Year 1
Key Information
Welcome Back!
We are excited to be back for the Spring Term. We have lots of learning to do and are looking forward to our new topics for this term. Our curriculum Newsletter for the Spring Term can be found below.
Spellings
Our Learning
Our Senses
In Science, we have been learning about our five senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. We took part in different activities to explore our senses. We smelt different foods to try to identify them, we listened to the sounds made by different instruments, counted how many different things we could see, described how different materials felt and tasted different foods. We pulled some funny faces when we tasted the lemon - it was very sour!
Measuring
Our new unit in maths is 'Measures'. We have been learning to compare lengths and heights and measure different objects in the classroom using cubes.
Chinese New Year
Kane told us all about his family traditions surrounding Chinese New Year. We learnt about the importance of the number 8, red envelopes and vegan food. We celebrated the new year in class by making dragons, snake masks and creating our own dragon dance. It was lots of fun and we learnt lots.
Giraffes Can't Dance
We have been learning the story 'Giraffes Can't Dance' in English. We have acted out the story to help us memorise it ready to innovate on it and create our own wishing stories. We have also created story maps and role-played the characters.
Exploring Time
This term, we are working hard as we are now half-way through Year 1! Our lessons are a little longer now, but we still have time for some exploring!
The Jungle Dance
We are reading 'Giraffes Can't Dance' in English and for our creative hook, we held our own Jungle Dance. We played musical instruments, danced, made masks and made flowers. It was lots of fun and set the scene for our learning.
Numbers to 50
In maths we have been using manipulatives to make numbers to 50. We have partitioned numbers in to tens and ones and represented numbers with Base Ten.
Design Technology
In D.T. we made Christmas cards using levers and sliders. We practised using the class examples and then designed and made our own. It was lots of fun! We hope that our families enjoyed receiving our cards!
Christingles
We were very lucky to be visited by Reverend Kate and Peter who led our Christingle service. Before the service, we learnt about Christingles and made our own.
Making Wind Socks
As part of our science learning, we have been looking at different ways to measure the weather. We made rain gauges to measure the amount of rain which falls and wind socks so we can see the direction of the wind.
Shapes
In our maths lessons, we have been learning about 2D and 3D shapes. We have had lots of fun going on shape hunts making patterns with shapes and printing with 3D shapes to discover their 2D shape faces.
Dentist Visit
We were very lucky to have a visit from a local dentist, Talia and her dental nurse, Abi. They told us how to keep our teeth clean and healthy and spoke to us about how dentists can help us.
Children in Need Ramble
As has become a Shephalbury tradition, we donned our wellies, hats and gloves and embarked on a ramble around Shephalbury Park on Friday in aid of Children in Need. It was lots of fun!
Properties of Materials
In science, we have been learning about the properties of materials. We used what we have learnt to design and make an umbrella for a teddy. Once made, we took them outside and made it 'rain' to see if our umbrella designs had worked.
Beegu
We arrived at school to find that Beegu had landed in our garden! Beegu is a friendly little alien who was lost. We read her story and learnt about how she tried hard to make friends with the Earth creatures she met, but sadly no-one wanted her. Eventually, she had a happy ending and her parents came and collected her. We enjoyed acting out the story and learning it by heart so we could innovate on it and write our own versions.
Maths - Comparing Numbers
In Maths, we have been comparing numbers to ten and are moving on to comparing numbers to 100. We learnt to use the symbols <, > and = and played lots of maths games to practise our skills.
Meet the Teacher
It was lovely to see so many parents at the 'Meet the Teacher' afternoon. The slides from the presentation and the curriculum newsletter can be found by clicking on the links below.
Cinderella
We received an invitation to Prince Charming's ball on Tuesday. We made crowns, wrote our invitations and off we went! We used our magic to turn a pumpkin into a carriage and had great fun dancing at the ball. When the clock struck midnight, we ran back to class quickly.
Exploring Our New Classroom
We still have time for exploring in Year 1, after we have finished our lessons. We enjoyed exploring the inside and outside areas of our new classroom.
Our Week...
On Monday afternoon, Mrs Spiller teaches us WRE and Music.
On Tuesday afternoon, we have P.E. which is taught by Mrs Robinson.
On Wednesday afternoon, we visit the school library to change our books.
On Friday, we take home our new spellings and get tested on those from the week before.
Welcome to Year 1!
We have a fun-filled year of learning planned and can't wait to get started!
Mrs Cargill and Miss Gibson are looking forward to working with you.