Year 1 News 14.11.25

Happy Friday Team!

In our English lessons, we have been writing our own versions of the Old Bear story. First, we planned out our “Build Bear,” thinking carefully about how we could build a tower to reach the attic. We then wrote up our paragraphs and edited them to make them the best they could possibly be. After that, we planned our “Problem Penguins.” The problem in our story was that we couldn’t climb the plant—some of the plants broke, and others fell over! Finally, we wrote up our “Problem Penguin” paragraphs.

In our maths lessons, we have been learning to count on using number lines. We started by making small jumps along the number line, and then we had to work out number equations without writing on them. It was tricky, but we were all determined to keep trying! We also spent some time solving addition word problems. We looked carefully at the photos or listened to the word problems to figure out what the number equation should be.

In our PE lessons, we continued developing our netball skills. We learned about defending and practised our passing. Then we worked on blocking other players from getting the ball. We had to remember some key tips: hands out ready to catch the ball in a ball-shaped cup, move your feet to track the ball, keep your eyes on the ball until it is safely in your hands, and secure the ball by bringing it towards your chest. We finished the lesson with a fun mini game of netball.

In our RE lessons, we talked about whether Jesus went to school. We learned that he would have gone to the synagogue. We also found out that Jesus was Jewish and celebrated the same festivals. We talked about Passover and the Seder plate, and we listened to the Bible story of Moses and the Red Sea. We discovered what each of the foods on the Seder plate represents, and we drew pictures to show this. For example, the charoset bricks and mortar are represented by the Egyptian buildings.

In our History lessons, we recapped what we had learned about modern toys. We then looked at some toys from when our mummies and daddies were children. We noticed that many of these toys were battery powered but could not be recharged, or they had to be wound up to work. We had a wonderful time with the parents who came in to share these toys with us, and we were very thankful for the time spent exploring and learning with our loved ones. We are really looking forward to having these toys in our classroom to use and enjoy!

In our D&T lessons, we continued exploring the best ways to create stable structures. We spent time building different towers and investigated whether the bases needed to be thin or wide. We discovered that towers with thin bases often toppled over, but the wider the base, the more stable the tower became. We had lots of fun experimenting and trying to build the tallest, most stable towers we could!

In our Computing lessons, we looked at the artwork of Piet Mondrian. We practised making marks using the square and line tools on the Paintz app, learning how to use the shape and line tools effectively. We then had a go at recreating Mondrian’s famous style on the iPads, creating our own colourful digital artwork inspired by his designs.

In our Music lesson this week, we practised our class worship song. We worked on raising our volume, as we were a little quiet in some parts. We can’t wait to share our worship this Friday! We also had fun singing along to a ping-pong tongue-twister, focusing on saying and singing the words clearly. We learned that this is called articulation.

As part of Anti-Bullying Week, we explored how each of us can use our power for good. We created our own superheroes whose special abilities are all about spreading positivity—smiles, kindness, empathy, caring, and love. After choosing meaningful names, we drew and painted our superheroes, bringing their good deeds to life through art. We then spent time discussing the different ways our superheroes use their powers to help others, reminding us that we can all make a difference by choosing kindness every day.

Each and every one of you shone brightly in our Class Worship today! Everyone worked so hard to learn their lines, and you all spoke loudly and clearly. Your singing was absolutely beautiful, and you made Miss Willis feel incredibly proud of you all!

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

Miss Willis