This week in maths we have been learning numbers to 100. We looked at 100 squares to help us count up and down.

We then made these numbers using our base ten and found one more and one less of the number. It was great that the children remembered their hand signals for one more and one less and used this to help them.

In art this week the children painted seascapes as part of our new ‘Life Savers’ topic. We looked at lots of pictures of the sea and what it looks like when it is rough and stormy. The children had to mix colours to make lighter and darker shades to add to their paintings. They loved experimenting with the different colours and patterns!

In history we began our Titanic topic. We discovered some key facts by looking at advertisements, photos and news reports about the Titanic. The children learnt things such as what the captain of the Titanic was called, how many lifeboats were on board and what the ship was called that rescued the survivors. I was especially impressed with the map work everyone did. Lots of the children managed to find Belfast and New York and say what countries they were in. Well done!

We have been doing lots of reading in Year 1 this week. We have spent a lot of time in the reading corner and looking at some new books. All of the children loved exploring the big books and sharing them with their partner.

This week we wrote stories based on the book ‘The Disgusting Sandwich’, a book that we have been reading in class this half term. To help with our story writing, we went on a walk around the school grounds and ‘accidentally’ created a disgusting sandwich! The sandwich dropped in the pond, sand pit and even some bird poo! This led to some great ideas when we were writing our stories today.

We have been drawing sunflowers in art. We have been using all of the skills we learnt in the art studio during our arts fortnight to create some realistic drawings. We have enjoyed using different materials to create our drawings such as graphite, charcoal, oil pastels and crayons.

In maths we have been learning about doubles. We have been using different resources in the classroom to help us recognise doubles and write number sentences to go with these representations.

This week in maths the children have been learning about equal groups. The children have been looking at how many groups there are and how many there are in each group. We have the been making arrays to show this. We practiced practically with cubes and then drew what we could see in our maths books.

This half term in science we are learning about plants. We have been able to use everything we learnt in the art studio about plants to help us with our learning. For example, we already knew the names of lots of different plants like tulips, bluebells, daisys and dandilions. In D.T we have been planning to make a salad. The children decided what they would like in their salad then we planted some seeds that (hopefully) will grow into salad leaves and herbs that we can eat on our salad at the end of this half term!

On Friday Miss Hirst brought in her new puppy Isla who is going to be working with some children in school. Isla loved her visit to the library and the children loved reading to her. We can’t wait until she visits again!

We have had a very busy first week back in 1C. We have begun our Arts Fortnight activities in preparation for our celebration on the afternoon of Friday 26th April. On Tuesday we went for a walk to the local playpark to look at human and physical features. The children were great at noticing road names as well as different types of plants and trees.

When we got back to school we began our work in the Art Studio. The children made maps of our journey to the park, created paintings of the park and began to draw spring flowers. All of the children have blown away Mrs Johnston with their creativity and we can’t wait to see what they produce next week!

Before the Easter holidays in Year 1 we had our Great Fire of London burning ceremony. The children had absolutely loved learning about the Great Fire of London across history, writing, art and D&T lessons.

As part of our D&T project this half term, the children designed, made and evaluated a Tudor house. The children thought carefully about why the houses in London in the 1600s burnt so easily. We talked about how it was because they were so close together and made of wood!

Before we burnt our houses the children sang “London’s Burning” which we have been practicing in music lessons. The children also lined up their houses and walked through the Tudor “street”. It was very windy which made it even more realistic as this made the fire spread even quicker!

I hope you enjoy the photos/videos from this day!

On Thursday it was World Poetry Day so this week we have learnt the poem ‘Handy Work’ by Julia Donaldson. This poem was really fun to learn and we loved adding actions to help us remember it. You can watch us performing it here:

We have also kept practising ‘London’s Burning’ for our music lessons this half term. This week we added more children to perform with Boomwhackers. This meant that the children had to stay in time with their partner as well as listening to the other children to know when to play their note. The children have worked really hard on this- we hope you enjoy it!

In D.T we are still working hard at finishing our Tudor Houses. This week we focused on painting them and adding detail. It took us a long time and we have to be tough tortoises but they look fantastic! The children have really enjoyed this project and their hard work has paid off.

In art we have been drawing fire and focusing on adding detail using different materials. The children have been experimenting with chalk, oil pastels and charcoal.

In science on Monday Mrs Whittaker took the children outside to plan what they were going to grow in the vegetable beds in summer term. They discussed different vegetables they knew and thought carefully about what they would like to plant. The children came up with ideas like carrots, marrows and radishes.

We have been working hard rehearsing our song, ‘London’s Burning’ this half term. We have been practicing singing this in a round and last week we added boomwhackers! The children worked really hard to follow the notes and make sure they banged their boom whacker at the right time.

We’ve had a busy couple of weeks in Year 1. The children loved dressing up last week for World Book Day!

This week we enjoyed a local visit to the mosque at the Lingfield Centre. This was part of our R.E teaching this half term as the children are learning about Islam. The children were fantastic and asked some great questions. It was also great to see lots of the children sharing what they knew about the religion with the rest of the class. A special thank you to Ailah’s Dad who took time out of his day to show us around!

We have also been working hard on our D.T projects. The children have been building Tudor houses as part of our Great Fire of London project. The first step was to make the structure from cardboard boxes and then add paper mache to strengthen it. The texture of the paper mache took some getting used to for some children but they did well to persevere. I can’t wait to see what they’ll look like when we get painting them next week!