Year 1
Welcome to Year 1, Summer 2022
This term, our curriculum theme is 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' and our Big Question is 'Why is it important to look after our world?'.
Our Year 1 geographers can already name the continents and oceans of the world. Now, they will look in more detail at the climate and landscapes of the tropical rainforests of South America, the Savannah grasslands and deserts of Africa and The Great Barrier Reef. As scientists, Year 1 will explore the diversity of plant and animal life within each contrasting habitat and learn about food chains and adaptation. We want the children to develop a sense of wonder at the incredible beauty and complexity of life on Earth, and begin to understand their role as protectors of the planet.
Please visit our web page throughout the term to share our learning experiences.
We had two super readers who read a book to the class at the end of the day! 🤩
This week we created our own clay sculptures in the style of Andy Goldsworthy. We focused on shape and texture.
Wow! Look at the amazing Andy Goldsworthy inspired artwork that Year 1 have created for their homework!
Andy Goldsworthy inspired art
Computing- digital writing
Look back at Year 1, Spring 2022
After our successful journey from Land's End to John O'Groats last term, the spirit of adventure once again prevails in Year 1! Our cross curricular topic is ‘To the Edge of the World’ as detailed on the curriculum poster below. Whilst it has a strong historical focus, it is also a perfect springboard to examine human courage and resilience in the face of adversity. We will be comparing the lives and achievements of Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong - as well as other lesser-known explorers who lived in very different times.
Please log in throughout the term to share our learning and experiences.
HAPPY EASTER from all of us in Year 1
Welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem!
Look at our amazing independent retellings of the Easter Story!
We performed a happy dance during the Easter Service to show that Jesus had risen again.
06.04.22: We’re continuing to learn about measuring and this week our focus is weight and mass. We’ve been using the balance scales to measure the mass of objects in cubes and are comparing weights using words like heavier and lighter.
It’s time to say goodbye to our tadpoles - many of them have grown into frogs 🐸 and they need to be in an appropriate habitat.
After acclimatising to the cool air, we took them to our school environmental area and gently released them into the pond. Good luck little frogs!
04.04.22: Today we created space themed collages using all the techniques we have learned this term. Take a look at some of these spectacular outcomes.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1... BLAST OFF! Year 1 are launched into outer space at the Immersive Dome in Devonport’s Market Hall. It was an incredible experience (we’ve had several requests for a return visit!) and enhanced our knowledge of space exploration and the Apollo 11 mission. We’ve tried to capture the dramatic 3D effect in a few photos.
Our class tadpoles seem to get very hungry at the end of the day. They love cucumber! Look closely and see if you can spot the tadpoles that have already grown legs. Soon they will be froglets and will need to return to their natural habitat.
23.03.22: Year 1 are using non-standard measures to measure items in our classroom. We are comparing lengths and height using words like; longer, shorter, taller, tallest etc.
Exploring collage techniques: Session 2 - today Year 1 learned how to change the shape of paper to create a 3D collage. They folded, zig zagged, curled, scrunched and feathered paper to create some beautiful effects which they may then apply to their final piece in a couple of weeks time.
16.03.24: we have been working on balance in gymnastics, both individually and in pairs. We’ve learned to balance on ‘points’ and ‘pads’ and have also used push and pull forces to improve our core strength. Take a look at some of our inventive, controlled balances.
Today we celebrated World Book Day! Look at all our brilliant costumes and pyjamas!
We read lots of great books with Year 4!
Austen from the library read us some hilarious books and poems!
World Book Day! Can you guess the name of the book after listening to the first line of the story?
Exploring collage techniques: Session 1 - painting with scissors. Today we studied the bold and vibrant collages of Henri Matisse. Year 1 then chose colours and simple shapes to represent a jungle in the Bahamas in the style of Matisse.
09.03.22: The Ice Trolls from Antarctica came to Year 1 today, but it was too warm for them and they started to melt! We worked scientifically to plan and carry out a class investigation and find a material which would keep them cold. We predicted which material would be the best insulator.
After 30 minutes we measured the amount of ice that had melted from each troll. Then we had to explain what we had discovered. Which material do you think will keep the ice trolls the coldest?
Year 1 take to the high seas in our Columbus Exploration Day: All sailors need a map! Columbus believed the world was a sphere. He wanted to reach the Indies in the East and thought he could reach it by travelling West from Spain. We plotted his journey on a map.
We baked ship’s biscuits for our long voyage West. They need to be baked and dry before we pack them into barrels. Hopefully we can eat them before the weevils appear!
In the 15th Century, sailors believed that they may be attacked by sea monsters as they crossed the oceans. We let our imaginations run wild, creating wonderful seaweed monsters. It was messy work!
When Columbus and his sailors reached the Bahamas, they encountered Native Americans. Columbus believed he’d reached the Indies, and called these people Indians. We made colourful headdresses for our role play this afternoon.
And now it’s time for our voyage...meet our hard working, brave sailors. Who knows what dangers lie ahead. Godspeed men!
Finally we arrive in the Bahamas and claim the land for Spain ... but there are already natives living in this land. We greet them and they share some exciting new foods with us - foods we’ve never eaten in Europe; potatoes, corn, peppers, tomatoes, pineapple, blueberries, papaya and even cocoa. We will take seeds back to Queen Isabella.
After reading ‘Where the Wild Things Are’, we’ve been creating our own dance moves for a ‘wild rumpus’.
We all copied William’s brilliant moves.
10.01.22: We introduced this term's history topic with a jigsaw challenge. Children worked in teams to re-assemble pictures from the past.
Their next task was to become historical detectives, looking closely at each picture to discover clues about the past and consider how the pictures are linked? They showed great curiosity and here are just a few things they want to find out...
Who is the man? (William B)
When was he born? (Elodie)
What was his job? (Leighton)
Was he a sailor? Was he a pirate? (Isaac)
Did the ship have a name? (Meena)
What is the ship like? (Harrison)
Is the ship English? (Benji)
Where is the ship going?(William L)
Was this a long time ago? (Beste)
Did he invade the other land? (Leon)
Did they attack other ships? (Charlie)
Look back at Year 1, Autumn 2021
There are many adventures to come this term, as Year 1 embark on a 'Grand Tour' of Great Britain, travelling the length and breadth of the country from Land's End to John O'Groats. This unit has a geographical and historical focus - we will be exploring the landscape, finding out about famous landmarks and people, sampling local foods, learning new languages and discovering what makes our islands special. The children's KS1 Supersaver travel passes are all ready for their first trip on board the Magical Mystery Tour Bus... keep checking our class page to join the adventure!
Meet the children in Year 1. Hello everyone!
16.12.21: Merry Christmas to you all! Christmas dinner was delicious. Thank you to Mrs Mc Culloch and her team.
14.12.21: We celebrated our journey from Land’s End to John O’ Groats with a ‘Great British Christmas Party’. We started the day by preparing our British feast - we baked scones with jam and Cornish clotted cream, made Scottish smoked salmon and cream cheese bites, cucumber sandwiches fit for the Queen and some fabulous biscuits iced as British flags. Scrumptious!
Today we completed our Christmas D.T projects. We each designed and built a toy with moving mechanisms to match the song ‘When Santa got stuck up the chimney’. Our Santas definitely won’t get stuck - we’ve used an axle with a handle so that we can wind our Santas smoothly up and down. We are so impressed with the children’s creative and technical skills and love their finished models. 🎅
Here Benji shows you his axle in motion...
07.12.21: We had another group STEM challenge today; how to build the tallest tower we could from a given number of wooden sticks and a lump of plasticine. It was very tricky! We needed to test out different ideas and communicate with each other.
A HUGE well done to all those children who are working hard to complete lots of challenges on Maths Shed and Spelling Shed - you've made it to the top of the whole school league this week. Phenomenal! 
A calm and creative afternoon as Year 1 paint Conwy Castle in the style of JMW Turner. Their focus is incredible!
Here are our finished paintings. We’ve tried to capture Turner’s dramatic skies and landscapes by mixing dark and light shades in our watercolour tins.
19.11.21: Today we completed our sponsored walk to raise money for Children in Need. We did a long circuit, walking from school to the Barbican and Hoe. It might not have been as far as the Land’s End to John O Groats route, but it certainly was a challenge.
A huge thank you to all parents, family members and friends who supported our children with this challenge. Year 1 and Year 2 managed to raise over £900 with some money still to be collected. We really appreciate your generosity in helping us to raise such an astonishing amount.
19.11.21 We all wore spots to raise money for Children in Need!
17.11.21: We wanted to celebrate and share our amazing poetry writing, so today we created a ‘pop up autumn display’ for everyone to enjoy.
Here is a copy of our poems. We worked in pairs to gather ideas, draft and then edit our poems with our 'purple polishing pens'! These are our final copies - click on each to enlarge.
16.11.21: Today we worked in pairs on a STEM investigation ... we had to build a strong bridge from just 1 sheet of paper! Our challenge was to try and change the shape of the paper and investigate how many cubes each bridge would hold. Here are our results.
10.11.21: This afternoon, we were lucky to have a storytelling session with a local author. Katherine Terris is an engineer in Devonport Dockyard. She recently wrote a book about a ship called Porty (based on real events in her job). She visited us virtually and we all enjoyed hearing about Porty’s adventures as well as her job as an engineer. We were also lucky enough to each take a book home, thanks to the Drake Foundation.
08.11.21: We have been learning how fire fighting has changed since The Great Fire of London. Today we had fun creating a human chain to pass buckets of water from the water tank to the ‘fire’. The children all agreed that it was exhausting work! Here’s a snippet ...
Great homework Year 1 - you’ve brought London to the classroom with your fabulous posters, maps and models! Isaac even managed a real life trip to the capital.
Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? I’ve been to London to visit the Queen ...
20.10.21: We have written our own versions of 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea'. Here are a few extracts to enjoy and I'm sure you'll agree that the children have worked their socks off!
Practical maths: Sorting, comparing and ordering numbers to 10. We’ve been using new words and symbols.
Oracy: Did the tiger who came to tea have very bad manners? We split into groups to debate the question.
Sofia shares her opinion.
21.09.21: We wrote letters to Mrs Allchurch to tell her what had happened. She came to visit us and said that she thought a tiger might have had tea in our classroom! She told us about a well known story that was written by Judith Kerr many years ago. We are looking forward to reading it.
20.09.21: Something strange happened in Year 1 today. When we got back from assembly, our classroom was a mess! Something had been in there, eating cakes, fruit and biscuits as well as drinking tea. There were things all over the floor and we saw some unusual footprints.
