March 2018
Year 1 and Year 2 visit STEAM
We had a great day at STEAM! There was so much to see and do that we needed another afternoon there! We learnt lots more about train engineers such as Brunel and Stephenson and we were delighted to be able to touch, stand on, drive and see many different trains! The lovely people who run the museum said how polite and well-mannered we were which is always good to hear! A Great Western Railway day had by all! We would highly recommend going again.
How do things measure up in year 1?!
Year 1 are mastering the use of using non-standard (bricks, cubes etc.) and standard (rulers, metre sticks and tape measures) units of measure to measure objects around the classroom and outside. We have discussed the importance of always double checking our measurements and why we might need to measure things using rulers and not cubes. We now also understand why we must measure things using uniform units of measure – to be as accurate as we can! Have a look at our amazing measuring skills…
Science in term 4
Year 1 have been learning about different materials and their properties. We have learnt lots of different vocabulary which we can now to use describe what different materials are like. Words such as hard, bendy, stretchy, smooth, absorbent, waterproof and many more! During one lesson we watched ice…. we thought about what material it was to begin with and how it turned into ice. We also discussed the effect of salt and how it speeds up the melting process. Have a look at this clip to show an amazing musician playing his piano on a piece of floating ice in the Arctic!!! We were all amazed!
February 2018
A surprise visit from an adventurer….
Year 1 entered the class after morning break to find a suitcase with only a jar of marmalade… there was also a half eaten marmalade sandwich, pair of binoculars, a compass and a toothbrush!!! Who could it have been?! Well, there’s was only one explanation …. Paddington Bear MUST have left his suitcase behind as he was passing through. Hmmmm, mysterious. Lots of children have left letters and pictures in his suitcase and we have listened to and created story boards about the original story of Paddington Bear.
We make marmalade sandwiches in the hope of enticing Paddington to return to year 1!
As part of a computing lesson the children became robots and instructors. They created algorithms on how to make a sandwich. Each instructor had to tell their robot in the most simplest form- each instruction had to be super clear. We left our sandwiches in Paddington’s suitcase in the hope that he will be tempted by the scent of sweet marmalade… fingers crossed! Ask your child what an algorithm is and whether they left the sandwich.
Evie in London!
We were all delighted to share Evie’s book about London when she visited in half term. She managed to see so many sights that we have been learning about. She has stood in the spot where The Great Fire of London started and found the lyrics to London’s Burning in stone blocks. She then spent all day singing the song as the tune got stuck in her head! Thank you so much for sharing this Evie, what an exciting trip! It’s great to see such enjoyment from your learning in school.
Year 1 and Year 5 engineer a paper – yes paper – London Eye!
Today was amazing! A brilliant team effort and lots of perseverance was used today as both classes joined to create a paper version on the London Eye. Year 1 couldn’t believe how a rolled up paper tube became super strong! Year 5 worked really hard to help year 1 with rolling, hole punching and fixing nuts and bolts together to create frames. These frames were then bolted together, rolled into a circle and we saw the London Eye develop – complete with passenger pods.
Take a look at our work and our excellent collaboration skills.
Thank you Year 5 and Miss Stephens for your help!
Safer Internet Day
We are all connected! Children shared the ways in which they are connected to other children in the class… here are some suggestions:
‘He/she sits next to me at lunch time’
‘He/she is my best friend’
‘He/she is in the same class as me’
‘We play together at the park’
‘We live in the same street’
‘She looked after me on my first day when I moved to this school’
‘He plays Power Rangers with me!’
‘We go to the same karate class’
‘She looks after me when I am upset’
We are connected in so many ways!
Next we learnt about how we may be connected when we are on the internet and we discussed the types of devices which we use at school or at home.
Then we learnt about our digital footprint and what they actually are. We created our own digital footprints to show how we leave information about what we are doing when we are online.
Finally we thought about safety when we are online as well as offline. We sorted pictures into groups and shared our ideas about how we should stay safe; on a beach, at a swimming pool, next to a road, with irons/kettles and other household appliances, with chemicals or medicines and more. We talked about how we should stay safe online and what we should do if we felt uncomfortable/unsure about something we see, hear or read when using internet devices.
Ask your child how they can stay safe online!
Firefighter Reading talks about her job and what we should do if there is a fire in our house.
Get out – Stay out – Call 999 ! That’s the message we shouted to help us remember what to do if there is a fire on our home.
We watched Firefighter Reading get into her fire fighting outfit and learnt how important they are when firefighters arrive to put out fires. Ask us about the different visors and why the trousers are already attached to their boots!
We were handed free books about Drago; stories about what firefighting, we were really excited to read these when we got back into class. Thanks Firefighter Reading for helping to keep us safe!
January 2018
The Great Fire of London topic- Visitor 31.1.18
A survivor from the Great Fire of London!
Year 1 had a visitor from the Great Fire of London called Mary. We have been learning about questions and how to use a question mark in our writing so we wrote questions in preparation for Mary. Then we interviewed her about the fire to help us learn more. We had a great day!
Here are a few of our questions…
When did the fire start?
How did you escape?
What did you do in the fire?
How hot was the fire?
What colour was the smoke?
Jake – I enjoyed listening to Mary saying about when she was running away from her house because it was on fire.
Thomas – I enjoyed asking my questions
Imogen – I enjoyed asking my questions to her.
Daniel E – I enjoyed her telling us what was happening in the Great Fire of London
Romeo – I liked asking Mary the question
Elin – I liked her clothes
Daniel L – I liked listening to her talk about the Great Fire of London
Matthew – I enjoyed watching when she she came in
Izzy – I like her talking to us when we read the questions
All – Mary went to the Church because it wouldn’t burn down because it was made out stone.
November 2017
Year 1 Witney Partnership Dance Workshop 27.11.17
“For the warm up we did Duck, Duck, Goose and it was very, very good. When I chose Daniel, he didn’t catch me!” Imogen
“We performed a dance with monkeys and frogs in it and whoever was the frog had to jump around like a frog on the floor. The monkeys had to jump using their arms and go side to side.” Isla
“I enjoyed the dancing and when we did the acting with a Jungle Book dance which was really good. The other children performed it to us and then we performed it to them.” Jake
October 2017
13.10.17
Year 1 continue to be busy this term!
We have enjoyed learning about Harvest and how it is celebrated during Harvest Festival. We went to church carrying a large picture of a basket of fruit that we had created using mark making and paint which we now have displayed in our classroom! Our focus has continued to be on learning to write a full sentence using capital letters, finger spaces and full stops. We are practising this whenever we can; even in our Harvest writing!
We have read lots of stories already this term and have been enjoying texts around Harvest and healthy eating. One book that has inspired us is ‘Oliver’s Fruit salad’ by Vivian French. We were so inspired that we created a fruit salad of our own which we did find delicious. Our work around this story inspired the class to make a fruit salad from various ‘items’ in the classroom, create a bowl of ‘lego fruit’ and tell the story to the class themselves!
We continue to enjoy learning about pirates and fairies and have made lovely peg doll puppets of them. They are all our own work so we are really proud of them. We are now looking forward to the end of term where we have a dress up day so we can spend the time doing all things around Fairies and pirates!
15.9.17
It has been a busy start for Year 1 this term. Our topic ‘Faith, trust and Pixie Dust’ has begun with us finding out all about pirates, what they wore and the ships they sailed in! We have been labelling details about them onto our pictures and creating our own pirate ships from construction materials. In a corner of our classroom, there is a pirate ship and it is a popular destination where children try out being a pirate, complete with hats, parrots and a ‘Jolly Roger’ flag! Our next focus is to find out all about fairies; what they look like and how they behave!
In Year 1, we are reading lots of different books to help us in our learning. Along with finding out about pirates, our class have also been bringing in favourite story books to school for us to share and it has been pleasing to see that the children in Year 1 obviously like all sorts of books! In our reading corner, there are pictures of our class (complete with pirate hats) reading one of their favourite stories and looking happy as they do so!
Our new Year 1 children have made an enthusiastic and positive start to the academic year and we are looking forward to working with them!
Mrs King, Ms Butt and Mrs Coggins
