Year 1 News 14.3.25

Happy Friday Team!

This week in our English lessons, we explored our common expectation words, reinforcing our vocabulary and spelling skills. We also examined an example text, identifying key features such as adjectives and verbs ending in -ed and -er. Using our Wise Owl resource, we practiced spotting these words in context, helping us understand how they enhance our writing ready for writing our own stories.

This week in our math lessons, we focused on numbers up to 50, practicing counting in 10s and then combining 10s and 1s. We used number squares to 50 to help us recognize patterns and improve our number sense. In the afternoons, we explored the number 4, learning how to partition it in different ways to build a strong foundation in addition and number bonds.

In our RE lessons this week, we explored Holy Week and the Easter Story, recalling what we knew about Palm Sunday and Good Friday. We learned about Easter Sunday and how the women ran to tell Jesus' disciples that He had risen. We also studied the life cycle of a butterfly and made connections between its transformation and the Easter Story. By matching different parts of the life cycle to key moments in the story, we deepened our understanding and shared our thoughts in thoughtful discussions, which we really enjoyed.

In our DT lesson this week, we continued discussing what makes a strong and stable structure. We recalled our knowledge of windmills and explored how different windmill sails move. Using this understanding, we got creative by cutting cups to make sails for our own windmill structures. It was exciting to see how our designs took shape and to test how well they could spin!

In our Science lesson this week, we recapped our five senses and went on a senses walk to explore them in action. We focused on our sense of hearing, listening carefully to the different sounds around us and trying to identify what we could hear. It was fun to pay close attention to the world around us and discover just how many sounds we often don’t notice!

In our Heartsmart lesson this week, we listened to the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears and explored how Goldilocks and Baby Bear were feeling throughout the story. We discussed what Goldilocks could have done to make things right and how her actions affected others. We also reflected on the Bible quote from Proverbs 14:9: "Foolish people don’t care if they sin, but good people want to be forgiven." This helped us think about the importance of saying sorry and making better choices.

In Music this week, we had fun using percussion instruments to complete our new challenge cards. We worked in pairs, taking turns and following the instructions for each challenge. It was exciting to try different rhythms and sounds! We also practiced our song for our class worship, making sure we knew the actions to go along with it.

In PE this week, we continued working on our routine, exploring how to create dance moves that follow a pathway and work at different levels. After experimenting with different ideas, we chose two moves to add to our routine. We also focused on bowling, practicing keeping our arms straight and using our front arm to aim for the target. Everyone worked really hard and impressed Miss Willis! To finish the lesson, we had a go at batting, putting our skills into action.

In Computing this week, we explored data by sorting objects into groups based on their different properties, such as size, colour, and shape. We practiced spotting the properties of different objects and then went on a similar properties hunt, searching for items that shared the same colour. It was a great way to develop our sorting and classification skills!

In our Geography lesson this week, we continued learning about the weather, focusing on rain and wind. We explored how weather vanes show the direction the wind is coming from, not where it is blowing to. We also learned about rain gauges and how they measure the amount of rainfall. To put our learning into practice, we made our own rain gauges to help us track rainfall ourselves!

For Science Week, we had a visit from a midwife who taught us all about the organs in our bodies. We learned that our heart is the size of our fist and explored how blood travels around the body. We also had the chance to listen to our heartbeats, which was really cool! It was such an interesting and informative talk, and we all enjoyed learning more about how our bodies work.

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Willis