Year 1
Wesak
On the last day of half-term, we celebrated the Buddhist festival of Wesak. We had great fun following the clues to learn the story of the Monkey King and aking crowns, tasting melon, playing games and crossing the river along the way. In the afternoon, we took part in our own act of kindness to remember the Buddha's teachings.
Active Maths
We had fun learning about number during an Active Maths session. We practised counting in 2s, 5s and 10s, adding up and doubling.
The Coronation of King Charles III
In school we celebrated King Charles' Coronation with a picnic. Unfortunately, the weather was a little wet, so we had our picnic inside! We learnt about the coronation and the royal family and made crowns to celebrate the occasion. We are looking forward to seeing the real coronation on Saturday!
Summer Term 2023
Welcome Back for the Summer Term!
Please find our curriculum map below:
Easter Egg Hunt
Thank you to FOSP for our end of term Easter Egg Hunt. It was lots of fun and we enjoyed meeting the Easter Bunny too!
STEAM Week Experiments
As part of our STEAM Week learning, we took part in a range of experiments to learn about sound, colour and the human body.
Fossils
As part of our STEAM Week learning, we learnt about different types of fossils and had a go at making our own replica fossils.
From Farm to Fork
As part of our STEAM Week learning, we learnt how wheat is grown, how it is harvested and ground to make flour and how the flour is used to make the food we eat. We had a go at grinding wheat to make flour and used the flour to make biscuits in the afternoon.
Holi
During our RE learning day this week, we learnt about the Hindu festival of colour, called Holi. To mark the day, we dressed in our most colourful clothes and took part in a range of activities. We were very lucky to be visited by Alison from the Hindu Temple in Watford who taught us how Hindus celebrate Holi.
Capacity
In our maths lessons, we have been learning about volume and capacity. We had lots of fun measuring using non-standard units and comparing different amounts of liquid in different shaped containers.
Taekwondo
This week, two former pupils, Tallulah and Harry visited to demonstrate their Taekwondo skills and to teach us some. It was a lot of fun and some of us were inspired to learn more.
Stevenage History
As part of our history learning, we have explored a range of artefacts relating to the history of Stevenage. We learnt about Stevenage's growth as a new town and the origins of well-know parts of the town.
Guide Dog Visit
We were very lucky this week to have a visit from Lauren and Daniel and Lauren's guide dog Grace. After a very informative assembly where we learnt about Grace's training and were shown how she helps Lauren, we were visited in class by Lauren, Daniel and Grace. We asked lots of questions and got to say hello to Grace.
Art Day
We used the painting, 'Surprised' by Henri Rousseau as the inspiration for our art day. We practised the skills of colour mixing, tracing, cutting and collage to create a collage inspired by Rousseau's work.
Spring Term 2023
Welcome back for the start of the Spring Term!
Please find below the curriculum newsletter for this term.
Snow!
We had great fun playing in the snow in December during the cold spell.
Christingle
Reverend Kate visited us to teach us about the Christingle. We made our own Christingles and then took part in a Christingle Service.
Beegu
There was great excitement in our class on Tuesday morning. Overnight, a spaceship had landed and an alien was in our Year 1 garden! We are now reading the story of Beegu by Alexis Deacon which tells us all about the alien and how she explores Earth.
Shape Day
During Shape Day, we learnt about different types of triangles: equilateral, isosceles, right-angled and scalene. We looked at tessellation, made different types of triangles and experimented with tangrams.
Halloween Disco
The Friends of Shephalbury Park organised a disco to celebrate Halloween. We had great fun dressing up and looking scary!
Drop Everything and Read!
Every day, after lunch, we take part in Drop Everything and Read. (D.E.A.R.) Sometimes our teachers read to us, sometimes we read by ourselves and sometimes we share books with our friends. We love looking at books, exploring new stories and learning new facts!
Year 1 Curriculum Meetings
Thank you to the parents who attended the curriculum meetings this week. It was lovely to meet you properly and share our learning expectations with you. We hope you found these sessions useful. The information from the meetings can be found below.
Our First Week in Year 1!
It’s been a very busy first week in Year 1! We’ve settled in very quickly to our new classroom and routines and are enthusiastically engaging in our learning! In English, we’ve been exploring the story of Cinderella. We’ve been to the Prince’s ball and made crowns to wear. We’ve role-played the characters and acted out the story with puppets before creating our own story maps. In our maths lessons, we have been practising our counting and number recognition. Our themed topic this term is toys and we’ve enjoyed playing with some toys from the past alongside our toys from today. In between rain showers this week, we’ve had fun exploring our outside area, creating our own water marble run and making playdough models. We’re looking forward to more learning next week!
Welcome to Year 1!
An exciting step on your learning journey as you move from Early Years to KS1. We have lots of learning planned for this term and can’t wait to get started!
Alongside our topic on toys, we will be focusing on consolidating and building on our phonics and maths skills learnt in Reception.
Becoming a fluent reader is a key skill we will be working towards in Year 1. As in Reception, we will all take part in a daily phonics and reading session and apply our skills in our English lessons. Regular reading practise at home will support reading fluency. Our school home learning expectation is to read three times a week with an adult at home, although, as with any skill, the more you practise, the better you will become!
Reading books can be changed as often as required – children should place books and reading records to be changed in the basket in the morning and these will be returned by the end of the day. A spelling and handwriting sheet for practise at home will also be sent home every Friday to be returned the following Friday. Please ensure that reading books and reading records are brought to school every day.
In addition to practising reading and spelling at home, children will also bring home a log-in for Numbots where they can practise their number bonds. Children receive certificates for the levels they complete.
This term, we will have PE on a Thursday afternoon. Children should arrive at school wearing their PE kit. Details of PE kit expectations can be found on the school website if you require these. We will also visit the school library every Thursday afternoon when children will have the opportunity to explore the books and take home a book of their choosing to share at home. Please ensure children have their library books in school on a Thursday.
To find out more about the Year 1 curriculum, please see the link below.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. A member of the KS1 staff will be on duty every morning or you can speak to Mrs Cargill at the end of the day. You can also email year1@shephalburypark.herts.sch.uk.
We look forward to welcoming you into Year 1!
Mrs Cargill, Mrs Levy and Miss Gibson