Reading aloud what we’ve written
The children made a plan for their writing and loved sharing it with the rest of the class! We’re trying hard to read aloud what we have written down.
One More and One Less
This morning in Year One, we worked hard to find one more and one less of a number using a variety of resources. 
Living and Learning
- Drug, alcohol and tobacco education (DATE)
- Keeping safe and managing risk
Here are the weekly Living and Learning statements, for this half term, to support this learning.
- I don’t interrupt (with my mouth or my hand).
- I can make things better.
- I know what a drug is.
- I am aware of risks.
- I make safe choices.
- I stay safe online.
Be mindful
At this busy time of year, mindfulness can help children to take control of their emotions.
During our recent themed week, all children took part in mindfulness workshops to learn a variety of techniques to use at school and at home. Here’s a reminder of a few of them that might be useful for over the holidays. A mindfulness newsletter/parent guide will be sent out in the new year.
Breathing hug
Start with both arms in the air. Put one hand across your tummy and the other on your shoulder. Breath slowly in and out.
Breathing tree
In a standing position, raise your arms as you breath in and release your arms back down as you breath out.
‘Ok’ breathing
Make an ‘o’ sign on your tummy button to represent that it is ok to feel different emotions. Slowly breath in and out.
Mindfulness bottle
This is a bit like a snow globe. Shake it up and watch it. Simply watch the disturbance as it begins to settle – as does our mind.
Take a bottle, add glitter and food colouring and seal tightly.
Thank you
On behalf of all the adults that have been working in Year 1, I would just like to say thank you. We all received lots of unexpected gifts and cards. This is much appreciated.
Happy holidays!
What a performance!
Well done to all the children for such a great Christmas performance this week. A lot of hard work has gone into this production and many many rehearsals.
Thank you also to all who came to watch. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
A few pictures below.
End of term
As the end of the term approaches, you’d think it was time to wind down. Well, not in Year 1!
The children have continued on with their learning and we have turned some Christmas crafts into great learning opportunities.
Maths with gingerbread men?
This was an opportunity to create some repeating patterns, some symmetry, counting and even some addition and subtraction.
Careful cutting
Whilst making their Christmas cards, the children were encouraged to cut things out for themselves.
Using a pair of scissors can be tricky. However, all the effort was worth it when snowflakes appeared like magic!
Threading salt dough
Another craft activity we have completed is making decorations with salt dough. This involved careful painting of both sides which was a challenge. The children worked out that asking a friend to hold the decoration whilst they painted the back was a good solution. Everyone threaded some ribbon through the hole and some attempted to tie a knot in the ribbon.
The four seasons
These calendars were created with a theme of the four seasons. The children thought carefully about each season throughout the year. Then, using the image of a tree they added detail according to the relevant time of year. Lots of colour and some very detailed painting.
It’s been an absolute pleasure to have been working with the Year 1 children. Over the last few months, I have seen talented artists, creative writers, resilient mathematicians, enthusiastic readers and much more. A change of adult can be quite unsettling for some children. I have to say, the whole class have coped well with this and the changes have not affected their high standard of learning. In fact, I have been amazed by the quality of the work produced by the children.
What are ascenders and descenders?
Year 1 have been using word shapes to help to learn their spellings and also help with their handwriting.
Tall letters such as t, l and h all have ascenders and letters that come under the line such as g, p and y have descenders.
We can use a word shape to show the ascenders and descenders in a word.
Ask your child what spellings are missing from this week’s list and if they can draw a word shape for these words?
Our Handwriting Guide is easy to follow and a great way to support your child.
Road Safety Pantomime ‘The Gift of Life’
Yesterday, all pupils watched this lighthearted show that delivered important road safety messages.
Pupils joined Santa and Rudolf as they travelled back in time to prevent young Neil Downe from being knocked down. Whilst being fun and interactive, the pantomime covered the following road safety themes:
- the Green Cross Code
- seat belts
- be bright, be seen
- safer cycling
Ask your child about the performance and what messages they took away.
We are special
In Year 1, we have been thinking about how each and every one of us is special. We all like different foods, celebrate different religions, live in different places, have different hobbies and yet, in lots of ways, we are all the same.
The children have thought about identities.
Who are you?
We had such a lovely time creating paintings of ourselves. Take a look at our gallery below.
Along with this, we have also thought about the communities that we live in and learnt about similarities and differences within them.
What is respect?
“What is respect” is a big concept to grasp.
Respect is how you feel about someone or something.
Having respect for someone means you think good things about who a person is or how he/she acts. You can have respect for others, and you can have respect for yourself.
Respect is how you treat someone or something.
Showing respect to someone means you act in a way that shows you care about their feelings and well-being.
Showing respect for others include things like not calling people mean names, treating people with courtesy and showing good manners.
Learning how to show respect is so very important. We have thought about respecting ourselves and others. The children also discussed that we should show respect to our community, animals, people and belongings.
Whilst I have been working in Year 1, I have seen the children showing respect to each other. They are proud of their classroom and the school as a whole.
Well done!