Y1 OWLS 2021-2022

Friday 15th July

The final full week of the year has been a busy one as usual! 

In Maths, we have been sequencing events in chronological order, recognising & using language relating to time, telling the time to the hour and half hour and solving various time related word problems. Continued practice over the summer break would be really beneficial. 

We've enjoyed learning about the zones of the ocean in Science and created our own detailed scenes to show what we have learnt. 

We've also had fun exploring in between our learning times! 

Friday 8th July

Today we enjoyed a trip to the British seaside! We made sandcastles, explored the rock pool, played beach games, visited the cafe and ice cream parlour, watched a Punch and Judy show, relaxed on the beach with friends, played archery and finished the day with ice lollies. A few of us even had a funny photo taken! A non stop day but lots of fun had by all and so lovely to hear the children say how much they enjoyed it. 

We hope you like the photos!

Friday 1st July

What a busy week we've had!

In English, the children have been ordering words in alphabetically and using dictionaries to find the meaning of various words. We were really impressed with how they applied their knowledge of the alphabet and were able to find the words with their partner. Next week we will be looking at glossaries and the children will be writing their own 'seaside' themed glossary.

In Maths, we have started our learning about fractions and have been finding halves of shapes. All children have a great understanding of this.

In RE, we have been learning about Hindu temples and the children made their own using lego. Have a look at the pictures below! We think they are brilliant.

In Topic, we have been comparing the British seaside now to Victorian times. We found quite a few things that were different but also many things that are the same. Ask your children to tell you what we found out! 

Next week's tricky words: more, before, any, eye

Next week's phonics: 'ea' pronounced /e/

Wednesday 29th June

Owl Class have had the most fantastic day at the Look Out Discovery Centre. The children loved all the hands on exhibits and playing in the amazing play park, what a busy day we had! Enjoy the photos and hopefully your child will tell you all about their favourite experiences. 

Friday 24th June

It's been a busy week in Owl Class!

We've thoroughly enjoyed reading The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch over the past few weeks. All the drama activities, re-telling the story, drawing story maps and describing the characters has led to some fantastic writing! The children are looking forward to sharing their diaries with you at next week's book look!

In Topic, we shared our knowledge of British seaside resorts and thought about what we might see if we were looking out from the gallery deck of a lighthouse. The children then used measuring, cutting and drawing skills to create their own lighthouse picture. 

What a great morning we had at Sports Day! The children all participated with enthusiasm, determination and encouragement for their team mates. There were lots of happy children who said they loved the morning's events. We are very proud of them all.

Next week's tricky words: Wednesday, brother, different, because

Next week's phonics: 'ph' pronounced /f/

Wednesday 22nd June

This week the children are doing some extended writing based on The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch.  They have shown great concentration and applied their knowledge of adjectives as well as correct punctuation.  We will be continuing this throughout the week so we are excited to see their finished piece of writing.  This will be available for you to see in our forthcoming book look.  In maths the children have set up their own shop and named it.  They have selected the objects they want to sell and priced them.  They have loved taking turns in being the customer and the shopkeeper buying and selling using real money from their purses/wallets.  They have also been comparing different amounts of coins, selecting and adding up each set.  Some children wanted to take some blank price tags home to set up their own shop so please send in photos so we can share them in school during news time.  Here are some photos of the week so far... 

Science

This afternoon we made the most of the glorious weather and went outside with our 'Summer Spots' sheet to observe signs of summer. Then children found caterpillars. bramble flowers, leaves, bumblebees and much more! They are bringing these home to continue their spotting! We also spoke about our very exciting trip to the Look Out Discovery Centre next week - don't forget your packed lunch!

Friday 17th June

It's been a busy and rather hot end to the week! 

Today we found Fred the seagull's diary in the outdoor area but sadly it had some pages missing. This gave us the idea to write diaries next week as if we are Fred. In preparation for this the children all had to imagine they were Fred and answer questions based on the events of the book. They had lots of fun with this and really got into role!

In Topic we continued our learning about lighthouses and explored the life of Grace Darling. We looked at the names and functions of different parts of a lighthouse. 

In PE, we practised the sports day events and are very much looking forward to the real thing next Friday. Fingers crossed for a slightly dry, cooler day! 

Next week's tricky words: Monday, Tuesday, many, laughed

Next week's phonics: 'g' pronounced /j/, 'c' pronounced /s/

Wednesday 15th June

This week we have been discussing and learning about coins and notes in maths.  The children have loved using the real coins in their purse or wallet during maths lessons.  They have been exploring the shape, colour and value of each coin as well as making an amount using different variations of coins.  In English the children have been hot seating playing the different characters in the text 'The Lighthouse Keepers Lunch'.  They had so much fun doing this activity, and their questioning and answers were very detailed!  Here are some photos of the week so far.

Science

The children have enjoyed learning about the fish, discovering where they live, how they eat and their important features. They drew a fish of their choice and labelled its features. The children loved sharing lots of interesting facts they knew about fish and sea life with the rest of the class. 

Friday 10th June

Owls have had a great first week back! We've loved reading The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch in English lessons. We've discussed the characters giving evidence from the text, written some fantastic sentences using alternative words for 'said' and even had a go at using speech marks. Owls are always up for a challenge which we love! 

We have started our 'Lighthouse Lookout' topic sharing our knowledge of lighthouses and learning about where they are located and their purpose. There were also lots of interesting questions which we will hopefully answer throughout this next half term.

Tricky words & Phonics - next week we will be revising sounds and words already taught. 

Wednesday 8th June

We started the week with our very last Forest School session.  We had so much fun with Mrs. Finn making dens to shelter in should the rain take us by surprise!  The final test after making them was to see if they were waterproof.  A bottle of water was poured over them, and we are pleased to say that all of the shelters did the job.  We were feeling very proud of ourselves!  In maths this week have been continuing our learning about place value up to 100.  We were building numbers using tens and ones dienes, comparing them and saying which was the largest and which was the smallest, explaining how we know using mathematical language.  In English we have started reading a new text called 'The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch'.  We have looked at the characters in more detail and will be continuing with this book for the next few weeks.  Here are some photos of the week so far...

Friday 27th May

We've had a great week to end yet another brilliant half term! 

Yesterday we enjoyed 'Decades Day', learning about the crown jewels, toys from the past and the Union Jack and creating our own versions. Today we had a visit from a local resident, who attended the school during the time of the Queen's Coronation. The children listened respectfully and had some great questions to ask him. 

Over the last few weeks the children have created and practised performing their own dinosaur themed raps. Today we have filmed them to share with you all at home. We hope you enjoy them! 

We hope you all have a lovely half term break! If anyone is visiting the British seaside this week then please can you send Owl Class a postcard showing where you are! Or if you have any family or friends living there, maybe you could ask them to send us one. This is in preparation for our seaside topic next half term. Thank you

Wednesday 25th May

The children enjoyed exploring the micro-habitats of all the different insects that live in the Bluebells. They recorded which insects they found and where they found them on a tally chart and then we transferred this information onto a bar graph to see which were the most and least common insects. 

Tuesday 24th May

We started the week with a bang by going to Dinosaur Golf!  We all played the full 18 holes and had great fun.  We were reading some dinosaur facts that were written on the signs placed all around the golf course, as well as some maths when we were adding our scores.  Some of the holes were very tricky and frustrating, but we were all 'persevering parrots' and kept trying!  Here are some photos of the day...

Friday 20th May

It's been a busy but very productive week in Owl class! 

Finally, our baby dinosaur hatched after many weeks of waiting and checking! It's a Stegosaurus and after a whole class vote we have named him Eric!

In yesterday's topic lesson we looked at the features of maps and created our own maps of the classroom. 

Today we explored Jordans Village and created maps to see if we could find a suitable place to release Eric. We had lots of different views where the best place would be and eventually decided we think it would be best to keep it for a while in school. We wrote some very persuasive letters to Mrs Swain giving reasons why we should be allowed to keep it as a class pet rather than release it. Luckily she agreed! 

Next week's words: friend, school

Next week we are revisiting the following sounds: ie, aw

Wednesday 18th May

The children had an exciting afternoon of science! We used the shoe boxes you kindly sent in to make habitat boxes. The children investigated which habitat a woodlouse might choose and why. They used habitats from the Bluebells such as leaves, soil, stones and put a woodlouse down to see which habitat it chose. We talked about why it might choose that habitat. The children thought of lots of scientific reasons including; its dark, damp, protection from predators and food. The children can take their habitat boxes home and recreate the investigation with other minibeasts!

Tuesday 17th May

We had an amazing time in Forest School this week.  We learnt how a horse chestnut tree begins life, and Mrs. Finn brought in her horse chestnut conker seeds that had sprouted over two growing seasons, (two years), and we tipped them out of the small bucket to see what it looked like.  We were all very excited.  We used some rocks as tools to break up other rocks.  We wore our protective eye equipment while doing this activity!  Here are some photos of Forest School... 

Friday 13th May

What a productive few days we've had in Owl Class! The children produced some amazing writing, imagining they were Tom from our current text. They re-told his adventure to the Island of Dinosaurs, using a range of sentence openers and adjectives.

In Topic we learnt about the life and discoveries of the famous fossil hunter Mary Anning. They made their own fossils using salt dough which hopefully made it safely home to you today! We've also been practising performing our dinosaur raps and look forward to adding sound effects to these next week. 

Finally, we think we may have heard some movement from the box housing the suspected dinosaur egg and are hoping it may hatch soon!

Next week's words: our, house, once

Next week we are revisiting the following sounds: au, ey, ai

Wednesday 11th May

In Science we linked our learning about dinosaurs in English. We set up an experiment to explore how fossils are formed. The children used bread as layers of sedimentary rock and gummy sweets as small animals. Over time the bread squashed down over the sweets and fossils of the sweets were formed in between the layers - just like fossils were formed in rocks over millions of years! The children also sorted dinosaurs according to what they ate - carnivore, herbivore, omnivore. Thank you to a member of Owl Class  for sharing how her bean is growing at home, it was so exciting to see it's progress!

Tuesday 10th May

Monday was our second session in Forest School.  The weather was amazing and the children had so much fun digging, planting, hammering some herbs and smelling their sweet smell, as well as painting bluebells, leaf identification and spotting wildlife living in our woods.  We are continuing our topic of multiplication in maths and the children have been using objects to make arrays, and using mathematical language such as columns and rows to explain the array they had made.  Everyone was careful when arranging the objects to ensure they were neatly formed.  They challenged themselves to arrange different sized objects so make arrays, which in some cases they found quite tricky.  In English we are continuing with the text of Tom and the Island of Dinosaurs looking at interesting sentence openers in readiness for some writing.  Some Growth Mindset resources have also been uploaded to our Google Classroom Owls page as we have been exploring feelings related to tricky learning.  Here are some photos of the week so far...

Friday 6th May

We've had another great few days in Owl Class! The children have loved reading 'Tom and the Island of Dinosaurs'. They came up with some amazing adjectives while playing with the dinosaur small world and watching a volcanic eruption. They used these to describe what they might see, hear, feel, taste and smell if they were on the island. Next week they will be imagining they are Tom and writing about their adventures. 

In Topic yesterday, the children enjoyed creating and started to perform their own dinosaur raps thinking about rhythm, rhyme and repetition. They'll continue to practise these over the next few weeks and even include some instrumental backing!

Next week's words: put, push, pull, full

Next week we are revisiting the following sounds: i_e, o_e, u_e, ir, oa

Wednesday 4th May

All of the children have come back from the long weekend break with lots of energy and enthusiasm!  In English we are reading Tom and the Island of Dinosaurs, and we have been sequencing the story as well as role play.  The children got into character very well and enjoyed it.  We have started to group objects into equal groups and added equal amounts as an introduction to the topic of multiplication.  Here are some photos of the week so far.

Science

We have continued with our topic learning about plants this week. We explored the different types of leaves and trees we could find in the Bluebells and school grounds. The children then used the leaves to make a leaf rubbing key to help identify the different types of trees. We also talked about deciduous and evergreen trees, how they are different and how we can tell them apart. 

Friday 29th April

What an exciting week we've had back at school!

Did you hear we found what we think is a dinosaur egg in the Year 1 outdoor area? After lots of discussion we decided to bring it in so predators don't get to it. We used non-fiction books to research the best way to look after it and it's now safely tucked in a box with leaves, twigs, a blanket and a teddy to keep it warm. Some of us were a little concerned about leaving it over the weekend and decided the best thing was for Mrs Banks to take it to Mrs Taaffe's house to look after it. BUT Mrs Taaffe hasn't been in our lessons this week to know how to look after it, so we wrote some amazing instructions for her.

Next week we will be revising sounds and tricky words covered so far in Year 1. 

Wednesday 27th April

It's been great to welcome the children back after the Easter break.  They have all settled back in well and are having lots of fun chatting and playing with their friends.  We thoroughly enjoyed Forest School on Monday and learnt about the Japanese art of transferring leaf dye to fabric by hammering.  Mrs. Finn was extremely knowledgeable and we had so much fun experimenting.  In English we are learning about Instructions, and practised listening to and giving instructions of how to wash a dinosaur.  The children were excited to give them a good scrub so all of the mud was washed off.  Here are some photos of the week so far...

Science

The children had lots of fun observing carefully signs of spring around school. They observed very carefully and drew so many different signs including - insects, flowers, deciduous leaves, birds, buds, blossom and saplings. 

Friday 8th April

What a fantastic week we've had in Owl class to end the spring term!

Yesterday we had a very productive DT day! We started the day learning about different ways to join cardboard rather than using glue or tape. The children designed their own famous landmarks from around the world and made them using everyday cardboard and plastic waste. It was great to see some of the joins being used in the making process! The children then had to evaluate their finished products thinking about what worked well, what was challenging and what they would do differently next time. 

Their landmarks will be on display outside the classroom at the end of the day for you to view.

Wednesday 6th April

We have had such an exciting week so far in Owl Class. The children enjoyed cooking (making chocolate Easter nests), we talked about how heat changed the chocolate bar solid to liquid in the microwave - enjoy eating them! 

All the children were amazing in the Easter assembly, we were so proud of their creative poems and how confidently the spoke - a huge well done! In science we observed our amazing beans and measured them. They have been sent home today, please replant then in a bigger pot if you can. It would be best to keep them inside until the end of April. Please send in updates of how your beans are growing at home! Have a lovely Easter break. 

Friday 1st April

What a busy few days we've had in Owl class. 

In English, the children have used their storymaps from earlier in the week to write their own versions of The Gingerbread Man. We are so impressed with their writing. They've not only thought about using the correct punctuation, neat handwriting and spellings but  interesting adjectives and a range of sentence starters too! We're looking forward to them finishing their writing next week. 

In Maths, we have continued to consolidate our learning of place value within 50. 

In Topic, we discussed different modes of transport around the world and found a song about a few of the different types. We practised singing and used a variety of instruments to keep a steady beat. 

A very productive few days! 

Next week's alternative spellings: Revision - /oo/ /n/ /ng/ /ow/ 

Next week's tricky words: some, come, who, were

Wednesday 30th March

The children have had fantastic start to the week.

In Maths they have been consolidating previous learning, looking at place value within 50.

In English they have started planning their own version of the Gingerbread Man, changing the setting and some of the characters. The children have also been creative, using their cutting and printing skills to make some Easter art for our assembly next week.

In Science we were wowed by how much the beans have grown - some as tall as the children! We made some careful observations and measured how tall the beans are. 

Friday 25th March

This week has flown by! 

Yesterday in English, we created a storymap of The Gingerbread Man. Storymaps are great in helping children re-tell stories using the images as reminders of the main events. It has been great to see some children drawing their own independently in exploring time! Today the children chose new settings in preparation for writing their own versions next week. 

In topic this week we explored the four countries of the UK and labelled a map with the names of the countries and their capitals. If any children have been on holidays to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland and have photos or items they would like to share with the class then please let us know. 

Next week's alternative spellings: /ow/ /ng/

Next week's tricky words: water, there, where, again, thought, through, work, mouse

Wednesday 23rd March

The children have had a fantastic day! The have been exploring capacity in Maths and measured how many cups of water filled up different shape and size containers. In English they have been reading 'The Gingerbread Man', created their own version of the main character and described him - the class thought of so many amazing adjectives! In Science we were amazed by how much the beans have grown in 1 week - all the sunshine has certainly helped! We also explored the Bluebells for different leaves and as a group thought about various ways to sort them. 

Friday 18th March

We've had another great few days in Owl class. 

The children used their ideas, gathered earlier in the week, to create some fantastic spring poems. We look forward to sharing these with you at our Easter assembly in a few weeks time. 

In Topic, we travelled to our final continent, Europe! We learnt of some of the wonderful natural and manmade sights found there and were lucky enough to have some Owls share facts and photos from their previous travels. We are staying in Europe for the next few weeks and will be focussing on the countries which make up the United Kingdom. If the children have photos or information to share please do let me know. 

Next week's alternative spellings: /oo/ (y)/oo/ /n/

Next week's tricky words: old, don't, water, there, where, again

Wednesday 16th March

We have had such a fun week so far in Owl Class! 

The children have been learning about poetry in English and wrote down all of their ideas about spring ready to write their own poems. In Maths they have been learning about weight, exploring the balancing scales and estimating and weighing using cubes.

Today was Science day! The children enjoyed visiting all the classes. They made magic rainbows in Year 2, a lava lamp in Year R and slime in Year 1. We also carried out a some fun science 'explosions' in Year 1 which were very exciting! 

Friday 11th March

We've had a great end to the week in Owl Class!

In Maths, we used our knowledge of measuring using standard units to solve word problems. The children are doing really well using rulers to measure and draw lines in centimetres and it would be great if you could continue to practise this at home.

In English, we started reading the text Meerkat Mail and partway through found a postcard from Sunny the meerkat, asking us if we thought it was a good idea for him to move from Africa to Antarctica. Before we could reply to him, we needed to find out a bit more about meerkats and the Kalahari Desert. We then used this information and our knowledge of Antarctica to write letters advising him that he must definitely NOT GO! Have a look below at some of our brilliant writing. 

In Topic, we travelled to our penultimate continent Africa. We learnt about the animals we might see on safari and the famous landmarks. We enjoyed watching a Go Jetters episode about the Mountain Gorillas in The Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

Next week we will be flying to our final continent Europe. We If anyone has any information or photos they would like to share with the class about European countries then please do send an email to the Owls email address. 

Next week's alternative spellings: /oa/ /m/ /igh/ /f/

Next week's tricky words: day, made, came, make, some, come, who, were

Wednesday 9th March

In science we are continuing to learn about plants. The children drew and labelled a plant then they all planted their own bean! The children enjoyed getting messy and using soil to plant their bean seed in a pot. We have left them on the windowsill so the sun can shine on them and will water then every other day. The children will be completing a bean diary each week and observing their plant grow. 

Tuesday 8th March

After exploring measuring classroom objects with non-standard units of measure (cubes, dominoes...), we moved on to using a ruler accurately.  We measured carefully by starting at the zero on the ruler and holding the object still.  It was lots of fun comparing the length and height of our chosen items in centimetres (cm).

Friday 4th March

We had a great day yesterday, celebrating World Book Day. The children loved sharing their characters and books with their friends. They drew fantastic drawings and wrote some really great character descriptions.

Today, we continued our travels around the continent of Australasia exploring the wildlife, climates and landmarks of Australia and New Zealand. We also learnt about the history of Indigenous Art and creating our own dot paintings. We also used our cutting, organisation and sticking skills to create our own versions of the Sydney Opera House. Both the tasks involved a lot of concentration and perseverance. We look forward to showing you these during our book look next week!

Next week, we are travelling to our sixth continent, Africa. Please do let us know if there is anything you can share with us.

Next week's alternative spellings: /oa/ /m/

Next week's tricky words: water, where, who, again, thought, through, work, mouse

Wednesday 3rd March

The children have enjoyed starting our new science topic all about plants. They carefully observed different types of seeds and thought about how they were similar/different. We also talked about what plants need to grow. If you are growing anything at home please send photos in of your growing plants! 

Thursday 17th February

A busy week so far.  The children have been exploring tens and ones, comparing and ordering numbers as well as number bonds to 10, 20, doubles and halves.  They have been using numicon very well to help build up an image of number bonds, doubles and halves in their head, so they can recall each one.  In English we have been exploring the text Katie's Picture Show and using our knowledge of the rainforest to describe features of one of the pictures she disappears into!  Here are some pictures of the week so far...

Wednesday 16th February

Science

The children really enjoyed consolidating all our learning about animals. They chose their favourite animal and drew it. Then they chose which category it belonged to - reptile, mammal, fish, bird or amphibian. After that they labelled their picture with information about their animal. What super scientists you are Owl Class!!! Have a fantastic half term! 

Friday 11th February

This week, we travelled to the continent of South America our travels around South America, exploring the Amazon Rainforest in both English and Topic lessons. We used our research from earlier in the week to create fact files, about rainforest animals.

In Topic, we learnt about the artist Henri Rousseau and focused on his painting 'Surprised'. We found out that he never actually visited the rainforest but used his imagination to create many paintings whilst living in Paris. We began to create our own rainforest painting using our imaginations. First we used watery paint to create a 'wash'. By adding paint to water we learnt that it flows easily across the paper and provides a light layer of colour. Next we added plants, leaves, trees and grass using a variety of shades of green and a range of different techniques. Next week we will add animals and additional features. We can't wait to share our finished paintings with you!

Next week's alternative spellings: /ai/ /ee/ /c/ /ch/

Next week's tricky words: oh, their, people, I'm, by, time

Wednesday 9th February

The children have had so much fun this week.  In P.E we learnt about the Winter Olympics, and the types of sports featured.  We watched some video clips of ice skating and ice dancing which inspired the children so much to create their own 'ice dance'.  We took some features of the Torville and Dean's Bolero dance and incorporated them into our routine.  The children were creative and had a fantastic time!  They were also interested to watch some of the Winter Olympic sports, and some of them came into class this morning and told us they had watched some snowboarding, curling and ice dancing.  In maths we have been learning about tens and ones within the range of 50.  The children are explaining their answers and showing how they know it is correct using various manipulatives.  In English we have learnt about proper nouns, and when we use them.  In addition to this we have started to write animal fact sheets about Animals living in the Amazon rainforest.  Here are some photos of the week so far...

Science

We have been on a bug hunt around the Bluebells to find the most common insect living in our school. The children loved exploring the insects habitats and we found that worms were the most common minibeast. Have a look in your garden or local park - What is the most common minibeast living there? 

Friday 4th February

What a busy few days we've had!

In English, we wrote an extra verse, related to our chosen animal from 'Rumble in the Jungle'. The expectations were that the content needed to be related to that animal and needed to include rhyming words! The children produced some amazing writing doing just that! They then went on to perform these to Deer class!

In Topic, enjoyed boarding the plane to our third continent 'Asia' and visited a few of the famous landmarks there. We also had a go at writing our names using the Chinese Alphabet. 

We're looking forward to jetting off to South America next week! 

Next week's alternative spellings: /ee/ /ch/

Next week's tricky words: said, so, have, like, day, made, came, cake

Wednesday 2nd February

This week the children have been learning about fact families in maths.  They have been using their knowledge of addition and subtraction to find various ways of representing a picture, writing their findings in the form of a number sentence.  They have worked extremely well in all maths activities, being concentrating crocodiles!  In English we are reading the text 'Rumble in the Jungle'.  The children chose an animal and performed actions as their partner read out the relevant page of the book.  We performed outside in the sunshine, which was very enjoyable.  We learnt lots of interesting facts about Chinese New Year yesterday.  The children were fascinated by the story behind the celebration.  They loved making a lantern and taking it home to show and share.  Here are somoe photos of the week so far...