Year 1
Who lives in a house like this?
This topic was based around the story of Hansel and Gretel. We made and decorated a class gingerbread house. We wrote descriptions of gingerbread houses, focusing on our use of adjectives. We then retold the story of Hansel and Gretel and had to practice telling a story in the correct order. We then wrote a non-chronological report about different types of houses. Some of us learnt about houses throughout history, whilst others learnt about the different types of houses we live in today.
Is it really magic?
We designed and made a delicious treat for Father Christmas. We also had a very special elf come and stay in our classroom. He reported back to Father Christmas what we had been doing in class and Father Christmas wrote letters to us! We also had a great time rehearsing for our Christmas performance. We learnt how to perform to an audience and how to project our voices. In RE, we learnt about the Christmas story and had to retell the story with our classmates.
Why is it cold?
This unit of work came just at the right time. We were lucky that the weather changed and we could get a real feel for how the temperature drops during winter. We started off this unit by observing how the weather changes over a week, keeping a weather diary which gave details such as temperature and weather conditions. We then wrote our own weather reports and the Whales class recorded their own little videos, practicing speaking clearly for the audience. We explored the melting process and how ice can be melted using ice and not necessarily heat. After we added salt to our ice we then poured over food colouring and observed the fantastic patterns which appeared.
What can we see around the world?
What an exciting topic! Using the book ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’ as our topic text, we visited France, China and Kenya. Buddy Bee helped us to explore these three countries, looking at the food that is eaten and the country’s customs and traditions. We tried croissants when we went to France and noodles when we went to China. We went on a virtual safari in Kenya and learnt all about the animals that can be spotted on the African plains.
Why do we need shoes?
Shoes, shoes and more shoes! We started off with a classroom full of shoes. Where did they come from? Who might wear them? What are they made out of? Were all questions that we had to think about. We also did a lot of work around the story of the Elves and the Shoemaker. We acted out parts of the story, made story maps and story boards and then we wrote our own re-worked stories, using new characters. They were great! We also wrote letters to Clarks, showing them the fantastic shoes that we designed. We had everything from high heels to trainers with lights in them.
Lion Learners
We were very excited to have a visit from Lion Learners. When we got to the Blue Hall we were amazed at the variety of animals that had been brought for us to meet. There was Apple and Crumble the guinea pigs, a corn snake, a scorpion, two very fluffy rabbits, Bolt the tortoise and a bearded dragon to name just a few. You wouldn’t believe how the scorpion changed colour under UV light! It was amazing!
Hello I'm new here, can you help me?
In our first topic we learnt all about our local community. We discussed things that we have in our school community and what makes our school a g eat place to learn. We then looked at things we can find in our wider community, shops, parks, schools and other facilities. We learnt how to write our address and how the different parts of an address helps the postman to deliver the mail. In maths we explored 2D shapes and tried to make our own shapes out of straws. We also did a lot of work on measuring using non-standard units.
What am I?
In this science based topic we looked at a wide variety of animals and spent time describing what they looked like. We wrote riddles and the reader had to try and guess what our animal was. We learnt about how to look after a pet and the importance of food, shelter, health care and love. Our study of animals continued in art where we explored aboriginal paintings and used a dotting technique to decorate lizards and turtles. We were also very lucky to watch a production of Oliver Twist. We then wrote our opinions on the play and what we enjoyed. In maths we have been learning to tell o’clock and half past times.
What can you see in Autumn?
This has been such a fun topic! We have continued our science learning by looking at seasonal changes. We have been on an autumn walk where we looked at changes that are happening outside. We then went on a leaf hunt and made our own autumn hedgehogs. When Halloween arrived we took part in some pumpkin carving. Whales class had a go at counting how many seeds we scooped out of our pumpkins We lost count when we got to 100! We have written autumnal descriptions, focusing on our use of adjectives and we have also written autumn fact files, where we learnt all about non-fiction texts and how we can learn interesting facts and information from them. We can tell you a lot about autumn now!
