Welcome back Y1! 23.4.21

Welcome back Y1, it has been so nice to hear about all of your Easter holidays and how much fun you had. This week you have been poets, explorers and season hunters.

In English this week we have focused on poetry, you started by listening and recalling the poem 'walking round the zoo'. You met all kinds of animals such as parrots who were squawking and elephants who were waving their trunks. As you practiced your performance you focused on adding actions to the song. It was lovely to see you all confidently show your recall of the poem to the whole class. On Tuesday and Wednesday, you focused on rhyming words and we couldn't stop laughing at how silly our rhymes were getting. You created your own rhyming sentences and you enjoyed making nonsense sentences. Finally, at the end of the week, you wrote your own poem. These were amazing and you have made me very proud of how hard you have worked.

In phonics, this week you have worked hard retaining your set three sounds and applying this learning to your spelling. We've had a focus on reading lots of alien words and we enjoyed being able to read the nonsense alien language.

In maths this week, we have been focusing on our new topic of measuring length and height. You learnt the language of length which is short, shorter shortest and long, longer and longest. You then learnt the language of height which is tall, taller, tallest and short, shorter, shortest. Once you became confident using this language, we used it to compare the length and height of different objects and people in the classroom. We then moved onto using nonstandard units of measurement to measure objects around the classroom. You had a lot of fun measuring tables, books and even your partner with cones and spaghetti. Finally, we moved on to measuring with standard units of measurement and we measured all sorts of objects using a ruler in centimetres. To build on all of your measurement learning you have been busy in the garden independently measuring objects and yourselves. It's been lovely to watch you use all of your skills and I'm so proud of how hard you have worked!

You saw yourself as world explorers in Geography this week as you took yourself on an adventure around the world to look at hot and cold countries. We started the lesson by recapping the four countries that make up the United Kingdom and the seven continents around the world. You were then introduced to the north and the South Pole which we found out were very cold And dry places. We then compared these places to the equator which we found was very hot and wet. You then went onto labelling a world map to show where these places are, the weather and the animals you will find.

In computing, we started the lesson with an unplugged activity. You had a board game where you had to get your animal to the finish point but the animal had to eat all of the food and watch out for the puddles. One person was the robot and one person was in charge of instructing the robot just like an algorithm. We started our new topic of creating a chatting picture of an animal. We learnt how to take a picture on an iPad, how to take a picture on the app and then you used your knowledge from the starter to record a fact about what your animal likes to eat.

In RE this week, you learnt about Palm Sunday. You watched a video about Palm Sunday and understood how important the arrival of Jesus was in Jerusalem. You then made your own palm leaves and re-enacted Palm Sunday whilst shouting 'hosanna hosanna'.

Daffodils.....check.....bird's nests......check........insects.....check!! Well we definitely know we are in spring after our spring hunt in science this week. You went off on your spring hunt looking for all the signs of Spring whilst getting very excited about a birds nest that had some tiny baby birds in squawking. You then built upon your learning by writing about the weather in Spring and how the temperature is a lot warmer than winter.

In music, you learnt what the beat was and how to find the best in a piece of music. You then did your first practice of your new song 'imagination'. You discussed what your imagination is and what sort of things you can see in your imagination. You practiced the song in rounds. Finally, you finished the lesson by listening to different animal sounds and you had to guess what the animal sound was.

On Thursday we had the special treat of watching a virtual theatre production of the Lorax from the Old Vic. We had so much fun chilling on the carpet whilst listening and laughing along to the production with our friends.

What a busy first week we have had Y1! I am so proud of how well you have settled back in and I am so excited to enjoy our last term together.

Have a lovely weekend team superstars,

Miss Haynes