Conker Class - Term 1
What a fantastic start to Year 1! The children have settled in brilliantly and are already enjoying their learning. In PE, they have been developing their gymnastics skills, while in Maths they have been sorting objects into different groups.
To launch our new topic, the children created their own passports and embarked on an exciting imaginary flight to Australia. They had great fun beginning their learning journey in this way!
On Friday, the children completed their first weekly spelling test. They can continue to practise their spellings in a fun and interactive way using Spelling Frame. Login details can be found in your child's reading record.
As part of our Science learning, we will be going on a welly walk around the school grounds next week. If you would like your child to bring a pair of wellies into school, these can be left on the pegs outside our classroom, opposite the Year 6 entrance. Please make sure your child's name is clearly written inside them so we can easily identify who they belong to.
We would also be very grateful if all cardigans, jumpers and hoodies could be clearly labelled with your child's name. As the weather can be changeable, these items are often taken off during the day, and named clothing makes it much easier for us to return them to their owners.
Week 3:
The children have been thoroughly enjoying their learning which included a welly walk for science around the school grounds to observe the signs of autumn. They were excited to see the fruits and vegetables being grown by Gardening Club and enjoyed learning about why trees begin to lose their leaves at this time of year.
In English, we have been exploring the story Wombat Stew. The children have loved joining in with the repeated rhyme and actions and have been developing their sentence-writing skills by writing about the story’s characters. They have been practising using capital letters and full stops correctly and have also been learning about subjects and verbs within sentences.
In phonics over the past two weeks, the children have been learning different ways to spell the ‘igh’ sound, including ie and y (as in sky, spy and dry). They have also explored alternative spellings for the ‘oa’ sound, including o_e, ow and oe, as well as o in words such as gold, both and don’t.
The children also had an opportunity to experience democracy in action as they took part in voting for our School Council representatives for this academic year. They enjoyed casting their votes and learning about the importance of having a voice and making choices as part of a community.
This week, the children will be learning more ways to spell the ‘ee’ sound, including y (as in silly, funny and happy) before moving on to ey (as in key, alley and chimney).
Week 4:
In phonics this week, the children have been learning different ways to represent the ‘oa’ sound, including o_e and ow, and have practised reading and spelling the common exception words were and when. Next week, we will continue exploring alternative spellings of the ‘oa’ phoneme, including oe (as in toe) and o (as in oval, hello and most).
On Friday, we celebrated European Day of Languages with a special visit from a Welsh-speaking guest. The children enjoyed learning about the Welsh dragon and were introduced to Welsh greetings and numbers. It was a wonderful opportunity to explore another language and culture and the children took part with great enthusiasm.
Week 5:
In Phonics this week, the children have been practising blending words that contain y and ey making the ‘ee’ sound, such as happy, sticky, angry, donkey, valley and chimney. It has been wonderful to see them beginning to apply these skills independently in their writing across other areas of the curriculum.
As part of our Computing curriculum, the children have continued to learn about online safety, focusing on online relationships. They discussed what to do if they receive an unkind message or if someone contacts them while they are playing an online game. Alongside this, the children have been developing their digital skills by creating drawings on a computer and learning how to save their work.
Looking ahead to next week (w/c 05/10), our phonics sessions will focus on consolidating the sounds and spelling patterns the children have learned so far this term, including i as i, ie and i-e, and o as o-e, ow and oe, as well as y and ey making the ‘ee’ sound. We are looking forward to seeing the children grow in confidence as they continue to practise and apply these skills.
Week 6:
The children have had another busy and successful week of learning and thoroughly enjoyed taking part in our Harvest Assembly with Reverend Paynter.
In Phonics, we have been consolidating our understanding of the phonemes and graphemes i, ie, i_e and y, o_e, building confidence in recognising and applying these sounds in our reading and writing.
In Art, the children have been exploring shades by starting with blue paint and gradually adding small amounts of black to create darker tones. As part of our Australia topic, we have been locating the UK and Australia on a map and learning about some of Australia's human and physical features.
Next week in Phonics (w/c 12/10/26), we will be learning about u making the ‘y+oo’ sound in words such as unicorn, student and unit, as well as the short ‘oo’ sound in words such as put, bush and pudding.
The children will also be bringing home some exciting information next week about our upcoming Christmas production. We can't wait to share more details with you!
Week 7:
What a fantastic final week of our first term in Year 1!
The children completed their first piece of writing about Dingo from Wombat Stew, writing three sentences using adjectives, capital letters and full stops. This is a big step up from Reception, and they have worked so hard.
In PE, we finished our gymnastics unit by learning a straight roll and combining previously learnt movements into a sequence. In Art, the children explored tints by adding white to blue to create lighter shades.
We also enjoyed a special assembly on Wednesday, where we learnt about children and school life in The Gambia. The class were fascinated to find out what school is like in another country.
To finish the week, the children enjoyed making Australian spiders. You can see some of their wonderful creations in the photo below!
We are incredibly proud of how hard the children have worked during their first term in Year 1. We hope everyone has a lovely, restful half term!
