Year 1 weekly news 28.1.21

This week in Y1, we have been story writers, historians and scientists. What a busy week we have had.

So he ate it in one big mouthful...This week you have been finishing your shared writes of the tiger who came to tea. However, this time we had flamingos, porcupines, lions, cheetahs and even giraffes who came to tea. You thought carefully about how you can write short simple sentences to create a narrative. Towards the end of the week, you built upon your knowledge from the shared write to create your independent hot write of the story. You only focused on the problem of the story which was when the animal ate all of the food in the house. You did a fantastic job of using 'First, next and then' to link your sentences together. You wrote your hot writes in your new Y2 books which has really helped you to focus on keeping your writing small and positioning it so it is sat on the line. I am so proud of the super star writers you are!!

In your phonics session, you have been continuing to learn your new sounds each day and to apply your knowledge by reading your new story book. Mrs VR and I have also been noticing how many of you are reading lots of signs and pieces of text in the classroom now as well.

In maths this week, you focused on your new topic of adding numbers to 20. We recapped all of our previous learning on adding numbers to 10 to help with adding to 20. You have learnt how to add ones, how to find number bonds to 20 and even shortcut ways to adding numbers by finding 10 first. We have used lots of practical resources like number lines and ten frames to help us to understand how to add numbers to 20. Some of you even used your skills to add numbers together that would equal numbers more than 20. You are amazing mathematicians!

In science this week, you focused on categorising mammals, birds and fish. You focused on how each mammal, bird and fish are similar to each other and that helped us to identify their body features. You were fantastic at naming different zoo animals and whether they were a mammal, bird or fish depending what they looked like or how they breathe. I wonder which of these animals we will see at Chester zoo....

How has Chester zoo changed? Is our big question that we are focusing on in history. In this week's lesson we focused on how Chester zoo started and who created it. We found out that the creator of Chester zoo is George Mottershead which helped us to focus on our local history because we then found out George Mottershead owned a zoological gardens in Shavington. Once you had learnt all about George Mottershead and the opening of Chester zoo, you then wrote a fact file that expressed why George was and still is a significant person in history. We are very excited to see oakfield house when we visit Chester zoo!

In computing this week, you started your project of creating a factfile video on a zoo animal. So that you have a bank of information about the animal, your first job was to research the animal that your group is focusing on. You focused on just the appearance of the animal and why it has certain features. For example, you all found out that elephants have big floppy ears that they use to cool themselves down with.  Or did you know meerkats have eyes the size of gold balls? What cool facts!

In RE, you continued to build upon your learning of God's kingdom so that you can answer our big question of 'What did Jesus tell us about God's kingdom?' We know that our small actions can help to make God's kingdom grow just like the mustard seed. However, we needed to learn what small actions we can do to help. We read a story all about Kim's day at school and we had to think about what fruits of the spirit are being shown. You picked out 'love, honesty, kindness, forgiveness, generosity and being helpful'. We decided that if we show these each day we can help to make God's kingdom grow better and stronger. You also created your first study work page to show how God's kingdom is like a mustard seed.

In art this week, we continued to learn about Henri Rousseau. You thought carefully about what you liked about his paintings and any questions you would like to ask him. It was lovely to hear all of your opinions on the artwork. You then recreated Henri rousseau's painting of 'tùcan' with oil pastels. You carefully thought about the warm and cool colours you were using.

You also had your extra session of PE this week with Hayley.

This week in our heart smart lesson, we listened to the story of the smartest giant in town. The giant helped lots of animals by sharing items of clothing with them. We all agreed that the giant's generosity helped the animals greatly. We reflected on how we help others in our day. Over the next two days we are going to be mindful of when we do help others and share these times with Miss Haynes. Bible reference: 'Do not forget to do good and to help on another.' Hebrew's 13:16.

If you're happy and you know it! Well we were definitely happy in our music lesson this week! We found the pulse of this song, clapped rhythms and listened to and copied the actions along with our onscreen characters. We had great fun dancing and moving to the music great work Year 1!

What a very busy week we have had Y1 filled with lots of great learning opportunities. Remember that Monday is our trip to Chester zoo which we are all VERY excited about. Please make sure you bring a bag with a morning and afternoon snack and your packed lunch in. Please bring any packed lunches in a throw away bag so you don't have to carry a lunch box around. Please wrap up warm as it will be a very cold day! I can't wait to see how excited you all are on Monday.

Have a lovely rest this weekend.

See you on Monday,

Miss Haynes