Year 1: Blog items
Year 1- Measuring using non-standard units
Date: 27th Mar 2026 @ 7:54am
This week in Year 1, we’ve been busy becoming mini‑mathematicians! Our focus has been on measuring using non‑standard units, and the children have absolutely loved it.
We used cubes as our measuring tools and explored how to find the length and height of different classroom objects. The children carefully lined up their cubes, counted each one, and recorded how many cubes long or tall each item was.
As we worked, we also talked about comparison—thinking about objects that were taller or shorter than the ones we measured. The children made brilliant observations and began using mathematical vocabulary with growing confidence.
Year 1- Create their own Sukkah's
Date: 23rd Mar 2026 @ 8:02am
This week, Year 1 have been learning all about the Jewish festival of Sukkot, and to help deepen their understanding, the children have been busy designing and creating their very own Sukkahs. A Sukkah is a special temporary shelter used during Sukkot to remember the time the Jewish people spent in the desert.
Before building, we talked about the important features a Sukkah must have. The children remembered that it needs three sides, a roof made from natural materials such as leaves or twigs found on the ground, and that it is built to show thanks to God for providing food, water, and protection during the journey through the desert.
Using a range of materials, the children carefully crafted their structures, paying close attention to the shape and the natural roof. It was wonderful to see their creativity, teamwork, and growing understanding of why Sukkot is such a meaningful celebration.
Year 1 loved bringing this festival to life through hands-on learning—and their Sukkahs were absolutely fantastic!
Year 1- The disgusting Sandwich
Date: 23rd Mar 2026 @ 7:58am
Over the next two weeks, Year 1 will be focusing on the wonderfully funny—and delightfully yucky—story The Disgusting Sandwich by Gareth Edwards and Hannah Shaw. The children will explore the adventures of the hungry badger and the sandwich that will become progressively more and more… disgusting!
Throughout our learning journey, the children will sequence the key events of the story, using pictures and simple sentences to help them understand how the sandwich will change along the way. They will also practise retelling the story in their own words, building their confidence in speaking, listening, and expressive language.
After that, Year 1 will step into the role of real instruction writers. They will learn all about imperative verbs—those bossy words that tell us what to do—and then use them to create their very own set of instructions on how to make a truly disgusting sandwich. From “squash it,” to “drop it,” to “mix in the mud,” we can’t wait to see the imaginative creations they will come up with.
It will be a fantastic learning journey, and we know the children’s enthusiasm will shine through. Stay tuned to discover what will make their sandwiches so deliciously dreadful!
Date: 18th Mar 2026 @ 5:14pm
Our Together Time was a wonderful opportunity to welcome parents/carers into the classroom and share our learning. Over recent weeks, we have been exploring animal habitats and how they support survival.
We worked with our parents/ carers to create colourful habitat dioramas, choosing from desert, woodland, polar, or ocean environments. We discussed key features such as climate, plants, and animals, then used craft materials to build miniature scenes showing how animals meet their needs.
It was lovely to see families collaborating and enjoying the experience. We look forward to our next Together Time.
Date: 18th Mar 2026 @ 4:46pm
What an exciting Science Day we’ve had in Year One! The children spent the day exploring, experimenting, and discovering new ideas through hands‑on activities both in the classroom and in a special workshop.
Workshop with Rebecca
We began the day with an engaging science workshop led by Rebecca, who introduced the children to a variety of fun experiments:
🔌 Circuits:
The children investigated how electrical circuits work, testing out lights and buzzers. They quickly learned that if a circuit is broken—even just a little—electricity can’t flow, and the components stop working. There were lots of “oohs” and “aahs” as they watched their bulbs light up!
✨ Static String:
Next, we experimented with static electricity. The children explored how static charge can make materials stick, rise, or move. Their faces lit up as they watched pieces of string magically lift and dance using only the power of static!
🫧 Giant Bubbles:
One of the most memorable moments of the morning was making giant bubbles—so big that some children could stand inside them! There was plenty of laughter as they tried to create the biggest, strongest bubble possible.
Back in the Classroom: Biscuit Investigation
In the afternoon, we turned into scientists once again to solve a very important question:
“What biscuit would be best for the Gingerbread Man to be made of so he can cross the river without the help of the fox?”
After planning our investigation, the children tested a selection of biscuits by placing them in water and observing what happened. We discussed predictions, watched closely as the biscuits absorbed water, and recorded our findings.
🧪 Our Conclusion:
Gingerbread is the best biscuit for the Gingerbread Man!
It turned out to be the least absorbent of the biscuits we tested, meaning it kept its shape the longest and didn’t crumble in the water.
Date: 18th Mar 2026 @ 7:58am
Today was a very special Together Time as we welcomed our parents into the classroom to share in our learning. Over the past few weeks, we have been exploring animal habitats—the places where different animals live and how these environments help them survive.
To celebrate our learning, children and parents worked side by side to create colourful habitat dioramas. Each child chose one habitat from the four we have been studying:
- Desert
- Woodland
- Polar
- Ocean
Together, we talked about what makes each habitat unique—its weather, plants, and the animals that call it home. Then, using a mix of craft materials, imagination, and teamwork, the children built a miniature world showing what an animal needs to survive, such as food, shelter, water, and protection.
It was wonderful seeing families creating, chatting, and learning together. From polar bears in icy landscapes to bright ocean scenes filled with fish, every diorama was a brilliant expression of creativity and understanding.
Thank you to all the parents who joined us today. Your involvement makes our learning so much richer, and the children were incredibly proud to share their knowledge with you.
We can’t wait for our next Together Time adventure! 🌟
Date: 18th Mar 2026 @ 7:55am
This week, we learnt about the history of the festival of Sukkot and how this is celebrated by Jewish families today by talking to our visitor Rachel! She gave us an introduction to Judaism where we impressed her with what we have learnt so far and learnt that Sukkot is a time for Jewish people to remember to be grateful to God for keeping his promise and providing them with all that they need. Rachel brought lots of things to show us and we spent lots of time asking and answering questions to support our understanding.
Date: 10th Mar 2026 @ 2:44pm
We began by talking together about the world at the time of Noah. The children learned that the Earth had become a place where people were not making good choices, and God wanted to make a fresh start. However, Noah stood out.
We discussed how:
- Noah was kind and good
- He listened carefully to God
- He always tried to do the right thing
Because of these qualities, God trusted Noah to build the Ark and keep his family—and the animals—safe during the great flood. The children had some brilliant ideas about why being trustworthy and doing the right thing mattered so much.
After exploring the story, we completed a fun activity where the children filled in the missing words in a short retelling of the events. This helped them practise:
- understanding key vocabulary
- recalling important details
- thinking carefully about what happened and why
The children enjoyed showing how much they had remembered, and it sparked lots of great discussions.
Date: 10th Mar 2026 @ 2:40pm
Today, our school was filled with excitement, rhythm, and a whole lot of noise as we welcomed Travelling by Tuba for a fantastic day of music-making!
We kicked things off with a lively assembly, where we were introduced to an amazing collection of instruments from all around the world. From deep, booming brass to unusual instruments we’d never even seen before, every demonstration came with a burst of fun facts, sound effects, and plenty of laughs. It was a brilliant way to discover just how diverse—and entertaining—music can be.
In the afternoon, the fun continued with a hands-on workshop. Everyone had the chance to play a wide range of instruments, each with its own unique rhythm. Working together, we layered these rhythms to create our very own musical masterpiece. The room was buzzing with energy, teamwork, and creativity as we explored how different sounds can blend to make something amazing.
Travelling by Tuba gave us a day full of discovery, laughter, and unforgettable music. We learned that you don’t have to be a professional to enjoy making music—you just need curiosity, enthusiasm, and a willingness to try something new!
What an incredible experience! 🎵✨
Year 1 Science: Exploring Animals and Their Habitats!
Date: 10th Mar 2026 @ 2:34pm
🌧️ The Rainforest
🌊 The Ocean
Date: 10th Mar 2026 @ 2:28pm
Over the next couple of weeks, our focused book is 'Supertato'. This week, we have began to explore the new areas, retold the story of Supertato using items on the storytelling table and sequenced the story accurately. Throughout the next couple of weeks, we will continue to explore the story and describe the characters from the story.
Date: 5th Mar 2026 @ 8:30pm
This week in Beech class we have been learning doubles, we used the stem sentence 'This is a double because... is a part and... is a part.' We identified the difference between equal and not equal. We used the part whole model to recognise the parts that make a whole and to understand it is a double.
Date: 5th Mar 2026 @ 8:05pm
Today, to celebrate World book day we began by carrying out a circle time to tell our friends who we have dressed up as and why we had chosen that character. We then discussed ideas and completed a quiz as a class to guess the different characters from the given facts and images. We then drew our character and labelled the different features. Finally, we created and coloured in our own book mark.
Year 1- Understanding numbers to 50
Date: 5th Mar 2026 @ 5:05pm
This week, we began exploring numbers from 20 to 50. We learnt to count in 10s and that two-digit numbers have tens and ones. First, we explored the patterns of counting and recognising the number of tens and ones to help us recognise the number before we matched representations to the correct picture.
Date: 5th Mar 2026 @ 5:01pm
Today, we celebrated World book day by dressing up as characters from our favourite books. Once we returned from assembly we did a circle time in class to tell our friends who we dressed up as and why we had chosen that character. Then, we drew our characters and used descriptive language to describe them. Throughout the day, we have enjoyed completing reading challenges, participating in quizzes and doing reading themed activities. Well done Year 1- you all looked amazing!
Date: 27th Feb 2026 @ 7:33am
This week in Hazel class we have been focusing on learning our number bonds to 10 and recalling them fluently. We used the rekenreks to see what a number needs to make 10 and learnt this is called a number bond. Throughout the year, we will continue to revisit this learning to ensure we know our number bonds fluently.
Date: 27th Feb 2026 @ 7:30am
The first book we have explored in Year One this half term is Monkey Puzzle. After we had read the book, we thought about who the main characters are, what the book is about and where the story was set. Then, we used our knowledge to sequence pictures from the book and match the correct sentences to the picture. Yesterday, we began to retell the story in our own words and have enjoyed exploring the Monkey Puzzle themed provision around the classroom!
Date: 26th Feb 2026 @ 1:46pm
In RE, year 1 have begun learning about the new religion, Judaism. We then began to discuss the question ‘What is a promise?’ We listened to the dictionary definition and then began to explore why people make promises. We took part in a circle time to discuss the importance of promises and gave examples of promises we have made in our class. We discussed why it is important to be trustworthy and what makes someone trustworthy. We made a class promise together and thought of our own individual promises to focus on ourselves.
Year 1 - Number bonds within 20.
Date: 26th Feb 2026 @ 1:27pm
In Maths, Year 1 have been learning to use number bonds and related facts to add numbers within 20. We have been using ten frames and counters to support our understanding. By applying our knowledge of number bonds to 10, we have been able to make links and solve addition calculations more confidently.
Date: 10th Feb 2026 @ 4:05pm
This half term, our focus has been on Mechanisms. We explored a range of different moving picture books and learnt they move using levers and sliders. Throughout the half term, we have been practicing our cutting skills and we applied this today to accurately make our lever, sliders. Then, we designed a background for our parts to move through and evaluated them for their effectiveness.
Date: 10th Feb 2026 @ 4:01pm
This week we have completed our Design Technology unit of food. We focused on healthy eating and created a healthy fruit salad. First, we tasted a variety of different fruits and described whether we liked their taste or texture. Then, we designed our own healthy fruit salads before following our design to successfully make them. At the end of the day, we evaluated our fruit salads.
Date: 10th Feb 2026 @ 3:58pm
Today, we celebrated online safety awareness by looking at different types of artificial intelligence focusing on voice assistants. We learnt the things a voice assistant does and how it can make us feel in different situations. After we created an online safety plan, we recapped what information we should keep private online and how to keep ourselves safe.
Date: 4th Feb 2026 @ 2:34pm
Today, we used concrete resources to represent a range of doubles. We learnt a double is the same repeated and used ladybird templates to represent this before completing a sorting activity to recognise whether something is a double or not.
Date: 2nd Feb 2026 @ 4:47pm
This week, we celebrated storytelling week with a visit from Dan Worsley. We had a special story-telling assembly where Dan told us a story using props to help him and showing his excellent imagination. In the classroom, we have enjoyed using props in the story-telling area to create our own stories as well as creating our own front covers and creative characters for our stories.
Year 1- The Girl with Two Dads
Date: 2nd Feb 2026 @ 4:42pm
Today, we began our writing journey based on the book 'The girl with two dads'. After we had read and discussed the story, we retold the story focusing on applying our learning so far to use time conjunctions, finger spaces, capital letters and full stops.
