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Year 1

Staff: Miss Turner / Mrs Jeffrey / Mrs Laggan

Please contact – naomi.turner@panshanger.herts.sch.uk    

Music is taught by Mr Mitchell on a Tuesday.

Spring 2

This term in Year 1 has been a very packed term!

In English we had a focus on the Little Princes with the whole school. This was kick started by the live performance of the story in which the children really enjoyed singing along with some of the songs. During this week we did lots of creative writing around the story.

In Geography this term we have been focusing on the United Kingdom and its 4 countries. The children have learnt about the surrounding seas and the capital cities of each. The children felt like Geographers as they created their own maps. We also have been using our new orienteering markers around the school and complete lots of different challenges.

In Art we have been exploring the natural world, we have used different resources to create natural sculptures and have been improving our observational drawing skills. We have collected a range of different natural objects and attempted to add shading, pattern and texture to our drawing.

In RE we have been looking at the different stories in the bible. We have explored different parables and the meaning behind them. We ended the term looking at the Easter story and we then all shared a hot cross bun wearing our Easter crowns and had some reflection time.

We then ended the term with a trip to Hertford Castle and the museum. The children listened extremely well to the guides and even got to explore the dungeons down below! We walked around the castle grounds and then went to the castle park where we had lots of fun. After enjoying lunch, the children then looked at artifacts in the museum. We found out lots of information about the history of Herford and even linked some artifacts t what we had seen in the castle that morning!

Spring 1

We have had a brilliant half term back following the Christmas holidays!

In English this term, the children have explored free verse poems and even created their own. We had a great 2 weeks writing instructions and after writing our own recipes, we made our own Gruffalo crumble! The children had so much fun creating the crumble and even more fun eating their creation! We have also looked at traditional tales and explored these in different ways, through acting, drama and creating puppets to re-tell.

In History we have been looking at famous explorers throughout history. The children have really enjoyed learning about explorers such as Matthew Henson, Neil Armstrong and others. We discussed differences and similarities in each explorers’ adventures and the children did well to explain the challenges each explorer faced and why they did it.

In science, we have been looking at animals including humans. We have looked at different ways to label and categorize animals and even looked at the different senses we have as humans. We decided to put our senses to the test, we smelt and ate different foods whilst blindfolded and tried to guess what we had eaten. We have also explored the human body and had a go and labeling life size drawings of each other.

This term we also shared another Little People, Big Dreams book and our book was about Steve Irwin. The children read and discussed all of the conservation Steve and his family have done for animals, as well as showing them a new view about crocodiles! Then we all crested our own animal out of plasticine and created our own conservation box for them so we could keep them safe.

We have ended the term with a DT week on the theme of puppets. The children explored different ways we could attach materials to create a puppet, created 2 types of puppets and even designed their own hand puppet. This was the first time many of the children had tried sowing and they did so well, taking their time and created fantastic puppets in which they took home.

Autumn 2

This has been a very busy and fun term! We have managed to squeeze in lots of Christmas fun whilst doing lots of fun and engaging learning. The children really have settled in well to Year 1.

In English this term we have looked different poems and done lots of performance poetry, we used our bodies and props to read lots of fun poems! We also used our imaginations to produce our own versions of Stanley’s stick.

In Maths the children have been working on their addition and subtraction skills as well as looking at shapes. They have become great shape hunters and really enjoyed learning a 3D shape song!

We have been looking at the changing seasons in Science, and at this point in the year it has been really exciting to discover and observe the different changes in seasons! The children are very confident in discussing how we adapt our clothing to the cold weather and will help remind each other to wrap up warm!

The children have really immersed themselves in to art this term in our portraits topic. We had begun practicing drawing portraits of ourselves and each other and then looked at different abstract portraits. Using a range of different tools, the children created their own version of Brianna McCarthy’s Gold mess, which were fantastic and so unique!

In Geography this term we have been looking at our local area and how we get to school. We created our own passports to learn our addresses and even used a map to plan our walks to school. In RE we have been exploring how light is important in different religious activities. The children got to observe a Menorah candle being lit and listened to a Hebrew song. We then revisited the Nativity story and looked at how different lights are used at Christmas time.

At the end of the term, alongside Year 2 and Year 3, we put on a Christmas production. All the children in Year 1 had practiced extremely hard with their singing and dancing and we as a school are so proud of them for all of their hard work! The children were very confident and performed the best they could and the show was a massive success!

We then enjoyed our Christmas lunch and Christmas concert on the last few days and celebrated Christmas with all of our friends!

Autumn 1

What a fantastic start to Year 1 we have had! The children have really settled well and have found their feet in the classroom.  They all have a great understanding of where things are kept and the classroom has really become their own.

Science

In Science we have begun to look at the season autumn and the different changes we have seen in this season. We have also begun to record the weather so we can make a comparison with all of the other season throughout the year. We have also been looking at materials and their uses. We went on a material hunt around the whole school and found lots of different materials.

English

In English we have been practicing our writing skills and making sentences. We have done lots of performance poetry and explored different ways we can share our poems. We created a shared acrostic poem and used our senses to create some very interesting poems about the classroom!

RE

In RE the children have been exploring belonging in different religious groups. We explored how we belong in our own lives, with our families and as part of the school community. We also enjoyed learning about Harvest and the Jewish festival of Sukkot.

Topic

In history we explored old toys. The children had such a great time playing with their own and other toys- it was fantastic to see the care the children took when handling the fragile toys from family members. We made lots of comparisons between our toys and older toys and even linked to our science and looked at what materials the toys were made from.