Stanway Fiveways Primary School

This week in year 1, the children have been busy innovating the original story of 'Billy's Beetle', drawing pictures to make their own story map and writing sentences to match this. They have been focussing on thinking of their sentence before writing it and checking it makes sense as they write. The children also went outside to be their own 'oompah band' with musical instruments like in the story. In maths they have been learning to count on from 10 and recognise how we can represent teens numbers with Numicon. This has been tricky to understand the value of the tens and ones but the children have shown great determination to understand this new concept. In phonics we have been working on reading longer words with 2 syllables such as 'lemon', 'higher' and 'magnet'. The children are learning to 'chunk' the words into syllables to help read them. In indoor PE the children have been learning to stretch and move in different ways through yoga and in outdoor PE yesterday we practised throwing skills through games with a bean bag. In art, Magnolia class have been practising using tools to shape play dough as part of our sculptures topic. In history, they have been learning about Alexander Graham Bell and the invention of the telephone. They particularly enjoyed the opportunity to make their own telephone using paper cups and string. Many of the children across year 1 have earned themselves a stamp in their Agents of Change book for 'giving to a cause' by donating food to the food bank as part of Harvest Festival. We love seeing the children earn stamps to work towards a badge and always celebrate this with them in school.  

This week the children have been using their phonics to spell adjectives in English and writing sentences using them. In maths, they have been learning to count forwards and backwards to 20, as well as finding one more than a number to 20 and one less than a number. During these activities they have practised their number formation. In RE the children have been learning about Hinduism and the five senses. In reading sessions, the children have enjoyed the opportunity to read story books with their friends. In yoga, both classes followed a new Cosmic Kids yoga video, which is a lovely opportunity to be active performing yoga movements and listen to a story.

The children have had a busy first two weeks in Year 1. Last week was our continents week, where the children learnt about Europe, with a focus on France. They enjoyed learning about the Eiffel Tower, tasting French foods, working as a team through parachute games, exploring the world through Google Earth and made a map of France using playdoh. They also learnt to tear and cut paper to create collages during art lessons. They also explored their new surroundings through child-led activities in COEL time. 

This week, they learnt to accurately count in maths, wrote sentences in English, practised blending sounds to read in phonics and developed their reading skills in reading lessons. In PE they have been working on their strength and balance in yoga and ball skills in outdoor PE. During history, they enjoyed exploring older and newer telephones, learning about how they work and comparing them. In science, they have been learning to name the material that different objects are made from. Throughout the week, the children have continued to enjoy child-led learning during COEL time both inside and outside the classroom.