Welcome to Year 1.
Our Teachers are Mrs Jennings, Mrs O’Sullivan and Miss Hanbury and our Teaching Assistants are Miss Moss and Mrs Scott.
Dec 082023
Humph!
Hi everyone,
We hope you enjoyed our Year 1 performance of Humph the Camel, we are so proud of all the children for trying their best. Their singing was amazing!
This week in English, we have continued to use the text of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ for our writing. The children have written a description of the wolf’s character. They then used their knowledge of the story and learned vocabulary to describe a scene using an image from the book for support. They had to use capital letters and full stops in their writing and some children were able to use question marks.
In Maths, we have been identifying 2D and 3D shapes and starting to learn some of their properties. Children have had time to explore the shapes and look at a variety of everyday objects. Perhaps you could see if your child can find any 3D shapes at home!
In Science, we have continued our topic of animals including humans and learned about the diet of different animals whether they are carnivore, herbivore or omnivore. The children have discussed which animals belong to each group and and sorted them into groups.
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- sorting in Science
Our topic next week is R.E. and we will be learning about the Christian festival of Christmas and the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. As part of their learning, they will be making a Jewish menorah and a Christmas Christingle. We would be grateful if you could provide your child with an orange and a small birthday candle to make a their Christingle. If you have any symbols or books that represent either of these religious festivals we would love to share them with the children in class.
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- Aqua Class tree
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- Sky Class tree
Thank you for your support,
The Year 1 team
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Dec 012023
Odd and even!
Hello,
This week the children have really enjoyed learning about our feelings as part of the PHSE curriculum. We have been discussing the feelings of jealousy, worry, anger and grief and have been talking about reactions and things we can do to help us feel better.
In Maths, we have been looking at odd and even numbers. We have been recognising that two odd numbers added together make an even number, sorting odd and even numbers and playing games to help us recognise odd and even numbers.
In Phonics, we have been revising of all our new sounds. The spellings for this week are:
Group 1
- honey
- money
- key
- have
- here
Group 2
- honey
- donkey
- lovely
- where
- money
- happy
- there
We have been very busy practising for our Year 1 performance of ‘Hump the camel’ and look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday 6th December at 9:15 a.m. for the big event! If you have not brought in your child’s costume already, please can you bring this in on Monday for our dress rehearsal.
We hope you have an enjoyable weekend.
The Year 1 team
Nov 242023
The Gunpowder Plot!
Good afternoon everyone,
This week the children have really enjoyed learning about the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. They have learnt the story of Guy Fawkes and discussed the events that led to plot being stopped. They know that the 5th November remembers the events of the plot and is celebrated in the United Kingdom with fireworks. The children sequenced the story and wrote questions for King James I and Guy Fawkes to develop their understanding and knowledge of the event.
In English, we are reading the traditional tale of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. The children have discussed the text and written about the parts, characters and actions they liked and disliked. They have looked for patterns within the text and compared them with other books they have read. In their books, the children have created story maps about the story adding key information to support their storytelling. In small groups they have role-played the story to embed the key events in the story.
Role-playing the traditional tale ‘Little Red Riding Hood’.
In Maths, we have been looking at doubling and halving. We have been looking at halving trails and working out which number between 1 – 20 can be halved four times (16!), we used cubes to check our estimations. We also played ‘double bingo’ where we crossed out numbers we doubled off our homemade bingo boards.
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- Making doubles
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- Using Rekenreks
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- Playing doubles Bingo
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- Halving amounts by sharing
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- Making a halving chain 18, 9
In Phonics, we have been revising of all our new sounds. The spellings for this week are:
Group 1 Group 2
- bake 1. home
- made 2. like
- gate 3. hide
- to 4. lake
- for 5. made 6. should 7. could
In the afternoons we have been busy practising for our Year 1 performance of ‘Hump the camel’ and look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday 6th December at 9:15 a.m. for the big event!
We hope you have an enjoyable weekend.
The Year 1 team
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Nov 172023
Celebrating Autumn
Good Morning,
In year 1 this week we have been learning about the celebration of Diwali by listening to the story of Rama and Sita and making our own firework drawings. In Science we went for a nature walk where we were looking for signs of autumn. The children were able to talk about the changes that occur in nature and find some examples.
In English, we have continued reading ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ but with a character focus on the giant. We have been using adjectives to describe the giant before writing sentences using ‘and’ and ‘because’.
In Maths we have been using our estimating skills to guess ‘more’ and ‘less’ when looking at two amounts. We have also been looking at 1 more and 1 less using numbers up to 20. We have used different maths equipment to support our learning.
In Phonics, we have been revising of all our new sounds. The spellings for this week are:
- two
- children
- are
- be
- me
- has
- was
We hope you have an enjoyable weekend.
The year 1 team
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Nov 102023
A rainy week in St Albans
Hello everyone,
This week in year 1 we have been focusing on the UK weather as part of our Geography and Science curriculum. We have been learning the different countries in the UK as well as the capital cities. We have also been looking at the weather in St Albans against another UK capital city and discussing the change in degrees celsius and weather forecast in the two places.
This week in maths we have been learning numbers 11 – 20 and how many are added onto 10 to make each number for example:
11 = 10 + 1
12 = 10 + 2
13 = 10 + 3
We have been practicing making numbers 11 – 20 using part whole models, beadstrings and 20 frames.
In English, we have continued our focus on ‘traditional tales’ this term with ‘Jack and the beanstalk’. We started by learning the story before drawing our own story maps. We then used role play to practice the sequence of the story and ended the week by fixing mistakes in muddled up sentences.
In Phonics, we have been learning new sounds y and al before moving onto revision of all our new sounds. The spellings for this week are:
- who
- whole
- into
- baby
- rainy
- walk
- talk
We hope you have an enjoyable weekend.
The year 1 team
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Nov 032023
Welcome back..
Good Morning,
Welcome back – we have had a wonderful first week back after the break. We have started learning about self portraits in Art this week, we started by drawing our partner before focusing on drawing ourselves in the style of the artist Picasso. Please pop into the classroom at soft start and see our wonderful creations!
This week in maths we have been revisiting and revising number bonds to 10, it is essential we are confident in these number bonds before we move up to 20 very soon! The children have been working out how many number bonds to 10 there are (11) by using their investigative skills using Numicon, cubes and counters.
- 0 + 10
- 1 + 9
- 2 + 8
- 3 + 7
- 4 + 6
- 5 + 5
- 6 + 4
- 7 + 3
- 8 + 2
- 9 + 1
- 10 + 0
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In English, we have started our focus on ‘traditional tales’ this term with The Gingerbread man. We started by revisiting the story before learning, ordering and writing instructions on how to make a Gingerbread man. We then followed our own instructions buy making our own Gingerbread men! Noticing it is very important to follow instructions in the correct order!
In Phonics, we have been learning new sounds i-e, o-e, u-e and c (pronounced s). Reading books will continue to be changed on a Monday and Thursday. Please ensure your child reads 4 times and this has been written in their yellow books – books will not be changed unless they have been read with 4 times. Please can you remember to return your child’s library book every Tuesday for Aqua class and Wednesday for Sky class. They will keep the book for the full week and return to the library the following week to exchange it for a new book.
Spellings books have been sent home again today with a new list of words. Please help your child learn the spellings, which will be tested next Friday in the back of the books. Please ensure your child has their spelling book with them on Fridays for the test. The spellings for this week are:
- many
- any
- time
- like
- home
- June
- nice (s)
Thank you for your continued support at home.
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Oct 202023
A wonderful Autumn term…
Good afternoon,
We have had a wonderful week practising our addition and subtraction skills alongside learning about how we can help our world.
This week we have continued with daily handwriting and have been practising writing capital letters alongside lowercase letters.
In Maths, we have been focusing on finding the difference by using our subtraction skills to find the answer. e.g If I have 9 frogs and 5 lily pads we have 4 more frogs than lily pads. We have been using speaking frames to support our understanding.
There a 3 more than 6. There are 3 less than 9.
7 is more than 5. 5 is less than 7, The difference between 7 and 5 is 2.
In English, we have been using the text ’10 things I can do to help my world’ by Melanie Walsh and thinking of our own ideas on ways we could help our planet. The children have been writing sentences before creating their own environment poster to take home! We have been started our guided reading sessions known as ‘lets read’ your child will read with two adults a week, discussing the text and exploring vocabulary.
In Phonics, we have been learning new sounds au, ey, a-e and e-e. Reading books will continue to be changed on a Monday and Thursday. Please ensure your child reads 4 times and this has been written in their yellow books – books will not be changed unless they have been read 4 times.
Spellings books have been sent home again today with a new list of words. Please help your child learn the spellings, which will be tested next Friday in the back of the books. Please ensure your child has their spelling book with them on Fridays for the test. The spellings for this week are:
- please
- my
- August
- key
- name
- cake
- these
Please can you remember to return your child’s library book every Tuesday for Aqua class and Wednesday for Sky class. They will keep the book for the full week and return to the library the following week to exchange it for a new book.
Again, please log in to times tables rock stars at home using the login details at the front of your child’s reading record. Maths challenges have been set for you child to complete at home. Year 1 pupils learn the 2, 5 and 10 times tables.
A little reminder that we have a no toys in school policy. Any items brought in for show and tell should be linked to an educational topic or a personal achievement. e.g a medal from gymnastics for learning a new skill.
Thank you for your continued support this term.
Have a wonderful break.
The Year 1 team
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Oct 132023
It’s all about being kind…
Hello everyone,
It has been a great week in year 1 learning about addition, subtraction and kindness.
This week we have continued with daily handwriting and have been practising writing capital letters alongside lowercase letters.
In Maths, we have been focusing on writing number sentences independently. The children have been using part whole models and physical resources to support their practice of addition before moving on to using the + and = symbols and putting these into practice.
In English, we have been continuing to use the text ‘Here we are’ by Oliver Jeffers and in particular the different parts of the human body. We have been labelling different body parts before writing sentences in our books about what each body part does and how it helps us. We then have been looking at kindness and have been writing sentences on how to be kind to each other.
In Phonics, we have been learning new sounds wh, ph, ew and oe. Reading books will continue to be changed on a Monday and Thursday. Please ensure your child reads 4 times and this has been written in their yellow books – books will not be changed unless they have been read 4 times.
Spellings books have been sent home again today with a new list of words. Please help your child learn the spellings, which will be tested next Friday in the back of the books. Please ensure your child has their spelling book with them on Fridays for the test.
Please can you remember to return your child’s library book on Wednesday’s for Sky class and they will exchange it with a new one during their weekly trip to the library. Aqua class will start to bring books home next week on Tuesdays.
Again, please log in to times tables rock stars at home using the login details at the front of your child’s reading record. Maths challenges have been set for you child to complete at home. Year 1 pupils learn the 2, 5 and 10 times tables.
We have been starting to use the ‘lets read’ guided reading sessions in class where your child will read with two adults a week and discuss the text.
Just a reminder that we have a no toys in school policy. Any items brought in for show and tell should be linked to an educational topic.
Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend
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Sep 292023
What a wonderful world!
Good Morning,
We’ve had another very enjoyable week with the children.
This week we have continued with daily handwriting and have been practising writing the letters; g, d, e, s and f.
In Maths, we have been sequencing numbers from 1 – 10 using dominoes and counting sticks. We have been using the language of comparison and we have been looking at simple additions using part whole models e.g 6 + 4 = 10.
In English, we have been using the text ‘Here we are’ by Oliver Jeffers. We have been looking at Earth and its place in the solar system. We have been writing sentences about what we think is wonderful on our planet before learning and performing the song ‘What a wonderful world’ by Louis Armstrong. We then created our own verse to add to the song – perhaps your child could sing it to you!
In Phonics, we have looked at the digraphs oy – toy, ir – shirt, ue – blue and aw – paw. You will see these sounds being practiced in their spelling books.
Reading books will continue to be changed on a Monday and Thursday. Please ensure your child reads 4 times and this has been written in their yellow books – books will not be changed unless they have been read 4 times. Sky Class have PE on Monday and Aqua have PE on Friday.
Spellings books have been sent home again today, with a new list of words linked to the phonic sounds learned this week. Please help your child learn the spellings, which will be tested next Friday in the back of the books. Please ensure your child has their spelling book with them on Fridays for the test.
Please log in to times tables rock stars at home using the login details at the front of your childs reading record. Maths challenges have been set for you child to complete at home.
Again, if you are out and about this weekend with your child, we would love you to collect some signs of autumn that you notice such as: conkers, acorns, fallen leaves – please keep bringing these in to be added to our science table/ seasons book.
Please can you ensure your child does not bring any toys with them into school – this is because often they get lost or it can cause upset if they are not able to play with them during the day.
Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend!
Sep 222023
What’s been happening in Year 1…
Hi everyone,
We’ve had a wonderful week with the children. The children are becoming more familiar with the structure and expectations in Year 1 and enjoying their new environment.
This week we have continued with daily handwriting and have been practising writing the letters; c, a, o and q, moving on to g, d, e, s and f.
In Maths, we have been identifying and representing numbers using objects and equipment such as: number lines, tens frames and part/whole models. The children have practised using language to compare amounts such as: equal to, more than, less than, fewer, most and least.
In English, we have been using the text ‘My friend Earth’ and linking it with our Science topic Animals including Humans. The children have learned about the animal kingdoms (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish). They have discussed the different groups and what the key characteristics are. They have used plasticine to make an animal of their choice and labelled the key characteristics. The children have explored what animals eat and have started to group animals accordingly whether they are carnivores, herbivores or omnivores. They have used their knowledge to write sentences about their animals, with a focus on using capital letters and full stops.
In Phonics, we have looked at the digraphs ay – day ou – cloud ie – tie ea – treat. You will see these sounds being practiced in their new spelling books.
Reading books will be changed on a Monday and Thursday. Please ensure your child reads 4 times and this has been written in their yellow books. Sky Class have PE on Monday and Aqua have PE on Friday.
Spellings books have been sent home today, with a list of words linked to the phonic sounds learned this week. Please help your child learn the spellings, which will be tested next Friday. Please ensure your child has their spelling book with them on Fridays for the test.
Thank you for your generous contributions to our classroom resources. The children have really enjoyed using them this week to make their animals.
The weather at the moment is very changeable, please can you ensure your child has a raincoat with them.
If you are out and about this weekend with your child, we would love you to collect some signs of autumn that you notice such as: conkers, acorns, fallen leaves – please bring these in to be added to our science table/ seasons book.
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- one more
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- one less
Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend!
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