Welcome back Year 1 news 21.4.23

We have had a brilliant first week back in school after Easter. I loved hearing all about your Easter adventures with your families. This week you have been marathon runners, seaside explorers and hazard detectives.

In English this week, you came into the classroom to a picnic spilt all over the carpet with a sign saying 'stay away you pesky seagulls'. You thought about what had happened and we all agreed that we know seagulls like to steal food. We have focused on the story of the lighthouse keeper's lunch this week and learnt the story through actions. You have learnt how to write a character and setting description and have completed some beautiful writing on this.

In phonics, you have joined your new groups, learnt your new sounds and read your new stories. You are doing fantastic with your sound knowledge and reading.

Is it heavier or lighter? This week in maths you have learnt all about weight. You made your own balancing scales and were measuring different objects to see if they are heavy or light. You learnt that if an object is heavier than it will go down and if it is lighter it will be up. You completed some power maths questions on this as well. You then built upon this learning by measuring weight using non-standard units of measurement. You measured different objects using counters and blocks and you know when they were balanced because the scales would be in the middle. You have really enjoyed all of our practical sessions in maths this week

In the afternoon, we have been super busy celebrating first aid week and our marathon madness including lots of other learning too.

In art this week, you were introduced to our new artist Maud Lewis. You found out that she was a Canadian folk artist who was very poor and lived in a house with only one room. You explored some of her paintings to find out what skills she used and we decided that her main skill was layering different colours of paint on top of each other to create an effect. We can't wait to try out this skill ourselves.

In my happy mind this week, you focused on our new learning of 'engage'. You thought about how when you are happy and content you are more willing to engage with different things. You learnt that when you engage with something new it is good to do some happy breathing so you can be calm.

In geography this week you finished your learning of animals off and answered the topic question of 'Where does my favourite animal come from?' You made the most amazing posters of your favourite animals and I was so proud of the effort and time you put into them. You started by drawing the landscape of where your animal lives e.g a desert, mountains, Antarctica. You then placed your animal on your poster and wrote about what they eat, the weather where they live and an interesting fact. These were super posters and your really enjoyed creating them!

Our first song from our new music unit was called Getting Dressed. We danced to the beat, copied the actions and created our own freestyle movements during the instrumental section.

On Thursday, the sun came out for our special event to raise money for team Lewis and school. We celebrated dino Dale's marathon madness and we had so much fun skipping to Big Ben or doing burpees to the palace. We also really enjoyed completing some rugby skills, something that many of us had never done before. It was great to see Y6 do a special lap for Lewis as well. We want to say a huge thank you to the PTA for organising such an amazing event for the children. A thank you to the rugby team for coming in and teaching us new skills and a huge good luck to Mr Dale on running his marathon on Sunday. We can't wait to see him racing past Mo Farah!

On Friday, we also celebrated first aid week. You learnt what first aid is and who can give first aid in school. You then were taught what a hazard was and spotted some hazards on a website that was set up as a living room and kitchen. You found out that if you reduce hazards you are less likely to have accidents and less likely to need first aid. You then went into the blue room and became hazard detectives. You were very good at telling me what could cause an accident and how it would. We then had a very special visitor come in which was PC Nick. He told you all about how to make an emergency call by calling 999 or 101. You learnt about how important it is to only call the emergency services when you need them as we don't want to waste their time.

Homework has been emailed out on Friday. You have some maths homework and some new topic board homework.

You have had a super busy first week back and have worked really hard. Keep shining brightly superstars!

Have the best weekend,

Miss Haynes