Year 1 News 24.10.25

Happy Friday Team!

This week in English, we have been learning about the prefix “un”. We enjoyed coming up with lots of different words that start with “un” and talking about how it often changes the meaning to the opposite — for example, well becomes unwell. We have also been exploring Old Bear as a character. We created a roll on the wall, thinking about what Old Bear might be feeling inside and what he looks like on the outside. We spent time imagining what Old Bear would be saying while he was up in the attic and had fun freeze framing different parts of the story. We also looked closely at the other characters and discussed how they might be feeling at different points in the story.

In maths, we have continued learning about the symbols + and =. We explored the idea of commutativity, which means that the order of numbers in an addition doesn’t change the result. We used part-whole models to add two parts together to make the whole and recorded commutative number sentences on number tracks using different coloured counters. We also watched Numberblocks: Fruit Salad and wrote all four number sentences, such as part + part = whole and whole = part + part. We learned that equal means the same, and we practised balancing equations using this knowledge — for example, 2 + 4 = 4 + 2.

In RE, we continued learning about Jesus’ world. We listened to the Bible story “Feeding the 5000” and explored the kinds of foods Jesus might have eaten when he was a boy. We even got to try some of these foods ourselves, deciding which ones we enjoyed and which we didn’t. We then thought about the types of foods we eat today and discussed what modern foods Jesus might like to try if he were here with us now.

In PE, we started our lesson with a warm-up game called DVD Player. We moved around the space, and when Miss Willis pressed the controls, we had to change what we were doing — using fast forward, pause, and rewind actions. We then talked about balance and practised balancing on different numbers of points. Next, we had fun being superheroes, trying to balance like Superman, Buzz Lightyear, Kung Fu Panda, and Spiderman. To make it more challenging, we tried these superhero balances on a bench, testing our control and stability even further.

Our last music lesson was so much fun! After watching our favourite video about tempo, we moved on to our Dancing Dinosaur performance. We each chose our favourite dinosaur carefully because there was only so much space to move around. We had to come up with an action for the line “In their big baggy pants!” and shared our ideas with the class before performing. Our performance went brilliantly, and when we reflected on how well we had done and what we could improve on, everyone was very supportive and gave lots of kind compliments to one another. Well done, Year 1!

In Computing, we talked about what we have learned about technology and how to look after it properly. We were then introduced to the Numbots app, and everyone had the chance to log in and explore it. We had so much fun using the app and progressing through Rusty’s levels. It was exciting to see how our skills improved as we played, and we can’t wait to have another go at home!

In Science, we played the “Guess the Material” game, where we looked closely at different objects made from a variety of materials. We talked about the different ways we could describe each material, such as how it feels or what it looks like. Then, we worked together to come up with two groups and sorted the objects based on their different properties.

In our Black History lesson, we learned about Rosa Parks. We started by reading “Rosa Parks” from the Little People, Big Dreams series and then acted out a bus ride, showing what happened to Rosa Parks on the bus. We talked about important questions such as “Was it fair that Rosa had to move?”, “How did Rosa feel?”, and “What would you do if you saw something unfair?” Afterwards, we drew our own fair buses, where everyone is welcome to sit wherever they like. We finished by writing or saying the sentence: “On my bus, everyone can sit together.”

I hope everyone has a lovely Half Term! Be safe and enjoy every minute!

Miss Willis