Year 1

In English this week the children are looking at traditional tales and have focussed on Little Red Riding Hood. The children have worked in pairs to sequence the story and then worked in groups of 4 to re-enact the story - they were all fabulous!

 

In computing this half term the children are looking at animation! They have been introduced to the program Scratch and have been learning how to move the cat sprite. This week the children's task was to complete an algorithm and then identify where the cat was nearest too.

Mikey working out where the cat is going to be.

 

Nancy working copying the algorithm to see where the cat is going to be.

In maths this week the children have been counting forwards and backwards within 100. The children worked together to count objects by grouping them in 10s to make them easier to count.

Children grouping objects into 10 to make it easier to count.

 

On Wednesday 6th July, we had a maths morning. All the children spent 20 minutes with each teacher in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 completing different maths activities! They really enjoyed it! Find some more pictures in our gallery!

 

 

In DT this half term the children are making a fruit snack. They have tried different fruits and snacks from the shops and last week the children prepared fruit in different ways to make a layered fruit salad. Take a look at some of the children's fruit salads in the Year 1 gallery!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week in DT the children made their fruit snacks! Some children made fruit cups, fruit bags and some even made fruit biscuits!

Welcome to the Year 1 Spring term blog!

Easter cards

Have a look at our Easter cards in the gallery!

 

Geography

Our Geography topic this half term is our local area. On Monday 20^th January we went on a walk around the local area to look at the different features and why they are important. The children also posted their letters to their parents explaining what we have been doing in Geography. Have a look at some photos of our trip!

Science

In Science, we have been looking at seasonal changes. The children have made wind socks using plastic bottles and ribbon to help them tell the direction of the wind. Hvae a look at some of them in the gallery.

 

Science week!

On Tuesday 7^th March, the children took part in science week, where the theme was connections. They paired up with Year 5 Emperor Penguin class to complete the task. They had to build a bridge that could hold various weights. They worked in groups of 4 and only had blocks, tape and paper to make their bridges! Some bridges were able to hold 1.5kg!!! Have a look at some other bridges in the gallery!

 

Week commencing 30th January - Storytelling week

During storytelling week, Jolly Jungle class was paired with Emperor Penguin class to share books together. Children from Emperor Penguin read an extract from their reading book and then they shared a picture book with the children from Jolly Jungle class. The children really enjoyed sharing their books and commented on how they would love to do it again! Check out our Year 1 gallery for more pictures!

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Welcome to the summer term!

At Flamstead End, the summer term is always our favourite term, because we can do lots of learning outside (weather permitting).

This term, in Year One, we are looking forward to learning all about plants and trees for our science unit. This gives us a perfect opportunity to go wild flower and tree spotting in the grounds around the school.

In history, this term, we are learning about significant kings and queens and famous castles that were built and utilised during their reign.

With this in mind, On May 24^th, we are all very excited to visit Mountfitchet castle for the day.

In art, we are looking at sculptures, be prepared for a fine piece of art coming home for your viewing pleasure.

In the second part of the term, we are learning about arable, dairy and livestock farms, with a particular focus on where our food comes from. Over the coming term, could you look at fruit and vegetable wrappers and their places of origin together?

This year we have made great strides in our reading and writing skills. I am extremely proud of all the children’s effort and hard work.  I know that you were all very impressed when you came to view their books.

This term, we are going to be learning about traditional stories. It would be nice if you could share with your child some traditional stories that you know.

The King’s coronation is coming up shortly and the children are excited to have a picnic on the field and enjoy games and activities planned for the day. In class we are making sun catchers with King Charles profile; watch out for those in the class windows.

Click here to see our blog about the Coronation celebrations in Year 1. 

Mountfitchet Castle

On Wednesday 24th May, as part of our history topic of Kings and Queens, we visited Mountfitchet castle. The children explored the motte and bailey style castle, looking at the different aspects of it, in addition to feeding the peacocks, deer and goats! We also visited the toy museum too! Check out the gallery for more photos!

RE

In RE, we have looked at different special books for different religions. In one lesson the children made their own Torahs!

Computing

Our topic this half term is 'moving a robot'. The children have been exploring beebots and how they move. They have learnt how to program a beebot and worked out how to program a beebot so it goes from a starting place to a finishing place. They also had to work out different routes to get from one place to another.

 

 

Science

Our science topic this term is plants. Each group in the class has planted raddish, tomato and pea seeds and have been keeping a diary on how they are growing! 

The children learnt parts and functions of a plant. In pairs, the children had to make a flower using objects in the classroom and then label the parts and functions.

Coronation Celebrations!

In Year 1 we celebrated the coronation of King Charles III, by completing lots of royal activities, including making a Union Jack flag, stain glass window outline of King Charles III face, crowns and stamps!

 

Jolly Jungle celebrating!

 

 

Welcome to the Year 1 Autumn blog!

Please click here to see our homework grid for this term. 

The children in Year 1 have enjoyed reading the story 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'. They went onto the field and acted out the story using all of the lovely descriptive language!

Welcome to our Spring blog. 

We have had a very busy start to the new year and the new term.

In Mathematics, we have been learning addition and subtraction, place value and number bonds to 20.

In English, we have looked at a variety of books and genres to continue developing our writing skills. The first text we read was, 'The Last Noo Noo', by Jill Murphy. It taught us a lot of new vocabulary to describe feelings and objects such as, 'disgruntled' and 'sighed'. 

Pixie class - English working wallGiant class - working wall Writing questions to characters.

We read the Tiger who came to Tea then had a go at creating our own stories about a different animal that came to tea. We also discussed what makes a good set of instructions, exploring the key features of them and focusing on using time adverbials such as, ‘first’, ‘then’, ‘next’, and ‘last’ to orally sequence our own instructions.

Instructions on how to cross a road safely

We have enjoyed reading new books and the children have loved having Ollie the reading dog and Charlie Bear going home at the end of the day with the children to listen to them reading.

 

In Science, this term, we have started to learn about the human body. We have looked the main parts of our human bodies and then looked closely at our five senses by testing different theories such as, ‘how do we see best?’ Children carried out eye tests and decided which elements we would change to see if it affected our eye sight e.g. light/ dark and reading close up to far away. Children recorded their results on a table for the first time to help conclude their findings.

Pixie Class Labelling the human body  How do we see best experiment

A science experiment on how we can hear best. We tested how distance and ear protection affects how we hear a bell when it is rung. The teachers had to make sure they rang the bell the same each time to make it fair!

How do we hear best?

We also had great fun exploring the different tastes we have on our tongue by tasting different foods and deciding whether it was sour, spicy, bitter or sour. It was an afternoon of courage and curiosity with many faces that made us laugh.

Food tastingWhich foods do you find bitter, sweet or spicy?

In Geography, we have been learning all about where our food comes from.  We have been looking closely at different types of farms, ariable and livestock, whilst using keys, compass directions and maps to know how to navigate around a livestock farm. We then explored where in the world food comes from by bringing food wrappers from home and scanning them to find which country it said. We then used atlases and google maps to identify where the country is compared to the UK and whether it is usually warm or not.

Map skillsGiant class Geography working wall

Our two PE topics this half term were; Gymnastics and Fitness. In Gymnastics we learnt how to make a variety of shapes that we had to learn to hold for five seconds. Part of our success criteria was to squeeze our muscles to hold the shape – this was tricky for many of us as we noticed that our tummy’s were hurting afterwards!

 

Front balanceArchDishBack balance

On the 7th February, we celebrated World Mental Health day and learnt more about our emotions and how we can take care of our mental health. The children really enjoyed coming into class and dancing to ‘Happy’ by Pharell. We have some really good dancers in class! We spent a whole day doing fun activities that hopefully taught the children how to recognise their emotions and strategies that can help to regulate them. We also got creative by making a collage of something or somewhere that makes us happy.

Here we all are expressing the different emotions.

In Religious Education, we learnt about worship and belonging. To understand what religious symbols mean to others, we explored which symbols we feel represent the groups that we belong to or things that we worship; before identifying the symbols of the 6 main relgions. 

Busy and Exciting Times

Year One has had a very busy and exciting start to the summer term. On Friday, 26th April, we held an Eco-Day. The whole school participated in activities aiming to explore ways to improve and sustain our wonderful planet. Each year group was given a bug hotel to place around the school grounds. We hope that the insects enjoy staying at our five-star resorts. In the photos, the children are learning about the importance of the rainforest to our planet. We then proceeded to make our own notebooks using recycled card and paper, which turned out to be one of the favourite activities of the day.

   

 

 

 

 

 

Year 1 making their books out of recycled paper

 

 

 

Pixie classes Bug hotel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

English Lessons

In our English lessons, we have explored narratives in further detail by jumping into the shoes of characters encountered throughout to understand the different intentions of a story plot. Within this topic, the children have learnt how to write formal letters, and how to plan/ write traditional tales. The children have enjoyed listening to both new and traditional stories, some of which they re-enacted through some entertaining drama. As teachers, we have been super impressed by the notable improvement in the children's writing as they have applied their newfound language skills and presentation techniques. As you can see from the wonderful photos below (yes, this is Year One!)

A great example of writing in Year 1Year 1 are encouraged to self-correct their work with a fix it penPlanning and writing a letter from Mr Wolf to the Woodcutter, asking to return to the forest. Story mapping the talk of Jack and the Beanstalk

 

 

Science and Beyond

In Science, we have finished our topic on humans and animals where we enhanced our knowledge of the different groups of animals that exist, the features that make them unique and whether they are carnivores, omnivores or herbivores. We challenge you to come and ask us about what an animals diet is?! We have now progressed to learning about plants and trees, having already explored the school grounds to see which plants/ trees we have. Stay tuned for updates on our planting and growing adventures.

A hunt for flowers/ plants that live within our school grounds.Giant class - Science working wall

 

Mathematical Explorations

In Mathematics, we have been studying fractions and multiplication. Specifically, we have concentrated on the two-, five-, and ten-times tables, which we are becoming proficient at reciting. Furthermore, children have been challenged to identify groups of objects and how many objects are within each group, before applying their newfound knowledge of counting. We have recently explored finding halves and quarters of shapes, objects, and quantities through many practical activities. Whilst this has been a tricky topic for our children, as teachers of Year One, we are immensely impressed with the efforts and progress that the children have made this term

Making equals groups of different amounts in MathsFractions working wallChildren can dive further into their learning by choosing a challenge from this station

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PE – Target & Invasion Games

Attack, defend, shoot and score has been the aim of our PE game in Year One this half term. We have learnt that invasion games consist of two teams of any size that need to score a goal. Children have been taught a range of throwing and ball controlling skills whilst learning how to play a fair game through being honest and think of team strategies. Children have said the following; “you have to be quick if you are defending”, “you have to keep your eyes everywhere in a game, it’s so tiring!” “Attacking is hard because you get really hot because you have to sidestep a lot to move.”

PSHE

In PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education), our focus has been on relationships. We have been learning how to nurture good relationships with our peers and family. One of our assemblies emphasised the importance of families, highlighting that families come in different shapes and sizes, yet they are all precious gifts. Additionally, we delved into discussions about seeking support from trusted adults whenever we encounter problems.

 

Art

Our focus this half term has been ‘sculptures’. We studied two sculptors (Marc Quinn and Jill Townsley) from the UK who have created ‘figurative’ and ‘abstract’ sculptures. Children we tasked with using lines to sketch the detail of their own hands from different angles before mastering their manipulation techniques to sculpt their own 3D hand sculpture out of clay. The children were surprised by how messy their hands were (imagine the tables & chairs!) Jill Townsley used everyday, household objects to design abstract sculptures. Children have had to explore which materials can be used to join objects that will create a standing sculpture, and how we would use these to our advantage. It was certainly a testing task but the children have worked well in pairs to find solutions!

History – Kings and Queens

This half term we had a very regal focus, rewinding thousands of years back on a timeline to discover the significant Kings and Queens of our past. Children have followed enquiries about what a monarch is and what is like to be one. What impact Henry VIII has during his reign, who King Harold is and why is he part of a local area. The children have explored a range of pictorial sources to explore these lines of enquiry which we hope inspires them to question more about their own past as well as the world around them.

Home Learning

Thank you for your ongoing support from home to engage your children in the creative tasks set, which are an extension of the topics explored in school. We have seen some thoughtful pieces of work which are displayed proudly in a place where children can see everyday, creating conversations and peer encouragement.