Year 1 fortnightly news

Well year 1, it's been a busy two weeks with lots of exciting learning experiences. This newsletter will be two newsletters in one as our website was, unfortunately, experiencing maintenance problems last week. We are so glad it's back up and running!

Last week in English you built upon our innovation writing of the naughty bus by writing your independent stories of the naughty bus. These were beautifully written and you all showed me what superstar writers you all are. We had naughty buses going to Manchester, America, New York and even France. I bet the naughty bus is ever so exhausted now. I was so proud to show off your work to Mrs Chesters and she was very pleased with how well you are using your phonics knowledge to spell words.

This week in English we started our new topic on instructional writing. To hook us into our new writing we found an egg in the garden. We had 18 very excited children as the children gasped in amazement at the egg. You wrote questions that you have about the egg. The next day we came in school to find a cracked egg however there was no animal inside. There was just a missing poster left next to it which told us that the egg belonged to Drake a baby dragon and his mum wanted our help to try and catch him. We tried to think about how we could catch the dragon and how we may need some instructions to help us. Well year 1 it was a good job that I know a dragon expert that gave us instructions on 'how to catch a dragon'. From this we have built upon our learning of instructions by following them, learning the instructions using a writing map, creating dragon traps and learning about imperative verbs. I was super impressed to see you creating dragon traps in the garden by following our class instructions. We are still waiting for the dragon but we have seen lots of camera footage of the dragon flying around our country.

In phonics this week and last we have been building upon our learning of reading by learning a new sound each day. All of you are now learning your set three sounds which is amazing! We are focusing hard on becoming a more fluent reader by reading words at a quicker pace. Some of you are using Fred in your head for most words now. Thank you for all of the amazing reading you complete at home with your families, it makes a huge difference to your learning. It also brings a lot of happiness to me when I read through your supportive comments and I see your reading diaries fill up. A huge well done to James who finished his diary this week and was ready to get a new one!

This week and last we have been working super hard on subtraction skills. You have been building upon your learning each day by learning about different ways to subtract. We know we can use tens frames, number lines, concrete objects and part part whole models to subtract. You have worked out missing number subtractions sums, you have found the difference and you have worked hard on fact families. As well as all of this you have also had a targeted focus on reasoning and problem solving questions so that we could practice using stem sentences. We have now come to the end of our learning and next week we will be learning about 2D and 3D shapes.

In our afternoon learning in both weeks we have been super busy bees by immersing ourselves further into our topic of transport.
In Geography, we built upon our learning of physical and human features by following the naughty bus' journey around the country of England. We visited the city of London, the town of Nantwich and the village of Wybunbury. We found out that all these places were human features of Geography as well as the shops and farms. We then also visited a hill in London and a forest in Wybunbury. We found out that these are physical features of Geography. You created a little booklet to showcase the naughty bus journey and labelled the different places with either physical or human. You drew a picture to show what we may find at the different places. There were some fantastic discussions taking place at your tables as you spoke about why these features are either human or physical.
Did you know that the Montgolfier brothers made the first hot air balloon and George Stephenson invented the first locomotive? Well, we certainly do. In History last week, you learned all about the Montgolfier brothers and why they were significant people. You then built upon these skills and used them to learn about George Stephenson. Last week you asked and answered questions about George Stephenson. This week you used timelines to organise the events of George Stephenson's life so that you could learn about why he is so significant in the history of transport.

In the hills and fields outside Bethlehem, shepherds looked after their sheep through the long night. As the new day began, suddenly an angel appeared before them and the glory of God shone around them. The shepherds were very, very scared, but the angel said, 'Don't be afraid. Last week we learnt about the visit of the angels to the shepherds in the Christmas story and thought about what this teaches us about Jesus. After learning about the angel's visit to Mary last week this learning helped us to build a more developed understanding of Jesus and why he was such a special baby. We further developed this understanding this week by learning about the three wise men and their visit to baby Jesus. We acted the story by dressing up and using props. We then hot seated the three wise men and the star by asking them questions. You came up with some fantastic questions 'Why did you travel by camel?' 'What presents did you give to baby Jesus?' 'Were you scared on your long journey to Bethlehem?' 'How did you feel when you saw baby Jesus?' I was so proud!

In music, you learned about our musician of the month who is Louis Armstrong. You found out that he is an American jazz musician who sings and plays both the cornet and trumpet. You listened to the song 'A wonderful world' and explained how this makes you feel and why. We then focused on our singing by singing the song 'rhythm in the way we walk'. You learned about what the specific subject language of 'rhythm' 'pulse' 'improvisation' and 'pitch' means. It was a lot to remember but you did so well! We will now be using this language in our learning all of the time.

In computing you have been focusing on algorithms and unplugged activities. You have developed your language around algorithms and you are able to tell me that it is a list of steps or instructions. Last week you followed my list of steps on how to draw a monster. This week you built upon this knowledge and created your own algorithm on how to draw a monster. You then chose two friends that could follow your instructions and draw your monster. If both drawings were similar we knew we had made a clear well instructed algorithm. Definitely some crazy looking monsters!

In mindfulness and wellbeing, you built upon your learning of feelings by looking carefully at a mindfulness jar. The jar was filled with glitter and you spoke about how if you shook the jar all of the glitter would be flying around the jar. This can relate to our own feelings in certain circumstances but when you stop still and let those feelings settle to the bottom you soon start to calm down. Next week you will build upon this learning by creating your own feelings jar that you can take with you in those circumstances when you need to see your feelings settle to the bottom.

We have also been lucky to be joined with three mystery readers in the last two weeks. A huge thank you to everyone who is sending videos in, it really puts a huge smile on the children's faces.

What a fabulous two weeks year one and I just can't quite believe how fast our weeks are going. You are working so hard and making so much progress that I truly believe that you are all just superstars.

For your homework this week you have got your handwriting homework and writing bingo. You are making me proud of your dedication to homework and practicing your skills at home. Our school jam website is currently experiencing some problems but once it is back up and running I will let all of you know.

Remember next Monday is Christmas dress-up day, this is only for year one though! The rest of the school are doing it on Tuesday but we will be in our PE kits on this day.

Have a super weekend team and I will see you bright and early on Monday,

Miss Haynes