Year One: Foxes Class
Mrs Stokes and Mrs Ryan
Mrs Scottow, Mrs O'Meara, Mrs Higgleton, Mrs McClean, & Mrs Duffy
Well done Year 1 for another brilliant half-term! In English, we have got to know and love another fantastic book: The Pet Potato by Josh Lacey and Momoko Abe. We wrote character descriptions using adjectives and made predictions, justifying our ideas with the conjunction "because." We explored the character’s emotions and were introduced to personification, discovering how the potato had human-like qualities. Using story maps, we planned and wrote our own stories about a character searching for friendship who encountered an inanimate object and went on an adventure. The highlight of our learning was welcoming our very own pet potato into class! After spending time with it, we gave it a send-off by planting it - along with a few other potatoes so it wouldn’t be lonely. Finally, we wrote instructions on how to plant potatoes.
In Maths, we have focused on numbers 11-20, understanding that teen numbers are made up of one ten and a number of ones. We used practical resources, including ten frames and number lines to help us do this. We have also learnt about ‘more than’ and ‘less than’ as well as ordering numbers from smallest to greatest and vice versa.
Our learning in History has been about how toys have changed. We had had a visit from Chertsey Museum, who brought a selection of old toys for us to explore as part of our History learning. We listened carefully to the visitors and then we got the chance to play with the toys ourselves. It was a fantastic hands-on experience that made history come to life. We also learned about the toys our grandparents might have played with and compared them to the ones we enjoy today. We have also sequenced toys from the past on a timeline. In Geography, we have been learning about weather: how it changes through the seasons of the year and why some places in the World are hotter than others. In RE we have learned about why the Torah is special to Jewish people. In DT we explored wheels and axles, designed and built a moving vehicle. Music has focused on learning about different pitch levels, and in PSHE, we discussed the importance of having a positive attitude and staying motivated to set and achieve goals.
What a wonderful end to a fantastic term in Year 1. The children have been busy and done lots of brilliant learning. In English we have been working with the book “Look Up” By Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeola. Alongside learning lots of interesting facts about meteor showers, we have made inferences looking at the pictures, created our own persuasive flyers encouraging others to witness a meteor shower, had a visit from Rocket (the main character) and had the opportunity to ask her questions. We even ‘experienced’ a meteor shower using finger lights! The children also learned about and wrote a biography of Mae Jemison, a famous astronaut and Rocket’s personal hero. In Maths, we have learnt how to subtract using two methods, number line and by crossing out. We also explored the properties of 2D and 3D shapes.
In Science, we investigated everyday materials, learning how to identify and group them. In History, we looked at our personal chronology and began to find out about the past within living memory. We examined photographs, made a memory box with our more important memories and learned about time capsules and how the objects put in them help people to understand life in the past. The children thought about what they might include in our class time capsules to tell children in the future about what childhood is like now. In our geography lessons we continued the study of our local area, exploring the different uses of places nearby and collected data about how we travel to school, discussing the reasons why we might travel in different ways. The focus in RE this term has been the Nativity and in DT we designed and created windmills. We ended the term with a magical Christmas performance. The children worked very hard learning their words and the songs for their play, ‘Christmas Counts’. We had the opportunity to sing a few of our songs at St Mary’s Church. Well done Year 1 and we wish you and your families a wonderful Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.
The Year 1 children have settled in wonderfully and we have been impressed by their eagerness to learn. We've had a busy start to the term! In English we’ve been working with the book ‘Mini Rabbit Not Lost’ by John Bond, reading a few pages each lesson to build anticipation as the plot unfolds. Our writing activities have included setting and character descriptions, instruction writing, poems, and questions. We have also engaged with the story through drama activities such as acting out the story, playing ‘conscience alley,’ and performing our poems. In Maths, we began by sorting and comparing numbers, using the part-part-whole model to identify relationships between numbers. We have also reviewed number bonds to 10 and practiced addition.
Our Geography lessons have focused on learning about where we live, naming the four countries of the UK, and creating aerial plans of our classrooms. In History, we’ve explored key events in our lives so far. The focus in science has been seasonal changes, weather patterns, and how trees change, even presenting our own weather reports. In art we experimented with different types of lines, and in RE, we have learned about Harvest and how wonderful our world is. We have enjoyed using the new laptops in Computing we have practiced logging in and saving work.
Welcome to Year One and Foxes class. Here you will find useful information about what we have been learning and what we will be learning over the half-term.
The children in Foxes class have made a very positive start to the year. We are very much looking forward to working with you all and making this year a very successful one!
Here is Year 1 Learning web for Autumn 1:
Please do contact our Year 1 Lead, Miss Sebastian, if you would like further information on our Year 1 curriculum.
Follow these links to support your children's learning at home: