Year 1

Rainbow Challenges

In our rainbow challenges this term we have been explorers, scientists, artists and lots more. We have learned about plants and planted seeds of our own, created maps of the countries in the UK, we have made repeating patterns, role-played giving first aid to a teddy as part of our healthy me learning and much more. Take a look at what we have been up to...

Science

This term we identified different seeds and matched them to their grown plants. We planted a variety of seeds including cucumber, runner beans and peas. We have been closely monitoring them and looking for any changes to our plants as they grow.

We created a flower and labelled the parts of the flower including the roots, stem and petals. We looked at the functions of each part of the plants.

Art

This term in art, we have been focusing on the art form, print making. We have looked at the artist Andy Warhol and have been inspired by his work when making our own printed creations. We have explored making repeated patterns, have used everyday objects to create our own repeated pattern prints and we have recreated a famous painting using the technique of overprinting.

Music

Our theme for Music this term has been rhythm and pulse. We have learnt the difference between rhythm and pulse and practiced performing these in different ways. We have practiced call and responses such as ‘Strawberry Ice Cream’ or ‘Pepperoni Pizza’ and clapped the rhythm. We have listened to music and tried to identify the steady beat for the pulse throughout.

Later in the term, we read the story ‘Bob the Man on the Moon’ and we performed our own music alongside the story to represent different parts of his day. We practiced using a variety of instruments, then notated our music before performing our piece to the rest of the class.

History

During History this term, we have been finding out all about the history of space travel. We have loved finding out about the first human in space, the first men to walk on the moon and later the first British astronaut to go to the International Space Station! We have learned about time lines and have added to our own timelines each week to see all of the different space travel events in chronological order.

Design & Technology

This term the children have been very excited to learn about Space as part of their topic ‘To Infinity and Beyond’. They have been reading lots of exciting stories about space and learning the history of space travel.

Inspired by Alien Love Underpants, the children designed their own 2D alien and then made a moving alien made up of 2d shapes which were joined together using split pins.

Next, after reading Q Pootle 5, the children designed a rocket. Then, using their design, they made a rocket that had a nose, body and fins and used a variety of joining techniques to put the pieces together. Look at their amazing creations!

Tennis

In Tennis, we have been learning lots of different skills using the racquet and tennis ball. We practiced ‘walking the dog’ by rolling the ball along the floor using the racquet. When rolling the ball, we progressed to rolling the ball to hit a target cone. We practiced balancing the ball and walking around, making sure our ball didn’t fall on the floor! We played lots of different skills based games including a game where we had to balance the ball on a racquet, then stack another ball and racquet on top! Our coach Jake taught us the ready position for tennis and how to hit a ball to our partners.

Geography

Our theme this term has been Hot and Cold Countries. In Geography we have been focussing on weather in our country and comparing it to other countries in the world. We started the term creating a class weather chart and recording the different weather the children observed across a week and noticing the differences to the school environment due to the changing seasons. The children were able to answer questions about the weather, such what the most common weather was and the difference in weather over two or more days.

After this, we began our learning on weather and climate across the globe. We learned about the equator and how it effects the weather and climate for countries close to it and those that are further away. We loved finding out about two contrasting countries: Iceland and India. When learning about Iceland we found out about animals that live there, what the landscape looks like, the Northern Lights and even listened to some Icelandic Music. Learning about India was lots of fun. We learned about the different animals, the different Indian landscapes and the different kinds of food and fruit that they eat. We enjoyed trying curry and fruits on our India Day! We had fun practising yoga and dancing to Bollywood music.

Art 

Christmas in Year 1

We have really enjoyed the lead up to Christmas this year in Year 1. We have learnt about the story of Jesus’ birth and why it is celebrated by Christians in our RE lessons. We have made Christingles which we lit at a special service in the church and were then able to enjoy at home.

We have worked hard on our Christmas play with a difference, ‘Born in a Barn’. There were lots of lines and new songs to learn, but our class adults said we did an amazing job and were very proud of us.

We have also made lots of Christmas crafts including Christmas cards and salt dough decorations that we were able to bring home. We enjoyed Christmas jumper Day, our trip to the cinema to watch Arthur Christmas, Christmas dinner day and our party day on the last day of term.

We can’t wait to do it all again next year!

History

This term, the children across Year One have gone back to the past as they explored key upcoming events such as Remembrance, The Gunpowder Plot and Christmas.

Remembrance taught us the importance of symbolism. We learnt about and discussed the importance of poppies and what each part of the flower represents. We also used the ‘Poppies’ cBeebies video story as inspiration for our writing.

The Gunpowder Plot taught us why we may see an abundance of fireworks, sparkles and fire over November. We used our acting skills and art to learn about the story of Guy Fawkes

Lastly, we explored the difference in how we may celebrate Christmas today, compared to traditions of the Victorian era. Part of our learning taught us that Christmas trees have not been with us as long as other countries! We also learnt about the differences in toys or gifts that people may have received.

Outdoor Learning & Dark Nights

This term in year one, we have been learning about seasonal change in relation to trees. We have explored our outdoor area, collecting leaves to identify and compare. We then used the leaves to create leaf people inspired by the story, ‘Leaf Man’ by Lois Ehlert. We then named certain types of trees and investigated to find out which trees are deciduous or evergreen trees. We know that evergreen trees always stay green and keep their leaves and that deciduous trees lose their leaves in Autumn time and that they begin to grow back in Spring. We then continued our learning around seasons by staying at school a little later to see the transition from Autumn to Winter as the days are shorter and the nights are longer. We enjoyed a bonfire in the HIVE with smores and hot chocolate, had a disco with glows sticks in the playground and then as a special treat we lit sparklers!

Rainbow Challenges

The children have enjoyed exploring and continuing their learning through our ‘Rainbow Challenges’ this term. During the afternoon, the children can explore a range of subjects such as Geography, Science and Art through a range of challenges. We have enjoyed colour mixing and making secondary colours, investigating how to use and take photos on an ipad, role applying in our role play areas, practising our manners and taking turns during a tea party and much more. Here are a few examples of what we have been up to!

PE

The children have thrived during their P.E. sessions in Year 1 this term. We have been learning about basketball and wake up shake up routines.

During our basketball sessions, we have learnt to throw a ball, dribble with a ball and navigate a space whilst dribbling. This sport challenges many of our skills such as spatial awareness! Whilst playing basketball, the children have shown high levels of enjoyment, satisfaction and pride as they navigate their space with a very bouncy ball!

We have also been creating and learning a Wake up Shake up routine. We understand that this routine will help us to strengthen our bodies. We have also recorded our routine and we are going to use it during learning times to wake our bodies up!