Week 22 - 23

Over the last few weeks, we have been crafting a letter to the Prime Minister about deforestation and the catastrophic effects it is having on our beautiful and precious world. We have sent a class letter to the Prime Minister in the hope that we will soon receive a reply.

In RE, we have been learning about different celebrations that other faiths have, as well as the similarities and differences they share. We particularly enjoy Diwali, the festival of lights.

This week, we have been engaging in numerous Easter crafts. We have even made a 3D card.

I hope you all have a lovely Easter!

Week 21

We have had such a fabulous week! We participated in a science workshop for Science Week, where we learned all about our bodies and how exercise can help us grow. We then tried out lots of fun ways to exercise at home and at school to really get our hearts going.

On Wednesday we held a Starling class art exhibition, where we showcased our process of creating our own rainforest-inspired prints using polystyrene. We then used our prints to make our own repeating patterned artwork.

Finally, on Thursday, we had the opportunity to try new exotic fruits from South America, such as papaya, jackfruit, mango, passion fruit, and more. Later this term, we will be creating our own rainforest fruit smoothie packaging, incorporating some of the fruits we tried.

Week 20 -21

What a lovely few weeks we have had.!In Literacy we have been learning all about spider monkeys and have written a fact file to showcase all of the fabulous information we have learnt. 

It was so lovely to see you all in your lovely costumes on Thursday for world book day. On Friday I was so proud of all of the Starlings in there class assembly. You all spoke with such confidence and you have all worked so hard to learn all of yoir lines. Especially for 'readers are leaders song'. Well done everyone! 

Week 18 and 19

This half term, you have all worked exceptionally hard. We have written an explorer's guide, a diary entry, and an animal poem in English. In maths, we have completed our addition and subtraction and have begun our work on multiplication and division.

In our topic lessons, we have been learning all about the rainforest. We have explored the amazing things discovered by explorers in this rich environment. Explorers would often travel by boat as there were no other means of transport across the sea to the rainforest.

Did you know that the Mary Rose was a famous Tudor galleon that spent 437 years on the seabed?

This week, we have had great fun making a seed diary in science. We have been testing what conditions a plant needs to grow. We discovered that the best conditions for a plant to grow are in sunlight and with water. We have had so much fun writing our scientific findings each day and discussing what stage of the plant life cycle our cress is in. We were so amazed when we first saw the cress seed crack and the roots starting to grow. The plant life cycle is so fascinating!

I hope you all have a wonderful half term!

Week 16 and 17

Over the last two weeks, we have written a diary based on the video stimulus 'The Black Hat'. We explored various types of beautiful, exotic birds and created our own mythical bird. As a class, we investigated the best ways to care for our bird. We concluded that birds should be free and we should do our utmost to protect all animals in the wild.

In Science, we have been learning all about the rainforest and the weather conditions there. As a class, we consolidated all our ideas and understanding of the rainforest, reporting our findings in a weather report. The children then performed their weather reports to the class.

Week 14 and 15

The last two weeks, we have been learning all about explorers. In topic lessons this week, we have focused on what an explorer is. In history, we have been concentrating on the tale of 'El Dorado', which means 'The Golden One'. It was believed that there was a city in the rainforest made of gold. Many explorers tried to find El Dorado, including Gonzalo Pizarro and Walter Raleigh (we will be learning about Sir Walter Raleigh next week). Sadly, El Dorado was never found; however, they did discover something else: the Golden Lake.

It was believed that there was an Amazonian king who covered himself in gold and jumped into a river in the rainforest. This legend has been investigated, and some of the Muisca artefacts can be seen in the British Museum.

Week 13 

We have had such a lovely week. On Monday, we went to watch The Smeds and the Smoods. On Tuesday, we had our dress rehearsal for the school. On Wednesday, we performed our play for all the parents. We also made our Christmas cards and baubles, we hope you all like them. On Thursday, we met Santa! Finally, on Friday, we went to church and enjoyed a lovely day full of Christmas festivities.

I am so proud of how hard you have all worked this term. You all made me so proud watching you perform your play on Wednesday. I hope you all have the most fabulous Christmas, and I’ll see you all in the new year.

Merry Christmas Starlings!

Week 12

This week, we moved on to the topic of shape in Maths. We have been learning all about 2D shapes and how to count vertices, sides, and also spot shapes with lines of symmetry. Additionally, we created our symmetrical snowflakes.

We have also been making props for our Christmas play. We cannot wait to show you all next Wednesday.

Week 11

This week, we are fully embracing the Christmas spirit. On Wednesday, we created Christmas decorations and decorated the tree at the front of school with them. On Friday we also completed our Santa dash. 

In Design and Technology (DT), we constructed a drawbridge capable of supporting a weight. A drawbridge would have had to be sturdy because many animals, people, carts, and various other items would have crossed over it to enter a castle. A drawbridge also served as a vital layer of protection for the castle door against potential invaders.

Week 10

Our class project castle museum.

This week, after a lot of anticipation and research, we made our boats. We used an egg box for structure and a plastic bag to make our boats waterproof. In science, we have been doing lots of investigating and planning to create the best boats. As a class, we decided that plastic was the best material for making a boat waterproof.

Our key text this term is George’s Marvellous Medicine. This week, we worked in pairs to create a short drama piece to showcase our interpretations of how Grandma might behave when given the medicine by George. We considered how Grandma has been depicted so far in the story and used this to help us determine how she might react.

Week 9

Welcome back! I hope you all had a lovely half-term.

This week, we had firefighters come to see us. We learnt all about what they do in our local community to keep us safe and what we should do in the event of a fire.

This week was Anti-Bullying Week, and Remembrance Day. Mr Emms delivered a lovely Remembrance Day assembly. The Kingfishers also delivered a fantastic assembly all about anti-bullying. In class, we have been discussing what bullying looks like, how it can make you feel, and what we should do if we see someone being bullied or are being bullied ourselves. 

We have also started our new core text this week, 'George's Marvellous Medicine,' and have begun to explore the character of Grandma.

Finally, on Friday, we had Red Nose Day. We all got to wear pyjamas, and the cakes you all brought in looked delicious. Thank you for all the contributions.

Week 8

This week, we have completed our recount of our adventure around school to find Topsy. I have been blown away by how hard everyone has worked this term in English and how much progress we have already made.

In Topic this week, we compared the Colosseum and Hadrian's Wall. Although both were built by the Romans, they were constructed for different purposes. The Colosseum was built for entertainment, whereas Hadrian's Wall was built for defence.

We have had such an amazing first half term and I am so proud of you all. I hope you all have a lovely and well rested half term.  

Week 7

This term in PE we have been focusing ball skills. This week we Starling class learnt how to dribble with a ball. We even learnt how to travel while we dribble. 

In topic we have continued with our learning and this week we complete a quiz to see how much we have learnt so far. 

Week 6

This week in science, we have been exploring the best materials we can use to make a boat that we will be constructing next week. We have discussed which materials are absorbent and whether an absorbent material would be suitable for making a boat. We really enjoyed testing our predictions about whether the materials would float or not.

In topic this week, we have been looking at many different important ancient buildings, such as El Castillo, the Pyramids of Giza, and Stonehenge. We have created a fact file on these key monuments and explored why they were built, as well as what they are used for today. To conclude the lesson, the children even had a go at making their own Stonehenge and pyramid.

Week 5 

This week, we have continued with our recount of our adventure with Topsy. In Maths, we have started our new focus on addition and subtraction. We have explored many different ways of partitioning a number and the number bonds to 20. We also practised using a number line to add numbers. I was blown away by all the numbers you were able to add together!

Week 4 

We had a very eventful week! Topsy came and wreaked havoc in our classroom.

In English, we are writing about how Topsy sent us on an adventure around the school to find him. When we returned from break, we discovered that our classroom had been ransacked, and Topsy had left us a note to help us find him. We followed all of his clues around the school before we finally found him in the hall. We can't wait for you to read all about that crazy day and everything we had to do to find him.

Week 3 

This week we finish our dragon description in Literacy and have started our 'How to look after a dragon' instructions. 

In guided reading we continued our book 'The Boy Who Grew Dragons' by Andy Shepherd. There are lots of interesting and new vocabulary in this book and we have really enjoyed so many new words. In guided reading we also spend a few days looking at the book 'Dragon Post' by Emma Yarlett. We have loved exploring this book especially all the postcards and letters inside. 

Week 2 

This week, we have continued with our topics and further explored the characteristics of dragons and different types of buildings.

Earlier this week, we sent out phonics packs to all Year One students. These were placed in their folders, and I hope you find them helpful. All logins have also been provided at the back of your 'fish books'.

Week 1 

We have had a fantastic week. It has been so lovely getting to know all the new Starlings. This week we started out English topic which is all about dragons and our topic lessons all about castles. 

Thank you to everyone who came to the Year 1 welcome talk, it was lovely to see you all.