Welcome to Year 1

The children settled quickly into Year One. We talked about change and the children showed how resilient and flexible they are to the changes to their day compared to Reception.

We learnt about trees and seasonal changes and thought about how we change. We thought about our feelings and how these can change many times in just one day and how we can change from feeling sad to happy, angry to calm etc..

We focus on a school aim or value each half term, Be Kind was our first one. We have read books and discussed how we are kind and put it into practice by being kind!

Harvest Festival

The children did us proud with their contributions.

Green Class sang ‘Orange Pumpkin’ with the actions and great gusto!

Pink Class recited Julia Donaldson’s ‘The Nut Tree’ with actions and great projection.

Orange Class sang ‘1,2,3 Little Acorns’ with lovely clear voices.

Thank you also for all the contributions for The Vineyard, they were very much appreciated.

Police Visit

Two local police officers came to visit us in assembly. They shared pictures of different types of transport they use, helicopters, bikes, cars etc.. They reminded us how they are here to help the local community and that they are a safe adult to ask for help. We are looking forward to their return visit in 2024 to tell us about Internet Safety.

Scoot to School

We had a delicious breakfast altogether in the hall. There was a wide selection of cereals, fruit and cereal bars and juices to choose from. We had fun sharing with our friends and catching up over breakfast. If you have not tried it yet, why not come next time!

Black History Week

We celebrated with a visit from Maroon Town who played us Jamaican music and shared some of their history with us and the story of how Jamaica had been part of the British Empire, but gained independence in 1962. Some children acted out the story and we all learnt some dance moves to some typical Jamaican music, including Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds’. It was really great fun and we all enjoyed ourselves!

The Shape Hunt

We had great fun learning about shapes and searching for them around the classrooms and school. We were able to describe them saying how many corners or sides they had and became very quick at correctly naming them too.

Here Come the Aliens!

We had an extraordinary surprise one day when Mrs Kikolska found some strange objects after a loud bang was heard from the playground. They looked like bits of a spaceship! When we went back to class we discovered alien puppets! They wanted to be our friends and we needed to show them respect and be kind to them.

Respect

Our value for Autumn 2 was Respect. We have been thinking about how we show Respect to one another. The alien puppet was very different to us and needed to learn about us and from us. We helped the alien by designing a space buggy for each of them as theirs were broken in the crash. We know Father Christmas has promised to help by taking them home on his sleigh.

Maths Workshops

Thank you so much to all the parents who have signed up and joined us for some fun maths games! It makes a real difference to have a lovely adult to share them with. Everyone was buzzing with happiness as they won and lost and used their maths skills to play fun and exciting games.

Materials

We have been learning all about every day materials.

Can you name these common materials? We sorted the objects according to the material that they were made from. After sorting the materials we started to look at the different properties that the objects had.

Space Buggies

The children designed amazing space buggies. The challenge was to ensure they had wheels that turned on an axle so it could roll along. They also made them look fabulous with cool decorations and trimmings. Well done!

Space alien model magic

We used ‘Model Magic’ and our imaginations to create our own aliens. We shaped the magic clay and used a variety of materials such as; feathers, matchsticks, gems and pens. Some of us chose to use tools to create patterned textures. Each of our aliens are unique! Well done Year One you thought carefully, worked hard and aimed high whilst making them.

‘The Sleepy Shepherd’, our Christmas nativity play.

Wow! We were so impressed with Year One’s singing, dancing, narrating and performing! Every child aimed high to ensure each performance was thoroughly enjoyable for all.

Thank you parents and carers for your support at home whether it was providing costumes, rehearsing words or simply coming to watch and clap!

Church Visit

We walked sensibly from school to Southville Methodist Church. After crossing the roads safely and spotting people’s Christmas decorations on route we arrived and received a very warm welcome from Mrs Woodley.

We sat in the church and looked at all the special decorations and parts of the church such as the stained glass window, the crosses and organ etc.

We learnt that people celebrate Christenings, Weddings and Funerals at church alongside Harvest, Christmas and Easter.

Reverend Kofi was there for one visit. Mrs Woodley told us the story of the Nativity and some of us were chosen to take a knitted figure up, to ‘build’ the Nativity scene. We then sang Mrs Woodley and the helpers one of our Christmas songs to show our gratitude for their time and effort.

Thank you to Southville Methodist Church for preparing, hosting and ensuring we had a lovely visit. Also, we were very lucky to receive a free magazine from the church too.

Thank you to those parents who came on our trip, we really appreciate your time and help.