In Year 1, in R.E we are currently learning about why the church is a special place for Christians and therefore we had a lovely school trip to a local church (St Matthew & St Luke Parish Church).
We were greeted by the vicar who then explained to the children what happens in a church and why it is such a special place to some people. The children then had the opportunity to explore the church by looking for different teddy bears that were hidden in different places. Each teddy bear also had a simple explanation to why the object they were sat on is important to the church. A group of seven KS2 children took part in a regional Boccia competition, competing against other junior and secondary schools. The children thoroughly enjoyed the day and received certificates .The children from Reid Street had never participated in this sport but played exceptionally well and learnt new skills.
The children had time in the computer suite to experiment with giving directions to each other. They helped Charlie Chimp deliver an invitation. Next the children were introduced to a programmable toy. They were challenged to send it from one child to another. They found out that moving forward did not turn the toy and realised they needed to think about their left and right. Leah predicted that the toy needed to move forward ten times. Super guess! Their final challenge was to go back to their tables and manoeuvre their programmable toy from one end of the table to the other. To make it tricky they had an obstacle to go around. Oh no! Once it was programmed there was no stopping it!
Today, working in small groups, the pupils were set a challenge of deciding what instructions they needed to follow from their starting point to the treasure. They could only use the words forwards, backwards, left or right! The children then recorded their instructions and all together we checked if their instructions worked (one being the programmer and the other being the robot-pirate). The children then worked in pairs to record their own instructions, moving a counter from the starting position to the final position on their treasure map.
Wow! We have been so busy in Year 1 today. We have read a new story called ‘We’re Going on a Lion Hunt.’ The story has so many new or different words in it so we have spent time investigating what different words are and what they might mean. The children’s ideas were fabulous. The words we have focused on are: Tier 2 Tier 3 We used to the questions:
After exploring the different words and the children coming up with fabulous ideas we have drawn pictures and written words to show our understanding. Year 1 have had great time learning the story ‘We’re going on a Lion Hunt’, which is linked to our Kenya topic. The story is very similar to ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’, with a fun repetitive pattern.
Today, the children did a fabulous job of retelling the story through movement and actions! We all had great fun! Year 1 have had a lovely week focusing on the author Jill Murphy. Our final story of the week was ‘Whatever Next’. The children have been using a variation of skills to design and make their very own colourful rocket. It has been lovely to observe the children, as they support and help each other as they made their rockets.
Today we watched an episode of Charlie and Lola, where Lola finds out that some of the things she has to do at school are quite tricky. She decides she doesn’t want to go back to school anymore. We used this story to have discussions about what it can feel like to think you can’t do something – especially when it seems like other people do know how. We talked about what it means to have a fixed mindset – to believe that we can’t do something and give up. The children discussed how this would make them feel. In groups, we discussed what Lola’s big brother Charlie could say to Lola to help her to develop a growth mindset, which means she will keep on trying. We talked about times when we have all had a fixed mindset and how it made us feel. We shared ideas about who helps us to develop growth mindsets and how we can encourage other people too. Mally-Ray: “Do you want me to help?” Tabitha: “I will help you.” Dylan: “You can do this!” Ashton: “Don’t give up!” Elsie: “It doesn’t matter, I can help you try again.” Olivia-Rose: “I will show you how.” Having somebody give them advice and support helped to cheer the children up and made them feel like they want to keep on trying. We have created a classroom display to use to remind us of what to say to ourselves and each other when we feel like giving up. We then took our new growth mindsets and words of encouragement out onto the yard to practise skipping, hopping and hula-hooping! The children all supported their partners by offering words of encouragement, as well as advice to those who found it tricky.
Today we talked about what rules are, why we have them and places that need to use rules.
Together we agreed on a list of class promises. We have chosen to make promises that will make our classroom a happy and safe place to be. All of the children have made a handprint which we have used to make our promise flowers. Today in Year 1 we have been investigating leaves. Our challenge was to look at the leaves and sort them into matching piles. We looked carefully at the colours, shapes and patterns on the leaves to help us with this task. We also had to decide whether each group of leaves was from an evergreen or deciduous tree. Finally, our last challenge was to use the information key and pictures to try to work out the names of the trees. We are now tree experts!
Wow! What a fabulous morning had by parents, children and staff. A great opportunity for parents and children to share learning. Both participated in a typical Read, Write Inc (phonics) session. Each group learnt a new sound, practised some speedy spellings and read a book. After that we took parents onto the playground to play some games with their children. Thank you so much to those parents who were able to join us.
As part of our ‘Animal Kingdom’ topic we have been learning about the Artist, Rebecca Cole. She uses recycled paper to make three dimensional, butterfly pieces of art. We decided that we would make our own paper and created patterns in polystyrene tiles. Next, we painted it and printed it onto the paper. The final step was to cut out a range of butterflies to create our own masterpiece.
In preparation for our Riddle writing, and as part of our animal topic, we have been researching different animals. First, we worked in groups to write down information that we already know about different animals. We then looked at different pieces of information to find more interesting facts. Our job was to record as many facts as possible. We were amazed by all of the new facts we have learned!
Wow! What an exciting week! We have been practising ready to perform in front of our family. The day to perform finally arrived. We took our families on a trip down memory lane to show them how much we have learnt this year. This included Global Warming, The Victorians and the retelling of the Julia Donaldson story, ‘The Paper Dolls.’ We had loud voices and spoke confidently. We are feeling very proud of ourselves.
This week we have been learning how to give clear instructions and used this to learn how to make pancakes. We all had to give Mrs Robson (Robot) instructions. The first instruction was to crack the eggs. As you can see we weren’t clear at first but got much better as we worked through the recipe.
After we had learned how to make your own pancakes we all got the chance to flip the pancake. This was very funny! Some of us were very good at it and some of us were not quite so good. To finish off our busy afternoon we have been learning how to slice fruit using a bridge hold and how to use a grater. We have created delicious toppings to add to our pancakes. We visited the Head of Steam Railway museum to learn about how Victorian’s would travel on their holidays to the seaside. We looked at the different jobs that people did on the railway such as the train driver, ticket collector and fire man. We handled some objects and discussed how they were used. After, we were able to explore the museum and had lots of fun finding answers to questions. The Locomotion was there and we were amazed to find out that it was the first passenger train but it only travelled 10mph. We sat in the large train carriage and pretended that we were on a journey to Saltburn – it was very cramped. We had a fabulous time but all agreed that our trains are much comfier… and faster!
Today we have used ‘Google Maps’ to track the start of the River Tees from the top of ‘Cross Fell’ to the coastline where the river joins the sea. The pupils enjoyed watching new streams join the river and were fascinated with the curving path which the river took on its journey. We looked at the flood defences near the coastline and talked about what they do.
Challenge – Can you create your own flood defences? The children worked in groups to use different materials to create their own flood defences. They made predictions about whether they thought their material would be a good material or not. They talked confidently about it needing to be waterproof to stop the water from getting through but also learnt the new language of water tight. This week, Year 1 have had their very first 'Stay and play'. The children had designed their own version of a fairy tale house from the Jolly Postman story and today they got to work with somebody from their family to make it. Very excited children worked alongside family members in an afternoon to treasure.
In Year One, as part of our ‘Fairy Tale Town’ topic, we have been looking at maps and our local area. We began by looking at our classroom and creating a simple map. After this, we used ‘Google Maps’ to look at Darlington and the key features of our town. We took a journey around our local area and managed to find our school. We looked at some of the landmarks then tried to recreate them using different building materials. Finally, we learnt about bird’s-eye views and tried really hard to draw maps from that point of view. We also included a key to show different landmarks.
Year 1 focused on ‘No Poverty’, ‘Zero Hunger’ and ‘Clean Water’.
Our stimulus started off with a scrumptious breakfast of warm porridge and with a choice of topping - golden syrup, maple syrup or honey. We looked at a variation of picture cards showing different breakfasts around the world which then lead onto poverty. Pupils had the challenge of moving water from one place to another in the garden (after discussion about not everyone has access to a tap). Today, we are learned all about the games that rich and poor Victorian children liked to play. Some of them are similar games we play today.
We had lots of fun singing Ring a ring of roses, Oranges and Lemons, clapping games (A Sailor Went to Sea) and we loved playing Hopscotch. All the children had a wonderful day at Beamish Open Air Museum, stepping back in time to 1913. They experienced rides on old open top buses and trams, travelling from the Pit village to the town. They looked around an old Victorian school and the pit cottages and even had to use some of the old facilities and tools to help tidy and clean a cottage! The children also compared the differences between the cottages and the wealthy town houses.
In Year 1 we had an afternoon focused on introducing Global Goals. We watched a video which told us about some of the problems we have in the world today. Working together, the children drew pictures and talked about what they had seen, heard and learnt. As a class we talked about worldwide issues such as climate change, poverty and inequality.
We decided we wanted to help to solve some of the world’s problems. We looked at the different Global Goals and made up actions to help us to remember some of them. We played a game called ‘Human Knot’ which showed us the importance of working together and helping each other. The children came into the classroom to find they had stepped back in time! Our school desks were lined up, all technology switched off and their teachers were in role of strict Victorian teachers.
First the children were provided with an unusual Victorian name. The children then lined back up were asked greet their teachers as Ma’am or Sir while the teacher checked their hands and shoes for cleanliness. We then went through some strict Victorian school rules. The children practised a Victorian saying and used chalk boards and chalk to practise their handwriting. Finally we went outside to do a Victorian drill (Victorian P.E lesson). Year 1 celebrated Roald Dahl week by exploring the book 'The Enormous Crocodile'. We produced artwork based on characters from the book and on Friday, the children dressed up as their favourite Roald Dahl characters.
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