Class 1
Welcome to Class 1
Welcome to the new school year 2024 -2025
Life in all its fullness
In Class 1 we have been exploring the theme of Life in all its fullness through the texts ‘Every child a song’ and ‘Odd dog out’. We have shared our thoughts on what makes our lives full and we have also considered what makes us unique and special. The creation of individual birds based on those in ‘Every child a song’ helped us celebrate being different.
Term 2
The first two terms in Class 1 have been a whirlwind! Making the change from EYFS to Year 1 has been met with enthusiasm and determination – both qualities that have been shown again and again in Class 1. Learning new routines, new expectations and above all getting to grips with lessons in all the National Curriculum subjects has been a positive experience with children being inspired to further their learning at home.
In Science we have been learning about the human body; in particular the five senses. Smelling different foods with blindfolds on and tasting different foods was great fun. Lemons and vinegar were both either loved or hated! We have been testing and describing materials according to different properties. As I write we are planning to test a variety of materials for absorbency.
In DT we created moving pictures using pop up techniques that we had seen in storybooks. We enabled a character or object to move up and down or side to side.
Over the term Class 1 have enjoyed their Yoga sessions, the visit from the Life Education team, our Quidditch experience, Forest school, our celebrations in Church and of course our Nativity.
Our term was finished off with our fantastic performance with Year 2 of ‘Simply the Nativity’ which gave us all the chance to shine so brightly especially those crazy party sheep!
Terms 3 and 4
Since January, Class 1 have been enjoying their learning experiences and have all made amazing progress. We loved sharing our books with our parents when they came for our Stay and Share session.
Our Art days with Mrs Dyminski were fantastic. We used watercolour paints and black pens to create leopard faces. This linked with our learning about Kenya which was inspired by the book, ‘Lila and the secret of rain.’
Twice a week we have PE and we practise and develop the skills we need to play different sports. A PE teacher from Kingshill School came to share a sport called curling with us. It was great fun pushing the stones around the hall and trying to get it into the centre of the target.
In DT this term we found out about how vehicles move using wheels and axles. Creating our very own moving vehicles helped us understand how the mechanism works. Some of our vehicles were a bit wobbly!
Over the term Class 1 have also enjoyed a Yoga session, a cricket taster, Forest school, World Book day workshops and Easter celebrations in Holy Cross Church.
Our term has been rounded off brilliantly by celebrating our learning in our class assembly. We all enjoyed the experience and loved giving you all a glimpse of what we’ve been up to.
Previous year
Welcome to the new school year 2023 – 2024
Summer 1 update:
Class 1 had a lovely trip to Lower Moor nature reserve. The weather was kind to us and we were able to celebrate Solomon’s birthday with cake at lunchtime! Learning about seeds, plants, insects and where our food comes from filled our morning, while our afternoon was more creative as we had the opportunity to make our own bubble wands and some beautiful artwork using the plants and flowers around us.
Spring 2 update:
What a tremendous term we have had in Class 1! Our forest school sessions this term have linked to our science – how to look after our world and signs of spring. The children looked for litter on the school grounds and talked about the damage this can cause to animals. In their next session they then did a litter pick and were amazed at what they collected! Looking for signs of spring was a little harder with the current weather but they persevered and found some nymphs in the pond, daffodils and some blossom on the trees.
Miss Airey has been working with the class on a Design and Technology project based on designing and making a puppet. Firstly, the children looked at different ways to join materials and picked what they thought was the best. They then designed their puppet, taking inspiration from animals. They used felt and their chosen joining method to make their puppet out of felt. This was quite tricky and involved a lot of patience! The final products look fabulous!
Mrs Dyminski joined us in class again this term for 2 fantastic art days. The children absolutely love this time with her and the work they produce is stunning! This time the children focused on 2 books to celebrate World Book Day. They looked at Alice in Wonderland and created Cheshire Cat faces using crepe paper and pens. They then moved on the book ‘Where the wild things are’ and created their own wild thing.
Our Alice in wonderland dance workshop for World Book Day was brilliant. Every child took part and learnt the different dance moves to recreate a few scenes from the book. Our book for this term has been ‘The Storm Whale’, the children have absolutely loved this book and have produced some amazing pieces of writing. They have had a go at letter writing, diary entries, giving advice and story writing. We are so proud of the finished pieces and have loved to see the children so engaged with their learning.
Spring 1 Update: Our book that we are reading in English is ‘Lila and the secret of rain’.
We began our topic by discussing different types of weather. We chose a favourite and least favourite type of weather and wrote about why we thought this. We explored different images of Kenya as this is where the book is set. We looked at what was similar and what was different about Kenya and England. We then then tried to write our own version of the story. We tried hard to remember all of the parts from the story. We used our story maps to help us keep the story in order.
We also wrote poems about the rain and why we love it.
We had fun in geography looking at maps. We thought about the different maps we might have and what they might be used for. We thought about: road maps, star maps, street maps and of course treasure maps! We went for a walk around the village and used a map to find our way around. We then looked at the main roads in the village and the important buildings. We found all of these on a map.
What a busy 2 terms we have had! We have looked at 4 different books over the weeks and have written some lovely pieces, from diary entries, letters and even a story or two! The writing has been phenomenal!
We had a fabulous stay and share session in Class. It was so lovely to see the children sharing their learning with their parents and carers. I know they found it very exciting and are already asking when we will have another one!
We were very lucky to have been joined by Rev Shirley and Mel Tim in class. They helped us to create a beautiful harvest loaf ready for the church service. The children loved rolling the dough and making the different parts for the loaf.
The Wiltshire Air Ambulance have also been into school and talked to the children about important life saving skills. We were asked if we knew our home address and number, lots of children did! The children then got to test out some rather exciting gadgets and rescue one another from a choking incident. The children loved this and got very excited when their little piece of foam shot out of the jacket!
This term has been a sparkly one! We have had our marvellous nativity and the children have also had 2 super art days with Mrs Dyminski. The work they have produced is incredible and they have had so much fun too! The Nativity was incredible, full of wonderful singing and super costumes! Well done Class 1.
Across the school we have been looking at the book ‘Dear Earth’ and this has helped us to think about ‘our common neighbor’. We explored all the amazing wonders of the world including all of the different animals, sea creatures and houses that can be found across the world. We looked at how we can help the earth and make sure it is protected for the children of the future. We also looked at the parable of the Good Samaritan and looked how we can help those around us.
Archive Posts –2022-2023
Annual Shine Curriculum Overview
Summer Term
Spring 2
Our learning for this term is centred around space and again the children are loving it! They have gone away and found some super facts and many have brought in their favourite space books to share with the class. We have focused on the first moon landing with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Quite a few children think they would like to become astronauts when they grow up. We are also writing our own version of the book, Man on the moon!
In class 1 we have looked at the 5 oceans, the creatures that live within them and why it is important that we look after our oceans. The children already had some amazing knowledge of ocean creatures and they were all very excited to get started! Within our learning we also looked at the depth of the ocean and how different creatures adapt to living in these different habitats. This linked to our learning in science which was based on animals and living things. Our English book ‘The Storm Whale’ linked to the ocean theme and allowed us to write some beautiful non-chronological reports on whales – the children were experts and had great fun finding out the most amazing fact! They knew so many by the end of the topic! One of our favourites was – a blue whales heart weighs the same as a small car! The children have loved the sculpture work in our art lessons, we have used so many different materials and made some rather funny poses too!
Today we were visited by Chris and some baby dinosaurs! Before meeting the dinosaurs, the children had an amazing workshop with Chris in which they found out lots of amazing information about dinosaurs and got to share some of their own knowledge too. After this the children then got to roll up their sleeves and have a go at being palaeontologists and uncovering some fossils. The children had to use brushes to carefully remove the soil, sand and dust. Chris talked about why this is important and how it helps preserve the fossil. After uncovering the fossils, the children had to then use the guides to work out what they had found, the children loved guessing and then seeing if their guess was correct.
‘I loved the allosaurus skull, it was so so big!’
‘The fossilised poo was the best, I gave it to Miss Igoe to hold and she made a funny face when I told her what it was!’
‘I loved brushing off the dust and seeing what was underneath’
In the afternoon the children then got to meet three baby dinosaurs – the youngest was only born on Christmas Eve! There was a Tyrannosaurs Rex, a Triceratops and a Parasaurolophus. The children loved stroking them and looking at them closely. It was an amazing experience for everyone.
Autumn 2 Update
Our book in focus this term has been ‘The Dark’ by Lemony Snicket. We have been very inspired by this book and have been working hard on our writing. We have been writing sentences, poems and letters about the dark.
We have been out and about in the village, combining two of our topics – signs of winter and the history of the village. The children loved looking at the buildings and pointing out the places they knew. The weather wasn’t great but we all had fun!
We have been looking at the importance of Christmas to Christians and the reasons it is celebrated. This led us to look at advent. The children thoroughly enjoyed making Christingles, Rev Shirley also joined us to talk about Christmas and advent in Holy Cross Church.
This first Autumn term has been packed with super learning and experiences, see below for more!
In literacy we have been looking at the book ‘Wild’. We talked about how the character might be feeling and what exciting things she might have done in the forest with the animals. The children loved writing for different purposes, including letter writing.
Across the school we have been exploring seeds and growth through the book ‘It starts with a seed’. The children in Class 1 have loved looking at the seeds, touching them and thinking about the incredible things they might grow into. We were amazed that such tiny seeds could grow to be such mighty creations.
We thought about how we could describe seeds and then used this to think of words we could use to describe ourselves and our strengths. Here are some examples:
Looking at seeds also inspired our art work, we had fun using seeds as a medium to create a sunflower. We also used watercolour to create a beautiful background to draw seeds onto.
.
We thought about how we could describe seeds and then used this to think of words we could use to describe ourselves and our strengths. Here are some examples:
