Summer 2: Historical Heroes

Spring 2: Treasured Tales

Spring 2 Week 6 

We have had a fantastic week in Year 1 this week. We have finished our spring poetry in English, the children have worked incredibly hard to write their rhyming poems about spring animals. In Maths, we have continued to learn about mass and volume, using the language of ‘full’, ‘nearly full’, ‘nearly empty’ and ‘empty’. 

We took part in Spirituality Afternoon to celebrate Holy Week. Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday and ends on Easter Sunday. Rev. Ben taught us about Palm Sunday. We reflected on how it would feel to meet Jesus and compared this to meeting our favourite celebrity. We wrote words to show how we would feel if we rode through and drew pictures of ourselves waving palm branches. Mrs Scholes taught us about Maundy Thursday and the story of Jesus washing the disciple’s feet. We thought about whether we would wash someone’s feet and what we could do to help people instead. Miss Clayton taught us about the events of Easter Sunday. We thought about how words such as ‘risen’ and ‘stone’ relate to the story. We wrote a prayer to thank God for sacrificing his son for us all. 

Spring 2 Week 5

We’ve had another fabulous week in Year 1! In our English learning, we have continued to learning about instruction texts by planting beanstalks. The children have been working hard writing their own instructions on How to Plant a Beanstalk. We consolidated our learning about place value with 50 in Maths by finding one more and one less than a given number and completing missing number challenges on a number line. We’ve had lots of children earning Brave Banana stickers for persevering in Maths this week and we are so proud of them! 

We celebrated British Science Week with an investigation to find the most absorbent material to clean water off the classroom tables. The children used their scientific skills to complete the experiment and record their findings. In RE, we have been learning about how Jesus was risen to new life at Easter by reading a book called Waterbugs and Dragonflies. In Geography, we travelled to North America looking at landmarks, human and physical features, food and culture. The children were very excited to see landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty and Niagara Falls. Mr Richards has taught us the song Spring Chicken in Music and we visited the French mountains with Madame Wardle. We even retold We’re Going on a Bear Hunt in French: La Chasse a L’ours.
 

In DT we have continued to create the next page of our moving story books. Miss Sullivan taught us about money in PSHE. In our PE session with Coach Marcus, we have been using our hands to practice hitting a tennis ball in preparation for next week where we will use tennis rackets. In Dance, we learnt how to counter balance with a partner! 

Spring 2 Week 3

We have had an incredibly busy week in Year 1! We started our week with a Science experiment. We investigated whether objects from our classroom would float or sink and recorded our findings in our science books. We also had a visit from Rev. Matt on Monday who taught us more about the Easter story in our RE learning. 

In English this week, we have finished our innovated retellings of Jack and the Baked Beanstalk and have written character descriptions for our new characters. In Maths, we have been taking our learning outdoors whilst learning about place value within 50. We celebrated Mothering Sunday with a Class Worship. The children blew us away with their confidence to speak in front of an audience. Miss Bateson, Mrs Fenwick and Mrs Briggs are very proud of Year 1! We even performed in church on Sunday. In our DT learning, we started making our moving storybooks with a moving beanstalk. In French, Madame Wardle has been taking us on a tour of France. 

In our OAL session with Wild One Adventures, we had a great time cooking in Jack's fast food van, playing musical instruments and hunting for bugs. We explored our local environment, showed our upper body strength by climbing a beanstalk and built a house for the giant! We even found some golden eggs. We finished our outdoor adventure by making garlic bread from wild garlic. 

Spring 2 Week 2

We've had another lovely week in Year 1! We have retold the story of Jack and the Baked Beanstalk in English by innovating a character. We chose villains from other fairytales and stories such as Goldilocks, the Troll and the Gruffalo! The children have really impressed us with their super writing this week. In our Maths learning, we began to learn about place value within 50. We have been using lots of practical equipment to support our understanding and ended the week by playing Snakes and Ladders.

In RE, we retold the story of Palm Sunday before learning about Good Friday. Following this, we made Easter Gardens which we will water and grow. The children used natural materials to represent the crosses on the hill and the tomb in their gardens. In Science, we sorted materials by their properties and played a game called 'Odd One Out'. In our PSHE learning, we looked at our school environment and why we need to keep it safe and tidy. We travelled to Nice in French and learnt about the seaside. In Geography, we discovered the different places you could visit in Africa, the animals that live on the continent and how it is different to the UK. 

Spring 2 Week 1

We have had a fantastic first week back after half-term! It has been wonderful to see the children so engaged in their learning on their return. When we arrived at school on Monday, we found a beanstalk had grown in the classroom over the holidays. We have been enjoying retelling the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and learning our new English text Jack and the Baked Beanstalk. The children have blown us away this week with their reading and analysing of the book, including setting descriptions, character descriptions and a story board. In our Maths learning, the children have been working hard to use and recall their number bonds to 20.

In Geography, we began our new learning on the continents, starting with Asia. We discussed the places you can visit, the culture, the animals you can find in Asia and where Asia is on different maps. We have started learning about mechanisms and sliders in DT in preparation for our moving storybooks. In PSHE, we have been learning about good and bad choices with Mrs Fenwick and Miss Sullivan. We discovered how the Channel Tunnel was made in French and in Science we thought about the properties of a variety of materials. In our RE learning, we started our topic of Easter by learning the story of Palm Sunday.

We are also very excited to invite all our parents/carers to our Class Worship on Wednesday 6th March and our performance in church for Mothering Sunday on Sunday 10th March! We hope you can come along to celebrate our learning. 

Spring 1: Amazing Asia

Spring 1 Week 5

What an exciting week it’s been in Year 1 and Mrs Bass felt very fortunate to be able to join us. In our English learning we have been planning, writing and performing our television news reports about Jungle Book. In Maths, we are learning about addition and subtraction within 20 and using our number bond facts to help us solve problems. Madame Wardle helped us to develop our French vocabulary around holidays as part of our topic Bon Voyage!

In our Geography learning, we have learnt about the differences between villages and what life is like. In our RE learning, we discussed Jesus's miracles and recalled the main events in our own words and writing. We produced landscapes with various textures this week in our Art learning, and used a variety of media to support our outcomes. Mrs Fenwick explored our online safety learning with us as part of our PSHE and Computing learning. We also used the BeeBots to follow a set of instructions and demonstrated our skills. 

We hope you all have a wonderful half term break! 

Spring 1 Week 3

We've had another fun filled week in Year 1! In our English learning we have finished our learning around diary entries and have started to learn about news reports. Over the next few weeks, the children will be producing their own TV news report on the events of the Jungle Book. In Maths, we are learning about addition and subtraction within 20. We have been using Base 10 equipment to add numbers together. Madame Wardle brought a paper map of France as we learnt more about our topic Bon Voyage! in French.

In our Geography learning, we have learnt about the difference between a village, town and city. The children became Geography Detectives as they investigated Hoddlesden, Darwen and Manchester to decide what type of settlement they are. We looked at photographs, maps, facilities and transport systems to help us. In our RE learning, we discussed Jesus's miracle 'The Feeding of the 5000'. We continued to produce landscape paintings in our Art learning, adding a horizon line and tide lines to our pieces inspired by famous artists such as Renoir and Van Gogh. Mrs Fenwick taught us about how feelings impact our bodies and who can help us in PSHE. 

Spring 1 Week 2

We have had another amazing week in Year 1! The children have settled back into school beautifully and have impressed us with their attitude to learning. All the children in Year 1 received Star of the Week this week because of their fantastic English writing. As a special treat, Mr Edgar came to Year 1 to read us a story. We know many of the children were hoping for a celebrity like Dwayne Johnson or King Charles, but we wanted to surprise them with someone closer to home!

In our Maths learning this week, we have continued with our unit of place value. The children has enjoyed using Base 10 to represent numbers and have been estimating on a number line. We have started writing our diary entries from Mowgli's perspective in English. The children have really impressed us with their use of the personal pronoun 'I' in their writing. Madame Wardle shared some of the children's experiences in France as we continued to learn about important French cities and towns. Thank you to all our parents and carers who shared photographs of your French holidays! We learnt how to use watercolour paints to darken or lighten the tint in our Art lesson and practised drawing a landscape with a horizon line. 

In our Geography learning, we have been learning about human and physical features of our local area and our locality, Blackburn with Darwen. The children shared their own experiences of interacting with human and physical features of our locality, such as The Mall and Darwen Tower. For our Science learning this week, we learnt how objects are different to the material they are made from and began to describe materials using words such as bumpy, smooth and flat. The children have been very excited in Computing where we are learning how to move a robot. In RE, we listened to the Bible story 'The Stilling of the Storm' (Luke 8:22-25) and discussed how Jesus and his disciples would be feeling. We created artwork linked to the disciples feelings on calm water and stormy water. 

Spring 1 Week 1

We've had a fantastic first week back after the Christmas holidays filled with lots of exciting learning! We have started our new topic of Amazing Asia and are very excited for you to see what we'll be learning over the next five weeks.

In our English learning, the children have been eager to delve into our new book The Jungle Book! We have been focusing on the actions, thoughts and feelings of the main characters and writing using the personal pronoun 'I' in preparation for a diary entry outcome. We have begun to look at the place value of numbers to 20 in Maths and have been introduced to Base 10. The children have impressed us this week with their super number writing! 

The children were very excited at the return of Miss Winward for our Gymnastics lessons. In Geography, we went on a local area walk and spoke about the human and physical features of Hoddlesden. Our this half term, we will broaden our knowledge from our village to the whole of the UK. We looked at objects and which everyday materials they are made out of and distinguishing between the two in Science. In Art, we began to think about the composition of landscape paintings. Mrs Fenwick introduced us to healthy sleep routines in PSHE and we looked at our new unit 'Bon Voyage!' with Madame Wardle in French.

The children brought home their new reading packs this week. Reading packs contain your child's yellow reading record, home reading book, phonics home learning and phonics learning linked to your child's current phonics phase. Please ensure your child brings their reading pack to school every day. 

Autumn 2: Factual Footprints

Christmas Dinner

Father Christmas Visit

Autumn 2 Week 8

Autumn term has come to an end. We are incredibly proud of Year 1’s hard work over the past 14 weeks! They have made amazing progress.

This week, we have completed our Reindeer fact file with Mrs Scholes and learnt lots about these fascinating animals. We linked this with our learning in Science and discovered that reindeer are herbivores. As a reward for our amazing fact file, we got to meet two reindeer! The children loved asking questions to the elves, Candy and Bauble.
 

We also had our class Christmas party which was filled with games and dancing. We played musical bumps, pass the parcel, pin the star on the tree and many more. 
 

In our English learning, we practiced and performed our poem Father Christmas Needs a Wee! The children worked incredibly hard, creating actions and projecting their voices so others could hear them. You can listen to our poetry here: https://stpaulshoddlesden.primarysite.media/media/year-1-father-christmas-needs-a-wee-poetry

The Year 1 team would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We’re excited to welcome you back to school in 2024 for another fun-filled term!

Autumn 2 Week 7

We have had another festive week in Year One! In Maths we had some exciting lessons around 2D and 3D shape. In English we enjoyed the poem Father Christmas needs a wee! by Nicholas Allan. We performed our Nativity Hey Ewe to our grown ups this week - we are all so proud of you! In RE we thought about the gifts the wise men brought for Jesus. We had an exciting lunch on Thursday - Christmas dinner! The children enjoyed Christmas music and Christmas crackers with their friends. In PSHE, we consolidated our learning around fairness and spoke about our Christmas Mission. In our History learning, we talked about Sunita Williams and her achievements as an explorer. We discovered that she explored space and completed spacewalks in the International Space Station. In Science, we continued our learning about animals and learnt the vocabulary of herbivore, carnivore and omnivore. We explored pretend animal poo to find out what kind of animal it might have come from

Autumn 2 Week 6

What a festive week we have had. We started our week with being introduced to our fabulous Elf Enterprise project. Our class has created twine Christmas decorations. We started our project by looking at all the Christmas shapes we can make with wooden sticks and decided that stars would be the best option for a decoration. We linked this with our current learning in Maths where we have been looking at 2-D shapes. We assembled the stars and created a production line to wrap them in twine. We added Christmas labels. Thank you to everyone who supported us at the Christmas Fair!

Autumn 2 Week 5

We have had a fantastic week in Year 1! We took part in an RE themed Outdoor Adventurous Learning session where we took part in four different activities. We worked together as a team to saw logs to the correct size to build a Christmas tree, travelled to Bethlehem like Mary and Joseph, followed in the footsteps of the Wise Men travelling West to East to find the Baby Jesus and made Advent wreaths from evergreen leaves. In our English learning, we continued our learning about The Highway Rat, preparing a story map to write our wanted poster next week! In Maths, we continued our learning around 3-D and 2-D shape, sorting and comparing shapes along with pattern making with shapes.

Madame Wardle showed us a matching pairs game in French and in Music we learnt the lullaby Rock-a-by Baby with a twist. On Friday, we visited Victoria Hall in Bolton for the Mayor's Christmas Concert. We learnt lots about the parts of the orchestra and sang along to the Christmas songs.

Autumn 2 Week 4

We started our new topic of shape in Maths this week. We have been learning the names of 3-D shapes including cuboids, pyramids, cones and spheres. In RE we have continued our learning around gifts. In English, we began our new fiction unit around The Highway Rat by Julia Donaldson. We received a letter from the police saying an animal was stealing food in the woods! We have enjoyed reading the story in preparation for writing wanted posters in the coming weeks. On Wednesday, we took part in an Inclusive Sports session in wheelchairs, playing tig and dancing with glow-in-the-dark bibs. In DT, we learnt about the different ways to change fruits and vegetables to prepare them for a smoothie. We sliced, juiced and blended the foods and thought about how they had changed. Next week we will be visiting Victoria Hall with our whole school trip to the Mayor's Christmas Concert! This is going to be very exciting.

Autumn 2 Week 3

What another brilliant week we have had in Year One! In English, we composed our final writing outcome which were fact files about explorers and what a marvellous job you all did! We also wore odd socks to recognise and learn about anti-bullying. We discussed what bullying means and who we can speak to if we are worried in our PSHE learning. On Tuesday we went on a trip to A & S Nightingale Farm where we learnt about the different animals, their characteristics and how to look after them. In Computing we continued to develop our mouse and keyboard skills. In RE we continued to think about how Jesus is a gift from God and the Christmas story. We ended the week with a Pudsey day in aid of Children in Need! We all dressed up spotty and yellow and came in some fabulous clothes!

Autumn 2 Week 2

We’ve had another great week in Year One! In English we have continued learning about Ernest Shackleton and have been practising our key skills for our end outcome: fact files. In Maths, we have started solving addition word problems which has involved lots of reading and problem solving. The children have shown great resilience in Maths this week! Science has also been wonderful this week as we were scientists exploring different animals groups and how we classify animals. We will build on this learning next week when we visit a local farm. In our RE lesson, Miss Sullivan has been teaching us about how Jesus is a gift sent from God. In DT, we received a letter from Aldi. They have had some complaints about their smoothies and want us to create a new recipe. We have been learning the difference between fruits and vegetables. We ended our week visiting the war memorial in Hoddlesden for Remembrance Day. We have spent much of this week discussing the soldiers and other people who go to war and how poppies are a sign to remember.

Autumn 2 Week 1

It has been so lovely to have all the children back in school. The children have thoroughly enjoyed being introduced to our new connector Factual Footprints. In our English learning, we have begun Non-Fiction November with a fact file about about Ernest Shackleton. The children have enjoyed being inference detectives this week as we looked through a suitcase that arrived in the classroom. We thought about who it belonged to, where they might have been travelling to and how they may have been feeling. We also began to read about Ernest Shackleton’s life and achievements with the book Little People Big Dreams: Ernest Shackleton. In Maths, the children have continued with their learning around addition and have been introduced to the subtraction symbol. They have been using tens frames to support their learning. 
 

We were introduced to a new subject, History, where we began to think about what it means to be an explorer. The children had many fantastic ideas about explorers including the names of some explorers they already know. We decided that bravery, resilience and patience are characteristics of great explorers. In Computing, we practiced mouse control on the computers and in PE we started our topic of partner games with Mr Robinson. In our DT learning, we started to think about what a smoothie is and taste tested three different smoothies. The children discussed if they liked or disliked the smoothies and talked about their appearance, texture and taste. In Science this week, we began our topic on animals including humans, where we groups animals into five groups - mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds and fish.

We can’t wait to share all our super learning with you in weeks to come. 

Autumn 1: Native Narratives

Autumn 1 Week 7
 

What an incredible half term Year One!

We had a fantastic start to the week with a visit from TriKidz. The children showed great strength and resilience whilst swimming, riding a balance bike and running. Miss Bateson, Mrs Briggs and Mr Robinson even had a try! On Wednesday, we spent the morning learning about the Arctic and Antarctic in an Explorers Workshop by One Day Creative. This will support our History learning next half term where will with discuss ‘Who were the greatest explorers?’.

In English, the children have worked hard to learn and practice their performance poetry called Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain. We performed our poem in groups. In Maths, we have continued with our work on addition, discussing number bonds to and within 10. The children have been working hard in their Guided Reading sessions and throughout their Phonics learning. Please continue to support your child at home with their reading.

Autumn 1 Week 6

We’ve had another fabulous week in Year 1!

In English we have been learning about information texts. We began by identifying how fiction and non-fiction differ. We've also been looking at the features of information texts and practising some of them. This lead to a very important information text about Hoddlesden (our local area). In Maths we have continued to build on our learning around addition, the part-whole model and have particularly focussed on fact families. The children have shown super resilience in this as it has proved to be tricky for many of us. In PSHE we worked on our feelings and identifying if our bodies or feelings are hurt in different situations. In our Science learning, we focused on our sense of smell. Miss Bateson challenged us to identify items by their scent. In our Geography learning, we have continued learning about our local area, this week focusing on maps and their symbols. We practiced identifying features of African-inspired music in our Music lesson with Mr Richards. Madame Wardle performed a play in French and the children had to identify the colours of clothing they could hear. We have been putting the finishing touches on our routine in Dance, we can’t wait to share this with you next week!

Autumn 1 Week 5

We started our week by diving into Black History Month. Miss Bateson shared a book about a lady called Ella Fitzgerald and her life. We danced to Ella Fitzgerald’s songs and researched about her life and achievements in preparation to write a poem about her. In French, the children have been working really hard to consolidate their learning around French colours. They also enjoyed learning I can sing a rainbow in French: “arc-en-ciel”. In Music we have been busy rehearsing our songs and have enjoyed learning to play with rhythm on the glockenspiels. In Maths we consolidated our learning about greater than, less than and equal to as well as the number line. The children have showed exceptional resilience in Maths where they have found certain elements (particularly problem solving) really tricky. In Phonics, we began learning Phase 5 graphemes. Please support your children with their phonics home learning to consolidate this. In RE we explored how Harvest is celebrated around the world and learnt about the Jewish festival of Harvest, Sukkot. The children used natural materials on the paddock to build a miniature Sukkot. In Dance, we practiced our routine with pom-poms! The children have been practicing their dance routine very hard and we can’t wait to share this with you.

Autumn 1 Week 4

Another amazing week in Year One! In Maths we have been continuing with place value, using greater than and less than symbols to create number statements. In English we have started our new topic on information texts. We looked at the different features of non-fiction text and practiced writing sub-headings and captions. Music was all fun and games where we got to use musical instruments to practise our African inspired song. 
Geography has been great fun with a walk around our local area and in RE we created prayers of thanks for Harvest. In our French learning this week, Madame Wardle introduced us to the story Petit-Bleu et Petit-Jaune but it was all in French. We used the pictures and drew on the French colours we already know to find out what the story was about. Thank you for all your donations and support for Macmillan Coffee Afternoon on Friday.

Autumn 1 Week 3

We have had another busy and jam packed week in Year 1.

In French, we began to consolidate our learning around colours through a game called "Where's Kevin?". Can your child recall their French colours to you? In English, we researched the characteristics and features of African animals. The children have written their retelling of Little Red Riding Hood and the Maasai Warriors and are preparing their oral retellings ready for next week. In Maths, the children have been using and applying their place value skills to find out if numbers are greater than, less than or equal to each other. The children have been working hard during our Phonics sessions where they have had to use and apply all the phonemes they have learnt so far in Phase 4 words. In Geography the children created some maps of the classroom a whilst trying to imagine the room from a bird’s eye view. During RE we continue to explore all things Harvest, this week focussing on artwork depicting Harvest. We even created our own Harvest art. We had a very exciting Wednesday doing Outdoor Adventurous Learning, we headed to the woods where there was a panther on the loose! The children trained to be Maasai warriors and explored the local surroundings. We found lots of African animals along the way and even roasted marshmallows on the fire at the end.

Autumn 1 Week 2

We’ve had another jam packed week full of lots of exciting learning. In English, we practiced the story Little Red Riding Hood and the Maasai Warriors and created actions to help us remember the story. The children then performed the story for their parents and carers to watch! In Geography we continued our topic on our local area. We talked about places that are near to Hoddlesden and places that are far away. We had our first tag sports session in P.E. Where we practiced our running, jumping and spatial awareness skills. We continued our Art topic and practised our paper rolling skills. We are very impressed with the artists in our class. In French we practiced the colours on the French flag and discussed how we are feeling. We also had a visitor from Stephen from Life Education who taught us how we can keep our bodies healthy, Harold joined him too! What a wonderful week Year 1! 

Autumn 1 Week 1

What a busy first week! The children have settled into school life wonderfully adapting to new rules and routines in Year 1. I am so proud of them. Thank you to all parents for your support too.

This week in English we watched a video about the Maasai tribe and compared their life to ours in Hoddlesden. We read the story Little Red Riding Hood and the Maasai Warriors and made connections to the original Little Red Riding Hood story. In Maths we have been learning how to sort, count, group and represent objects and numbers. We have done this both practically and recorded this using counting equipment. In Science we have been introduced to the parts of the human body, we drew the human body and labelled the parts we already know. In PSHE we discussed our class rules and how we can follow rules at school and at home. In PE, we had our first dance session based on jungle animals. In Guided Reading we adjusted to a new style of carousel. In Geography we were 'local area experts' and spoke about the features of our local area. In Computing, we discussed the word technology and went on a technology hunt in the classroom to see how many examples we could find.

Please ensure you send your child's reading book with them everyday and try to read as often as possible (a minimum of three times a week). Year 1 is a crucial year for reading so it is important that your child has much exposure to this as possible.

Many thanks for all your support this week. Should you have any concerns or queries please feel free to get in touch. I look forward to updating you on here each week and working closely with you to get the best outcomes for your children.