St John the Baptist CE VA Primary School Year One

For Geography this week, we had a conversation about some lovely postcards we have made previously in our Geography sessions and we talked about posting them to see if they would reach the children’s addresses.  Can you help your child remember which day their postcard arrives and let us know ?

After reading the story of Dougal’s Deep-Sea Diary by Simon Bartram together, we used clay to make some of the characters and objects that Dougal saw under the sea.  The children used rolling pins and cutting tools to make a range of models such as a blue whale, a submarine, a pearl in an oyster shell, a ghost pirate and many more !  We are looking forward to you seeing our finished pieces at our open evening.

We have had an exciting week of looking after newly hatched chicks and taking part in a variety of sporting activities to celebrate Sports Week at St Johns.  The children have participated in sports such as rugby, dance and yoga and other P.E. activities then going onto learning how to gently hold the chicks and writing some lovely poetry about them. 

Yesterday we went on our school trip to the V & A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green.  We had a fantastic, enjoyable experience playing with a range of ‘moving toys’ such as spinners, pop-up toys and all sorts of push and pull toys.  The children loved dancing with the robot at the end of the workshop !  In the afternoon, the children went off exploring the museum seeing lots of toys such as rocking horses, zoetropes, superhero figures and dolls.

In Science this week, we acted as scientists to investigate the answer to this question.  We made a prediction before deciding to measure the heights of everyone by lining up together.  We then find out who were the oldest children in the class.  What do you think we found out ?

We have had a jam-packed week of fun activities to help us learn about our environment !  We have explored our school surroundings and did some flower pressing.  We visited the Amwell Nature Reserve with Y6 to learn about the different birds we have in the area.  We have made recycled paper, jewellery with wood cookies, junk models, newspaper bridges and sea creature collages with plastic.  Ask your child about the interesting facts they have learnt about looking after our environment.

The children were using Cuisenaire rods in a different way for Maths this week.  They were measuring various lengths of ribbons as well as different objects around the classroom.  They even made some amazing number sentences from them.  Can you work out what the number sentences and totals would be ?

In Computing this week we have started our new topic on programmable toys. We learnt that an algorithm is a set of instructions and enjoyed giving the beebots directional instructions, it was a challenge for some of us as we needed to know our left and right!

The children have been preparing for Easter by making beautiful Easter cards and putting together and learning an acrostic poem for our Easter service.  They have also really impressed us with their amazing Easter bonnets and gardens for our Easter competition.  Well done all !

We did ‘love’ tennis this term !

We have had the wonderful opportunity to learn various ball skills and learn how to play tennis with the help of two fantastic tennis coaches this term.  The children have learnt how to throw and catch a ball, balance a tennis ball on their racket, develop their skills in how to hold a tennis racket to deliver a forehand, a backhand and a volley.  We have learnt so much and have had lots of fun !.

For Science this week, we discussed how information about weather was collected and we looked at various weather measuring equipment such as thermometers, a wind sock and we made a rain gauge.  The children then made their own wind toy and we went outside to see how strong the wind was.  What can you say about the weather in this picture ?

We have been solving various maths problems using cherry and bar models.  The children have been working out the result – either the whole or the part…… The whole, the part ? I hear you say….  Ask your children about it and see if you can then work out the result of these models the children are working on.

The children listened to the story of Freezosaurus and took part in role-playing part of the story.  They also decorated bookmarks to use for their own books and we also read some poems including Silly Old Baboon by Spike Milligan.  The children then had a go at writing their own funny poems.  What do you think of them ?

In the afternoon, we had some of our older children and wonderful parent helpers reading with our children.  What a fantastic day of activities for World Book Day !

For Science, we went outside on a hunt to find signs of Winter but with the unusually warm weather this time of year, we discovered more than we bargained for !

The children worked in groups to record their findings such as counting the number of birds they spotted in the sky, counting the bugs they discovered in the field and the number of plants they found growing as well as measuring how tall they were.  It was an interesting find !

In Maths in Year One this week we have enjoyed using different manipulatives to find ways of making 20. The children were working in small groups and enjoyed sharing all of the facts that they know, discussing and exploring new ideas using the cuisenaire rods to experiment. 

In Year One this week for DT we have been making houses for the three little pigs. We have been constructing frames and working together to design and make our houses. We have also enjoyed listening to ‘True story of the Three little pigs’ as we learn about different versions. In this one, the poor wolf explains how he was misunderstood all along and was just trying to borrow sugar from his neighbours so that he can make his poor old granny a cake.

In Maths, we have been learning how to do addition sums using tens frames and counters.  Can you work out the answers to the addition sums the children are working on?

We snow it’s over, but we really enjoyed it !

From throwing snowballs to making snow men, the children loved playing on the school field at breaktime this week in the snow.

This week in Year One we have been very busy.  In maths we have been learning the order of the days and thinking about yesterday and tomorrow.  We have also learnt about the months of the year.

In English we have read more fairy tales and started writing our own fairy tale.

We have enjoyed singing this week and can even sing a few songs in French!

The children have been learning about the different senses and discovering how some mystery objects feel.  After feeling the objects, the children described them in their work before the BIG REVEAL.

This week we have been enjoying learning more about fairy tales.  Our focus has been Cinderella and Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs.  We know that often these stories are told orally.  Please ask your child to recount one of these stories to you!

Happy New Year Everyone !

The very last of the lovely mince pies have finally gone and with the start of 2019, many of us may be considering getting healthier and fitter !  I’m sure your children in Year 1 will inspire you at home with their new dance routines they are learning in P.E. this term, starting with March, March, March !

We are gearing up for Christmas !

From wearing our snazzy jumpers for Christmas jumper day to making Christmas tree decorations.  We are definitely getting in the festive spirit !

This week in Year 1, in our Design and Technology session we have been tasting fruit with different accompaniments.

We enjoyed trying fruit such as kiwi, strawberries and pineapple and when the accompaniments such as jam, yoghurt, etc. came out, the children were very excited ! 

After all the lovely tasting, they wrote down their scores of their favourite accompaniment and designed their own fruit kebabs – ready to make in our next session.

In Year 1, this week we have begun to learn about our new value for this term - ‘Trust’. 

We played the ‘Trust’ game where we tried to guide a blindfolded class member around the classroom attempting to avoid them bumping into other children and the class furniture !

This was more difficult than we thought but it was lots of fun and we learnt about what trust means and different types of trust.

This week in Year 1, we have been continuing to learn about how to grow bean plants.  We decided we needed to do a science experiment to find out what our plants need to grow. 

Can you guess which plants have been kept in the light and which have been kept in the dark?