Year 1: What We Are Learning!

Year 1: What We Are Learning 

This week in Geography, we went on an exciting walk around the school premises to observe the world right outside our classroom doors.

We focused on two main areas: 

• Describing Our Surroundings: The children used descriptive adjectives to detail what they could see, hear, and feel around our school ground.

• Human vs. Physical Features: We explored the difference between natural elements and man-made structures. Each child identified and drew one physical feature (such as trees or grass) and one human feature (such as a house, fence or car). 

You can help reinforce these key geography skills during your everyday routines at home. 

• Spot the Feature: During your walk or drive home, ask your child to identify one human feature (e.g. a bus stop, zebra crossing, building) and one physical feature (e.g. a park, hill, stream) they spot along the way.

• Adjective Challenge: Challenge your child to use three ambitious adjectives to describe a local park or your garden (e.g., towering trees, bumpy pavement, breezy air)

This week in PE, the children continued developing their yoga skills. They practised a variety of yoga poses and movements, focusing on balance, flexibility, coordination and body control. The children also worked on listening carefully, controlling their breathing and moving calmly and safely using hula  hoops. It was lovely to see everyone joining in, trying their best and developing their confidence as they explored yoga!

This week in Science, our Year 1 investigated the physical properties of everyday materials to find out which ones are waterproof and which are absorbent. Before testing, the children used their prior knowledge to make a prediction (a sensible guess). They looked at different materials—such as plastic, foil, fabric, paper and tissue —and predicted whether water would pass through them or slide off. 

Using pipettes and water droplets, the children carefully tested each material. They observed whether:

• The water stayed on top in droplets or rolled off (waterproof).

• The water soaked into the material or made it wet (absorbent or not waterproof).

The children practiced recording their results in a simple scientific table using ticks, crosses, and key vocabulary to show whether their predictions were correct.

How You Can Support at Home

To help reinforce this learning, you can try these quick 2-minute chat prompts at home:

1. Rainy Day Detective: On the walk home or during rainy weather, ask your child: "Why are your wellies made of rubber instead of fabric?" or "What material is your raincoat made from?"

2. Kitchen Science: When wiping up a spill, ask: "Which material should we use to clean this up—a plastic spoon or a paper towel? Which one is absorbent?"

Well done Year 1 for an amazing week - keep up all your brilliant work! 

Forest School

Pine class spent the afternoon exploring woodland music. 

We began by working out how different instruments make sounds. There was instruments you tap, some you shake and some you scrape. We made a percussion orchestra and learnt how a conductor instructs the orchestra to play or stop. The chiller to en created their own woodland sounds from sticks, rocks, leaves and acorn cups. We moved on to make mini woodland orchestra and took turns to be the conductor or part of that orchestra.

Towards the end of our time together we learnt about reading music and how musicians read the notation. The children wrote their own woodland notation and then practised their pieces of music finishing off with performing them to the group. It was brilliant to see the creativity of the class.

Year 3 - Learning Journey

It has been another busy and exciting week of learning in Year 3! Here is a little look at what we have been learning across the curriculum.

Maths

In Maths, we have been learning about inequality symbols, including greater than (>), less than (<) and equal to (=). We used our understanding of place value to compare 3-digit numbers, carefully looking at the hundreds, tens and ones. We also practised ordering numbers from ascending (smallest to largest) and descending (largest to smallest).

Literacy

In Literacy, we have been exploring the features of a leaflet and learning how writers use persuasive language to engage and influence their readers. We have been identifying different features and discussing what makes a leaflet effective. We will soon be using what we have learned to create our own persuasive leaflets.

French

In French, we have been learning how to greet others and introduce ourselves. We practised our new vocabulary and then put it together to create short conversations with our classmates. It has been lovely to see the children becoming more confident when speaking French.

Please bring in an old, spare, long-sleeved shirt for our next Art lesson on Thursday 8th October.

Year 2: What We Have Been Learning

 

Year 2: What We have Been Learning

In Science this week, we have been learning about materials and their properties. We revisited some common materials and explored how their properties make them suitable or unsuitable for different uses. The children learned the words rigid and flexible and used their observations to explain their ideas. For example, we discussed why a rigid material would be suitable for making a chair, while a flexible material may not be. We also investigated different materials and thought carefully about their uses. The children then sorted materials into those that would be suitable or unsuitable for making a chair...but this was no ordinary chair, the children were challenged to make a grand throne for the Egg Box Dragon.

We are developing our scientific enquiry skills by making observations, suggesting answers and explaining our thinking using evidence.

This week in Maths, we have been learning how to use number lines. The children have been using number lines to count forwards and backwards, find missing numbers and solve addition and subtraction problems.

We have been practising how to start at the correct number and make efficient jumps along the number line. The children have also been learning to use their understanding of tens and ones to make larger jumps, helping them to solve calculations more confidently.

We are developing our mathematical thinking by explaining how we know an answer is correct and choosing an efficient method to solve a problem. 

This week in Art, we have been learning to look at our familiar environment with fresh eyes and curiosity. We explored our school grounds and collected natural and everyday objects that caught our attention.

We experimented with arranging, grouping and composing our collections to create interesting shapes and patterns. We thought carefully about colour, size, texture and materials and discussed why we chose particular objects and how we arranged them.

Year 1 and 2 - Black History Month

  

Dear Year 1 and 2 Parents, 

As part of our celebrations for Black History Month, our Year 1 classes will be creating a vibrant, collaborative art display. To bring this project to life, we are learning about the importance of sustainability by turning everyday items into beautiful artwork!

We would love your help in collecting and bringing in clean, dry recycled materials that the children can use for their creations.

Materials We Are Looking For:

• Cardboard: Cereal boxes
• Plastic items: Clean plastic bottle tops, milk bottle lids, and small plastic tubs.
• Paper goods: Colourful magazines, newspapers, or leftover wrapping paper.
• Textiles: Scraps of fabric/ ribbons.

Please send any collected items into school with your child by Thursday 16th October. This will give us plenty of time to organise the materials and let the children get beautifully messy creating their masterpieces!

Kind regards,

Miss Hamilton

Year 1: What We Are Learning!

 

Year 1: What We Are Learning 

In year 1 this week, we have been learning about …

This week in Maths, Year 1 have been learning all about 'one less'.

We have been exploring how finding 'one less' means taking one item away, which makes the total number smaller. To help build a strong visual understanding, the children have been using lots of hands-on resources, including ten frames, counters, cubes, and number lines.

Try this at home!

You can easily practice this concept during everyday routines with a simple count-and-remove activity:

• Snack Time 'One Less': Count out a small group of items (e.g., 5 grapes or 6 crackers). Ask your child, "How many do we have?" Once they count them, have them eat or remove just one. Ask, "What is one less than 5?" Encourage them to notice that taking one away makes the number smaller.

• Bonus Challenge: Use a line of toys or cutlery to practice counting backwards by one!

Literacy

This week in Literacy, Year 1 children have been writing sentences dictated by their class teachers and editing their sentences by checking for capital letters, full stops and finger spaces. They also wrote a sentence in the role of Beegu, linking their writing to our class novel.

These skills link to the National Curriculum expectations for Year 1. By the end of Year 1, children are expected to:

• Orally compose: Say a sentence aloud before writing it down.

• Finger spaces: Leave clear spaces between words.

• Basic punctuation: Begin using capital letters and full stops.

• Capital letters: Use capital letters for names of people, places, days of the week and the pronoun “I”.

In school, to help your child spell words phonetically correctly, we use a sound mat
(see below) . A sound mat helps children to identify the sounds they can hear in a word and select the corresponding letters or graphemes when writing.

Supporting Writing at home

When supporting your child at home, encourage them to say the word slowly, listen carefully for each sound and use their sound mat to help them identify the sounds they need. It is important to encourage children to have a go independently before providing the spelling for them.

This week in RE, we became Nature Detectives! Our job was not to collect things but to slow down, look carefully and notice the wonderful world around us. Using magnifying glasses, the children explored the outdoors and spotted lots of natural wonders including flowers, trees, interesting bark and clouds. We talked about what we could see, what we found interesting or beautiful, and how being in nature made us feel. We also explored the idea that created things have creators. The children thought about different objects and discussed what their creators might be like, for example, whether they might be kind, clever or creative. It was a lovely opportunity for the children to appreciate the beauty and wonder of the natural world and to think about the idea of a Creator.

Well done Year 1 for an amazing week - keep up all your brilliant work! 

Year 1: What We Are Learning!

 

Year 1: What We Are Learning 

This week in Geography, the children have been exploring our local area of Harold Hill!

We looked at bird's-eye view maps to locate our school and other familiar landmarks nearby. The children then put their map-reading skills into practice by labeling a bird's-eye view map of the school grounds.

Activity to try at home: To build on what we've learned, you could try creating a "bird's-eye view" map of a room in your house or your garden together. Draw the outline of the space and ask your child to draw and label where key objects (like the sofa, bed, or table) sit as if they were looking down from the ceiling! Alternatively, next time you are out for a walk in Harold Hill, see if your child can spot key landmarks and describe where they are in relation to school.

Year 1 explored how chalk and oil pastels can create wonderfully expressive marks, building on their growing confidence as imaginative young artists. Pupils experimented with spirals, sweeping arm movements and careful hand control. 

This week in Science the year 1 children have been describing the properties of different materials. They have been learning that materials can be hard or soft, shiny or dull, rough or smooth, flexible or rigid, waterproof or absorbent. They have observed and compared different materials and describe what they are like.  

Activity to try at home -     Materials hunt 

Children could choose different objects and describe their properties using words such as hard, soft, shiny, dull, rough, smooth, flexible, and waterproof. Parents could ask questions such as, “What is it made from?” “How does it feel?” “Is it hard or soft?” and “Why do you think this material was chosen for this object?” 

Next week, we will be learning about transparent and opaque materials. At home, you could introduce these new words to your child and see if they can find objects around the house that are transparent (see-through) or opaque (not see-through). Encourage your child to describe the materials they find and explain what they notice about them. 

Well done Year 1 for an amazing week - keep up all your brilliant work!