Year 1

Welcome to Year 1 Blackbirds and Starlings

Blackbirds: Miss Harris (Class Teacher), Mrs Mansfield (Teaching Assistant Monday - Wednesday & Friday), Mrs Vale (Thursday)

Starlings: Mrs Lloyd (Class Teacher), Mrs D'Ambrosio (Teaching Assistant)

PE: Thursday morning

Forest School: Tuesday afternoon with Mrs Bishop

Starlings: Autumn 1, Spring 1 and Summer 1 

Blackbirds: Autumn 2, Spring 2 and Summer 2

School Trips: 

Autumn 1 - Author Visit (Rob Biddulph) at The Croft.

Autumn 2 - Warwick Arts Centre - The Smeds and the Smoos.

Spring 2 - Hatton Adventure World.

Year 1 Dressing up days:

Spring 1 - Victorian Day

Summer 1 - Medieval Knights and Maidens Banquet

Spring 1

This half term our Topic is 'It's a child's life'. 

What we've been learning in Year 1 - Spring 1!

Week Beginning: 6th January and 13th January

In Science we have were investigating whether the same object could me made from different materials. We discovered spoons and clothes hangers could be made from wood, plastic and metal. Gloves could be made from plastic and fabric and cups could be made from paper, glass and plastic. 

In Computing, we learnt that 'algorithm' means a set of instructions given to a computer. We practised giving instructed and discovered how important it was to make sure instructions were clear and in the correct order. We gave clear and ordered instructions to help our buddies make the same LEGO shapes. 

In DT we looked at toys rom the past and made our Victorian toy - a thaumatrope!

Busy bees in provision...

In Maths we have been representing and writing numbers 10 - 20. We know '10 and ___ makes ____. For example, 10 and 2 makes 12'.

Victorian School Day

Today we pretended that we were at school in Victorian times. The adults dressed up as Victorian teachers, we sat in rows and did Victorian style lessons. We also got to make peppermint creams. It made us very excited to learn more about the Victorians!

Autumn 2

This half term our Topic is 'Winter Wonderland'. 

What we've been learning in Year 1 - Autumn 2!

Week beginning: 16th December

Following some compass work and games in class we set off as explorers (following in the footsteps of Robert Peary and Matthew Henson!) on a winter walk around the school grounds with a number of winter objects to spot along the way.

Week beginning: 9th December

Tickets please! The Polar Express has arrived in class!

Christmas Lego construction is underway...

Christmas writing - What's in Santa's sack? 

Colour mixing practice with Christmas baubles

In RE this we have been learning about The Five Pillars Of Islam and focused on the second pillar - Salah. This is the pillar of prayer. The children designed their own prayer mats, thinking carefully about the shapes, patterns and colours they used. 

Continuing to work on our throwing and catching skills in PE and a spot of parachute fun to finish!

Becoming Arctic explorers in Topic, just like Matthew Henson and Robert Peary! The compass helped us to travel in different directions. 

Finishing off our Clarice Cliff 'Circle Tree' inspired plates by blowing paint to create the tree and branches!

Week Beginning: 2nd December 

December calls for two things ... Christmas trees and Elves! Both Blackbirds and Starlings have been visited this week by Christmas Elves - Santa Elf and Elfie! Let's hope they don't cause too much mischief! 

In provision this week, the children are making decorations to add to our classroom Christmas trees. 

This week in Computing, the children have created their own winter scene with different coloured and different sized snowflakes. They required careful mouse control to select and splash the colour. 

More from provision this week...

In Art we created our own 'Circle Tree' plates inspired by the artist Clarice Cliff.  Next week we will add the tree and branches.

Week Beginning: 18th November & 25th November

A perfectly timed SNOW DAY for our Arctic topic. 

We had great fun out in the snow, feeling the snow with our fingers, 'tasting' the snowflakes and making snow men. It truly felt like we were explorers in the Arctic. Unfortunately, we didn't spot any Arctic animals.

This week in Science we have been investigating which type of paper is best for drawing on, painting on and mopping up water. The materials we tested were: kitchen roll, baking paper, cardboard, plain paper, wrapping paper, tissues and paper towels. 

We enjoyed printing with Primary Colours in Art this week. We used Lego pieces to print patterns and some of us had a go at printing our initials and names. 

In provision this week the children have been using great communication and language skills when playing 'conkers and pine cones' aka noughts and crosses. This game has shown real togetherness!

In provision we have also been busy dressing Inuit people, practising reading and writing Tricky Words and building igloos, in our outdoor area. 

Week Beginning: 4th November & 11th November

In Art we looked at the artist Jasper Johns, who uses numbers and letters in his work.  We then had a go and our own versions!

We started our new Topic as Geographers to locate the UK and The Arctic on maps and a globe and then looked at the different animals you would find in the Arctic - not penguins!

In Science we have started our topic on materials, looking at what different objects are made from. We focussed on wood, metal and plastic today and had fun sorting through a big box of some very random things!

We then sorted and explored the materials - glass, rock and brick.

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Busy days during provision this week...

In PE we have continued to focus on throwing, catching and accurate aim. We played coconut shy and worked as teams to knock down the 'coconut' to earn points.

We enjoyed exploring colour in Art this week, learning the primary and secondary colours. We watched the 'magic' happen when we mixed 2 primary colours together to make a secondary colour. We represented this on a colour wheel.

Autumn 1

This half term our Topic is 'Super Me'. 

What we've been learning in Year 1 - Autumn 1!

When Year 1 met Rob Biddulph!

We had a terrific visit to The Croft to meet the author Rob Biddulph.  We learned how he forms his ideas, writes stories and creates his imaginative illustrations.  We thoroughly enjoyed drawing a rhino in a top hat alongside Rob who is well known for the ‘Draw with Rob’ videos that were released during the Covid lockdowns. We also loved listening to him read (and sing) his new book called 'I follow the fox'. 

Week Beginning: 7th October

In Science we leant about the sense of taste so of course we had a taste testing lesson! We tried food that was sweet, sour, spicy and salty. We had great fun.

In Art we have been creating geometric art by drawing around 2D shapes and colouring them in using different media (pencils, pastels, crayons and chalk). 

In Maths we have been finding number bonds to ten and using the sentence stem 'part + part = whole'.

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In Computing, we have continue to practise logging on using our own username and password. We are developing our mouse skills and keyboard typing too. 

Week Beginning: 23rd September

In PE, we have been developing our throwing and catching skills. This activity involved us catching the bean bag 5 times and then running to the cone and back. This helped our hand eye coordination, our speed, our throwing and catching and our team work.

We then challenged ourselves to throwing and catching at different levels and at a further distance apart. 

We cooled down with a balancing activity.

We have been using the outdoor area to enhance our learning in Science and PE.

We played Twister, which helped us think about the different parts of the body and it helped us to use our 'left' and 'right'.

We built a desk for an optician, after looking at the sense of 'sight' and learnt that opticians care for our eyes. 

We also used our throwing skills, practised in PE lessons, to throw beanbags into hoops. We then used the crates, cones and bricks to improve balance and co-ordination. This was a fun obstacle course.

Street Dance Workshop

We enjoyed taking part in a Street Dance Workshop led by Olivia. She taught us a short routine which included a variety of moves to different beats, at different heights and to different speeds. We also got to freestyle dance, which was fun!

In Art, the children have been applying their knowledge of lines to ‘make waves’. The children created this piece of art as a team and to the sound of music, which represented waves.  

In Science, the children have been learning about their senses. In this lesson, the focus was the sense of smell. The children used their sense of smell to work out what was in the different boxes. Some smells were sweet, some were sour and some were YUCKY!

Lots of busy learning in provision.

Adventures in Forest School - building a home for Bog Baby.

Week Beginning: 9th September

In Science we have been looking at our amazing bodies and labelling the parts.

In PSHE we have started talking about the different everyday feelings we have and what that looks like on our faces and in our bodies.  

In Computing we have been exploring all the important buttons on the keypad before we hit the IT suite later this week and next!

What fun and lovely weather we've had for Forest School adventures...

Spring 2

This half term our Topic is 'Amazing Animals'. 

This half term our KIRF is 'Numbers to 50'. 

Summer 1

This half term our Topic is 'Castles'. 

This half term our KIRF is 'Doubles and Halves'. 

Summer 2

This half term our Topic is 'Seasides'

This half term our KIRF is 'Telling the time to the nearest half and hour'.