Independence is a key skill we try to develop in Year One. Allowing the children some freedom to make their own choices enables them to grow into confident, resilient and motivated learners.  This week, we introduced the self-service paint pumps in the creative area. The children loved exploring and experimenting with colour mixing and mark making using a range of brushes to create their art work. All of the fabulous art work on our gallery wall is completing child-initiated and independent. 

Year One have thoroughly enjoyed their day in their pyjamas and joining in with Joe Wicks for the final part of his 24 hour PE challenge this morning. 

 The sun shone on Tuesday for our autumn walk around the school grounds. We had a lovely time searching for signs of autumn, observing the change of colour of the leaves on the deciduous trees and identifying and collecting leaves. The children worked so nicely in their pairs collecting treasures and ticking off on their identification sheets. Well done, Year One! 
A special thanks to Mrs Bazeley for being our nature tour guide!

This week, we managed to dodge the rain and enjoy some time in the outdoor learning area. The children loved using the mallets to hammer nails into the pumpkins carefully following the patterns and shapes. We also enjoyed a hot chocolate and a biscuit sat around the fire. 

Read, Write, Inc.
If your child was in school on Friday afternoon, then you will know that they were sent home with some phonics cards. These are the set 2 and 3 sounds as well as a complex speed sound chart. Please do not be concerned if there are some sounds that your child does not yet know. We will progress to learning all set 2 and 3 sounds through our Read, Write, Inc program. 

Have a lovely half term,

Miss Rowe and Mrs Bazeley.

It's been yet another busy week for the children in Year One. This week's highlights include smoothie making and smelly potions! 

The children loved creating potions and using their sense of smell to work out what scents they had added. There was lots of careful measuring using pipets and syringes as well as accurate pouring using the funnel. We even had some 'magic potion drops' which we had to be really careful with! The children worked so nicely together and showed their ability to take turns. Great work! 

As well as potions, we also made our fruit smoothies this week. There was lots of discussion around food safety and hygiene while preparing our fruit.  Children took it in turns to use the knives to cut the fruit and did so safely. Once our fruits had been whizzed in the blender the children then had the chance to taste and critique the smoothies... I think it's safe to say the most popular smoothie was the berry and banana one! 

Well done Year one on another fantastic week! 

Don't forget, we'll be using the outdoor learning area on Monday, so remember to bring your wellies etc! 

In science we have been focusing on a different sense each week. This week was taste! The children learnt that we taste with our tongue and the taste buds detect different flavours for example salty, sweet, sour, bitter and a new word we hadn't heard before 'umami'.  

The children then had the chance to do some taste testing. We tried grapes, peppers, lemon and of course the best part... popcorn! 

I was so proud of the children as they all had a try of each of the foods on offer. Some children were quite surprised to find out they actually liked some of the foods they tried! 

Well done Year One for your super work this week! Have a fabulous weekend.

This term in our SCARF (PSHE) lessons we have been thinking about our feelings and emotions. The children have discussed lots of different emotions and how we can understand how someone might be feeling from their body language or facial expression. 

We read the book, The Colour Monster, which tells the story of a monster who doesn't understand what he is feeling as his emotions are all mixed up. His friend tries to help him understand his feelings by separating them and distinguishing between happy, sad, calm, worried etc. We have had lots of discussion in class about how some emotions make us feel good and some make us feel uncomfortable and how we can recognise signs of these.

This week the children created their own monster and decided how it would be feeling. 

This week the children have been creating portraits. We used mirrors to look at our facial features and discussed the similarities and differences of our faces and the importance of proportion when creating a portrait.

The children were set a challenge to create a self portrait during independent learning. We used whiteboards and pens to start (we decided this was easier to make alterations and correct mistakes). Once children were happy with their 'first draft', they had a go at creating their portrait on paper. 

I am SO impressed with the work the children have created, I can't wait to see some more portraits as the term goes on!

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Rowe. 

It's been another busy week in Year 1.

This week, we've had some brilliant mathematicians working hard to sort, count, group and represent objects and numbers.

In Science, we have been learning about the human body and during independent learning, the children were able to embed their knowledge by naming and labelling the body parts. As we begin to explore the 5 senses, the children have been testing their sense of sight by trying out different coloured lens glasses and discussing how things look. The children loved doing this, and it has been great to observe and listen to their discussions and ideas.

Yet again, we have had some wonderful creations in provision, including the Statue of Liberty, a supermarket and a farm in the small world area!

See you on Monday!

Year One have worked so hard this week settling back into school routines and getting used to the 'new normal'.

Have a look at some of the wonderful child initiated learning we have had in class this week. It has been so lovely to see how the same resource can be used for a different purpose time and time again. The construction area and large loose parts have definitely been a favourite as well as learning about the human body in the investigation area. 

Well done Year One, have a wonderful weekend!

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