Welcome to Owl - Year 1!

Saturday 11th April

We would just like to say that we are loving seeing all of the photos you are sending in to us.  It's amazing to see so many of you enjoying exciting activities with your families.  Your brains are growing in many different ways, and you are creating magical memories together.  We are very proud of you all.  Keep having fun and have a lovely Easter.

From Mrs Taaffe & Mrs Banks

Friday 13th March

Another week has flown by! English lessons have been all about The Gingerbread Man this week. We've re-told the story, drawn story maps, designed our own gingerbread men and used adjectives to describe the characters and settings. Next week we will be writing our own versions of the story!

We squeezed in a quick trip to Australasia yesterday and learnt about the animals and birds that can be found in Australia and New Zealand. While we were there we used our art skills to create our own piece of Aboriginal artwork and representation of the Sydney Opera House. 

We will be heading off for a three week trip to our final continent, Europe, next week! If the children have any photos or memories from a European holiday they are welcome to bring these in on Thursdays to share with the class. 

Next week our tricky words are - what, call, called.

Wednesday 11th March

As well as it being Science day today, the children have spent some time this morning looking at and discussing the various coins in the purse they brought in.  They loved this, and they had so much fun showing each other their purse they had chosen and they felt very grown up having their own money!  There was so much rich discussion in class about the size and colour of coins, as well as the same value coin having different pictures on the back.  Their mathematical vocabulary was being used and they are beginning to understand that coins have different values and they are 'worth' different amounts.  Here are some pictures of their activities...

Please continue to use money with your child as it will help to embed their understanding of the value of each coin, and it reinforces that money is used in everyday life!

There has been homework set today on Volume and Capacity.  A copy of this is posted on the 'homework' icon of the website. 

Friday 6th March

What a busy week we've had!

We continued our travels around South America, exploring the Amazon Rainforest and Machu Picchu. We learnt about the artist Henry Rousseau and focused on his painting 'Tiger in a Storm' in English and Art lessons.

We had fun day yesterday celebrating World Book Day. Everyone looked great in their costumes and enjoyed creating their own Mr Men character. Make sure you look in the book bags for copies of our work! 

Our words next week are - when, look, looked.

Friday 28th February

This week we traveled to South America and enjoyed exploring the Amazon Rainforest, learning about its 4 layers! Ask us to tell you about the animals we saw there! We researched our chosen animal and created posters using the facts we found. Make sure you have a look at our work displayed on the windows. Next week we will continue to explore the Amazon during our English and Topic lessons. 

Our common exception words next week are - oh, their, people.

Friday 7th February

What a busy few weeks we have had!

We enjoyed boarding the plane to our second continent 'Asia' and have learnt about Chinese New Year and how to write our names using the Chinese alphabet. Yesterday we followed instructions to make onion bhajis and raita and today we wrote our own instructions for how to make them. Thank you to those who took the post its for cooking ingredients, it was very much appreciated! We are proud of all the children for trying their finished products and completing their evaluation sheets with thoughtful responses. Quite a few children were asking for the recipe to make them again at home. Please look in the useful resources folder above for the recipe!

We're looking forward to jetting off to Africa next week! 

Our tricky words next week are - because, any, many. 

Wednesday 29th January

We are reading the text Rumble in the Jungle at the moment and the children acted out the story amazingly on Tuesday.  They got into character of their chosen jungle animal and read out their part of the story while performing actions of what their character was doing.  Well done to all children.  Their confidence is definitely growing each time they perform!  Here are some photos...

The children have worked extremely hard in their maths lessons this week.  They have had to concentrate and focus on their work so much as they are learning some tricky subtraction methods.  We are very proud of all of the children for their effort, and we will be continuing with this topic next week too.

Friday 24th January

Owl Class have loved reading The Snow Bear! Lots of role play, oral re-telling of the story and discussion about the characters last week has meant they were able to confidently write their own versions this week. Have a look below at some of their fantastic stories!

Our words next week are - put, push, pull, full.

Wednesday 22nd January 

The children have worked very hard so far this week and have been growing their brain so much!  We continue to be very proud of them.  We are challenging ourselves to beat our previous score playing Topmarks Hit the Button focusing on number bonds to 10 then 20, as well as doubles and halves of numbers to 10.  Please can you practice this at home so we can continue to reach a higher score!  The link to the website is below...

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

Thank you for handing in the Length and Height homework today.  The children will be using this soon in lessons when we start this topic.  

Friday 17th January

We have loved reading The Snow Bear and can't wait to write our own versions next week. We started our travels around the world, with a flight across the Atlantic Ocean to our first continent 'North America'. While we were there we investigated how animals living in parts of Canada and areas around the Arctic Circle keep warm. Please ask us to tell you what we are doing in the pictures below and what we found out! We also enjoyed looking at pictures from when one of our little Owls lived in Chicago. We will be continuing to travel around Canada, USA and Mexico next week so if anyone has anything to share with the class, please bring in on Thursday. 

Our words next week are - friend, school.

Friday 10th January

Happy New Year! Owl Class have returned to school with so much enthusiasm and we are very much looking forward to the term ahead. 

This week in Maths, we have been looking at number bonds to 20 and addition within 20. Ask us to tell you how to systematically find all number bonds and the important rules for adding using a number line. 

In English, we have written some fantastic sentences sharing who we visited, what we watched, ate, gave and received during the Christmas holidays. We used our editing skills to improve our sentences too. 

This term during our Wonderful World topic we will visit all seven continents! Today we have signed our passports and our ready to travel the world. Our first stop will be the continent of North America! If anyone has anything to share linked to North America, please bring it in on Thursday. 

Our common exception words next week are - ask, one, once

Thursday 19th December

It's not often you are invited to a medieval banquet by the King! What a great time we had learning about foods eaten during Medieval times and comparing to the foods we eat today. We were treated to entertainment by jesters and musicians and even had a go at jousting. There was even a joust between King Banks and King Taaffe! Both think they won!

Tuesday 17th December

The children have been exceptionally busy in the run up to the Christmas break.  They are all definitely ready for a rest!  The Place Value within 20 Maths Newsletter was sent home today as the children finished this unit of work recently.  Please take the opportunity to share this with your child and have some fun consolidating their learning.  In their book bag there is also an update of where your child is at learning the alphabet.  We learn to say it correctly, then write it in lower case letters followed by upper case letters.  Please continue to read with your child over the Christmas holidays and enjoy some lovely books together.   

This week we have been enjoying The Snowman story.  The children have loved imagining where their very own snowman would take them if they had the opportunity.  Australia, The North Pole and Sweet Kingdom were just some of the suggestions! 

Friday 13th December

The highlight of this week has to be the Christmas play! We are so proud of Owl Class for learning their songs and performing amazingly in both shows. We hope you enjoyed watching it as much as we did!

In between rehearsals and performances we have written instructions to make a medieval shield, solved weight problems and learnt about the life of William the Conqueror and his role in the building of castles. We read the book 'Will's Dream' and acted it out as a class. Have a look at the pictures below!

Next week we will be revising all common exception words covered this term. Please continue to practise reading and writing these at home. 

Friday 6th December

What a busy week we've had! 

In English, we have been identifying the features of instruction texts and in Topic we have followed instructions to make our own shields! We came up with our own individual designs a few weeks ago and we think we've done a fantastic job with our finished products! Have a look at the gallery below. 

In Maths, we have been comparing and ordering 'teen' numbers and using our knowledge to solve problems. Thank you for all the effort that has gone into the recent homework activity, we are looking forward to sharing our knowledge next week.

Our common exception words next week are - come, some

Friday 22nd November

What a busy week! We've loved reading the book 'The Knight and the Dragon'. We've shared our knowledge of knights and dragons, used role play to explore the character's feelings and written sentences to describe what happened at various points in the story. We also helped Mrs Banks grown her brain to draw a story map! Next week we'll be writing sentences to re-tell the story so make sure you ask us over the weekend to re-tell it to you! 

We've also learnt about Heraldry and have designed our own shields thinking about which colours, patterns and symbols best represent us. We are looking forward to using our designs to make shields in a few weeks time.

Our common exception words next week are - here, there, where

Wednesday 20th November

The children have been enjoying all aspects of their learning so far this week!  They were delighted to share their recent  3D and 2D Maths homework with eachother, and they have been using and referring to it throughout Maths lessons this week.  The children have really benefitted from their homework activities and it's lovely to see and hear so much enthusiasm.  Thank you for all of your support!  Here are some photos of our maths work this week...

There is a new homework task to be completed and handed in by Wednesday 4th December.  Please click on the 'homework' icon above for further details.

Friday 15th November 

What a busy few days in Owl class!

Yesterday we used all the ideas we gathered earlier in the week to create a class acrostic poem about castles. We are very proud poets! We've learnt how castles have changed over time and have applied our subtraction/addition knowledge to solve and explain a variety of problems. 

Our common exception words next week are - by, my, love

Wednesday 13th November

This week we have been continuing our learning of how to add and subtract a variety of ways.  All of the children are developing their skills and enjoying experimenting with different methods, it's a delight to see them 'grow their brains' so much!

Next week we will be using the recent 2D and 3D shape homework to begin our sequence of learning in Maths, so thank you for investing the time at home together.  Here are some examples of the fantastic homework...

The new Topic Web has been uploaded to this site to please make sure you have a look at it to see what we will be learning this half term.

Friday 8th November

What a great first week back we've had in Owl Class! Following our trip to Windsor Castle we wrote recounts of the day using adverbs of time. We started our 'Curious about Castles' topic by sharing what we already know and questions we have. We loved playing with the model castles and learning the names of the main parts. 

Our common exception words next week are - go, no, so

Wednesday 6th November

We had a fabulous trip to Windsor Castle yesterday.  The weather was very kind to us and we saw many wonderful sights.  The day started with watching the guards march to the band playing after the changing of the guard ceremony.  We then walked to Windsor Castle for our workshop 'Knights Wanted'.  We learnt how to become a knight and were finally knighted by the Queen, (Mrs.Harbin)!!  Afterwards we toured the castle, taking in sights such as the famous Queen Mary's Dolls' House, the State Apartments, St.George's Chapel and The China Museum.  The children were in awe of almost everything they saw, as were we!  Here are a few photos of our trip...

The children came up with 24 questions they wanted to find answers to before we went on our trip.  We have already answered some of them, and we will be continuing our research on castles in the forthcoming weeks, where we aim to answer all of them.  Please take the opportunity to visit your local library and look through some non-fiction books about castles and find out more interesting facts!

Wednesday 23rd October

It has been a very busy week so far.  The children have been learning how to find missing numbers in Maths, using the part-whole model as well as counting on using a number line.  They have been investigating how to find the 'whole', and one of the 'parts'.  In English, our learning is centered around the story 'Owl Babies'.  The children loved acting the story out today in the bluebell woods.  Here are some pictures...

To celebrate 'World Food Day', each class focused on a country and the children tasted various food from that country.  We rotated around the school so each class tasted each country's foods.  Year 1 was Italy, Year 2 was India and Reception was Scotland.  The children loved trying the different foods and it was interesting talking to all of them finding out which was their favourite.  Surprisingly, minestrone soup was a clear favourite!  

Attached is the homework the children must hand in after half-term.  Please have lots of fun doing it, as well as regular reading.

Friday 18th October

Owl class had some great news on Monday morning...our applications were successful and all of us were invited to commence astronaut training straightaway! The training tasks included: researching planets & creating a fact book, carrying out a scientific investigation, exploring what it would be like to go into Space including tasting space food, attempting to write upside down and moon walking on giant sponges! We also had to complete a fitness test, design and make moon buggies, design a rocket using 2D shapes and write about a recent mission.  Sounds exhausting doesn't it! You will be pleased to know we all passed our astronaut training and the ESA will keep us in mind for the future! We've had lots of fun and learnt so much in the process! Have a look at the slideshow of photos below.

Our common exception words next week are - you, your, they

Friday 11th October 2019

We're loving the Space topic in Owl Class and some of us got a chance to enter our very own space station today! The rest of the class can't wait to get in there next week!

Yesterday we came across an advert from the European Space Agency who are looking to recruit future astronauts. Having read the qualities which are need to be an astronaut we decided to apply! We're hoping to hear back from the ESA soon to see if we have been successful with our applications! Finger crossed! 

Donations of rolls of tin foil in preparation for Thursday's Topic lesson would be gratefully received. Thanks in advance!

Our common exception words next week are - has, his, I 

Wednesday 9th October 2019

It's been an exceptionally busy week in Year 1.  The children have been concentrating so hard and growing their brains in lots of different areas!  In English we have been reading the book 'The Darkest Dark'.  The children have been predicting what happens in the story thought about how the astronaut, Chris, felt in certain parts of the book.  They have been writing sentences to explain these feelings.  We will be continuing with the topic of Space for the rest of this week and next.

In Maths we have been concentrating on addition, and partitioning numbers, using objects to help us.  We have just started to explore number families and how each number relates to each other in a number sentence.  The children have learnt that 'equals' means 'the same as'.  

Attached below is our first Maths Newsletter.  This contains information about all aspects of maths that the children have been learning since they started their journey in Year 1.  We are sending a hard copy out today as well as being on the website, but all future issues will be placed on the website only.  We hope you will find that this is a useful document to talk about maths at home with your child.  Please encourage them to show you some of the things they have been learning, and have fun together!

Friday 4th October 2019

Another week has flown by!

We have loved playing our own board game using our 'Would you rather...' questions from earlier in the week. We've also enjoyed exploring the work of Pablo Picasso and creating our own masterpieces in a similar style. 

Our common exception words next week are: were, was, is

Wednesday 2nd October 2019

It's been a really busy start to the week, and we have already grown our brains so much!  In English we are studying the text book 'Would You Rather...'.  The children are loving making choices of scenarios they prefer to do, and giving reasons for their choices.  Today, they have created their own choices of activities they may prefer to do, and some of them have been very creative!  We will be continuing with this book for the rest of the week.  

In Maths we have been learning about ordinal numbers.  We have been looking at how first, second and third are very different from saying one, two and three.  It would be very useful if you could chat about this at home, and in particular use the red Practice Book to practise the spelling of ordinal numbers, (first, second, third.....etc), in addition to the spellings of cardinal numbers, (one, two, three.....etc).  Please only practise up to 10 at this point.

The children have been practising spelling the three tricky words during Phonics lessons, so please continue to practise these at home.  Creating a sentence using each word is also a great way to embed the meaning of the word.

Friday 27th September

We've had another great week in Owl Class!

This week in Maths we have been comparing groups of objects, comparing numbers, ordering objects and solving problems. 

In English we've been looking at the structure of simple sentences and today have written our own great sentences using capitals, finger spaces and full stops!

We've also grown our brains lots during Science, Topic and PE lessons! 

Our common exception words next week are: said, says, are

Friday 20th September

What a great first few weeks we've had in Owl Class!

This week in Maths we have been counting forwards and backwards from a given number within 20 and have been identifying 1 more than and 1 less than numbers within 10. If you could continue practising this at home it would really help to consolidate the learning. 

In English we've been looking at the different features on Fiction and Non Fiction books and have been identifying and writing our own labels.

We loved getting outside for our Topic lesson where we used natural resources to create self portraits!

Our common exception words next week are: to, today, of