text. We are now moving on to writing information texts about animals and are looking forward to seeing that the children produce! The children continue to enjoy and engage with whole class reading sessions where they have been reading a book called Between Tick and Tock and are now moving on to The Snail and The Whale. Encourage your child at home to talk to you about the books they have read. In both reading and writing lessons the children have been being explicitly taught new vocabulary words to extend their imagination. Try asking your child what an antelope is or even a herbivore? As of last term, the children continue to learn new skills including how to use adjectives, nouns and verbs. Ask your child to tell you what these are and keep reminding them of these word classes at home. Thank you for your continued support with Give me Ten and supporting your child’s reading at home.

Maths 

In Year 1 children have been working really hard and learning about Place value, they have enjoyed using concrete resources to support their learning.  It is great to see children being confident in using counters and 10 frames as well as bead strings to support their understanding of numbers from 11 to 20, they have also been learning to write the word to the number. Children have been introduced to base 10 to help them understand the concept of how many tens and ones are in a two digit number. 

Moreover, children in Year 1 have learnt about the number line to 20 and how to use and estimate on  a number line. It was great to see children challenge themselves and use a ruler to draw a number line, something the children really enjoyed. 

We are now learning about Addition and Subtraction within 20. Children have been enjoying adding two numbers together. They have been using a variety of resources to help them build connections and work out the number sentences. Children have learnt that with addition you can swap the numbers around and still get the same answer. 

Moreover, children have learnt about ordering numbers to 20, identifying what is the greatest number and what is the smallest number and then putting them in order from smallest to greatest or greatest to smallest. We will now be moving onto subtraction and learning about counting back and finding the difference between numbers. 

Science 

In Science, children in Year 1 have been very excited to learn about amazing animals. They have learnt that there are many different types of animals that can be described in different ways. 

The children learnt about grouping animals into categories, these include mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles. The children learnt that all these groups have a backbone and that mammals have fur or hair and they give birth to live babies. Birds have feathers, wings and a beak and they lay eggs. Also, fish have scales, fins and gills and they lay eggs. 

Moreover, children learnt about what mammals have in common. Children learnt that mammals are warm-blooded, they have a backbone, they have fur or hair, they feed their babies with their milk also that humans are mammals. 

Other curriculum area which has inspired and motivated the children

In Year 1 we were lucky enough to have two visits this term. One from the Police to learn about interest safety. Additionally, we had a visit from an Author, Camilla Chester who shared her story about Empathy. They had the opportunity to listen to her read a story. When back in the classrooms children shared how much they enjoyed her visit and promoted their love of reading. Both visits were very valuable to the children.

Alder class also had their class assembly where they showed excellent performance skills and shared lots of their learning. This ranged from singing songs to poetry and artwork. The children loved showcasing their work and preparing for their performance. 

The children have enjoyed singing assemblies weekly and also class music lessons delivered by The Luton Music Service. These are invaluable sessions for the children to learn appropriate music skills. 

Over the next few weeks the sequence of learning will focus on:

  • Transport from the past and how they have evolved over the years.
  • The children will be learning the story ‘The Snail and the Whale’ in reading and an Amazing Antelope text in English.
  • In math, we will be focusing more on subtraction before moving on to geometry.
  • We are also looking forward to our zoo trip later this term. 

 

 

Year 1 making the most of every learning opportunity!

29th November 2023Damien Johnston

 

Reading and writing 

Year 1 children have enjoyed immersing themselves into a variety of texts so far this year. They have learnt The Three Billy Goats Gruff, a poem called Pirate Pete and are now learning Little Red and the very hungry lion. The children have also enjoyed their whole class reading sessions where they have read The Jolly Postman, The Gingerbread man and are now enjoying learning more and more about animals in winter in the book Winter Sleeps: A Hibernation story. The children have been learning new skills including how to use adjectives, nouns and verbs. Ask your child to tell you what these are and keep reminding them of these word classes at home. 

Maths 

In Year 1 children have learnt about Place Value such as, sorting, counting and ordering objects and numbers. The children learnt to recognise numbers as words, compare numbers by finding out 1 more and 1 less as well as identifying less than, greater than and equal to. This term children in Year 1 learnt about Addition and Subtraction. They enjoyed learning about the part-whole model and adding numbers togethers. The children challenged themselves and learnt about fact families and subtraction by taking away and crossing out to find out how many is left. They have become confident with using the number line and have learnt to subtract numbers by creating jumps. The children are learning to become independent learners by using concrete resources such as counters and 10 frames, multilinks and number lines. 

Science 

This term in Science, children in Year 1 have been learning about Materials. The children have explored and investigated a range of different materials. These have included: Metal, wood, plastic and fabric. They have learnt about different properties of these materials and investigated how these properties can help decide what an object should be made of.  Also, they have  learnt new vocabulary such as, waterproof,  transparent and absorbent. The children have shown a keen interest and desire to learn about this topic. 

Other curriculum area which has inspired and motivated the children

The children in Birch class were very lucky last half term to have a local trip in keeping with the ‘Our Local Area’ topic. They did a local area walk where they watched the planes take off and land at Luton Airport as well as have a little play in Wigmore park. Unfortunately, we had to cancel the local area trips of Ash and Alder class due to the weather and the unexpected fire at Luton Airport. Both of these trips will be rebooked when the weather is dry. On top of this all year one children had the fantastic opportunity of visiting Pizza Express restaurant in the town centre. There they each learnt how to roll dough, stretch it out and complete the pizza with delicious toppings. We are sure you have heard from the children all about how they made themselves a margherita pizza in their fantastic hats and aprons. 

The children have enjoyed singing assemblies weekly and also class music lessons delivered by The Luton Music Service. These are invaluable sessions for the children to learn appropriate music skills. 

Over the next few weeks the sequence of learning will focus on:

  • Toys from the past and how they have evolved over the years.
  • The children will be learning the story ‘How to Catch a star.’
  • In math, we will be focusing more on subtraction before moving on to geometry.
  • We are also preparing for our Christmas concert and learning a range of festive songs.

 

   

Year 1 – Summer 1

12th May 2023Katrina Pirks

English 

In English we have started to learn a new poem called ‘Pirate Pete’ . To introduce the topic we created our own pirates, using paper plates. The children’s found this engaging, whilst they were dressed up in pirate hats. We have also learnt the actions to our new poem by creating a text map. By learning these actions it will help the children when they write their own versions of ‘Pirate Pete’.

 

Maths 

In year 1 we have also started learning about Fractions. The children have learnt about  halves and quarters. They have done this through lots of practical experiences, such as, cutting shapes and using playdough. The children have enjoyed learning in this topic.

 

Science

In our science lessons children have been learning about animals. They have learnt about different groups of animals and what they eat. They have learnt lots of tricky key words such as carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. They really enjoyed learning these words and use them in other lessons to show their understanding.

 

Reading

In our reading lessons we have been focusing on traditional tales. The children enjoyed re-enacting the story of the Three Little Pigs. They also compared two traditional tales exploring the stories and discussing the character’s feelings, setting, problem and moral of the story. Also, they enjoyed re-enacting the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Children were given props to immerse themselves into their character from the story. They used different parts of the story to freeze frame and they used a microphone to share the thoughts of the character.

Spring Term

27th January 2023Farhana Siddique

Maths
Children in Year One are focusing on Addition and Subtractions within 20. They have been adding using number line, tens frames and part-part whole model. Children have continued to make progress throughout their learning by recognising numbers and forming them correctly.

English
This term children have been learning the story ‘Handa’s Surprise’. Children were able to sequence the story and retell what has happened verbally and with actions. They have started to innovate their stories where they have changed the items found in Handa’s basket to their favourite things. Next week children will writing their own version of Handa’s surprise.

Topic 
Children in Year one are exploring the wonderful world of Geography! Children were excited to practice their orienteering skills by making their own compass to navigate their way around the school. Everyone learnt about North, South, East and West (compass points). Children will continue to learn more about Geography focusing on the UK (human and physical) features and begin to explore the different continents and oceans.

Outdoor learning 
Children had to run towards the different compass points found on the playground.

Reading
Children have been learning about a fiction book called ‘Between Tick and Tock’. Children had to familarise themselves with the story. They learnt new vocabulary used in the text and they had the opportunity to use their observation skills to articulate their idea. The current book the children are learning is a non-fiction story called Great Britain.

Autumn Term 2

28th November 2022Farhana Siddique

English
In English children are learning the story ‘Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion’.
They have worked extremely hard in writing their sentences after sequencing the story. Children are working towards becoming independent by using their phonics.

Maths
Children in Year 1 have worked extremely hard in Maths and have shown great pride in their work. They have come to an end of their Addition and Subtraction unit and now we are learning about shapes.

Science
The scientist in Year 1 have come to the end in exploring their Five senses. Children had the opportunity to make their own Jam sandwich. They are now focusing on the parts of a human body.

 

 

 

 

 

 

PSHE– Anti-bullying week
This Year’s theme for anti-bullying week was “Reach out.”
Children in Year 1 have created a variety of crafts to show that ‘We are brave and strong’.
In Birch class, children made shields to tell the bully to stop and show that we are always protected when we stand together.
In Alder class, children made medals about kindness. This taught the children to always be kind to everyone.
In Ash class children made crowns to show that they are brave and can stand up against anyone and use kind words in response to the bully.

 

Flying Start Into Year One

14th October 2022Farhana Siddique

English
In English children have been captivated by the story ‘The Enormous Turnip’. Children across Year One learnt this story using actions and were able to retell the story using the story map. children also had the opportunity to create their own version of this story. They have really enjoyed reading this amazing story!

Now we are working on instructional language and start to follow a set of instructions on ‘How to catch a fairy’.

 

 

 

 

Maths
Children in Year 1 were focusing on Place Value within 10 and now have progressed to addition to subtraction within 10. Children are expanding their knowledge of Maths through using different mathematical resources and learning different strategies.

Science
The scientist in Year 1 have been busy learning about the 5 senses. So far they learnt about the aspect of touching and hearing. they had the chance to do outdoor learning to widen their thinking. The vocabulary gained from theses lessons have been exceptional.

Continuous Provision
To create a smooth transition into Year 1, we have continuous provision emplaced to secure their learning through the concept of play and exploration. During continuous provision we focused on different subjects and topic that have learnt.

Summer 2

17th June 2022Hilary Peacock

The second half of the term is well underway and we have been working on the story The Storm Whale by Benji Davies.  It is a story about a lonely little boy, a whale washed up on the beach and a friendship that will change both their lives for ever.  We have learnt the story and are now working on changing the story slightly, for example one child found a pig that had escaped a farm because someone had left the door of his pig sty open.  Once we have finished working on this story we are going to be finding out more about real whales.

In Maths we finished our topic on halves and quarters where we spent several lessons finding halves and then we worked on finding quarters.  The children enjoyed the practical sessions especially the one which involved pizza! They were slightly disappointed it wasn’t real!  We have just started a new topic on position and direction, we will be looking at describing turns and positions.

In other subjects we have been talking about the Queen’s Jubilee and we have be looking at the features of palaces and castles.  In science we have been looking at the different properties of materials.