History: London’s Burning
In Year One, we have started our history based learning all about The Great Fire of London – a significant event from the 17th century. 
Throughout this exciting topic, the children will discover how people lived in the past and the changes and consequences brought about following this catastrophic event. They will also continue to build on learning from the Foundation Stage, exploring changes in their own lives and the way of life of their family or others around them.
We began our lesson with two questions.
What is history?
What is the past?
Cavemen are history.
Dinosaurs lived a long time ago.
I think it is something old.
My dad was born in the past.
Next, we had great fun looking at (and trying on) some different costumes. The children were asked whether they thought the outfits were from the past or not. Also, we discussed whether they had ever seen each costume.
Below, we have a fashion show – new and old- presented by Year One!
We had some fantastic responses.
Reading Treasure Hunt
If you came down to the portacabin today, you’d be in for a big surprise…
See if you can spot anything unusual in the pictures below!
That’s right – we were doing a QR treasure hunt!
Our reading lesson today was all about our science learning: micro-organisms.
But you had to find the questions first!
Ask your child to explain how they were using retrieval reading skills today!
Science – classification systems
Y6 had to take on the role of scientist as they were given free reign on a classification key!
Take a look at some of these fab examples…
Challenge your child! Ask them why we use classification systems!
Living and learning – self care techniques
Today, we had a great class discussion about how to look after and be kind to yourself. Take a look…
Marvellous Music
Check out our interactive celebration of our music lessons!
Jess said, “We’re learning about how to play different chords and we’re starting to write our own songs!”
Rayn smiled, “I like how we’ve already learnt a few songs. I’ve been really enjoying music and it’s been a real challenge.”
“We’ve been learning about majors and minors. Majors are happy notes and minors are sort of sad notes,” explained Musa.
“We’ve also learnt about sharps and flats. Sharps are black keys and flats are white keys,” stated Priya.
Emma said, “The notes on a treble clef are A to G.”
Habitats
During this week’s science, we were learnt what a habitat is and named a variety of animals in their habitat.
Looking for minibeasts
As a part of our current science topic, we’ve been learning about habitats and micro-habitats. We searched micro-habitats around the school playground to see what we could find!
Book Club – Oracy Book Wars
In today’s Book Club, we had a debate to find out who truly has the best book in the class.
Moh said, “Some R2s for debating are to use powerful, persuasive vocabulary, to speak loudly and clearly and to keep calm!”
We used sentence stems to make sure we were responding to others’ arguments such as “I hear what you’re saying but I disagree…” and “While you make a good point, I firmly believe…”
To develop our oracy skills, we made sure we were speaking fluently, at a good pace, projecting our voices and giving reasons for our choices.
Miss Wilson set the challenge and stated why her book was the best.
Next, we made notes to prepare for the debate.
Finally, we used our oracy skills to complete the Book War!
Special mention goes to Albie, Sami, Harris and Will who all debated excellently, as voted by the class!
The beating of drums
African drumming is proving to be a huge success in Year One. The children are enjoying learning about the African djembe hand drums. 
As each child plays on their hand made drum, they discover a whole world of history, tradition and culture – not just by passively listening or reading, but by actively playing and participating. 
This way they really experience the ethnic tradition and culture of West Africa.
Design and technology: bridges
In order to get the boy, the mole, the fox and the horse (from our class novel) across the river, we’ve made bridges!
We had to work in pairs to make our sturdy structures!
We had to make sure we were reflecting on the design criteria and testing it every so often.
Stay tuned for the finished articles!