Friday 15th July
This week in English we have been practicing our grammar skills. We have been learning about past tense verbs and when to add -ed to a verb. We also learnt about other suffixes like -ing.
In Maths we have been practicing our number bonds to and within 10 and have been representing them in many ways, for example, in a 'first, then and now' story, on a part, part whole model and in a bar model.
In Science, we have been learning about Materials and this week we tested different materials to see which material would be best to build a bridge from. We then learnt about the different types of bridges and created them to see which one was the strongest.
In Geography we reflected upon what we had learnt this half term in our topic of the local area. We looked at the school grounds and surrounding areas on Google Earth and then drew a map with a corresponding key.
In RE, we learnt about the Good Samaritan story and then reflected on how we can be a good and helpful neighbour too.
We also enjoyed our walk up to the Cathedral to celebrate with the Year 2 leavers and sing some of our favourite hymns too.
Friday 8th July
We have had an amazing Mission Week at school. Our lights have shone far and wide through RE lessons and special Mission Week activities. We listened to our teachers favourite Bible stories and have created a year group artwork depicting the Creation Story. We all helped to create and make a beautiful cross that symbolises our classes in our own special and unique way. We have been praying for our friends and spending quiet time reflecting. During our RE lessons, we thought about how great God is and listened to Isaiah 12:4-6. We have learnt about our neighbours round the world and how they help each other. We also thought how we can make difference just like them.
During English we have thought about the feelings of the robot from the Power of Reading book - The Robot and the Bluebird by David Lucas. We took a story walk , retelling the story through drama and role play, we also compared the story to other stories we have read.
In Maths have been using mathematical language and strengthening our number knowledge.
For PSHE we continued the Journey in Love, discussing our family rules and listening to The Lost Sheep bible story.
Friday saw Sports Day arrive and a great time was had by all, taking part in all the activities . What a busy week!
Friday 1st July
In English we have continued to work on our Power of Reading book this week - The Robot and the Bluebird by David Lucas. We have read about the difficult journey that the Robot and the Bluebird have undertaken. We wrote letters to the Robot using persuasive language to tell him what we think he should do next and why he should do that. We have also written group poems using descriptive language to describe a garden that the Robot visits.
In Maths we have been using mathematical language to describe position, direction and movement. We used this language – in front of, on top of, between, above, under, left, right, clockwise, half turn, quarter turn, whole turn, three-quarters turn.
In Science we continued our topic of Materials. We investigated the properties of materials and classified them into groups. We learnt the meaning of words such as rough, smooth, transparent, opaque.
In RE we have started our topic of Neighbours and we thought about our neighbours both locally and globally.
For PSHE in our Journey in Love lesson we have discussed how we recognise that we are cared for and kept safe in our family.
We have enjoyed our painting and printing activities for Art Week!
Friday 17th June
We have started our new Power of Reading book this week - The Robot and the Bluebird by David Lucas. We started by reading the first page and discussing how the Robot is feeling. We then wrote questions about what we wanted to find out about the story. We can't wait to continue reading!
In Maths we have continued learning about money. We have used our knowledge of counting in 2s, 5s and 10s and then counted how many coins were needed to make a given amount. We finished the week by visiting our class shop and bought items using 1p, 2p, 5p and 10p coins.
In Geography we are learning about our local area. We went for a short walk around the perimeter of our school and noted down the physical and human features.
In Science we have also started a new topic of Materials. We named and identified different materials by finding objects in our classrooms and labelling what these objects are made from.
Friday 10th June
Our first week back has been a busy one!
We have continued our topic in R.E. 'Being Sorry' by listening and role playing the story of Zacchaeus. We have also written a thoughtful sorry prayer.
In English, we have been making lists for one of our favourite topics - lunch ! We thought what we might like in our lunchbox including, vegetables, fruits and drinks. Our lists were delicious!
In Maths we have been learning all about coins and their values. We have used coins to count in groups of 5 and 10. We have also found out that the value of the coin does not depend on its size.
We have discussed our new Science topic, materials, thinking about what we already know.
During DT we evaluated our super seaside salads and decided if we would make any changes to our designs.
Next week is Healthy Eating week and we are looking forward to lots of exciting activities. Hopefully the sun will continue to shine!
Friday 27th May
Our new Reconciliation topic in R.E. this week is called Being Sorry.
The children thought about their Big Question; Why should we be sorry?
They discussed making good and bad choices and how those choices make us feel.
They also learnt the story of Levi and how Jesus helped him to be sorry for the bad choices he made.
In English, the children continued working on our Power of Reading book The Last Wolf and made predictions about how the story might end.
In Maths the children made groups of 2s, 5s and 10s. They also learnt about the value of 1p coins and made their own toy shop, with price tag labels and practised using coins to buy the toys!
In Science we have been on a leaf hunt and compared the different leaves we found. The children then used their observational drawing skills to identify and describe the structure of their leaves.
In PSHE the children have learnt about the Emergency Services and how they can help to keep us safe.
The children thoroughly enjoyed their art activities based on the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee!
Friday 20th May
As we celebrate Mary this month, we have been saying the Hail Mary each day. Many of the children now know the prayer off by heart. We encourage you to pray to Mary with your children at home, using their Rosary beads.
Our topic in R.E. this week has been Hinduism. The children thought about religious stories that they like to listen to and then listened to the Hindu story of Ganesha. They also studied the symbolism of images of Ganesh, such as his large ears to represent how ready he is to listen. The children also listened to the story of Krishna’s birth and learnt about the festival of Raksha Bandha from a video clip made by a parent at the school.
Next week we begin the new R.E. topic of Reconciliation, titled ‘Being Sorry’. The children will focus on their Big Question; Why should we be sorry?
The main character (called Red) in our Power of Reading book (The Last Wolf’ by Mini Grey) introduced the children to the last wolf, the last bear and the last lynx. In response, the children wrote a detailed description of their favourite animal to teach Red about some different species.
In Science we have continued to look at seasonal changes in the weather and the changes in nature that we could observe in our school environment. We also learnt the names of lots of common flowers that are native to the U.K. Perhaps you could go on a flower hunt like we did in school!
We had an exciting lesson in D.T. Having planned their healthy seaside salad, the time came to make it. The skills of peeling and chopping were developed and of course the children thoroughly enjoyed eating their rainbow coloured salads. Next week they will be evaluating their work.
In Maths the children used the link between an addition fact within 10 to make an addition fact within 20.
For example, 3+2=5 so 13+2=15
We used the same steps when looking at subtraction within 20.
For example, 9 – 3 = 6, so 19 - 3 = 16
In Phonics we have been revisiting the Phase 3, 4 and 5 sounds, with particular emphasis on split-digraphs e.g. a_e in make or i_e in slide
Friday 13th May
This week we have been continuing to read more of our Power of Reading book, The Last Wolf by Mini Grey. We have discussed what forests used to look like before the trees were cut down and places were built. We used adjectives to describe what the forests were like 'in the good old days'. We then linked this to our Science topic of Plants and discussed the different types of trees we can see in the woodland; we discussed each trees leaves and flowers.
In RE, we were thinking about how the Holy Spirit helps us to share the Good News of Jesus and we wrote a thank you prayer to the Holy Spirit.
In Maths we have been thinking about 2-digit numbers and discussing the tens and ones within a 2-digit number to 20. We used the phrase '10 and a bit', for example, when talking about 14, it is made up of 10 and a bit. The bit is 4, which helps us to understand that it is made up of 1 ten and 4 ones.
In DT we have started planning our sensational, seaside salad. We thought about what ingredients we would like to include in our salads and discussed a healthy diet. We can't wait to start chopping, peeling and grating the ingredients for our salads next week!
Friday 6th May
During this week we have continued our topic about Holy days and Holidays. We have heard the story of Pentecost and performed a liturgical dance to show the events of this special Holy day. We thought about how the disciples would have felt when the Holy Spirit came as Jesus' promised.
During Maths we have been learning different addition and subtraction strategies within 10 including doubles , halves , near double and near halves. We have worked hard to use the correct mathematical language such as subtraction, addend and equation. We used rekenreks to support doubling and halving, also finding even numbers always have a partner, but odd numbers don't.
In English we found out who was behind the mystery door in our Power of Reading book - The Last Wolf by Mini Grey. It was ........The Last Wolf in the Land! We looked at the differences between story wolves, lynx, and bears compared to real animals. During ICT we began to think of sound effects for the story (we are expert at howling now) and in Science we identified trees like those in The Last Wolf, using different classifications. We are excited to see what happens next in the story.
Next week in Maths we will be moving onto numbers between zero and twenty, finding out about teen numbers. We are excited to see what happens next in our Power of Reading story and we will be concluding our RE topic on Holy days and Holidays.
Friday 29th April
We continued this week with our R.E. topic ‘Holidays and Holydays’.
Following on from the Easter story we have learnt the story of the Ascension and the story of Pentecost. We focused on how Jesus’ disciples would have felt on these occasions. We also created a collage using a dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
We continued with our Power of Reading book ‘The Last Wolf’ by Mini Grey. We used the illustrations to say what the main character is like. We participated in role play and took on the role of one of the main characters in the story. We also wrote a class poem based on our thoughts and feelings about walking through a forest.
In Maths we consolidated our learning about addition and subtraction by finding 1 more and 1 less and showing this on a variety of apparatus.
In Science we looked at the difference between deciduous and evergreen trees.
In PSHE our topic is ‘Who helps us to keep safe?’ and we have learnt about the people who help us to keep safe and also how to get help when it is needed.
Our History topic is ‘Holidays in the Past’ and we started by thinking about questions to ask about holidays in the past.
Friday 22nd April
As we continue to celebrate the liturgical season of Eastertide, we began the term by changing our Reflection Area tablecloths to white. Our new topic in R.E. is ‘Holidays and Holydays’ with the question, ‘Do we need holidays and holydays?’ The children explored what it was about holidays that make them special. The overall opinion was that it was the people that you spend holidays with that make them special. This holiday theme will continue through the History topic this half term, which explores holidays in the past.
Our new Power of Reading book is, ‘The Last Wolf’ by Mini Grey. We will continue with our theme of caring for our planet, but with a particular emphasis on preserving animals from extinction. We began this week by sharing fairytale titles that the children know and focussed on similarities and differences between different fairytale stories.
In Science we looked at seasonal changes in the weather and the changes in nature that we could observe in our school environment. On our nature walk there was plenty of blossom to see and the children spotted lots of new leaf growth on most of the deciduous trees.
Next week in D.T. we will be learning about how fruit and vegetables grow and how to make a healthy salad.
In Maths we looked at the commutative properties of addition and subtraction number sentences (when the numbers can be moved or swapped from their position without making any difference to the answer on the other side of the equal sign). We explored whether this is true for subtraction or just for addition.
e.g. 14 + 2 = 16
2 + 14 = 16 Addition is commutative.
16 – 14 = 2
14 – 16 = 2 Subtraction is not commutative.
In phonics we have been revisiting the Phase 3, 4 and 5 sounds in reading and writing.
Friday 1st April
This week has been a very exciting week. We have been celebrating Holy Week that starts with Palm Sunday and finishes on Easter Sunday. Each day we watched our friends perform the stories of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. We even had the chance to perform to the other classes too! In English, our Power of Reading book is the Bible, and after each assembly, we wrote about the different stories.
In DT, to celebrate Easter, we made a movable card, showing the 4 parts of Holy Week.
In Geography, we have been learning about the United Kingdom. We wrote a postcard as if we had visited Northern Ireland and wrote facts and learnt about famous landmarks.
We have had a very exciting week leading up to the Easter holidays and hope you and your families have a wonderful break.
Friday 25th March
This week we have started to learn about Holy Week. We have role played Palm Sunday and had our own procession welcoming Jesus to Jerusalem, waving palms and banners. We then went on the learn about the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, listening to the story according to Luke, Chapter 23.
During Maths we have continued our learning about additive structures, ensuring that we know what each part of an equation represents. We also took part in World Maths Day on Wednesday, where we combined parts to make a whole .
In English we wrote interesting sentences about the world including adjectives and conjunctions. During Geography we learnt about the countries of the UK - England and Scotland and enjoyed a sunny PE session on the field.
Computing has seen us hone our skills of cutting and pasting.
For our final week of this term, we will be learning more about Holy Week and writing the Easter Story. We will conclude the Mastering Number programme for this term and be checking our potatoes for signs of growth!
Friday 18th March
In the holy season of Lent, we have learnt that this is a time when the family of Jesus make a new start, we try to change and be more like Jesus. We listened to advice in the Bible that the wise man Joel gave about making a new start (Joel 2:13).
This is Science Week and we enjoyed learning about a range of different Science topics including how humans grow in different ways, conducting an experiment to find out the conditions needed to successfully grow cress and exploring and answering questions about animals in their habitat.
We continued to explore the themes of our Power of Reading book, ‘10 things I can do to help my world’ by Melanie Walsh and enjoyed listening to stories and poems with the same themes. We also gave our opinions about actions that can damage our world.
In our PSHE topic about how we can look after each other and the world we have learnt about different ways to spread kindness.
In Maths we have been doing practical activities to help us learn about the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction eg I start with 5 cubes, I add 3 more, now I have 8 then take away 3 and now I have 5 again.
In phonics we have continued to revisit the Phase 3, 4 and 5 sounds.
Friday 11th March
During the holy season of Lent, we are continuing to focus our class prayers on how we can change to live like Jesus, such as by following our Lenten promises. We began our new R.E. topic, ‘Change’, this week by thinking about the question, ‘How and why do things change?’ We thought about how ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ changed and looked at images of animals changing as they grow and how plants change through the seasons. On Friday, Fr. Gary visited Class 6 to support their learning about Lent and about ‘Change’.
In Science, we continued this learning by exploring the plants in our environment and painted a tree in springtime and in Computing this half term, we are learning to cut and paste images of plants to create a PowerPoint on plants.
This week we continued to explore the themes of our Power of Reading book, ‘10 things I can do to help my world,’ by Melanie Walsh. We wrote group poems with ways that we can help our planet and learnt to follow instructions to create bird feeders for the many birds that live around our school.
On Tuesday we celebrated International Women’s Day. We focussed on the life of Beatrix Potter. Most children knew that she wrote the Peter Rabbit stories, but didn’t know what a great scientist she was; especially in the study of mushrooms! We were inspired to look closely at plants out on the field and draw the tiny details.
In Maths we have been using our ‘First, then, now’ storyboard e.g. ‘First I have 3, then I add 5, now I have 8’ which can be written as 3+5=8. We then learnt that we can find the missing number in a sum when the missing number is at the beginning or the middle (to find the augend; the number to which another is added) by breaking the whole number into two parts. e.g. _ + 7 = 10. We have been learning to find the inverse in order to solve subtraction number sentences too e.g. 10 – 7 =
In phonics we have been revisiting the Phase 3, 4 and 5 sounds.
Next week we will continue to focus on using this holy time of Lent to focus on preparing our hearts for Jesus and to use our Power of Reading book to focus on helping our planet.
Friday 24th February
In Year 1 this week we have learnt about the special meal we have at Mass , Holy Communion , where we met Jesus and become closer to Him. We have also learnt the meaning of the Our Father, the prayer Jesus taught us. Perhaps you could pray the Our Father together at home as a family.
During Maths we have been learning and reasoning about shapes. We have completed tangrams and discovered triangles, rectangles and circles.
In English we have started our new Power of Reading book - 10 things I can do to help my World by Melanie Walsh. We have thought about what we love about our world and how we can help the environment by asking questions. As it is also Fairtrade Fortnight so we have thought about the farmers who grow our food and the environment they need.
Phonics has been lots of fun as we continue to learn about blending. We have had relay scooter races, searched for blends in sand, hunted for chalk blends in the playground and played phonic snap!
During Science we began our new topic about plants with an observation walk, looking for trees, plants and parts of plants. We will be looking at how plants grow and what they need. We are also becoming 'Collectors in computing' and have collected images of plants from the internet.
Next week we have World Book Day to look forward to as well as a taste test in Science!
Friday 11th February
In English this week we have been identifying verbs and adding the ing suffix. We have learnt how to make plurals and how to make past tense words.
In Maths we have been learning about 2D and 3D shapes. We have sorted and compared them. We have also identified 2D shapes that are found within 3D shapes.
In Science we have been remembering our learning about different animal groups. We looked at different groups of animals and decided which one was the odd one out in each group. We also gave a reason for our choices.
In RE, we have continued learning about our topic of Meals. We looked at different representations of the Lord’s Supper and chose our favourite one to draw. We also wrote our own Thank You prayers for the gift of food.
Friday 27th January
In English this week we have been planning and writing a song. We thought about how Lila felt in Lila and the Secret of Rain when it finally started to rain after a long time. We imagined how the rain would feel, smell and what we might be able to see. We used instruments to perform our songs.
In Maths we have been learning that the = symbol means equal to. For example, 2+5=7, 5+2=7, 7=2+5 and 7=5+2 mean the same.
In Science we have been learning about different animal groups. We learnt about the main groups: mammals, fish, amphibians, reptiles, bird and invertebrates. We named different animals in each group.
In RE, we finished our topic of Special People with a celebration. We said prayers for the special people in our lives and thanked God for sending them to us.
Friday 21st January
This week we have been using different ways to subtract by crossing 10. We have used part, part, whole models, tens frames and also number lines.
In English we have used role play to think about feelings. We have used story language, adjectives and conjunctions, writing our own versions of Lia and the Secret of Rain. Perhaps your child will share the secret with you.
We have learnt about Simeon and Anna, reading from Luke 2 23-40 and have begun to celebrate our RE topic about Special People with Class 4’s reflective class liturgy.
We have learnt about the differences between carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. Some animals surprised us with what they eat!
After our visit from a baker from Pudding Lane last week, we have begun to find out the answers to her questions about the Great Fire of London.
During art we added to weaved placemats and we continue to get ‘in the groove’ for music.
Next week in year 1 we will be celebrating what we have learnt during our RE topic of Special People. We are also coming to the end of our Power of Reading text, Lila and the Secret of Rain. We will be writing our own 'call and response' song , adding instrumental accompaniment, and improvising a dance to match the celebrations when the rain arrives.
Mastering number will enable us to explore the composition of 9 using a 3 by 3 grid and rekenrek. We are aiming to develop fluency with bonds to 9. We will also be learning about number sentences and what each part of a number sentence means . There will be puzzles where we will need to work out the missing numbers in the sentences too.
Friday 14th January
We continued our R.E. topic, ‘Special People’ by thinking about how the parish family gathers to celebrate Mass with the priest on Sunday and learning about people who help at Mass.
In English our Power of Reading book is, ‘Lila and the Secret of Rain,’ by David Conway and Jude Daly. We thought about how the characters in the story are feeling at different parts of the story. We also decided on our favourite part of the story and said why it is a top moment for us.
In Maths we have continued to learn about place value in teen numbers and we have been learning how to subtract using different methods and resources to help us.
In Science we have identified and named a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores and omnivores.
For RSHE and PSHE our topic is ‘Ways to stay healthy’ we thought about things that we can do to take care of ourselves every day and also thought about people who help us to stay healthy.
This half term in Computing we will be making and editing videos.
We continue to end each day by listening to our class chapter book during Story-time.
Friday 7th January
We were delighted to see that baby Jesus had arrived in our nativity scene and we began our week by celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany with a whole school assembly. The three kings have completed our nativity scene by arriving at Bethlehem to bring gifts to baby Jesus. We thought about the gifts God has given us, such as talents and for homework we are going to write a prayer thanking God for those gifts.
We began our new R.E. topic, ‘Special People’ by thinking about the question, ‘What makes a person special?’ Everyone shared the name of one of their ‘special people’ and what it is that makes them special.
Our new Power of Reading book is, ‘Lila and the Secret of Rain,’ by David Conway and Jude Daly. We started by exploring different types of weather and how it would be to live in extreme climates. We found Kenya in our atlases and looked at rural and urban parts of Kenya on Google Earth.
In Maths we have been focusing on reading, writing and making teen numbers, whilst looking for patterns. We used number bonds to make teen numbers and whole-part models to demonstrate this.
For RSHE and PSHE, we have started our new topic on, ‘Ways to stay healthy’ and created a poster to share what we already know. We will be exploring new ideas throughout this half term and learning ways to keep our minds and our bodies healthy. As always, we began the half term with a lesson on keeping safe when we are online.
This half term in Computing we will be making and editing videos. We ended each day this week by listening to our class chapter book during Story-time.
Thursday 16th December
What an exciting week to mark the end of the first term of year 1! We have lit our third candle on the Advent Wreath and had our end of topic RE celebration singing ‘Candle on the Wreath’. We have been using our fantastic comprehension skills to read instructions and make an angel or a penguin. We have also consolidated our phonic learning with some Christmas phonics. The rekenreks have been in full use during our Maths lessons and we are all mastering number. Our topics in Geography and Computing are now complete and we are are experts on The Gambia and Algorithms . We have achieved so much this term ! Next term will be even better!
Friday 10th December
This week we have been having lots of Christmas fun!
We started our week by lighting the second candle on our class Advent Wreaths. We also enjoy spending time in the morning listening to our friends Advent promises, where they have promised to live their life, during Advent, more like Jesus.
In DT we have been making our Advent scenes. We painted the scene in a shoe box and drew the important people to go inside. We then used these Nativity scenes in English to act out the story of the First Christmas. Once we had acted out the story we then went on to write the story using time words. We were very excited to find out that our third Power of Reading book was the Bible!
On Wednesday we had lots of fun for Christmas fun day. We made Christmas cards for our families, had a Christmas lunch with our friends and even had a visit from Father Christmas!
Friday 3rd December
In Year 1, we began our week by celebrating the start of Advent. We changed the reflection area tablecloth to purple in our classroom. We 'lit' the first purple candle on our class Advent wreath display, as well as lighting the real candle on the wreath in the school hall. Each morning in December we also open the windows of our class Advent calendar, to reveal the Advent promise written for each day. We have been praying that the Lord will help us to keep our Advent promises as we prepare our hearts for Christmas throughout Advent. We have loved singing our Advent songs, which remind us to 'stay awake and be ready,' for the coming of the Lord. We are also enjoying learning lots of Christmas songs. On Friday we performed our Year 1 Advent Liturgy to our families. It was a very reverent occasion which marked the beginning of the Advent season.
In DT we have planned our Nativity scene boxes and are now starting to create them.
In Maths we have been comparing groups of objects, using greater than, less than and equal to, to compare amounts. Our naughty Elf on the Shelf keeps moving the objects we are counting so we have to count them again to check our answer!
For our last week of reading 'Grace and Family' as our Power of Reading book, we focussed on her leaving party and created our own party invitations.
In Computing we used algorithms (instructions) to make a sandwich for the party. It got quite messy! We have been learning about animals including humans in Science and have included exploring animals from the Gambia that Grace would have seen. We sorted them into different groups depending on their body parts.
At story-time at the end of the day, we enjoy taking off our shoes to help us to feel relaxed and calm, like the green Colour Monster, as we read our class book.
Friday 26th November
During English we have been writing for different purposes. We have written in role as Grace and sent postcards. We also become authors, writing our own versions of Grace & Family. In Maths we have focused on place value within 20; recognising and writing numbers to 20 , finding 1 more / 1 less and counting in tens / ones. We have also been using the Rekenreks to help us with our number knowledge, which has been very exciting! Our Advent Liturgy is almost ready; we have been working hard to make it very special and we are looking forward to sharing it with you next week. This week we also recognised International Children’s Day, learning about children’s rights.
Friday 19th November
This week in English we have been continuing to focus on the story 'Grace and Family'. We focussed on the part of the story when Grace travels to Africa to see her Papa. Whilst she was there, she visited a market and had her first African dress made for her. We thought about the market and what words we could use to describe it.
In Maths we have been looking at 2d and 3d shapes. We have been recognising them and looking at their properties. We did this by sorting them and finding 2d shapes within 3d shapes.
This week it has been Inter Faith Week, we have looked at the 6 main religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Sikhism and Buddhism. We then spent some time focussing on Judaism in RE.
We've been extra busy as it has also been Anti-Bullying week. We thought about how we are all unique and how this should be celebrated!
In DT, we have started planning and creating our Nativity Scene shoebox. We thought about the important people who need to be involved and started designing them ready to go in.
Friday 12th November
English
We continued to enjoy exploring our new Power of Reading text ('Grace and Family' by Mary Hoffman). We travelled to The Gambia with Grace and her Nana and discovered that it is very different to England! We wrote a letter to Grace and made a story map. Next week we will be learning about the sights, sounds and smells of a market place in The Gambia.
Maths
We have been having a wonderful time enjoying a range of activities for Maths Week! We have telling the time, measuring with non-standard units, creating patterns and sequencing days as well as using number facts. This has all been done through bug stories. Next week we will be exploring the properties of 2D and 3D shapes.
RE
Fr Gary visited Class 4 and helped us to learn more about Baptism. We decided how we wanted to celebrate our learning about Baptism and Belonging.
Next week we will be learning about other faiths in Interfaith Week.
Science
We looked at our body parts and how we use our different body parts. Next week we will learn about animal body parts, deciding which parts are the same as humans and which are different and also how these are used.
PSHE
We started work on our new topic ‘Who is special to us?’
Next week we will be taking part in a range of Anti-Bullying Week activities.
We will be learning what bullying means and what we can do if this happens.
The theme for the week is One Kind Word and we will explore how one kind word can lead to another.
Friday 5th November
English
We had a fun week exploring our new Power of Reading text ('Grace and Family' by Mary Hoffman). We created a family tree for Grace and wrote a diary as if we were Grace. Next week we will be travelling to Gambia with Grace and her Nana to meet her father and his family. What exciting things will we see, hear and taste?
Maths
We have been learning to subtract and used different vocabulary from the Maths Working Wall, such as minus, take away, less than and difference. We have been subtracting practically using our fingers, cubes and a range of objects from around the classroom and the nature table.
RE
We have continued to learn about Baptism and focussed on the words that the priests says at a Baptism.
Fr. Gary visited Class 4 to help the children to understand the symbolism of the different parts of the sacrament. Next week Fr Gary will be visiting Class 4.
Science
We began to look at the name of different body parts of humans, such as elbow, head, shoulder, knee, ankle, waist. Next week we will start to look at different animals other than humans and how they use their different body parts.
British Values
As part of British Values week, we spent time each day thinking about the following values:
Democracy We read about how life for 'Farmer Duck' (by Martin Wadell) was very unfair until the day the animals worked together to bring about a change. We then explored how we use democracy in Britain to try to make things fair.
The Rule of Law We worked in groups to make our own games and understood the need for and importance of rules.
Individual Liberty Like Adril in 'Only 1 You' (by Linda Kranz), we learnt that we have the right to choose and make some decisions for ourselves.
Mutual Respect and Tolerance We explored and celebrated our differences using 'Giraffes can't dance' (by Giles Andreae).
Friday 15th October
English
This week we have been thinking about what makes a good sentence. We thought about using a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence, a full stop at the end of a sentence and using finger spaces between words. We also remembered a special word called 'adjective' and we know that is a describing word.
Maths
We have been learning our number bonds to 10! We started by making a tower of 10 and splitting the tower in to two parts. We investigated to see how many ways we could do this and then wrote a number sentence to match.
RE
We have been learning about Baptism and what happens at a Baptism.
Class 6 also had a special visitor to talk about Baptism, Fr Gary! Fr Gary will be visiting Class 5 next week, and class 4 the week after half term.
Science
We have been learning about the seasons, and specifically autumn. We thought about different things that happen in autumn like leaves falling off trees and days getting longer. We thought about what types of clothes we need to wear in autumn too.
Friday 8th October
English
Next week we will be using adjectives to describe objects. We will be writing sentences using adjectives to describe the different objects that we see in pictures. We will use some of the illustrations in our ‘Power of Reading’ book, ‘Out and About’ by Shirley Hughes.
Maths
Next week we will be learning about addition and using different resources to help us with this.
R.E.
Next week we continue our topic of Belonging. We will be learning about Baptism and what happens when a Baptism takes place.
History/PSHE
As we celebrate Black History Month, the children will be discussing Equality and Fairness for All.
Friday 1st October
English
Next week we will be poets! We will continue to explore poems in our first ‘Power of Reading’ book, ‘Out and About’ by Shirley Hughes. We will continue to appreciate the language and rhythm used in her seasonal poems and write our own. This will link with our Science exploration of seasonal changes and enjoyment of listening to Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’. The children will explore their outdoor Investigation Station, where they will use all of their 5 senses to explore the wonders of their autumn nature tables.
Maths
Next week we will be learning to partition numbers into 2 parts to make adding up and finding number bonds more easily. We will use the ‘part-whole’ model to do this practically and then with written numbers.
R.E.
Next week we begin our topic of Belonging and start from the point of the families, groups and teams that the children belong to. They will think about how they feel when they belong.
PSHE
As we celebrate Black History Month, the children will learn about the life of Rosa Parks and the significant impact she had.
Friday 24th September
English
This week we continue to learn more about rhyme and rhythm using the Shirley Hughes ‘Wind’ poem. We have used improvisation and movement to create our own wind performances and have recited the poem as a class with actions and imagination.
Maths
In Maths we have discovered the greater than, less than and equal to symbols. We made sure we had just enough straws at a party using 1 -1 correspondence and have been learning and using lots of mathematical language.
RE
We continue to learn about Families and how the psalms speak to us through the Bible. We have discovered families can all be different but they all have 1 thing in common, love.
Science
An exciting week exploring our senses with nature in mind. We discovered touch and how any part of our skin can utilise this sense.
Friday 10th September
English
Next week we will explore more poems in our first ‘Power of Reading’ book, ‘Out and About’ by Shirley Hughes. We will continue to explore the language and how the poems make us feel. We will explore the outdoor elements of mud, water and sand and make connections with the poems by comparing them with our own experiences.
Maths
Next week we will continue counting up to 20 and back from 20 using objects. We will be counting forwards and back on number lines and we will be writing numbers as words.
Science
We are learning about our five senses. Next week we will start to explore our sense of sight.
R.E.
We continue our topic of Families and will learn about God’s love in the Bible, exploring psalms and stories that demonstrate how much God loves and cares about us.
Monday 6th September
English
This week we will continue to explore poems in our first ‘Power of Reading’ book, ‘Out and About’ by Shirley Hughes. We will explore the language and how the poems make us feel. This will link with our Science exploration of seasonal changes and enjoyment of listening to Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’. The children will explore their outdoor Investigation Station, where they will use all of their 5 senses.
Maths
This week we will be counting up to 20 and back from 20 using objects, number lines and songs.
R.E.
We begin our topic of Families and start from the point of the children’s own families. They will be creating their own ‘Thank you’ prayer for their family.
PSHE
We are beginning the term by reading ‘The Colour Monster’ by Anna Llenas. We will think about how the Colour Monster uses colours to express his feelings and create our own colour monsters.