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Term 4
English
English was closely linked to the topic of traditional tales this term. Children explored some traditional folk tales such as ‘Anansi and Mr Dry Bones’ and loved learning about the West African culture through this story. They enjoyed sequencing the story and making up their own version of the story, thinking carefully about what characters to use and plotting their own story lines. They also enjoyed writing about well-known traditional tales such as ‘Cinderella’.
Maths
A highlight from maths this term was learning about measuring weights. Children loved exploring weights and measuring objects against each other to see which object was heavier or lighter. They developed their understanding of how to use scales and also put this into practice in various other ways when baking for Jubilee University. They also estimated weights and enjoyed testing to see if their predictions were corrected.
Science
Spanish Bulls have explored the change in seasons this term and have enjoyed completing a walk around the school grounds to see how the outside area has changed and how new life has appeared. They have started learning about plants and the cycle of plant growth and have enjoyed looking at the structure of plants.
RE
In RE children learnt about Palm Sunday and developed their knowledge and understanding of why Christians celebrate Palm Sunday. They thought about how they would respond if Jesus were to visit Maidstone and how they could show their respect in various ways. Children made palm leaves and wrote what they would say to Jesus on their leaves. This was a thoroughly enjoyable topic.
Art/DT
Children loved developing their drawing, sketching and painting skills when studying the work of Vincent Van Gogh. They looked closely at his techniques and explored his work. They produced their own sunflower paintings using the techniques demonstrated by Van Gogh. At home, Year 1 also loved creating fairy tale mock up scenes linked to our topic of traditional tales. They developed their DT skills and explored how to build structures and make their designs stable. Children used their mock ups to act out various stories.
Topic
Children have looked at changes within living memory this term through studying the journey of books. They explored how books have changed from originally being clay tablets to learn pads and other ICT forms. Children sequenced the journey of books and also predicted what books may look like in the future.
Term 3
RE
In RE children learnt about the story of Zacchaeus in the Bible and how Jesus showed kindness and demonstrated what it means to be a good friend. Children were able to sequence the story and think about what type of friend they want to be to others, with Jesus being an example in the story. This story linked in well with our RSE lessons where children thought about what makes them special and a good friend to others.
Art/DT
Children loved developing their drawing and sketching skills when drawing different dinosaurs and fossils. They also got to experience this during our trip to Maidstone Museum, where they drew the remains of a jaw belonging to a Tyrannosaurs-rex. As part of DT, children studied the work of Lin Evola-Smidt and explored how she makes different models and sculptures using recyclable materials. They can then create their own dinosaurs using junk modelling and various materials.
Maths
A highlight from maths this term was learning about fractions. Children loved exploring how to halve shapes, objects and numbers. They also loved learning about money. Spanish Bulls enjoyed ordering coins and purchasing and selling different items. Children were able to develop their knowledge of addition and subtraction in the form of money by having a role play shop where they could give and receive change.
English
English was closely linked to our topic of dinosaurs. Children loved describing various dinosaurs using fantastic adjectives and similes. ‘The Good Dinosaur’ story was a highlight this term. Children were engaged and moved by the story, they thoroughly enjoyed writing about it. They sequenced and retold the story well using descriptive writing.
Science/Art
Children explored seasonal changes this term and performed simple tests to discover the strength of the wind. They worked well as a team to make anemometers and loved going outside to test them. They also observed how objects are controlled by the wind and enjoyed writing about their findings.
Topic
Children were able to develop their geographical skills this term by learning how to read and navigate maps. They enjoyed testing their knowledge of North, South, East and West by following a simple map and completing a dinosaur hunt. Children had to go to specific points in the playground and mark off where they had discovered dinosaurs.
Term 2
RE
During RE children looked at the Christmas story and learnt about the sequence of events. This developed their knowledge and understanding of the story and led to practising and performing a nativity play. This was a thoroughly enjoyable experience as the children loved dressing up and re telling the story to the school and parents.
Art/DT
Children were able to develop their sketching skills through drawing different scenes from the Christmas story. They looked at traditional pictures of the scenes and created their own drawings. These drawings were displayed as part of their nativity.
Maths
Children loved learning how to measure length, width and height this term. They explored this concept through many different ways and worked well as a team to complete different investigations. A highlight from the term was measuring the length of each other using hands and feet and recording their results.
English
English was closely linked to the topic of superheroes this term. Children were able to develop their descriptive language when describing and writing about superheroes. They created story boards and wrote about the beginning, middle and end of stories. They were able to sequence stages of a story and write about superheroes in their own lives.
Science/Art
Children explored seasonal changes this term and looked at the difference between the seasons. They were able to identify changes in seasons and match objects to relate to various seasons. They loved exploring different textures through doing art work using leaves to represent different seasons. Children thoroughly enjoyed this learning process.
Topic/English
Children learnt about present day superheroes such as parents and compared them to historical figures. They were able to identify various superheroes in their own lives and look at influential people in history such as Florence Nightingale. They loved learning about her and researching facts. Children developed their understanding of fiction and non-fiction texts and loved creating an information book about Florence Nightingale.
PE
Children were able to develop their choreography skills this term through choreographing all the dances and movements for the nativity songs. They taught reception the dances and were able to perform the dances in the nativity production.
Big Think/Equipped for life
During ‘Big think’, children were able to think about what makes superheroes great and came up with ideas as to how they could be superheroes. One of the ideas was to develop team work. This linked in well with what they learnt through Jubilee University about perseverance and cooperation. One of the practical activities they did was to develop their team work through various parachute challenges.
Term 1
A big welcome back to everyone in Spanish Bulls. Hola!
We have started the year with some religious education.
Year 1 have loved learning about Christianity this term, thinking about how Jesus wants us to look after the world. They have learnt how to look after the environment around them and loved having the opportunity to do this practically around the school. The children helped our site manager by picking up leaves around the trees and cleaning the mile a day track. This was a great experience and they loved seeing the caretaker’s reaction when he saw how much they had helped him and others in the school.
Animal visits
Spanish Bulls have also enjoyed exploring the topic of paws, claws and whiskers this term. They have learnt all about different animals and animal groups and had a special visit from Mrs Barlow’s tortoise! This was a highlight of the term as children got to see and interact with the tortoise and distinguish what makes it a reptile.
Science
Spanish Bulls learnt about their five senses during science and a real highlight was exploring these senses. Children were able to taste, touch, smell and explore their senses in various ways. They loved tasting different fruits and exploring which ones were sweet and sour. They also learnt about how the human body works together in order for all senses to be used. This was a memorable experience that children thoroughly enjoyed.
In science children have also learnt about different animal groups. They have developed their knowledge and understanding of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, birds and insects and have been able to organise animals into the correct animal group. They have thoroughly enjoyed learning facts about different animals.
Art/DT
Spanish Bulls loved designing a logo and making a product this term. They all thought of different animals and designed a logo for animal food. They explored this through junk modelling, experimenting with different textures.
Maths
Year 1 have been learning about addition, subtraction and doubling numbers. They also learnt how number facts are related and consolidated their knowledge of number bonds. A highlight from the term was doubling using ladybirds. Children thoroughly enjoyed learning in this way.
RE
Year 1 have enjoyed learning about the Christian creation story in RE. They enjoyed sequencing the creation story and doing art work linked to it such as painting the different stages of the story. They also loved acting out the story and retelling the story.
English
Year 1 have loved retelling stories in English and writing about stories. They loved The Tiger who came to tea by Judith Kerr. They narrated, wrote and performed the story and created invitations to invite people to tea with the tiger. They have also been ordering the days of the week and writing the days of the week.
2017/18 Term 6
Literacy and Topic
In Term 6 English Lions enjoyed exploring the world beneath the sea. We enjoyed finding out different sea creatures as well as completing different science experiments.
We began by reading ‘Commotion in the Ocean’; this helped us to learn about different sea creatures. We made some amazing models of octopus, fish and jellyfish. We then learnt about the famous sea explorer, Jacques Cousteau. We thought about all of the interesting things he would have seen under the sea. He invented an underwater camera and breathing equipment. We pretended we were divers, describing what we found, what we saw and what we felt. A real diver wrote us a letter and sent us some photographs! He told us all about what it was like to dive. He can dive down 50 metres which very cold and dark that far under the sea. We write some letters back to him.
We completed some different experiments with water. We thought about items that float and sink and we made our own boats, thinking about which materials to use and why. We were also challenged to make a waterproof coat for Bubbles the bear. We had to think about which materials to use in order to make sure he didn’t get wet when we tested out our designs. We explored ice and water, painting with ice cubes and freezing coloured water to explore how it feels.
We have been very lucky to see fish up close and in great detail in our very own fish tank. We have enjoyed learning about preparing a fish tank and decorating our fish tank to make it homely. We have two Variatus Platy called Kurt and Jigglypuff. We also have two Venezuelan Black Corydoras called Broun and Harry Kane. We have learnt about caring for fish, cleaning out their tanks and how to feed them.
Maths
We have been working so hard on our maths this term. We are confident with our addition and subtraction. We have been using numicon as well as boats and fish to help us with number problems, even producing our own mathematical problems. We have been thinking about doubling and halving numbers and using starfish to help us count in fives! We have worked hard on writing numbers and number sentences; we are even becoming more confident with numbers over twenty. We have been using a great deal of mathematical vocabulary around capacity and volume whilst exploring water and how ice changes. We have also learnt how to tell the time! We learnt all about the two clock hands and can read o’clock times. Every hour we come and tell Miss Payne what the time is!
