Sports day
We are very much looking forward to the class taking part in their first sports day! Here are some details about the event.
This year’s sports day will take place on Thursday 15 July 2021, at Roundhegians Rugby Club (entry via Chelwood Drive). Reception and Key Stage 1 events will take place at 1.30pm.
If weather conditions mean we have to change the date, the reserve date is Tuesday 20 July.
Due to current restrictions, spectators (Year 1 and Reception classes only this year) are restricted to a maximum of one parent/carer. To restrict the spread of the virus, your child will still take part in competitive events, but within bubbles, so distanced from other classes. All children will be rewarded for taking part.
For sports day, our teams will be: green, blue, white and red. Please see the team list below to see what colour team your child is in. If possible, please could your child wear a t-shirt to wear to match their team colour.
Please could you ensure your child has their water bottle and a cap/hat at school; it would also be useful if you could apply sun cream before your child comes to school.
Normal lunch time and end of school collection arrangements will still apply on this day.
In the event of bad weather, updates will be sent via Twitter and posted on the website.
Bikeability sessions
Next week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday), Year 1 will be taking part in their bikeability learn to ride sessions (that should have taken place this time last year!).
Here’s a reminder about the sessions.
Your child has the opportunity to take part in exciting cycling activities with the Cycle North Team, as part of the Leeds Bikeability Plus programme.
Specialist instructors will be in school leading Balance Bike and Learn to Ride sessions and every child will have a 45-minute session each day, 3 sessions in total.
What do Balance sessions involve?
Children will start out on special pedal-less balance bikes and take part in a series of fun activities aimed at building the confidence, spatial awareness and dynamic balance skills that will help your child to cycle. When ready, children will then progress onto pedal bikes with an aim to learn how to ride their bike independently without stabilisers.
Children who can already ride their bike without stabilisers, will take part in fun cycling skills sessions.
Balance bikes, pedal bikes and helmets will be provided for all children. If your child has their own pedal bike and they would like to use it, please bring it in for their sessions and remove any stabilisers beforehand. Bikes can be ‘parked’ outside the Year 1 classroom.
The sessions are planned to take place outside, so please ensure that your child is dressed for the weather, and preferably wear trousers or tracksuit bottoms and appropriate footwear.
PE kit is ok to wear on these days.
We hope the children enjoy these fun sessions to develop/improve this important skill.
Please contact us ([email protected] /[email protected]) if you have any queries.
Online learning
All the Year one adults have continued to be amazed by the attitude and resilience of the children as they have adapted to a very different week of learning at home. Well done to all the children. We’d also like to say a big thank you to adults at home who have supported the children alongside your own commitments at this time.
It has been great to see their smiley faces and their confidence to contribute to lessons in this different way.
Thank you for sharing their home learning with us. Here are a few examples.
Super writing inspired by this picture from Pobble365.
Reading at home
Great science learning based on our fluency text.
PE outside in the sunshine
Phonics, spelling practice and generally keeping busy
Finally, this has been our Living and Learning statement for this week.
While we have been restricted to our homes this week, one of our class members has been demonstrating this statement perfectly.
Live Zoom Lessons
All of the Year One team have been very impressed with how well the children have coped with another unexpected session of home learning. Our live Zoom lessons began on Monday and we were able to get straight on with learning. The children have shown readiness, resourcefulness, resilience and, best of all, they are still smiling!
We are very proud of all the class!
Here are a few examples of some learning this week.
Down on the farm
On Tuesday, Year 1 enjoyed a day out at Hesketh Farm.
We were very proud of all the children and it was an absolute pleasure to take them out.
Living and learning: Body image
Body image has been our topic in Living and Learning.
Body image describes our idea of how our body looks and how we think it is perceived by others. This can include our thoughts and feelings about our height, weight, shape, skin, colour, and our appearance.
First of all, Year 1 thought about how we are similar and different.
What could be different?
- our birthdays
- our hair
- our skin
- our names
- our eyes
- if we wear glasses
- our clothes
- anything else we might wear such as a watch or a bobble in our hair
- our voices
- the size of our body
- inside of our body
- our houses
- our memories
- our religions
- our families
We then thought about the things we can change and how, and what we can’t change.
All the children were given the opportunity to talk about they like about their bodies.
I like my hair.
I like my eyes.
I like my body. It helps me to do things.
I like my heart because it holds all my memories.
You might like to read this book, Your body is awesome , at home with your child which gives a great final message.
Design and Technology – What is a structure?
Year 1 have been gaining an understanding of what is meant by the term ‘structures’ by looking for them in their environment. We began our lesson by looking at some bridges and other structures from around the world.
What is a structure?
A structure is a combination of materials and/or parts to create a 3D shape.
After discussing the definition of the word structure we moved on to looking closely at cylinders. The children were given the task of creating cylinders using paper and tape.
My cylinder won’t stand up on its own!
You need to try using some tape to make it more stable.
Try putting the tape along the join.
It is still wobbly. How can I get it to be freestanding?
Try putting on some more tape and make sure it is stuck down properly.
You could try rolling the paper up tightly.
Thank you
Some of the children worked on constructing some freestanding structures using different building materials.
Below is the vocabulary the children will be learning during the current DT topic. Please revise these words (and their definitions) at home.
| design | a plan or drawing showing what something will look like before it is made |
| design criteria | the things a product must have to be successful |
| design brief | a description of what a new product should do |
| base | the bottom part of an object; the part on which something rests |
| evaluate | to decide, after careful consideration, how good or bad something is |
| structure | a combination of materials and/or parts to create a 3d shape |
| stable | something that is unlikely to fall down or collapse |
| freestanding | something that stands up by itself |
| plan | to think about and decide how you’re going to do something |
Cricket opportunities
Resources for learning at home
As we start the last half term of Year 1, here are a few reminders about supporting your child’s learning.
Reading books
Reading books will continue to be changed on PE days – Tuesday and Thursday. Please add a brief comment, or simply your name and a tick, in your child’s reading record book so we know your child has read at home and is ready to have a new book. Daily reading is important to develop your child’s reading fluency so children should be changing their book at least weekly if not both Tuesday and Thursday. Thank you.
Lexia
Please continue to work on Lexia until your child has achieved their Level 5 certificate and has completed the Year 1 learning.
Phonics Play
For those children who have reached Level 5 in Lexia, Phonics Play can be accessed for practising phonics at home. The login details are username Sphere and password is Spher3.
Handwriting
We are doing lots of handwriting in class. Here’s a link to a video showing the cursive letter formation that we use in school and also our handwriting guide.
Numbots
Numbots is a maths resource, based on building addition and subtraction skills, that can be accessed by children at home using their individual logins (please email if you need these resending). We now have a weekly leader board for Numbots so keep working hard to earn those coins!
Hit the button is another maths resource we use in class especially for number bonds practice and more recently for learning doubles.
Little and often is best for these resources. If you need any login information for your child, please contact us.
New playground and some mindfulness
Today, Year 1 were able to enjoy using our new front playground equipment.
After expelling all their energy, the class settled down to some calming mindfulness exercises. For children, mindfulness can offer relief from whatever difficulties they might be encountering in life. It also gives them the beauty of being in the present moment.
Below is a link for you to enjoy some mindfulness techniques with your child.
Mindfulness Meditation for Kids | BREATHING EXERCISE | Guided Meditation for Children – YouTube