Hello and welcome to Year 1.

Spring 2 2025

In maths, Year 1 have been learning about volume and capacity, length, mass and weight. They have also been learning how to represent numbers up to 50 and count in 2s, 5s and 10s.

   

   

In Geography, Year 1 have been learning about continents; they have compared the deserts of Antarctica and the Kalahari in Africa. They have also learnt about how the animals living in the desert adapt to their environment.

   

Year 1 had a Meerkat called Sonny who came to visit our class. They showed him around Beech Hyde school and wrote postcards from him. Year 1 have enjoyed the book, ’Meerkat Mail’ by Emily Gravett. They wrote an adventure story and a report about an animal.

     

In science, Year 1 have been testing materials. They tested which biscuit would last the longest when dunked in water, which material would be best to stuff a mattress so a pea could not be felt underneath and which ear shape is best for hearing.

    

  

Year 1 visited Hertford museum and enjoyed a workshop linked to our History topic on Toys. They had a lovely time in the sunshine at the park afterwards.

   

 

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Spring 1 2025

In maths, we have been learning to add, subtract, order and compare numbers up to 20.

  

  

In art, we have been learning about Picasso. We have created portraits using different media in his style.

  

In history, we have been learning about the history of toys. We used watercolours and oil paints to create pictures of old toys. We put photos of toys on a timeline from 1950 to the present day and also made our own wooden spoon doll.

    

In science, we have been learning about materials. We have named materials and talked about why they are suitable for different objects. We went around the school to find different types of materials and sorted materials according to their properties.

We have enjoyed working as scientists.  We first used our predicting skills and then carried out tests to identify which material is the most absorbent and the most stretchy.

   

  

  

Autumn 2 2024

In maths, Year 1 have been learning to count in 2s and finding the difference between numbers.

  

  

In English, we read ‘The Owl Babies’ by Martin Waddel. We wrote our own baby animal stories inspired by this book.  We also found out lots of facts about owls and  wrote our own chronological reports.

   

    

In science, we have been learning about seasonal changes. We measured rainfall, explored ice and made snow using conditioner and baking powder.

In Design Technology, Year 1 have made moving pictures. They learnt how to make a pivot, slider, spring and lift the flap mechanisms.

   

    

In geography, we have been learning about the local area and the country that we live in. We found landmarks on a map and wrote about them. We also learnt about the countries that make up the United Kingdom and labelled the capital cities.

   

Our Class Elves made a fun game for us!

  

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Autumn 1 2024

In maths, we have been learning place-value, addition and subtraction and comparing numbers to 10.

    

In phonics, we have been learning some new phase 5 sounds. We have enjoyed reading ‘Dinosaur Roar’ and learning facts about dinosaurs as well as writing leaflets for our class dinosaur museum.

We went on an autumn walk to discover the signs of autumn in Science. We collected different shaped leaves to make prints. We also collected conkers, acorns, twigs and leaves to make natural portraits and autumn crowns. We also created leaf rubbing pictures.

  

  

During our art lessons, we have been creating many different fire work pictures using a variety of media. Our pictures were inspired by the artists Vincent Van Gogh and Salvador Dali.

   

In P.S.H.E, we have been learning about how we are similar and different to each other. We also thought about our own class code of conduct and how important it is to be kind and thoughtful towards each other so we can learn together and support each other like ‘Team Bee’.  We also created our own self–portraits for our class display.

  

 

In R.E, we have been learning about Judaism. We made the star of David and have been finding out about synagogues and the Jewish Shabbat.

  

In science, we have been learning about animals and humans. We classified animals into groups and learnt about the differences between mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, birds and insects.  We also learnt to label a human body and investigated our senses of hearing, taste, smell and touch through setting up various tests.

  

    

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Summer 2 2024

In geography, Year 1 have been learning about the seaside.  They have found out about how pollution affects the seaside environment and how they could help protect it. They also discussed activities available at the seaside and looked at the similarities and differences between now and 100 years ago.

They collaged rock pools and wrote about the habitat and life in them.

       

Year 1 really enjoyed going on a mini-beast hunt in the school grounds. They made careful observational drawings of what they found using a magnifying glass. They researched facts about the mini-beasts they found and made clay models of them in art.

    

In English, we have been reading Green Peace. The story is told through letters that a little girl wrote to Green Peace about finding a whale in her pond. The children wrote letters to Ms Thomas about strange creatures found in the school grounds.

They also wrote questions about animals and researched the answers.

Year 1 have recently written a letter to the Reception class telling them all about what it is like in year 1.

       

    

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Summer 1 2024

In science this half term, Year 1 have been learning about plants. They made observational drawings of fruit and seeds. They also drew and labelled growing plants. Year 1 observed broad beans growing over time and recorded their growth.

   

   

In computing, Year 1 have been learning about algorithms. They have programed bee-bots and used an app on the iPad. They have also been learning about direction and turns in maths.

 

In History this half-term Year 1 have been learning about changes during the past 50 years. They have looked at photos of changes in technology, laundry, schools, fashion and interior design and arranged them from 1950s to the present day.

   

They have used watercolour to paint changes in fashion, made collages with photos and used powder paints to paint pictures on poor quality paper as children did before the 1990s.

  

The children also interviewed Mrs Barker and learnt lots about her school and home life when she was a child.

In art, Year 1 have been doing a topic on Bugs and Butterflies. They have observed caterpillars metamorphosis into adult butterflies.

               

They have looked at the work of Matisse and Damian Hurst and produced collage and paintings in their style.

      

They have also used clay to make mini-beast sculptures.

        

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Spring 2 2024

In English, Year 1 have been reading 'Meerkat Mail'.  They have written adventure stories and non-chronological reports about animals.

 

        

Year 1 have also written poems about minibeasts.

   

Year 1 enjoyed dressing up to celebrate World Book Day!

During science week, Year 1 carried out a number of investigations involving observing over time.

We used skittles and observed what happened when water was added to the middle of the plate. We then changed some variables as scientists do. We observed the same experiment with warm water and milk. We then used fruit pastels instead of skittles and talked about our findings.

      

We carried out an experiment called, ‘dancing raisins’. We added raisins to lemonade and watched them dance.

Afterwards, we changed some variables; we used soda water and still water. We used rice instead of raisins and evaluated what had happened just like real scientists.

    

Year 1 thoroughly enjoyed dressing up for Science Week!

Nora won the English star award! Everyone was very proud of her achievement.

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Spring 1 2024

In maths, Year 1 have been learning about the place value of numbers up to 50. They have learned how to compare and order numbers and how to count in 2s, 5s and 10s.

  

In history lessons, Year 1 have been learning about toys through time. They spoke to Mrs Barker about her toys and arranged photos of toys on a time line.  Year 1 made wooden spoon dolls using different materials and felt tip pens.

  

In Science, Year 1 have been investigating different materials and looking at the properties of the material.

 

Year 1 have also carried out tests to find out which materials were waterproof, absorbent, transparent, opaque and which were the most stretchy.

In English, Year 1 have been learning about traditional tales. They wrote their own traditional tale based on the story of ‘The Three Little Pigs.’

In DT, Year 1 made moving pictures.  They learned how to make a pivot, spring, slide and lift the flap mechanism.

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Autumn 2 2023

Sea turtle class have had a very busy half term.

In science we have been learning about the seasons and weather. We went on an Autumn walk and collected signs of Autumn.

     

We carried out a chromatography experiment to find out how many Autumn colours were hiding inside a green leaf.

       

We learnt that snow is formed by water vapour in the air freezing before it turns to water. Clouds are cold and crystals are formed around bits of dirt and grow bigger.

We carried out an experiment to see the crystals in ice.

During P.S.H.E, we have been celebrating our differences. We spoke about what was the same and what is different and our likes and dislikes. We also discussed what bullying is and made up some anti-bullying slogans.

In D.T we have been making moving pictures we made a sliding mechanism and a pivot.

In Year 1 we like to play guessing games and ask each other questions.

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Autumn 1 2023

During art lessons in Sea Turtle class we have been exploring different media to create firework pictures.  We have been inspired by the work of Dali and Van Gogh.  Our art links with our history lessons because we have been learning all about Guy Fawkes.

   

    

   

Nora’s dad brought in his guitar and taught us all about rhythm during music.

In computing lessons we have been learning to use a mouse with control and a paint programme to create firework pictures.

In maths we have been learning to find our number bonds within 10 systematically. We have been learning to record addition number sentences and use a part/whole model.

 

In science, we have been learning about animals including humans. We have been learning about carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. We have been classifying animals into groups and identifying the similarities and differences between each group. We were very lucky to have a visit from Safari Stu where we were able to handle and learn about different kinds of animals.

        

We have been working hard in phonics this term to revise all our sounds from last year and learn some phase 5 sounds and practise writing sentences with our tricky words spelt accurately.