2021 - 2022

In preparation for lots of reading over the Summer, Merian class are sewing their own bookmarks. They have made a careful design on dotty paper and are transferring their design on to binca. They have learned running stitch and cross stitch.

In English this half term, our key text has been the Enormous Turnip. The children have learned the story by heart, using actions to help them, acted out the story in drama, used the puppets to retell the story and drawn story maps.

Now they are innovating the story to create their own version. They have made story maps to help them retell the new stories.

We enjoyed a visit from PC Norton and PC McArdle today. They talked about how to keep safe. The children asked lots of questions and found out about all the different jobs in the police force, from training and handling dogs, to piloting helicopters. They even got to radio the control centre in Wymondham via walkie talkie and say Good Morning.

This week in maths, the focus is on shape and positional language. We began exploring the beautiful book The Tangram Cat by Maranke Rinck. The children have used tangram puzzles to compose and decompose shapes, recreating the puzzles from the book and creating their own pictures. It has helped them to understand the properties of the shapes and use mathematical vocabulary to describe their work to their friends. We played a game, arranging shapes and then describing it to a friend to copy using positional language. Outside, we gave our friends directions around a grid, to reach the finish without stepping on the flowers, using left and right, quarter turn and forwards or backwards.

This is just a small selection of the beautiful art work Merian class created with the resident artist. They learned about wild flowers local to the area and then used torn paper collage to recreate these on recycled materials.

The children have been dividing by grouping and sharing this week, using apparatus. They have investigated which numbers can be divided into equal groups, choosing their own ways to explore this and linked finding half of a number to dividing by 2.

They made models that were half one colour and half another.

In science we have been finding out about owls as part of our theme on animals. The children have researched what they look like, what they eat, their habitat and other interesting facts. We dissected owl pellets to help us find out what owls eat. We found fur and small bones. The children had to use the tooth picks really carefully to extract the small bones. Then we used the chart to try and find out which animals the bones belonged to.

Maths

We started this term looking at multiplication in maths. The children have consolidated counting in steps of different numbers and making hops on a number line, making equal groups and recording these as repeated addition and making arrays. They have found lots of ways to represent their learning using different apparatus. 

Using our five senses

We have been recapping our learning about senses whilst taking part in various learning opportunities. We have been developing our vocabulary related to the different senses.

Spring 2

This half term will be a very busy one for the children. They will start work with their partner school St John's Catholic Primary School in Antigua, along with enjoying Science and STEM weeks and dressing up for World Book Day.

In preparation to work with Antigua, through work with the Ancient House Museum the children learn a lot of facts not only about the geographical features of Thetford but also significant historical people who called Thetford their home.

As a part of the partnership with St John's the children will each write a nonfiction book about Thetford to share. The Antiguan pupils will be sharing information about life in Antigua and then all pupils will compare and contrast their locations. They will also be working with a meteorologist, Mr Dyer, from Antigua to learn about the weather and compare Antigua's weather to that of the UK. 

Science and STEM weeks will also take place this half term and the children will explore, discover and ask question about space. 

In R.E. we are learning about Spring festivals. Today we learned about Mardi Gras and how this is linked to Lent. The children made masks and beads, both traditional items worn during the festival in purple, gold and green, colours symbolising justice, power and faith. We had fun dancing and making a parade wearing our beautiful creations.

Spring 1

Theme: Place! This term we be moving from Me to Place! We will continue to learn about Thetford and learn about Norwich and the four countries of the UK. The children will compare Norwich to Trinidad and other islands in the Caribbean. We are looking at the story "Coming to England" by Floella Benjamin. The children will be planning and writing an adventure story based on this. In Science the children are going to continue looking at seasons, as well as investigating Materials. In computing we will be using Bee-Bots to start thinking about coding. Our art focus is Mondrian, and looking at lines. Please watch this space for photos over the coming half term, giving you an insight into our learning. 

Autumn Term

This half term both Rashford and Merian have been retelling the story of 'Little Red Riding Hood'. They have been acting it out and using adjectives to describe the wolf and Little Red Riding Hood.

In History they have been learning about Guy Fawkes and learned the Remember, Remember, the fifth of November poem. They also learnt about Remembrance Day and made poppies in remembrance of a specific soldier who died in the war. They laid their poppies in Sophia's Garden in honour of their soldier’s sacrifice and was visited by a service man for Remembrance Day assembly.

In RE the children have been learning about Diwali and have coloured in lovely rangoli patterns, made flowers and lanterns.

In Geography the children made maps of the classroom and while be looking at using google maps to navigate around the roads close to the school.

In Computing, the children have started word processing, learning to type efficiently using the correct hand position.

Autumn Term 1

Both Rashford and Merian classes have started the school year with learning about themselves and their class names. We have looked at our namesakes and talked about all the things that both Rashford and Merian have done for the global community. We have been exploring our five senses,  learning our 'This is Me' poem, writing our 'This is Me' poem and learning about our body parts. We have been exploring our provision and learning about our environment. 

This term we have been really busy in Maths learning about place value and decomposing numbers. We're also looking at addition and subtraction using objects and starting to draw our calculations and writing the number sentence (or calculation!). In Science we have been learning about our bodies and looked at healthy eating in PHSE. We have written poems about ourselves and learned what nouns are people, places or things, including animals. 

Our focussed author is Eric Carle and we have been reading lots of his stories in class. Our focussed book is 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and we have been sequencing the story, acting it out and creating food and pictures from the story with playdough. Hope you enjoy looking at all of our photos that capture our love for learning.

We have been measuring using non-standard units as well as using rulers. We've measured our feet using cubes and measured lines using bricks. Also, come and read our wonderful Hungry Caterpillar stories. We've had to feed our caterpillars pieces of celery, but they are only allowed to eat two pieces each, otherwise they will get tummy ache! This has helped us to learn about multiplication (counting in 2s) and sharing equally too.

Homework

All about Me!

Dear Parents, 

As you know the topic for this term is ‘All about me’. The children are learning about what makes them unique. We would like them to interview you about why you picked their name and where the country of origin is?  You can use google to find out the meaning of the name and the place of origin. 

 Please write the answers on this paper and also video tape the conversation. We are hoping to get a Year group set of parent conversations to air on the radio station. Please upload the video taped conversation to tapestry. 

Thank you 

The Year 1 Team