Happy Christmas

Wow, weren't the children amazing in the Nativity performance?

We are not sure Newbridge has ever seen the like and we had such good fun too!

We could not start the Christmas holiday without saying a huge thank you to all you parents who have supported your children and us through these past two terms.  It has been a real pleasure watching them settle into Year 1 and make such progress with their learning.  Martha our Norland Nanny would also like to say a big thank you for your generosity, she really enjoyed working in 1K!

We know they are tired and ready for a holiday so please let us wish you all a very Merry Christmas, a relaxing holiday and well deserved break from school. 

We are looking forward to seeing you all in January when our new topic is called ‘Who Discovered What?’ We will be learning all about explorers and the adventures they have.  We might even meet a real life explorer to help inspire us all and get us thinking about the subject!

Nativity Costumes

For the Nativity performances 1K will be shepherds. The children will need to wear dark coloured bottoms (preferably black) this can be leggings, tights or trousers and a buttoned shirt (preferably stripy or checked). If you do not have a shirt please do let me know. Please can all the children also provide 1 tea-towel to be worn as a headdress.

The children will need to bring these in to school in a named carrier bag by the morning of Thursday 4^th December. This information will also be sent out on Monday in a parent mail.

Many thanks. 

Firework Dance

In dance over the last few weeks we have been working on a firework dance.  It has been great fun! There area few sections to the dance which, hopefully, the children will be able to explain to you.  Just in case they need a bit of prompting, let me give you a quick summary.  The first section is the bonfire which sets alight culminating in sparks flying! After that, the children become Catherine wheels, and then rockets racing and exploding around the room.  This is followed by beautiful sparklers and roman candles.  Finally, the flames die out! 

In literacy we have been learning about recounts and how they need to be in the right order.  They also contain time words and phrases like then, after that, next, finally.  

We have ordered the things they do in the morning and the school day. Their writing is coming on so well.

In maths, we have been working on halving shapes and quantities.  They need to know that in order to halve, they have to share into two piles and that each half should be exactly the same size or amount.

We are fast approaching that time of year when we start learning our songs and practising for the Christmas Nativity.  We will send out a parent mail notice about what costumes they will need.  We are going to be shepherds hurrying down the hillside and 1CR are going to be market stall holders trying to sell their wares.

Reduce, reuse, recycle

Hello again.  Our learning question this term ‘Is trash really treasure?’  has got off to a great start.  We have set up our own Recycling Centres and the children are busy sorting materials and thinking about how they can be reused. 

If you have any small cardboard containers, packets, wrappings, old make up applicators, sponges, foil, or anything else you think the children might be able to use to make things, please bring them in.  

In literacy we have been looking at stories with repeated language.  You might like to ask them to tell you the story of ‘Can’t you Sleep Little Bear?’  We will be going on to writing recounts and making sure we have got everything in the right order. 

In maths the children have really impressed us with their doubling.  We need them to be able to quickly double numbers so please practise this at home.  Start with numbers up to ten.  We will be doing lots of counting in twos, fives and tens over the next few weeks as introduction to the concept of multiplication. 

This term we will also be preparing for our Christmas performance.  The children will need costumes but we will let you know exactly what, closer to the time.  

Year One Sharing

 Thank you to all the adults who were able to come along and share the children’s work.  They loved showing you what they have been doing and the messages you wrote in their books we so encouraging and positive.

We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

End of Term One

Well, what a busy term we have had!  It’s been great fun and the children have done brilliantly, settling into Year 1.  This week we have continued the Autumn theme and been making autumnal family trees for our ‘Who am I?’ books.  We have designed, made and evaluated our own photograph frame and we are sure you will be impressed when you get to see them!

We would like to celebrate all the children’s hard work and their first experience of creating their own personal book. On the first Friday afternoon after half term, therefore, we would like the children to invite one parent. carer or grandparent to come and share their work.  We will be getting the children to write an invitation and prepare some light refreshments so please put it in your diary: Friday 7^th November 1.30 – 2.00.

The theme of next term’s work is ‘Is trash really treasure?’  We will be looking at how we can reuse and recycle things.  We will be doing lots of making so please start collecting anything you think we might be able to use!

In the meantime, we hope you all have a very happy and relaxing half term holiday.  

Autumn is here!

This week in Year 1 we have been using our senses to detect signs of Autumn. On Monday we had a box containing lots of clues like conkers, pumpkins, cobwebs, boots and scarves and the children had to guess what we were going to be learning about.  We have been reading poems about Autumn and thinking up describing words to spice up our sentences. 

In maths, we have been using the Numicon and balancing scales to create number sentences that balance to help the children understand the concept of =.

We have been looking at the artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo who used fruit to make portraits.  Then we made out own self portraits using a variety of fruit. 

We will continue working on the theme of Autumn next week and on Monday all the children will be going on an Autumn walk.  Please make sure that they all bring into school waterproof coats and wellies.

The Three Little Pigs

Last Wednesday the Storybox Theatre came to school and the children had a real treat watching the show of the Three Little Pigs.  Since then, we have been having fun doing follow up work.  We have learnt the story with actions, we have written about the different sorts of houses.  We have made big collage houses, pig and wolf masks, puppets, pig biscuits and model houses. 

We are now experts on the Three Little Pigs so please ask your children tell you the story and advise you what sort of house you should be living in if you want to stay safe from wolves!

Welcome back to school!

Welcome to Year 1’s blog!

We will be posting regularly so please keep visiting to find out what we are up to. Notices and reminders will also be posted here.

We have had a fantastic start to Year 1. The children have all been so enthusiastic about their learning and have been enjoying reading and watching ‘Funny Bones’. We have been making moving skeletons, drawing around each other and talking about the different parts of our body and doing lots of amazing artwork.

Please could each child bring in a baby photo and a photo of them as a toddler so we can talk about chronology? Please send inside a named envelope.

This week in Maths we have been making repeating patterns and working hard on our counting. The children have really impressed us!

Both Year 1 classes have had a fantastic start to the year and we know we are for a fun time!