A busy week!
This has been such a busy week for the children in year 1… as well as the teachers! We have had a fun filled time with lots of practical activities.
In English we have continued to explore our pirate theme. We have revisited our core vocabulary that we want the children to use and introduced some ‘ing’ words to describe what their pirates have been doing. We have been doing lots of acting of our simple stories using our new words, making pirate hats and finally putting it all together to write some super sentences using both an adjective and an ‘ing’ word. They all did so well!
In maths we have continued to explore shape but this time solving problems with pattern and halves. How do we know if a shape is in half? We have explored shape using lolly sticks and by folding paper shapes as well as asking ‘explain your reasoning’ questions.
In science we have been learning about materials. We worked in groups to explore a range of objects. We thought about the materials used to make the objects. We also thought about the properties of the different materials.
In our topic work we have been focusing on geography, this week looking closely at a range of different maps: Polynesian stick maps, maps of the sea bed, geological bedrock maps, town maps and maps that sailors use! We even found our school on a town map! We really had fun exploring the different features we could see and talking about why we would use each map.
Finally, we have had our Liturgy this week which focused on our ideas of what Heaven is like. Mr Cunningham, Mrs Knight and Miss Chapman came to listen to us. We particularly enjoyed performing to the other class! We all shared prayers together to think about those who we know who are in Heaven.
The Pirates have come!
Welcome back after half term. It may be lockdown in the wider world but our learning continues at St Peters!
We have been doing lots of lovely work about pirates this week to support our new book of ‘ The Night Pirates.’ The children found a message in a bottle of Monday from a pirate who seems to think that we have stolen his treasure! We wrote down some questions to ask him and had a visit from Pirate Pete and Pirate Penelope. They were very funny! We have also been learning lots of new words we can use when talking and writing about pirates and we have started to think about how we could make up pirate stories to tell each other.
In maths we have been learning all about the properties of 2D shapes and using the the language we need to to describe them.
Today, Friday, has been the schools History deep learning day. We learnt a little about how Martin Luther King wanted the world to be a fairer and better place. We then went on to think about how schools have changed over time, thinking about disabilities, how and who we can sit next to and who was allowed to learn in schools. The children had some very good ideas. We compared this with the schools of today where differences are celebrated and all children are allowed to learn together. Finally we thought about how we could make the world a fairer place.
We have also been practising our Liturgy. If your child has come home with some words to learn please could you help them to do so. We are so sorry that you will not be able to share this with the children but the children will tell you all about it!
Have a lovely half term!
Well done to all the children for getting to the end of their first half term back in school after a very strange few months. We have been extremely busy with our learning and the children seem to enjoy being back!
In maths this week we have been learning about when we use the words ‘tall/taller/tallest’ and making towers and measuring things to apply our new language.
In English we have been writing about our class mascots using the prepositional language that we learnt last week…. also remembering our punctuation of course! The children wrote some lovely sentences.
This month has been Black History Month and this week we learnt about Claudia Jones who was sent to the UK from the Caribbean in 1955. She didn’t find it easy when she got here and we talked about some of the reasons why that might be. She was instrumental in getting laws changed here in the UK. She also started the Notting Hill Carnival! We made some carnival masks and listened to some steel band music while we worked.
Have a good week one and all. Please keep up with the daily reading if you can.
The year 1 team
Another busy week of learning!
We have been busy being active and practical in all areas of our learning this week. And the weather has been kind!
In English this week we have been looking at the book ‘Each, Peach, Pear, Plum’. We started by searching for the characters in our outside areas and then thinking of and practising saying sentences to describe where they are. We also enjoyed playing ‘eye spy’. We then spent a session thinking about prepositions to describe where the children placed our class mascots. The children really enjoyed playing with Pufferfish and Timmy the turtle and using full sentences to explain where they were.
In maths we have been learning about measurement of length, teaching and using the language of long, longer, longest, short, shorter and shortest to compare different objects. They measured animal footprints using different tools and used ribbons to make comparisons with things in the environment.
In science we have been using our senses to smell different things. We explored whether or not we could tell what was in the pots just by smelling. We discovered we needed our sense of sight to know for certain.
We have spent some time this week thinking about how to keep safe. We talked about a whole range of different areas such as being near water, hot ovens and how to behave when crossing the road. We also spent some time talking about how to be safe when working on computers / tablets etc at home.The main message was to tell an adult in your house straight away if something you do not expect to see happens while you are using equipment at home. It is so important that we teach good use of ICT at an early age and that they know that you are involved in their online exploration at home.
Have a good weeeknd
The year 1 team
A rainy week!
What a wet week we have had in places! It is great that so many of the children can do up their own coats independent. We have been very grateful of this on occasion!
In maths this week we have been introducing the children to the ‘part – whole model’. We have shown them how one ‘whole number’ can be partitioned into 2 parts and then how to record this. We have been using practical resources and recording more formally in their maths books. They have all tried really hard with this!
In English we have been writing descriptions of our animals / dinosaurs to make class alphabet books. We have been using the adjectives / describing words that we learnt last week.
In RE this week we have been learning all about Judaism, specifically focusing on the weekly Shabbat celebrations. The children did some lovely writing about what they had learnt.
October is the month of Mary and so in our daily worship we have been learning the Hail Mary. It would be lovely if you could practise this at home. Our daily worship this week has been recognising that God is in everybody regardless of what they look like or where they come from. It has provoked some interesting conversations.
Have a good weekend !
The year 1 team
What we have been learning this week!
Dear parents
We hope that your children are now well settled in their new routines and that they are coming home and telling you all about what we are learning in school.
This week we have been looking at the alphabet and thinking about alphabetical order. We have also been learning about adjectives (words that describe nouns). Next week we are going to make our own alphabetically ordered class books using adjectives to describe either an animal (in Puffer fish) or a dinosaur (in Turtles).
In maths we are learning the concept of ‘whole’ and ‘part’ and recording our findings using pictoral representations.
This week at school has been anti bullying week. We have talked as a class about what bullying means.
Well done to everyone who is bringing in their phonics packs everyday. These are essential because we use these everyday in our phonics teaching. There is no need to send back to school any of the homework sheets but the expectation is that the tick sheet for your child’s will be completed at home and returned to school everyday in your child’s pack along with the homework diary.
Have a good weekend
The year 1 team
CHANGE OF PE DAY!
Dear all
We are sorry but due to timetabling issues with the new school start and finish times our PE days have changed once again. This will work much better for us as a year group and bring us all into line!
Both classes will have PE on a Friday on week 1 (next week beginning 21st September)
Both classes will have PE on a Wednesday week 2
Thank you
Welcome!
Dear Parents
Welcome to year 1!
It is so nice to welcome you and your children to year 1 after such a long summer for many.
We are really looking forward to getting to know your children and helping them to get going with their learning in year 1.
These last 2 weeks have seen us all getting to know each other! We have been having our daily phonics sessions (we hope that you have all seen your child’s new book in their book bags) as well as regular maths and English inputs on specific themes to enable the children to be gently moved back into their learning. New books will be issued every Monday along with phonics sheets. These books MUST be returned on Friday to ensure that hey are ready to be reissued on Monday. Please keep the books in your child’s book bags after reading so that we can access them in school.
This week we have been focusing on counting with one to one correspondence as well as more an less on numbers to 20.
In English we have been focusing on some core segmenting and blending skills for reading and writing simple words and playing eye spy using our book ‘Shark in the Park’ as a stimulus.
In RE we started to look at the Creation story and in science we have started our longitudinal study looking at seasonal changes on the school field as well as starting our unit on our bodies.
Please take some time to view the attached year 1 welcome meeting. Please look carefully at the timings for library and PE as these have changed and are different for each year 1 class.
The year 1 team
Home learning for the last week!
Dear all
It is the last week before the summer holidays and our last home learning online before the planned return to school in September! Where did the time go and how did we get here!? We at school are so proud of all our children and their families who have risen to the challenge through this difficult time. We have been so impressed by the resilience shown by the children in school, their love of being back with friends and learning together as well as the support of families at home, schooling their children through this strange time . We hope that you all manage to have a restful holiday and that you are all looking forward to joining your new teachers in September. We look forward to seeing you all again then too!
Over the holidays it would be great if you could keep up with some reading. Maybe the children could keep a diary of their holidays or write postcards to friends as well as keep up with some maths in their day to day lives. All of the blogs from the last few months will remain on the school website so that if you want to do that exciting science experiment that you never had the chance to complete or go back over that maths that was a bit tricky it is all there for you to revisit.
Have a lovely holiday from all in year 1!
English reading and writing
You will be doing some phonics focusing on the sound ow (blow), oa (goat) and o-e (rose) and as well as some spellings linked to the poem this week. (see below).
If it is a bit tricky or moves too fast for your child just focus on the key phonics being taught, or one version of the sound that your child knows e.g. oa and the key words. Maybe you could just work on one day of the online learning? Do what you feel your child can cope with. If you want an added challenge see if you can use some of the punctuation that we have been learning over the past few weeks such as the exclamation marks and editing using full stops and capital letters. Can you think of some really interesting rhyming words for your poem?
Poetry!
This weeks English task looks at poetry, specifically rhyming words and syllables in words and sentences. The poem that Miss Browne reads today is based on a poem by A A Milne, who wrote Winnie the Pooh!
To listen to a poem
https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/to-listen-to-a-poem-36da10
To identify rhyming words
https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/to-identify-rhyming-words-fcb728
To plan a poem
https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/to-plan-a-poem
To identify syllables
https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/to-identify-syllables-a88e47
To write a poem
https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/to-write-a-poem
Reading
We attach the link below because we feel it has some useful ideas. See page three. We are sure that you are doing many of them already!
Menu of reading response ideas KS1
The website below has lots of free to download ebooks suitable for laptops and tablets. You will need to register to access them but it is all free and the website has other information about different areas of literacy which you may find useful.
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/books/free-ebooks/
Spelling
Linking to the poem this week:
one, two, three, four, five, six, when, year
Maths
To directly compare the capacities of two containers
https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/to-directly-compare-the-capacities-of-two-containers
To indirectly compare the capacities by measuring in non-standard units
To compare different volumes
https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/to-compare-different-volumes
To apply understanding of halves and quarters to capacity
To introduce a litre as a standard unit of measure
https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/to-introduce-a-litre-as-a-standard-unit-of-measure
End of term reflections
As it is the last week of school this week w thought it would be a good opportunity for you to reflect on your year in Turtles and Puffer Fish class. It has been a very busy and ultimately eventful one! This might be a good time to reflect on your year and think of that to come. Talk to your parents or other special adults and see if you can work through some of these questions? Perhaps you might like to write some of your answers and thoughts down and keep them to look back on in years to come!
- What is something you have accomplished this year that you are really proud of?
- What did you do this year to help your class mates?
- What has been the most challenging aspect of this year?
- What have you found has been helpful in keeping you stay happy while you have been at home?
- What has been your favourite book you have read this year and why?
- What 4 adjectives best describe your year at school/ at home in lockdown? You can think of more if you like!
- What advice might you give children coming into Turtles/Puffer Fish next year?
- What am I looking forward to next year?
- What am I worried about next year? Talk to your special adults if something is really worrying you and use this opportunity to think these through.
- What am I looking forward to doing in the holidays?
Music
Watch the whole musical story Peter and the Wolf.
Listen out for the different tunes you have been learning about.
What instruments can you see?
Art
Art Challenge for Father Jeremy: Week 2!
Father Jeremy has got a very special celebration coming up on 26th July this year. He will be celebrating 45 years since his ordination into the priesthood. I think this is a remarkable achievement and should be marked by your incredible artwork. Therefore, your Art challenge for the next fortnight is to produce a piece of art for Father Jeremy. This can take any form you like from street art, a drawing, collage or even some edible art! As well as being a priest, Father Jeremy has a wide range of interests including walking, reading and nature. So let you creative juices flow and come up with something spectacular….I know you will!
As I have mentioned, this is a two week challenge and I would ask that, as well as me displaying your art on the Blog, would you please keep hold of it (yes even sculptures you may make), so that I can collect it from you, when we are all back in school and put it in a book and then present in to Father Jeremy.
As always, you can still send any other art work to me and I will post that on the Blog too.
Please email your artwork to me:
n.pearson@stpeterswaterlooville.hants.sch.uk
Thank you
Keep creating and keep safe!
Mrs Pearson
RE
As we approach the end of the school year and consider our journey in faith towards God, now is a great time to reflect upon each of the Sacraments that form a special part of this journey. Please choose ONE of the seven Sacraments below: Baptism, Holy Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders, Reconciliation or Anointing of the Sick.
With your chosen sacrament, have a go at ONE of the following tasks…
- Write a prayer or poem about your favourite Sacrament.
- Create a stained glass window to represent the key symbol(s) of your chosen Sacrament. What do these symbols mean and why do you think that they are they important?
- Can you find any photographs at home from when you or a family member took part in any of the Sacraments? Discuss what the experience was like and what you can both still remember.
- Are there any special garments or items of clothing that you would wear when taking part in your chosen Sacrament? Design an appropriate outfit – which colours or details would be suitable?
Family Science Activity
Spaghetti Towers
https://www.rigb.org/families/experimental/spaghetti-towers – to watch the video
The activity:
- Make a tower from spaghetti and marshmallows.
- ExpeRiment with the construction of your tower to find out which shapes are best for building with.
- Learn why some shapes are more stable than others when you build a tower.
https://www.rigb.org/docs/spaghettitowers_infosheet_0_1.pdf – for the full information on the activity and questions to ask your child(ren)
You will need:
Packet of spaghetti (uncooked) • Packet of marshmallows
What to do:
Challenge a child or children to use marshmallows (whole ones or pieces) to join lengths of spaghetti together to make the tallest tower possible. You could start by building a simple cube and seeing what you need to do to make a taller structure that remains standing.
Going Further challenge:
- Instead of building a tall tower, you could try to build the strongest bridge from spaghetti and marshmallows.
- You could limit the amount of spaghetti and number of marshmallows to make the task more difficult.
- You could give children a budget with which to ‘buy’ spaghetti and marshmallows and make the ‘cost’ of the tower another element they have to consider.
- Try out this interactive ‘shapes’ lab to see how forces affect different shapes: http://bit.ly/ShapesLab
Have fun!
Home learning 3rd July
Dear all
We have had another lovely week in school. We hope those of you at home are still keeping up with your learning and perhaps we will see more of you in school before the end of term? It is lovely to see more children coming in to school and enjoying being back with their friends and getting into the school routine. With only 3 more weeks left before the end of term we hope to see more of you before the holidays.
Last week, to support our Windrush learning, we watched this animation for a poem by John Agard. We provide a link below if you would like to share it together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrgCVfXrQcs
Remember that there is no need to complete all of the learning below! The focus should be on maths, some aspects of the online English learning and reading and then maybe you could choose one other project to do from the home learning ideas? Or more if you want to obviously! Make this time at home enjoyable and treasure the time you are together having fun! Remember that you can send us a piece of the children’s work or an activity that they want to share every week on our class email addresses:
Turtleclass@stpeterswaterlooville.hants.sch.uk
Pufferfishclass@stpeterswaterlooville.hants.sch.uk
We would love to see what the children are getting up to at home!
Don’t forget to look at Sumdog for maths, reading and spelling challenges.
English reading and writing
In this weeks sequence of lessons you will be writing a set of instructions. The story used is Eddies Garden by Sarah Garland. See a link to the story online above. You will be doing some phonics focusing on the sound oi (spoil) and oy (boy) and as well as some spellings linked to the story (see below).
If it is a bit tricky or moves too fast for your child just focus on the key phonics being taught, or one version of the sound that your child knows e.g. oi and the key words. Maybe you could just work on one day of the online learning? Do what you feel your child can cope with. If you want an added challenge see if you can use some of the punctuation that we have been learning over the past few weeks such as the exclamation marks and editing using full stops and capital letters. Can you use the past tense in your account?
Eddies Garden by Sarah Garland
Here is a link to the story online. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC0V3k_8F_U
To listen to a story
https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/to-listen-to-a-story-729700
To commit a set of instructions to memory
https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/to-commit-a-set-of-instructions-to-memory
To understand how to make a noun plural
https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/to-understand-how-to-make-a-noun-plural
To begin to write my instructions
https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/to-begin-to-write-my-instructions
To continue to write my instructions
https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/to-continue-to-write-my-instructions
Reading
We attach the link below because we feel it has some useful ideas. See page three. We are sure that you are doing many of them already!
Menu of reading response ideas KS1
The website below has lots of free to download ebooks suitable for laptops and tablets. You will need to register to access them but it is all free and the website has other information about different areas of literacy which you may find useful.
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/books/free-ebooks/
Spelling
Linking to the phonics and story this week:
Soil, moist, coin, toy, destroy, joy, firstly, finally. Some of these words are a bit tricky to write and remember. If so see if you can learn they, school and come from the common exception word list for year 1.
Maths
To share a total equally.
https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/to-share-a-total-equally-and-find-the-number-of-groups
To share a total equally.
To Explore arrays
https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/to-explore-arrays-part-one
To Explore arrays
https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/to-explore-arrays-part-two
To develop understanding of halves and quarters of quantities
Topic
The explorer of the Antarctic Ernest Shakleton
https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/who-was-sir-ernest-shackleton
This week we are going to learn all about a man called an ‘explorer’ who tried to get to the South Pole in Antarctica. He was called Ernest Shackleton. He was a very brave man and the Oaks Academy lesson tells you all about him. In the lesson you will see some real pictures of his exploring and learn about his amazing adventures.
The online lesson starts with a ‘quiz’ relating to lessons we have not done. Just click ‘quiz done’ and move on to the next screen and start the lesson at 3.20 minutes. (The first few minutes are recapping things we have not done)
The teacher asks the children to make a story map of his journey but if you would prefer to find out more about him use some of the links below and think about these questions.
- Why was it so hard for Shakleton to reach the South Pole?
- How do you think those men would have felt when they realised no one was going to come and rescue them?
- Would you want to go on this sort of adventure when there are no phones, TV or other methods of communication?
- Can you draw or paint a picture of the icy landscape and sinking ship? I think it would have been very frightening!
The teacher recommends the children’s book ‘Shakletons Journey’ by William Grill if you want to find out more about his adventures and life. You could also search the internet to see more photographs of the expedition by Frank Hurley. See below for one source.
Music
Week 6- The Hunters
Listen to this short piece of music and find a picture of the timpani.
What do you think the hunters are doing?
Can you create your own hunter music out of everyday objects?
Art
Art Challenge for Father Jeremy:
Father Jeremy has got a very special celebration coming up on 26th July this year. He will be celebrating 45 years since his ordination into the priesthood. I think this is a remarkable achievement and should be marked by your incredible artwork. Therefore, your Art challenge for the next fortnight is to produce a piece of art for Father Jeremy. This can take any form you like from street art, a drawing, collage or even some edible art! As well as being a priest, Father Jeremy has a wide range of interests including walking, reading and nature. So let you creative juices flow and come up with something spectacular….I know you will!
As I have mentioned, this is a two week challenge and I would ask that, as well as me displaying your art on the Blog, would you please keep hold of it (yes even sculptures you may make), so that I can collect it from you, when we are all back in school and put it in a book and then present in to Father Jeremy.
As always, you can still send any other art work to me and I will post that on the Blog too.
Please email your artwork to me:
n.pearson@stpeterswaterlooville.hants.sch.uk
Thank you
Keep creating and keep safe!
Mrs Pearson
Family Science Activity
Friday 3rd July
If your child has an allergy to eggs – please choose another exciting investigation from https://www.rigb.org/families/experimental
Bouncing Eggs
https://www.rigb.org/families/experimental/eggsperiments – watch the video
- Make an uncooked egg bounce!
- ExpeRiment with different liquids to see what effect they have on eggs.
- Learn how the acid in household liquids like orange juice and vinegar react with eggshells and make them dissolve, leaving the inside of the egg intact.
https://www.rigb.org/docs/dissolving_eggs_infosheet_v2_0_1.pdf – download worksheet for instructions and questions to ask before and after the investigation.
You will need:
5 eggs • Glasses or jars that an egg can fit inside comfortably • Cling film • Oil • Milk • Water • Vinegar • Orange juice
Going further challenge:
- You can use the shell-less eggs you make from this experiment to do another activity which will let you shrink and expand the eggs by placing them in different liquids: http://bit.ly/nakedeggs
- Watch a video of how to make a coloured bouncy egg, then try making one yourself: http://bit.ly/RubberEgg