Year 1 weekly news 4.2.22

What a zootastic week we have had in Y1!

On Monday we ventured out of school on your first ever school trip. You excitedly stepped on the coach with your partner and had one of the best days ever. Your behaviour was impeccable and you did Wybunbury Delves proud. Please visit our website to watch our video of the trip.

In English this week, you have started to focus on your recounts of Chester zoo. You have thought about the different animals that you saw around Chester zoo, what they looked like and what they were doing. You wrote some beautiful sentences with Mrs VR about elephants and the butterflies. Next week we build upon this learning by planning and writing our recount. This week we have had a huge focus on handwriting and this will continue. You have spent 10 minutes a day to focus on writing lower case letters the correct way and where to position them on the line.

In phonics this week, you have continued to learn your new sounds and apply them by reading the different stories that you read in phonics.

In maths, you have finished your addition topic by learning how to add by getting to 10 first and then adding the rest. We found that this was a quicker way to add but we had to be very secure on our number bonds to 10 first to help with this. By Friday, you were ready to start practicing subtraction within 20. We will follow this up next week by completing our power maths questions.

In our afternoon learning this week you have been historians, artists and animal explorers.

Is it an amphibian or is it a reptile? Does it have dry scales or slimy skin? Does it live on land, water or both? This week in science we explored amphibians and reptiles. Luckily, we had already been to Chester zoo and spotted lots of reptiles and amphibians around the zoo. I was amazed by how much you could write about in your science books. You all chose a reptile and animal and you described it’s body features and then compared the animals against each other. Very impressive!

Are you for or against zoos? In history this week you answered the big question ‘Why are zoos important?’ You looked at different arguments that were for or against zoos. You found out that zoos are very important in helping conservation. Zoos breed endangered animals to stop them from becoming extinct. Zoos look after animals better than they would be looked after in the wild. However, animals don’t have a lot of freedom in a zoo as much as they would in the wild. It could also be very dangerous if an animal got out! You had to sort out the for and against arguments and then you decided if you were for zoos or against them! I loved hearing all of your debates and arguments.

In computing, you continued to research your animal and you thought carefully about the animal’s habitat. You learnt that this means ‘Where they live?’. You researched the animal’s habitat and then wrote some amazing facts.

In RE this week we celebrated interfaith week by looking at the golden rules of each faith. You carefully thought about what each one meant. You then decided on your very own golden rule!

In art this week, you investigated and explored shades and tints. With watercolours you created different shades by adding black to green. You then created tints by adding white to green. You were amazed with how the colour got darker and lighter and with one colour mix you can create lots of different shades. You realised this is what Henri Rousseau does on his paintings as there is never just one shade of green in the jungle. This helps the painting to become more realistic

To start our music lesson, we had a challenge! For our warm up activity, we had to work together as a team to form a line based on our height – tallest to shortest. We were against the clock as we only had 20 seconds to complete this challenge! For our last attempt, we had to get in line without speaking! We thoroughly enjoyed this task and we all communicated well with one another. Next, we listened to a song called ‘Be in the Band.’ We loved it! We learnt the chorus and joined in with the clapping section at the end. Creating our own Year 1 band is something we would definitely like to do. What would we call ourselves? As a class, we discussed bands that we know. We thought of: One Direction, the Spice Girls, Imagine Dragons and family member bands too! We thought that most bands make pop music. They are also made up of a mixture of boys and girls. However some are just girls or boys. Some band members play instruments, whilst some of them are vocalists.

In PE this week with Hayley from sportsscape you were practicing your overarm and underarm throws.

Y1, I am missing you all sooooo much! I can’t wait to see you all again next week when I am better. Thank you for working like superstars and continuing to do me proud. A huge thank you to Mrs VR, Miss Holland and Mrs Chesters for manning the boat whilst I have been absent.

Stay safe Y1, remember to LFT and look after yourselves.

Have the best weekend,

Miss Haynes