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.
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.
One of your five a day
In Reception, Year 1 and 2, the children benefit from the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme, a government programme that entitles every child to a piece of fruit or vegetable each school day.
Fruit and vegetables are key to a healthier lifestyle for all of us and experts recommend that everyone eats at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables in a day.
Eating fruit and vegetables every day helps children and teenagers grow and develop, boosts their vitality and can reduce the risk of many chronic diseases – such as heart disease, high blood pressure, some forms of cancer and being overweight or obese.
The children enjoy a variety of different fruit and vegetables and these all contribute to their 5 a day. We even tried radishes last week!
To ensure no food waste, sometimes the children may bring home a piece of fruit or vegetables. Change 4 life provides more ideas for achieving 5 a day.
If you would prefer, you are welcome to send a snack with your child for playtimes but this should only be fruit or vegetables.
Painting with syringes
Year One have been using the book Here We Are, written by Oliver Jeffers, as their focus for the current mini topic.
We have looked closely at our planet and the children thought of questions they would like to ask about life on earth.
How many humans live on Earth?
Which is the biggest animal?
Is everybody different?
Why is there so much water?
Using Google Earth, we looked down on our planet from space. Then we zoomed in gradually and found our school. The children were fascinated by the colours of our planet from far away.
Using some water colour paints, we created our very own versions of Earth. The children mixed their own paints and then used a syringe to drop the colours onto some filter paper.
It’s magic! The paint is spreading out!
The colours are joining.
It is light and dark.
The finished planets looked very realistic indeed.
Finger Spaces
What are Finger Spaces?
Finger spaces refer to the amount of space that needs to be left between words so that they can be read as individual units of meaning. Young children learning to write are first taught to put their finger on the page in between each word, to create the necessary spacing. This is an important skill and a Year 1 objective. By the end of Year 1, it is expected that all children will use finger spaces in their writing.
How Can You Encourage Children To Use Finger Spaces?
In class, we have various strategies to encourage finger spacing. These include:
Modelling the Use of Finger Spaces
Demonstrate using finger spaces when writing on the board by placing your index finger between words. It is important to exaggerate these spaces when demonstrating to help children to understand why there is a space in between each word.
Finger Space Tools
Providing children with a finger space tool for them to use instead of their finger. Have children place the tool in between each word to help them learn to place the correct amount of space between words.
Use Reminders and Prompts
Place writing prompts and fun reminders on children’s desks if they are forgetting to use finger spaces in their writing. Visual supports not only help children use finger spaces when writing but also act as visual reminders.
Today, the children were asked to try to read some sentences that did not have spaces between the words. This was tricky!
This activity helped to increase awareness of why spaces are necessary.
Ask the children to look for items at home that could be used as finger spacing tools.
Maths with vegetables
In maths, the children have been learning to use the language ‘equal to, more than, less than, fewer and greater than‘ to compare objects.
I know that 5 is less than 7 and 7 is greater than 5.
In our first lesson, the children struggled a little with this concept. So, today, we used some real life objects to help us to compare.
Try this one at home with your child. It may help to draw pictures.
Mrs Freeman has 7 apples in one hand. 
She has fewer apples in the other hand. How many apples could Mrs Freeman have in her other hand?
Year 1 learning
We have been very impressed with how Year 1 have started the school year even with all the new routines and procedures in place. Thank you for supporting your child at home especially with the fantastic homework we have received.
Here’s a summary of our learning so far.
In maths, we have been learning about numbers to 10 including counting, ordering, counting forwards/backwards and one more/less. Topmarks has some good maths based games to try at home.
We have also had a big emphasis on supporting the children with their number formation and presentation in their new maths books. We start our numbers at the top.
To help at home, count forwards and backwards with your child. Give your child a number (initially up to 20) and see if they can tell you the number one more/one less.
In reading, we have a weekly fluency text. Here is this week’s text.
In class, we read the text every day to develop the children’s fluency. This involves lots of teacher modelling of reading taking account of the punctuation and using expression. On Friday, we answer questions about the text.
Remember, reading books can be changed on a Tuesday and Thursday. Thank you for your patience as the children learn this new routine. We visit the library on Mondays. The children have all had the chance to use Lexia at school. They are becoming quicker at logging on so any practice they can get at home will help with this.
To help at home, read with your child everyday. This can be their book from school or any other book or text you have at home. Asking questions about the text will help with their understanding.
In writing, our learning has been based around what makes a sentence.
- Capital letter at the start
- Full stop (or other punctuation) at the end
- Finger spaces between words
- Does it make sense?
Capital letters have been our initial focus – how we form them and when do we use them. See if your child can remember when we need to use a capital letter. These alphabet videos are a good reminder too.
Another aspect of english we are developing is the children’s oracy. A particular focus we are working on is answering in full sentences.
After carrying out some egg related experiments, we are now learning about living things in science.
Topic learning began with lots of learning about the text After the Fall and for the next three weeks, this will be based on Here we are by Oliver Jeffers.
Well done to all of Year 1 who are working so hard! Keep it up!
PE in the sunshine
In PE today, Year One were learning how to move at different speeds.
We enjoyed moving like different animals, moving at different speeds and moving on the spot. The children could explain how to sprint and jog and they described how their bodies felt whilst doing these activities.
I feel out of breath when I run fast.
My legs get tired.
My heart is beating fast.
I feel very hot.
Running fast is hard work.
Living and Learning: 8Rs for learning
For the last two weeks, in our Living and Learning lessons, Year 1 have been getting to know the 8Rs for learning (responsible, risk taking, resilience, resourceful, ready, responsive, remember and reflect). These are eight characteristics to promote good learning behaviour and of course, these are referred to throughout the year across all subjects. The parent’s guide to the 8Rs can help to reinforce this at home.
The children were given different scenarios and they had to match them up to the correct 8R or complete the missing R in a sentence. Ask your child if they can remember the answers.
Saavi has her white board and pen on her table for phonics.
Evie changes her number 2 after Mrs Taylor asks her to check her numbers.
Nate puts his hand up to answer a question even though he is not sure if it is right.
Talha uses the hundred square to check his number formation.
Grace _______________ her spellings because she had been practising them at home.
Austen took __________________ for his belongings because he put them all back in his pencil case.
Erica was _______________ as she kept trying until she could write the letter y in handwriting.
Rico ________________ on his maths learning and tries to put one number in one box in his book.
Resilience has been one of the themes of the After the Fall book we have been learning about in our topic lessons. We thought about what messages we might send to Humpty Dumpty as he tried to climb back up the wall again.
Don’t look down.
Keep going up.
Always keep going.
You can do it.
Don’t give up.
We’ve got you.
Take a risk.
Be resilient.
We’ve been talking about the 8Rs across other lessons and here are some more examples of Year 1 using the 8Rs.
Being resourceful in maths
Being responsive by checking number formation
With such a great start to the year, we are sure Year 1 will continue to use the 8Rs across all areas of their learning.
Foraging for Homework
On Friday, the children were asked to get creative for their homework. Having read an autumnal poem in class, they then had to spot some signs of Autumn whilst out and about.
Mrs Freeman and Mrs Taylor have both enjoyed some leaf crunching walks this weekend.
We have already received some great examples of super learning in the outdoors. So far, we have seen crafts, pictures, models, colour mixing and some impressive writing!
We look forward to seeing more throughout the week.
Don’t forget that homework can be emailed to us and is celebrated in class every Thursday.
jackiefreeman@spherefederation.org
carolinetaylor@spherefederation.org
Well done, Year 1!
