Magnet making in Maple Class.
We have become London experts since starting our Bright Lights Big City learning journey. To showcase our knowledge of London landmarks, we designed then made a fridge magnet souvenir.
The children did a couple of drafts of their picture then decided which shape it was best suited to. They carefully coloured and made a border for their magnet. They decided it should be strengthened so we laminated the paper and then the children cut and stuck a suitable sized strip of magnetic tape to the back.
We think they’re good enough to go in any London shop!
We have already created fire artwork using oil pastels and today we used a different medium, paper. We put the scissors to one side and ripped red, yellow and orange paper into different sized strips before layering them to get the effect of flames. Some children used a pencil to curl the strips of paper.
We have been learning about the events of The Great Fire in 1666 and know that the diary of Samuel Pepys provided lots of information. If you follow the link below, you can learn more about the events and play a few Fire of London games along the way.
In Year 1, we have been looking at how members of the Royal Family might speak, walk and sit.
We discussed how we could improve our etiquette, posture and manners to be more like The Queen!
We had to walk and sit with straight backs, ensuring we spoke with correct pronunciation for every word. We even played a game trying to keep bean bags on our heads for as long as possible.
Hopefully all the children were able to come home and show you everything they had learnt!
After performing so well in our final Christmas performance, the children in Maple Class loved being set this challenge. Using only letters that appear in the word Christmas, how many other words can you find?
They used their phonic knowledge to great effect and soon realised there were two s, meaning they could turn some words into plurals. We came together at the end to share each other’s lists of words. They had managed to find some words I hadn’t even considered.
I wonder if there are many more?
We had great fun in Literacy today, exploring the sounds different instruments make. We have been looking at poetry to do with our senses and were playing instruments and then writing down words to describe each sound.
We generated our own word bank which will support us when we come to write our own senses poems.
In year 1, we began exploring our senses to describe different objects! We used our mouths to taste, ears to listen, nose to smell, hands to touch and eyes to look.
We described each object using adjectives before exploring how they made us feel.
Our favourite part was during our tasting sessions were we got to try a lot of new foods, describing the taste and smell to our friends.
I think the popcorn was Mr Capell’s favourite!!
In Year 1, we continued our look into the different ways the part-whole model helps us learn.
Using a number line, we worked through a set of missing number problems before identifying how this would be represented on a cherry diagram.
We had to keep reminding each other that the biggest number had to be the whole!
In Maths today, we were looking at different ways to solve addition problems and methods we can use to prove we are correct. We spoke about two parts making one whole. Some of us even attempted writing a story to go with the number sentence.
Three children, who had worked incredibly hard to solve the problem, were then appointed experts for the lesson to support others in their understanding. They were so helpful. Well done!
Today the children were introduced to ten frames in Maths. We worked out that we could represent different numbers by drawing dots. We also worked out that a number can be represented in a variety of ways.
We challenged ourselves to find different ways to represent the same number. We then applied our reasoning skills to solve a problem.
Willow and Maple class are really getting into our new Literacy story – “Traction Man”. They sequenced the story using pictures and were great at explaining their choices to each other and the rest of the class. If you want to watch a reading of the book at home, please find a YouTube link below.
This week in maths we have been looking at comparing groups of objects.
We used the language of ‘more than’ and ‘fewer than’ to compare our objects with our friends.
We were able to use a range of resources and collaborated with our partners to help develop our understanding further.
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Unbelievably, we managed to get a little bit of outdoor PE time today before the heavens opened!
Continuing with our Superhero theme, we were stringing together a series of actions. We leapt, held a superhero pose for 5 seconds, stepped forwards to punch the air then completed our sequence with a pretend throw.
The most challenging part was holding a pose as still as we could for 5 seconds. Some of us wobbled a little!
Whizz! kerpow! Zoom!
We leapt into action today dressed as superheroes. We have had a wonderful day, measuring our long leaps, practising our superhero poses, making superhero gadgets and going on a superhero hunt. We found the mighty Thor hiding between the shed and the wall, we found Ironman under the brick wall next to the bin and we found the Incredible Hulk buried beneath a pile of leaves!
Why not ask your children what their favourite superhero moment has been.
In Year 1, we’ve been investigating the new resources we can use to help us learn.
We worked in small groups and partners to look at Cuisenaire rods, discussing their length.
Some of use stretched our learning further and found out that two rods placed together can be the same size as another coloured rod.
All of this information learned will help us later in the year and we can’t wait to find out more!
Willow class went for a small walk today discussing everything about seasons!
We talked about the season we are in now and what has just finished – discussing the key features of each season. We’re all hoping for snow to come in Winter and can’t wait for the all the fun we will have.
We have been learning a new skill this week, journaling. We have enjoyed cutting, sticking and embellishing the work we have done as part of our Moon Zoom learning journey.
We hope you enjoy looking at our books this week at Parents’ Evening.
We enjoyed a walk around the school grounds this afternoon on an Autumn hunt. We spotted a maple tree that was showing signs of Autumn and we began to draw our observations. 
What other signs of Autumn have you spotted?
Willow class had a great time down at TCS participating in a KS1 Fun Festival.
We got to play a variety of games and practice a lot of skills, including; throwing and catching, kicking, balancing, gymnastics and many more!
We got a bit wet on the walk back but everyone left with a great big smile on their faces!
Once again, a wet Monday prevented us from doing outdoor PE but, determined to get our daily dose of physical activity, we found a space in the classroom and started learning some yoga poses.
The children loved it and are keen to learn some other, more complicated, poses. We realised balance is important as well as remembering to breathe!
We discussed the benefits of yoga and focused breathing in helping us relax.
We had a very special visitor in school this week. Professor Pong visited us from the British Space and Alien Research Company to talk about the crash landing and what we all needed to do next.
We got to ask him all of our questions and found out we weren’t the only school in Devon to have an alien visit.
After his visit we discussed his original email and started trying to answer all his questions.
Thank you Professor Pong!
We have an alien update for you. The children in Maple and Willow class today received an email from Professor Pong from the British Space and Alien Research company. He is planning to help us locate and send home the alien that crash landed on our playground a few weeks ago.
We will be building up to write an email back to him once we have more facts. To help us with our future email writing, we became Feature Detectives today, working in groups to find full stops, capital letters, question marks and finger spaces. We worked brilliantly together, collaborating and taking turns.
Today, we were tasked with finding things that are shorter than us. We had fun going around the classroom and standing next to objects and people. We had to use the correct language to compare, ie taller than and shorter than.
Some of us were even challenged to find objects that are half our height.
Why not find objects at home to measure.
We had a lot of fun in PE today. We practised working in spaces and tried our hardest not to bump into anyone. There were a couple of little collisions to start with, but the children soon improved at avoiding each other.
We also practised changing direction when running, hopping, jumping and skipping.
Just a quick reminder that PE for Year One is every Monday and Friday so the children will need their PE kits in school everyday please, including a pair of trainers or plimsoles.
Thank you.
In year 1, we’ve been learning about all the crazy aliens that crashed into our playground this week.
Today we spoke about all the different features our aliens could have and used play dough to make them. Some of us even tried to draw what we thought our aliens would look like.
Have a look at our amazing creations!
We had to act as detectives to solve a mystery today. We found strange equipment, a broken computer, a photo of an alien and a lot of slime strewn across the playground. After bringing the evidence back to the classrooms, we examined the exhibits and discussed at great length what may have happened.
We have a few theories, including a meteor colliding with a satellite and an alien on the loose. We are all in agreement that an alien spaceship has crash landed on our playground.
Watch this space for updates!
Years 1 and 2 have been doing lots of work on plants. They have been learning how to draw them in the style of Georgia O’keeffe. They have learnt language used to describe them and then used this to help them identify different plants. They even used their sorting skills to classify different leaves.
Willow class had the opportunity to take part in a Fun Festival at TCS yesterday. We took part in a range of activities included Athletics, Cricket Rounder and Parachute Games.
We had a great time cooperating with children from different schools and even got to see some old friends! The activities were quite challenging and we all worked up quite a sweat.
Thank you to everyone at TCS and to the parents for making the afternoon run so smoothly.
Year 1 Spelling Focus: ‘ey’ sound
Handed out on Monday 20thMay;
Tested on Monday 3rdJune.
- key
- turkey
- chimney
- once
- they
Note: Spellodrome is updated with the new spellings every Monday and is available to use to practise your spellings. Spellings 1-3 are this weeks Phonics Focus. 4-5 are from the Year 1 High -Frequency word list.
Year 1 Spelling Focus: ‘ir’ sound
Handed out on Monday 13th May;
Tested on Monday 20th May.
- skirt
- birch
- confirm
- where
- house
Note: Spellings 1-3 focus on this week’s phoneme focus; spellings 4-5 are from the Year 1 High-frequency word list.
Please note; Spellodrome is available for your child to practice the weekly spellings alongside the year group’s Common Exceptions Words.
Year One worked together yesterday using arial photographs of the school to find out where they where. They looked at key features such as buildings, roads and car parks to help them. They then had a go at creating their own map. Can you remember what a key is?
Today we introduced directions and the use of a compass to every child in Year 1. We had fun learning a few new ways to remember the directions and we each got to draw our very own version on the playground.
After all this fun, we came back inside and found different parts of Devon and discussed whether they are located in North, South, East or West Devon.
Year 1 Spelling Focus: ‘ea’ sound
Handed out on Monday 6th May;
Tested on Monday 13th May.
- steam
- beans
- peach
- you
- said
Note: Spellings 1-3 focus on this week’s phoneme focus; spellings 4-5 are from the Year 1 High-frequency word list.
Gentle Reminder: pupil’s can use Spellodrome to access their spellings and help with practising.
Year 1 Spelling Focus: ‘ure’ sound
Handed out on Wednseday 24th April;
Tested on Monday 29th April.
- picture
- mixture
- pure
- we
- do
Note: Spellings 1-3 focus on this week’s phoneme focus; spellings 4-5 are from the Year 1 High-frequency word list.
Please find below the Year 1 spellings for the upcoming week.
Year 1 Spelling Focus: ‘aw’
Handed out on Monday 25thMarch; Tested on Monday 1st April.
- saw
- yawn
- claw
- do
- we
Note: Spellings 1-3 focus on this week’s phoneme focus; spellings 4-5 are from the Year 1 High-frequency word list.
The spelling focus in Year 1 this week is the alternative pronunciation of the ‘y’ sound. Please find the spellings below.
Year 1 Spelling Focus: ‘y’ alternative
Handed out on Monday 18th March; Tested on Monday 25th March
- try
- by
- spy
- go
- be
Note: Spellings 1-3 focus on this week’s phoneme focus; spellings 4-5 are from the Year 1 High-frequency word list.
Monkey Puzzle Class had a great time reading to Maple Class this morning. They enjoyed sharing their favourite stories and getting into character.
The children of Key stage 1 had a visit from a firefighter to talk about fire safety. The children noticed that it was very different in 1666 compared to today.
The children were told about what to do if there is a fire, saw a uniform they wear and learnt about the role of a firefighter.
Today the children continued building their willow lanterns. It was fantastic to see so many children working collaboratively and to have so many wonderful helpers come. They lanterns are looking amazing! We can’t wait to see them in the parade on Saturday.
This afternoon Year 1 ventured outside into the woods to make self portraits. We then worked together to make a model of our bodies. We will be using these during the first term next year, when we will learn more about parts of the body and our senses.
Thank you Miss Tapp for organising these events for us today. We had great fun.
Today a parcel arrived for Year 1. Thanks to everyone who bought books at the book fair (and Mrs Cooke) we were able to order some lovely new books for our topic. We all voted on which one we would like to read first and shared the story all together.
Well done Maple Class (and everyone else) on your team spirt and super effort. Lots of smiles all round today. Thank you to everyone who managed to come along.
There are lots of useful apps to help support your child’s phonics learning at home on a tablet or iPad. We use the twinkl app in school as they have a fab trash and treasure game with real and alien words!
Like discussed in the meeting yesterday, phonics play on a laptop is great! Games like obb and bob and buried treasure are great to use in preparation for our screening test.
This morning we peer marked our Big Writes! We collaborated in pairs to mark our learning and responded to our marking with our purple pens to make progress. 
Year 1 spent some time looking at what makes our writing successful. We then worked together to find examples in our writing.
What successes did you find?
