Monday 6th July 2020

Hi everybody!

This week you’ll find some transition tasks for you to complete over the Summer. The emphasis is on fun, so don’t worry! The 50 Things To Do This Summer list has some great ideas, but some may not be possible because of the lockdown, so just pick and choose which things will be interesting and enjoyable to do!

Apart from the decorated stones you can bring in for transition week, all the other things you are asked to make should be brought in to wow Miss Wood in September!

Just a little note to finish with. It’s been a unique year, but whatever the uncertainty you’ve all gone through, as a whole class, your approach to learning, behaviour, and sheer ability to smile and enjoy every day has been absolutely marvellous. It has made my job feel like the best job in the world. I will really miss you all next year… although I will only be next door!

Best wishes,

Mr Lynn

Monday 29th June 2020

Hi everybody,

I hope you enjoy this week’s Learning Grid. It looks a bit different: there is a column and task that asks you to reflect on your favourite activities this year. Whatever you make and email me a photo of will be shown to the class starting Year 1 in September, so it’s your chance to show what you’ve really enjoyed, and be creative with how you present it as well.

I also particularly like the book for this week: I think it captures the silly sense of humour a lot of us share in Year 1, as well as being useful to teach a grammar rule at the same time!

Have a splendid week!

Best wishes,

Mr Lynn

PS: Miss Wood is very excited to get going in September, we’ve spotted her peeking through the door to have a look at her new class a couple of times!

Monday 22nd June 2020

Good morning everybody!

First of all, a special thank you to those of you who emailed in some work, it’s been lovely to share it with the children at school. It’s also been brilliant seeing so many of you over the past couple of weeks, either face to face in class, or on Microsoft Teams. I saw and heard about some brilliant learning and fun times being had at home.

A highlight in class last week was making those tiny books out of one piece of paper: I think we have some future origami experts in our class judging by what I saw. I’ve also rarely seen such excitement over learning grammar rules! I hope you enjoyed making them at home. I’m expecting lots of Pokémon, Leeds United and sparkly unicorn books are also being made judging from the buzz in the classroom!

This week I’ve set a spelling check of the Year 1 Common Exception Words for the first couple of days. There’s a lot of words to check, but the vast majority have already been covered in spelling checks across the year. It’s just so we can find any spelling gaps for you to work on, whilst getting ready for Year 2.

Enjoy your weeks everybody, remember just do as much as you can, when you can, if you can.

Best wishes

Mr Lynn

Monday 15th June 2020

Hello folks!

I hope you enjoyed the Queen’s Hat: in class we decided Her Majesty is probably a little old to be scaling Big Ben and climbing up the neck of a giraffe, but she seemed to be having a good time doing it!

Just like last time, the boxes shaded light blue show learning that will be covered in class, so please miss that out if you are now coming to class. I’ve enjoyed getting a few emails showing your work at home, and those in school have really enjoyed seeing work by their friends, so please keep sending it over.

Have a super week…which is hopefully warmer and drier than last week!

Mr Lynn

Monday 8th June 2020

Hi everybody!

It’s been great to hear from so many of you by email, as well as seeing lots of smiling faces back at school. While the class may be learning in different ways, and in different places, it’s good to see our amazing Yew class all doing so well. Keep staying in touch with each other, and do let me know about the amazing adventures you are getting up to!

You may notice the grid looks a bit different this week. All the boxes shaded light blue show learning that will be covered through lessons within school. So if you are currently coming into school, just miss those boxes out when you complete your home learning. If you are working at home, just work though the activities as normal (as much as you can, when you can, if you can). You could email in any work you are particularly proud of, so the rest of the class can see it in school on our big screen!

We had a lot of fun starting to look at ‘The Queen’s Hat’ in class last week, and I hope the rest of the class enjoys it as well!

Have a smashing week.

Mr Lynn

Monday 1st June 2020

Good morning everybody!

I hope you all had a great half-term, and really enjoyed those activities. Did anybody manage to make a really amazing plane, or construct an incredibly high spaghetti tower? (It’s definitely harder if you cook the spaghetti first!) If you made the time capsule, what did you put in it? It’d be great to hear how you all got on.

For Phonics this week, the Phase 3 group has now finished learning all their sounds: well done team! It’s really important to keep practising them regularly, but because that group is now onto Phase 5a, it is now called the Phase 5a group! There’s a look in focus at the trees all around us, and a nice activity where you can be leaf detectives, which is always a favourite of mine!

Have a great week,

Mr Lynn

Monday 25th May

Good morning Yew!

This week, Miss Taylor and myself have put together a Key Stage One ‘Wellbeing Pyramid’, with lots of fun activities that you could do over half-term. I particularly like the look of the one with spaghetti and marshmallows! Have a lovely week, and I hope this different focus this week helps you to really enjoy your time.

Mr Lynn

PS: I hope your paper aeroplanes fly go better than mine; I lost my first one in a hedge!

Monday 18th May 2020

Good morning Yew class!

Well it was very strange filming that message last week: it’s rather hard to teach to another teacher holding an iPad instead of to my fantastic class. I haven’t been so nervous since I made a speech at my brother’s wedding! I don’t think I’ll give up teaching and become a YouTuber.  If you check your new inboxes, you should have a little message from me. If there’s any issues, ask your grown-ups to get in touch with the school.

Just a little note about the grids I’m sending out each week. To borrow from Mr Roycroft’s message to Year 6, please do as much as you can, when you can, if you can. They are there to help you keep going with your learning, but please don’t let them get on top of you. The most important thing, as always, is to stay happy, healthy (keep getting all the exercise you need) and safe. On that note, I’ll wish you all another brilliant week.

Please respond to my email questions if you wish to, and I’ll be in touch again next Friday!

Many thanks

Mr Lynn

Monday 11th May 2020

Bonjour Yew!

I hope you all enjoyed receiving your postcards, and having a go at the pet quiz. I got 13 out of 16, which I was quite proud of, but I’m sure some of you will beat me. I hope you all manage to get my ‘family pet’, though I’m sure you’ll see it’s not one to invite into your house!

This week we are looking at some very muddled poems in English, I hope you enjoy them and see how a little bit of silliness can really add some humour into your writing. In Maths you’ll keep looking at those numbers from 50 to 100. We’ll begin to look at materials in our focus work. In Science, materials means what things are made out of, instead of fabric, which can be rather confusing! I hope you enjoy noticing a bit more of the world around you as you hunt around. There’s a great video about the Queen’s coronation to watch for History. It’s amazing we can find out so much about an event that was nearly 70 years ago.

Have a great week.

Mr Lynn

Monday 4th May 2020

Nǐ hǎo Yew! (That’s for the one of you who always answers the register that way!)

Well, the weather finally had to take a turn for the worse, which, when I’m not working, has led to a lot more indoor book reading, crafting, face painting, very messy baking and anything else we can think of to avoid watching Elsa and Anna’s various adventures for as long as possible. I hope you are finding lots of fun things to do indoors, but do still get outside when you can, and make sure you are still getting lots of exercise: it makes a massive difference to how you feel!

There’s a really exciting competition in this week’s learning grid. All you have to do is design a super-bear, something our budding class artists will love to do. The competition winner will see their bear made into a real toy sold in John Lewis and Waitrose!

Our class horse chestnut tree is looking full of life, with more and more leaves and a lot of lovely white blossom. It’s amazing to see how much it has changed since we were all last in school. Have you noticed similar changes to trees and plants around where you live?

Maybe you may even be able to spot other horse chestnuts around where you live. If you watch this clip, ours is closest to how the tree looks at 10 seconds. 

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/horse-chestnut/

I hope you all have a fantastic week, and enjoyed the staff video!

Mr Lynn

Monday 27th April 2020

Wow, what an amazing video I got to watch this week! It’s incredible to see so many of you having such a good time, and I felt honoured to receive it. What a very special class you all are. Keep on trampolining, cycling, cartwheeling, dancing, sprinting down hills, scoring goals, giggling and generally having an amazing time. It’s clear you are all getting your daily exercise!

Even before seeing your ‘masterpiece’, it had been great to see photos of some of the wonderful things you’ve all been getting up to at home (Parents > Home Learning Photos). They have also been bringing a huge smile to my face! Keep sending them in to photos@barwick-in-elmet.leeds.sch.uk if you want to share what you have been up to.

Keep an eye on those seeds you planted last week, hopefully this week you’ll begin to see some first shoots breaking through the soil. Don’t worry if you can’t see anything yet though. We are also going to be researching a little about the Queen and the Royal Family in focus this week, which introduces a different kind of tree to the ones we have learned about in Science!

Take care and have a super week.

Mr Lynn

Monday 20th April 2020

Hola Yew!

I hope you’ve had a fabulous week, and really enjoyed the mostly lovely weather we’ve all been having. It’s certainly been brightening my days; alongside all the fantastic rainbows I’ve been spotting in front windows around the village.

I also hope you enjoy our very first learning grid. Have a good go at the activities on there and keeping doing your best. There’s a Science theme to the focus work as we begin to learn more about the plants all around us. I’ve been enjoying trying to learn Friday’s Spanish song, so I can join in with you when we are back in school!

For Phonics, I’ve put up two sets of activities for each day. If you are confident reading most (or nearly all) of the Phase 3 and 5 sounds you’ve been practising since starting to learn at home, please complete the Phase 5 group work, which now look at different ways to spell the same sound. If you’ve been focused on securely learning Phase 3 sounds, you should continue to work on those (starting with the ‘ar’ sound on Monday).

For all White Rose Maths work, your worksheets do not need to be printed, instead you can write your answers directly into your Home Learning Books. The videos are most useful if you pause regularly to talk through what it is showing. The most important part is being able to discuss how you could work out the answers: what strategies you could use to help you. It is also very useful to use something at home to represent what you see in the videos and in the activities. You might use pasta, football cards, buttons, lego, LOL dolls, or something else you have lots of! Division is a tricky concept in Year 1, so don’t worry if it causes a bit of head scratching: the key idea is that after dividing an amount, you end up with equal groups. Think of sweets. Would it be fair to share 10 sweets between Mr Evans and myself, if I got 9 and he only got 1?

Have a super week, Mr Evans and I both really miss having you all in class!

Mr Lynn

Year 1 Home Learning 13.04.20

Guten tag Yew class!

I hope you all had a fantastic Easter at home, and enjoyed taking on last week’s pyramid of activities. I tested some of my grown-up friends this week on some of the things we’ve learned in Year One, and it showed what a group of superstar learners our class is: they certainly knew less about Emperor Penguins, Captain Scott and Snow White than we do!

In phonics this week, if we could all do a ‘Flash Cards - Speed Trial' on phonicsplay, it’ll help you to see how many sounds you now know, and if there’s any that still maybe need a little work: once you are secure with all those sounds, it is the platform to being an amazing reader.

This week’s main writing task is to write a character description for the Queen in Snow White. It’s useful to consider her appearance and personality in turn to help you to come up with ideas. Try to use some really interesting adjectives, and don’t forget full stops and capital letters! You could really show off by using conjunctions like ‘and, but, because’ to extend your sentences, and even use exclamation marks.

Have a super week team!

Mr Lynn

Year 1 Home Learning 06.04.20

Selamat pagi Year One!

This week’s pyramid has an Easter theme – with some fun (and delicious) Easter tasks to complete, alongside your regular learning. I’ve also put in a couple of things you can do to say thank you to some the people who are doing some vital jobs at the moment. The shape activity is similar to one we’ve done in school, so is another chance to show off your knowledge!

In last week’s work, did you manage to spot the link between doubles and halves? Remember ‘if you know your doubles, you know your halves!’ I hope you enjoyed making up really silly games as well. The ongoing challenges are still there of course, and I’m sure you’ve had some fun exploring phonicsplay.

Finally, I can see many of you have been gobbling up the levels on numbots. Well done!

Have a smashing week, and enjoy a great Easter.

Mr Lynn

Year 1 Home Learning 30.03.20

Hello everybody!

I hope you’ve all enjoyed the surprisingly sunny weather this week, and have been noticing all those signs of Spring we’ve talked about in class. Long may the good weather continue! Hopefully last week’s tasks gave you some interesting things to pursue, and a chance to impress your grown-ups with your knowledge.

For the ‘ongoing’ challenges, these will stay the same in your pyramid each week. You could colour in the Common Exception Words as you prove you can spell them to a grown-up. Only try a few each week: you don’t have to learn them all at once! In Phonics, when you are completely sure you know all the Phase 3 and Phase 5 sounds, you could try the ‘Phase 5b’ activities on phonicsplay, which begin to look at how some graphemes (letters) can be pronounced in different ways: watch out for the ‘Cheeky Chimps’!

Have a great week, remember to get lots of exercise, whether with Joe Wicks or not!

Mr Lynn
 

Hello Year One!

I hope you find a range of activities you’ll enjoy in this week’s Home Learning Pyramid. Most of it is things we have already learned about in Year One, and will allow you to share what you know, and really impress your grown ups! If you are able to, you can enjoy some of the amusing games we enjoy on Phonicsplay at home now. ‘Mr Burpy’ is really called ‘Obb and Bob’!

Remember to ‘keep it neat’, and take as much pride in what you do as in your books at school. It’ll be great to look through all your fine efforts when we come back. Also do mix in lots of activities to keep you fit and healthy as well.

Have a smashing week!

Mr Lynn

Week Ending 20/03/20

Firstly, thank you to all the children for showing such a great attitude to learning, and super behaviour in such an unusual week.

In Maths we explored capacity: simple terms to describe capacity (full, nearly full, half full, half empty, nearly empty and empty). The class had great fun trying to decide if there was a difference between half full and half empty! We also compared the capacity of containers through measuring using cups of water.

In English, the children wrote either a part of, or all of their own fairy tale: Snow White in Barwick, using story language, adjectives and exclamation marks to make their stories exciting and descriptive.

In Phonics we completed our review of the split digraphs (a_e, e_e, i_e, o_e and u_e).

Week Ending 13/03/20

This week we have been writing some amazing settings descriptions in English. We've been using ambitious adjectives and learning to write some fantastic similes. The twisted branches of trees in Snow White's forest were compared to snakes, fingers, pasta and flumps!

In Maths we've moved onto the concept of mass and using balance scales to measure and compare.

In Phonics we've been re-visiting split digraphs (a_e, e_e, i_e, o_e and u_e).

Science has seen us wrestle with some extremely long words, as we focus on the invertebrates we find around us. Exoskeletons, thoraxes and antennae were the order of the day! We look forward to finding out more about these fascinating creatures in the next few weeks.

Have a lovely weekend!

Week Ending 06/03/20

In English this week we've begun to study a wide range of traditional tales. We've looked for similarities between settings, characters and common story language. The children have really enjoyed exploring all our new books.

In Maths, we've been looking at length and height: using correct terminology, and comparing  lengths and heights. We've used cubes to measure, and then progressed onto using rulers to measure. We really enjoyed the challenge of both measuring and drawing lines of specific lengths.

We finally managed our Spring walk, and were excited to see budding trees and various springtime flowers. We are now checking our Horse Chestnut tree on a daily basis for its first leaf! We also began to learn about human and physical features, and looked for these in the school environment, as part of our Geography learning.

The children had some fantastic outfits for World Book Day, and really enjoyed sharing who they were and the books they come from! The children wrote adjectives to describe each other on post-it notes, and turned these into character descriptions.

It was great to see so many of you on parents evening, whether dressed as a cow or a teacher! Have a great weekend.

Week Ending 28/02/20

Our class have really impressed us with how quickly they've got back into their learning this week. We've been writing instructions, which gave us a chance to be bossy, practising our handwriting and sharing our adventures over the holidays in a recount. We continue to focus on using full stops, capital letters and finger spaces, but are also looking at other forms of punctuation (?!), using conjunctions to extend sentences and using the ed, and ing suffixes.

This term our topic is 'Igniting Writing', so we are looking forward to seeing how the children use these grammatical skills to create some amazing stories! On that note, the class was amazed to be visited by royalty this week! His Majesty, the King of Mangrovia visited the class, and explained how their are no stories in his country. The class was delighted to share their love of stories, and engage in some exhilarating and immersive drama experiences. Photos will follow of his visit.

In Maths we've been counting in 2s and 5s forwards, and even backwards. We've used this skill to solve problems, and learned a remarkably catchy song to help us with our 5s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FaBDqOmiyI

In Phonics we continue to embed Phase sounds, our sounds of the week have been ue, ew and aw. 

We discussed in class signs of Spring, and we've been all set for our Spring walk a number of times before poorly times downpours have stymied us. Please look out for signs of Spring at home, the children are experts at spotting snowdrops!

Homework Pyramids and spellings have been send home on Friday. If we diodn't have their homework book we've sent the pyramid on paper so they can still make a start. Please get in touch if you don't have it.

Finally, PE in Year 1 is going to be on Monday and Wednesday this half-term. Please make sure your child has their full kit with them, with all items named if possible. Many thanks!

Have a lovely weekend.

Mr Lynn

Week Ending 14/02/20

Wow, what a busy week! There's definitely been a lot going on in Year One and around the school this week. Firstly, thank you for the amazing attendance of the Book Fair: it was great to see so many of our parents there, supporting it with buying some of the range of super books and stationary. Equally, the Phonics Workshop on Monday was well attended, and I hope of use and interest to all. Personally it was great fun to play a child during Miss Leeman's example lesson! As always, feel free to catch me for a chat after school if anything needs clarifying in this area. Last but certainly not least, the children really enjoyed sharing the video of our Antarctica topic on Thursday. I've put a few stills from the video for any one who didn't manage to be there. I think they must be the most well-informed class on Emperor Penguins I've ever come across.

Over and on top of all of the above, Icarus Bly returned to see the class on Friday, to much excitement! The class showed our work making our very own story 'The Broken Crown', and he was hugely impressed with the mixture of drama, outdoor learning making settings, character descriptions and story writing that he encountered. Well done class!

I wish a fabulous half-term to all, and look forward to seeing everybody again a week on Tuesday.

Week Ending 7th February 2020

It's been an incredibly packed, but exciting week! Alongside our regular learning, 3pm has been a particularly cherished time of the day, as a story teller from a different class has come to tell us a traditional tale. Lots of excitement, fun and brilliant expressive participation have been the order of the day!  As part of story telling week we also spent an afternoon lesson exploring the scrap shed. The children were let loose to create settings from our class story. They loved posing in front of the various throne rooms, towers, glass cabinets and fires they created as characters from the story. See if you can spot any witches, robbers, kings, queens or guards!

On top of all this excitement, Thursday saw the children experience an African Drumming session. They excelled as a class and put on an amazing performance to the rest of the school at the end of the day. Considering they fitted in a game of Ultimate Frisbee in PE between learning and performing, it's fair to say it was a busy afternoon!

Next week sees the Book Fair arrive on Tuesday afternoon, opening before and after school until Friday. There will also be our celebration assembly for the school topic on Thursday, and a visit from Alive and Kicking on Friday, where the children will share our 'The Broken Crown' story, through a mixture of writing and drama. I think we'll all need a rest over half-term at that point! 

Week Ending 31/01/2020

It's been a week of penguin research in Year 1! We've created some fantastic fact files, and really enjoyed becoming a 'colony' with the help of Penguin Pete, our new resident friend. Ask your child to see if they can share any of the fantastic facts we discovered! We also completed some observational drawing of Emperor Penguins, focusing on using a 'gentle pencil' to help us to sketch. 

In Maths we've been exploring 'fact families'. For instance, 7+2=9, 2+7=9, 9-7=2 and 9-2=7). This is a challenging area, but using different equipment and with lots of discussion the class have really moved forward with this. 

We fitted in time to check out class tree for signs of Spring. There's nothing as yet, but the class are now fully focused on looking for signs of budding. We also agreed to look out for other signs, such as snowdrops on our way to and from school.

Week Ending 24/01/20

In Maths this week we have continued to explore different methods for subtraction within 20, developing our fluency in this area, and using these skills to tackle some tricky problems. English has seen us writing questions we'd like to ask the British Antarctic Survey, whilst learning how to use different question words. The class came up with some brilliant ideas, although the discovery that scientists there discuss 'snotsicles' was of much amusement to all! In Phonics we've been reviewing Phase 5 sounds, and learning to spell lots of 'red words' to use in our writing, such as were, there, one, and little.

It's lovely to see so many children enjoying going on Numbots at home: well done Year 1!

Week Ending 17/01/20

This week we've been using different methods to add and subtract numbers to 20, including using number lines, concrete resources, and mental strategies. The children have shown some excellent mathematical skills, and some are now tackling tricky missing number questions such as __ - 4 =12.

We very much enjoyed exploring different materials. We used some gloves we find in school, including those belonging to Mr Evans, and investigated whether they'd be suitable for Antarctic conditions. As a class, we decided to put them in a bowl of water and freeze them over night! From this we are looking at properties of materials based around whether they are waterproof and how well they insulate, as well as having a lot of fun!

In English, we built towards writing our 'The Broken Crown' stories, based on our drama work from last week, with more drama and sequencing work. I look forward to reading their stories.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Week ending 10/01/2020

Happy New Year! It's great to be back and enjoying our new topic. The highlight of the week was a first visit to Year 1 by Alive and Kicking. Please see the photos of the brilliant drama the children created. They made their own story called The Broken Crown, which we will now be exploring further in class.

PE is now on Monday and Thursday, with the children learning how to play Ultimate Frisbee  with Premier Sports on Thursdays. They really enjoyed the first session despite the chilly weather! Please ensure your child has their full PE kit in school, and that everything is named.

Our new topic is Antarctica. The children have already shown great interest in this remarkable continent, and will be learning more about the explorers of the past, as well as the animals who live there in upcoming weeks.

Week Ending 20/12/2019

Thank you to so many of you for attending our nativity performance of 'The Inn-Spectors'. I'm sure you'll agree that the children were absolutely fantastic. They've worked hard across the half-term, through many hours of rehearsals to create it, and their 'buzz' from performing and growth in confidence from so many, makes all the effort worthwhile. Well done to all, and thank you to the grown up who supported the tricky task of learning lines!

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas with your family and friends, and thank you for the gifts we've received. Mr Evans and I feel very well stocked to enjoy our holidays!

Week Ending 06/12/19

The definite highlight of this week was our trip to see The Night Before Christmas at the Leeds Playhouse. The children showed fantastic behaviour, even regaling some other guests with songs from the nativity whilst waiting for the bus! We all had a brilliant time and found the elf in the show particularly amusing.

In Maths we've reviewed our knowledge of 3d shapes, and then have been looking at the value of each digit in a two digit number, deepening our understanding of place value by making the numbers with tens and ones grids. English has seen us writing a recount of our trip to the community orchard, whilst trying to write 'Super Sentences' (using capital letters, full stops and finger spaces). Once again, the class produced some really impressive writing.

Much of our other time has been continuing to fine-tune the nativity. Thank you for all the costumes received, it's shaping up to be a really good show! 

Finally, please come and have a go at our 'Golden Baubles' stand at the Christmas Fair tomorrow: there's lots of tasty treats to be won!

Week Ending 29/11/19

Wednesday was a particularly unusual day, with a great attendance for our open morning, followed by our walk down to the Community Orchard with Barwick-in-Bloom, in the afternoon. (Please see photos below). Whilst the weather wasn't ideal, it didn't dampen the spirits of the children, who had a great time weaving willow into the Willow Structure down there, alongside saying hello to Hootie the owl again, and further embedding their recognition of deciduous and evergreen trees. Since returning, they have all written to Barwick-in-Bloom with their suggestions for naming the Willow Structure.

In Maths we've been exploring shape, using the properties of 2d shapes to describe them and hone our reasoning skills. Using a 'secret shape' feely bag, children have had to walk to a shape it might be, and explain their reasoning. Clues such as 'it has more that 3 straight sides' have led to some excellent verbal reasoning across the class.

In phonics, we are exploring split digraphs, starting with the a_e sound (such as in cake, or or lane). This is always a tricky concept to begin with, but the class have really impressed with their great attitude to learning these.

Nativity rehearsals are in full swing, and the children are looking forward to sharing their collective efforts in another couple of weeks. If you have lines, keep doing lots of practising at home!

Have a lovely weekend.

Week Ending 22/11/19

This week we set up our weather station. We've carefully monitored both the temperature and rainfall across the week, and have definitely learned what happens at zero degrees with the icy mornings we've been having! Finally this morning our rain gauge recorded 3mm of rain, to much excitement in the class! This was also well timed to fit with the children writing some absolutely fabulous rain poetry this afternoon. As a class we've learned April Rain Song by Langston Hughes off by heart, the children adapted this to create their very own poems. On a weather theme, we made our November 'visit' to the class tree and noted how few leaves are remaining. On the bright side our outdoor area now has an incredible amount of leaves to explore on the floor.

Next week we are having a short walk on Wednesday afternoon to the Community Orchard to see Barwick in Bloom's willow sculpture there. Alongside the Open Morning that day, it should be a fun day for all!

Week Ending 15/11/19

We've continued to look at poetry this week, exploring and comparing some short rain poems, choosing our favourites, and performing them to the class. It's led to some really great discussions about the language choices of the authors, for instances discussing why rain can be described to 'dance in the street', or wind can be said to be 'singing'. 

In phonics, we've learned the 'aw', 'wh' 'ph' and 'ew' sounds, whilst continuing to recap those we've already learned. We emphasise using 'sound buttons' to help us to spot digraphs in words (sounds made of two letters). Perhaps try this at home if children are struggling to spot sounds?

In Maths we are exploring different ways to subtract (as well as learning the 'take it away!' kung-fu action to help us to remember the symbol!) In Thursday's Maths Express we also played a very enjoyable Connect 4 style addition game to further practise our addition.

We've started making a class daily record of the weather in class. Next week we'll begin to take measurements outside, and include temperature and rainfall. Hopefully they'll be less rain than the last few weeks though! In Geography we've consolidated our learning about the seven continents of the world. We all became countries, then had to group together to be a continent. It was a lot of funny to attempt to draw the rather unusual shapes of the continents in chalk on the playground!

Last but not least, as part of Anti-Bullying week, we celebrated our individuality on Odd Socks Day. During this, we celebrated our fantastic class by writing a class pledge about how to ensure there is never any bullying in our class.

Week Ending 8/11/19

It's great to be all back at school, but please don't blame us for the weather! Our new Science topic is exploring weather and continuing to observe and understand seasonal change. We've learned about the seasons, and associated different types of weather, as well as performing and rain dances in PE. Next week we will be learning some rain poetry as well. In English this week, we've written some lovely sense poems, applying our knowledge of the five senses to bonfire night, and trying to include adjectives to describe what we experienced.

In Maths we have been practising counting on, and are now looking at finding the 'missing part', for example 4 + ? = 6. The children have been working really hard to master this challenging area.

Week ending 25/10/19

It's hard to believe it's already half-term! It was great to meet you all at parents evening and celebrate the progress your children have made. The Great Barwick Art Show looked amazing and I'm glad so many of you thought so too.

We had a lot of fun using our sense of smell to describe the smell pots in our class this week. It's fair to see we are not big fans of mustard, but the smell of vinegar makes lots of us hungry for fish and chips!

Have a great half-term and we look forward to seeing you all a week on the 4th November.

Week ending 18/10/2019

This week we've added to our 'Months of the Year' display by examining the leaves from our class Horse Chestnut tree in the outdoor area. We noticed that there are fewer leaves on the tree, and those that are are increasingly brown and yellow. We began to learn a Months of the Year song: please make sure your child knows which month they were born in, so they know when to quickly stand up!

On Monday, we found an open window. Underneath it, Mr Lynn's chocolate bar had been half-eaten, there were some grassy footprints and a 'space message box'. With much excitement we carefully listened to the message from space. Beegu thanked us for our lovely letters, and we were relieved to know she is back with her alien parents in space. Mr Lynn was less impressed that his precious chocolate had been munched!

In Maths, we've been really trying to become fluent in Number Bonds to 10: making and drawing them in a variety of ways, and trying to know them 'off by heart'. Please follow the link below for an exciting (and very popular) way to practise them at home!

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button (choose 'Number Bonds' then 'make ten')

It's been a long half-term, but equally it seems to have flown by. I look forward to meeting lots of you at Parents Evenings next week. We are all especially looking forward to the My Masterpiece gallery on Wednesday, where the children will be able to see their fantastic framed pieces of 'Space Art'.

Week ending 11/10/19

Beegu sent us a letter! It was in alien writing, so we had to have it translated. In English, we've all been writing letters back to her this week, and we'll hope we get a response on Monday.

In Maths, we've been exploring addition: using part whole diagrams, and formal number sentences. We've investigated whether numbers can be added in any order with the help of a coat hanger!

Science saw us move to the sense of touch. We learned that our skin in the largest organ in our body, and practised using adjectives to describe objects we could touch but could not see. 

Finally, our 'My Masterpiece' art work is all finished and ready to be framed! We had a gallery walkround of our work on Friday, and we're so impressed with everybody's work. We can't wait to see the finished products at the Art show on 23rd October.

Week ending 4/10/19

This week we read Beegu, a story about an alien stranded on earth. As well as sequencing the story, we've been honing our inference skills by looking into how Beegu feels, and how the actions of other people affect her. This has led to some great class conversations about how to treat others, and how our actions impact on others' feelings.

In Maths, we've been looking at Part-Whole Models, which is a basis of looking at addition and subtraction. We've been looking at how we used the terms 'part' and 'whole' in our everyday life, and how this relates to maths.

Our topic time has mostly been taken up with creating our 'My Masterpiece' work in Art. We don't want to reveal too much about what we are making, because we want to have a lovely surprise at the school exhibition on the 23rd October. Suffice to say there's been some dressing up, and some great messy art fun involving paint and shaving foam!

Week ending 27/09/19

A change in the weather has led us to looking at seasonal change in Science this week. We are going to visit our class tree each month (the Horse Chestnut in our outdoor area), and see how the tree changes through the year. Given the question 'Is It Autumn Yet?', the class were really split on whether we have moved into Autumn, because the leaves on many trees are only beginning to change colour: some fantastic thinking skills on display in Year 1! Having been increasingly excited by the conker harvest currently underway, we were amazed that conkers are actually seeds from our tree, and each conker could grow into a new one!

In English, we've read Toys in Space by Mini Grey. We met an unusual looking alien in the story, so then made our own. To describe our aliens, we are learning to use adjectives to turn boring sentences into brilliant ones! In phonics we are completing our recap of phase 3 (ow, oi, ear and air sounds) before moving onto Phase 4 and 5. In Maths we've been ordering numbers and learned about ordinal numbers. We enjoyed giving silly items to the child with the correct ordinal number (see photos). Next week we start looking at next week to look at addition and subtraction.

Last but not least, we've been learning two Solar Systems songs: to learn more about each planet, but also the order of the planets from the sun.

Let's hope next week brings some brighter weather!

Week Ending 20/9/19

It's been another jam-packed week in Year 1. We've enjoyed making straw rockets, and blasting off into the class ceiling! Our 'Senses' investigation this week looked at sight. We were fascinated that our pupils change in size depending on light, and enjoyed a 'blind obstacle course', to gain an insight into the challenges of being blind or partially sighted.

In Maths we introduced the > < and = symbols, using crocodiles to help us remember what they represent. In English we wrote about what we had learned about Neil Armstrong. Whilst he is a hero, we were rather surprised that fruit flies, monkeys, a dog and some other people made it to space before him. We watched footage of him stepping on the moon and imagined what that felt like.

Week ending 13/9/19

We are really getting into the swing of things in Year 1 this week. In Maths we've been focusing on counting forwards, backwards and finding more or less than a number. In English, we've read a favourite from Reception; Whatever Next, and wondered if you could really go into space in a cardboard box. We've started our Space topic by finding out about the animals who went to space before Neil Armstrong. Were those animals heroes too?

In Science we had a lot of fun tasting some different flavours. Some were more popular than others! Please see the pictures below.

Last but not least, we've had a brilliant Roald Dahl day. We made Enormous Crocodile Traps to catch the villainous crocodile ... who looked suspiciously like Mr Lynn!

Wow! We have been informed of a really exciting new opportunity for children in East Leeds – the launch of a brand new Youth Theatre!

As a school that champions the Creative Arts, we understand the value of being involved in a group where children can express themselves creatively, resulting in confident, articulate children. We provide opportunities for pupils to engage in drama as often as possible within school time, and also offer a dedicated, extra-curricular session for Y2 – Y6 on Tuesdays after school, but understand that not everybody can make this time.

Please see below for details:

Brave Words Theatre are really excited to be starting Youth Theatre Sessions in South and East Leeds (www.bravewords.co.uk/youththeatre)

Fancy learning acting skills, creating plays and making friends? Gaining confidence, having fun and performing in front of an audience? Here's what our members said about last term:

"It has helped me imagine more stuff and make more friends!"

"Made me more confident, everyone is included"

"Let my fears go when there are people watching me"

"It gives me the opportunity to express my creativity"

Times:

MONDAYS (from 7th October)

KENTMERE YOUTH THEATRE

Kentmere Community Centre, Seacroft

5.15pm - 6pm - 5-7s

6pm - 7pm - 8 - 11s

£2 per week

For more information or to sign up for a free taster, visit:

www.bravewords.co.uk/youththeatre

www.bravewords.co.uk/ypyw

Week ending 06/09/19

What a busy week we've had in Year 1. I think all of us now need a good sleep! We've all been getting to know each other, and getting started with some Year 1 work in Maths and English. Following a question of 'Who Am I?', we've been learning the names of all our body parts and even made a life-size new member of the class. Watch this space for some fun explorations of our senses in the coming weeks.

It's been a great start, and I look forward to another fun and busy week starting on Monday.