Year 1 w/b 14th March
Date: 18th Mar 2022 @ 6:14pm
It has been assessment time in school this week so the majority of our work in English, Maths, reading and phonics has focused on identifying what children can do well and ways we can help them improve. We have been delighted by the children’s positive attitude towards learning, their enthusiasm and determination and feel very proud of all they have achieved. We look forward to sharing some of these assessments with you at parent’s consultations next week.
In phonics we focused on all the igh family. Terrible tie ie, fly high igh and nice smile i-e
In addition, for maths, we have practised counting up and back in 2’s and 5’s and this would be really useful to practise at home and on car journeys to reinforce mastery and speed of recall.
This week has been British science week. As such, we have focused on additional science sessions in school. Our big question was, ‘Do all body parts grow as we get older?’ We enjoyed measuring and comparing handspans of children across the school and made some interesting observations. Although our hands did seem to grow as we got older there were some children aged 7 with the same handspan as a 9-year-old and children who were 11 with the same handspan as teachers. Thank you for helping with our enquiries at home where you shared your shoe size, age and when your feet stopped growing. We have also been delighted to have welcomed Mrs Williams into school to share with us her life as a dairy farmer and vet. The children were fascinated by the equipment and pictures Mrs Williams shared with us and were bountiful in their questions.
Our focus on kindness continues and Mrs Lindersen and I have been touched with our lovely notes and letters of kindness too. Our kindness jar needs emptying each day which reflects the kindnesses shown and given in Year 1. In Collective worship we have focused on acceptance, looking at Jesus’ example where he reached out to people on the fringes of society, the lost, the ill, the lonely. We re-enacted the story of Zaccheaus and hoe he changed after meeting Jesus and then we explored what the story of the good Samaritan teaches us about acceptance.
History this week involved comparing homes in the past to our modern-day homes in the present day. To start the lesson, we looked at three household appliances that might have been found in a Victorian home. Children had to discuss and investigate with their groups to find out what the thought the appliances were and how they might have been used. This then flowed into our discussion comparing things we might find in our own kitchens to those in a Victorian kitchen. In a Victorian kitchen there wouldn’t have been any of the appliances that need to be plugged in because there was no electricity. There were no washing machines, tumble driers, microwaves, electric kettles or electric irons in Victorian kitchens. We then compared the modern-day appliances we use today to the Victorian equivalents including the iron stove, cooking ranges and the washboard and mangle.
PE this week build on the skills and activities from last week. We warmed up our bodies, played a whole class activity to get active before completing the same three activities from last week. This week we worked on ways to improve our scores from last week, to build our speed and work the key muscles required for each group. We evaluated our performances, taking about how we got better at the activities today compared to last week.
This week we have been looking at colour mixing in art. We learnt how there are three primary colours that can be used to produce secondary colours and from here all colours can be made! We started with the primary colours red, blue and yellow on our ‘palette’ and from there mixed red and yellow which made orange, yellow and blue which made green and blue and red which made purple. We now have our very own primary and secondary colour wheels.
In HeartSmart, following on from our assembly last week we learnt about the importance of forgiveness. Boris the robot shared examples and explained that being HeartSmart means learning how to let the bad feelings out of our hearts so we can feel happy again.
We hope you may all enjoy a lovely weekend, and the clear blue skies look very promising indeed. We look forward to discussing your child’s progress and achievements in our telephone calls next Tuesday or Thursday.
Also, just a little reminder, that we are holding a Mothering Sunday service at Church next Friday at 2pm which you are welcome to attend. This will be a simple service led by Revd Sandi with some modern worship hymns, prayers and Bible readings.
Take care
Mrs Pulle, Mrs Lindersen and the Year One team
