Year 1

Welcome to Year 1 2024-2025

Click on the crayon to find a booklet all about your new year group.

Have a look at what the Year 1 children got up to last academic year (2023-2024)...

Friday 5th July: Week 5

This week was STEM week. In Year One we have been busy learning all about Stephen Hawking and we looked at different types of robots. We investigated using Oti-Bots and Bee-Bots and learned all about how different robots are used in everyday life! We made our own junk model robots using a motor. This week we have also learnt about Mars Rovers. We made our own Mars Rovers as part of our whole school 'Balksbury mission to Mars'. 

Friday 28th June: Week 4

This week in Year One we have been busy learning more about the moon landing! We ordered pictures and discussed how the astronauts got to the moon and back. We then drew our own pictures to remember the moon landing. We have also continued our learning in Computing and used digital painting to create paintings on the Ipads! In Maths, we have also learned all about weight and mass so we used the weighing scales to describe which objects were heavier or lighter. 

Friday 21st June: Week 3 

This week in Year One we have been learning about measurement. We learned all about capacity and volume and explored filling different containers with water. We discussed the different amounts of liquid in the containers. This week we have also took part in Balksbury Olympics and Sports day. During the Olympics, we took part in tennis, yoga, relay and practised our running for Sports day too! 

Friday 14th June: Week 2 

This week in Year One we have taken part in computing. We continued using the 'Paintz' app and created pictures inspired by the artist Piet Mondrian. We have also been learning about money this week and learning the value of different coins and notes. We had a pretend shop in the Year One area and each item had a different price on it. We had to work out what coins we should use to buy the different items! 

Friday 7th June: Week 1

This week in year one we have been busy practising our skills of joining in Design and Technology. We used safety pins, PVA glue and staplers to join two bits of fabric together in order to practise for our puppet making. In Maths, we have been learning about fractions. We have been finding 1/2 and a 1/4 of different amounts. We also used the 'Paintz' app on the ipads to make pictures of ourselves!

Friday 24th May: Week 6

This week in year 1 we have used the VR headsets to explore the four countries in the United Kingdom, we loved learning all about the different human and physical features of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Computing, we used Scratch again to make our own algorithms and made our rockets race! In Science, we learnt all about evergreen and deciduous trees and took leaf rubbings from a range of different trees in the school grounds. You can also see a picture of us enjoying using the parachute! 

Friday 17th: Week 5

This week in Year 1 we have been busy writing our news reports and then filming them. We loved watching them as a year group. We have also practiced making sculptures out of 3D shapes ahead of making them out of clay. In Maths, we have been learning all about multiplication and have practiced making arrays with support of our teachers.  

Friday 10th May: Week 4 

This week in year 1 we have been very busy with our learning. We have been learning all about subtraction in Maths, and have continued writing our news reports about The Blue Footed Booby in English. In Science, we have learnt all about the different parts of a tree and made our own little trees outside using natural resources. We also loved our free reading Friday outside on the field! We also used Scratch in computing on the Ipads.

Friday 3rd May: Week 3 

This week in year one we have been busy learning all about addition in Maths. We have spent the week using concrete resources to help us to solve addition calculations, today we had a go at using the number line to help us! We have also been busy learning all about the Blue Footed Booby in English! It came to Balksbury and stole all of our puddings, we have been busy beginning to write news reports all about the incident. This week, we have also begun learning all about sculptures in Art and used our bodies to make different shapes. 

Friday 26th April: Week 2 

This week in Maths we have been learning to find and represent one more and one less than a given number, you can see our work using Dienes below. During Free Reading Friday we also took part in story telling outside and used the crown to act out different stories! In Science, we have been learning about the different parts of a plant and discussed what was similar and what was different about the individual parts. 

Friday 19th April: Week 1 

This week in Year 1 in English, we have been busy continuing our learning journey based on the book 'Stop! That's not my story'. We have been writing our own narrative. In Maths, we have focused on identifying and representing numbers from 0-100 using different mathematical resources and have been using the language of 'more than, less than and equal to'. In P.E we have been practising our throwing and catching skills and for Free Reading Friday we took part in reading around the 'campfire'!

Thursday 28th March: Week 6

This week in year 1, we have performed our seaside sounds using a selection of musical instruments. We also performed our production of 'Rock Pool' to our families, they loved it!  In Maths, we talked about how we would measure different activities, either in minutes, seconds or hours. We also took part in some Easter crafts! 

Friday 22nd March: Week 5

This week in year 1 we started to make our toy cars out of recycled materials. We even got to use a saw to cut our axles to the correct size for our vehicle. In Guided reading we rehearsed and then performed our new poem with instruments. We also had a dress rehearsal to year R of our production 'Rock Pool'.

Friday 15th March: Week 4

This week we were very excited because we got to see our costumes for our production in their full glory! We continued learning about the importance of water, and the impact water has on the environment and different communities. We took part in an obstacle course, where we tried not to spill a single drop of water. In Computing, we looked at how computers group different objects. We had a go at grouping different objects on our tables ourselves to develop our understanding. In Maths, we started learning how to tell the time. 

Friday 8th March: Week 3

This week we discussed healthy and unhealthy foods in English. We looked at a variety of different foods Mr Grinling might have in his lunch and talked about the importance of healthy food. In Guided reading, we continued to rehearse our new poem "Daddy fell into the pond". We learnt the meanings of new vocabulary and drew pictures to show our understanding. We also had World Book Day, look at our fantastic costumes!

Friday 1st March: Week 2

This week in year 1, we have been learning all about wheels, axles, axle holders and chassis. We are very excited to make our own toy car in Design and Technology. In English, we made sandwiches and thought about the different steps to instruction writing. We continued practising our parts for our upcoming Spring production. We can't wait for you to see it! 

Friday - 23rd February 2024 - Week 1

This week in year 1 we have begun learning our lines for our production 'Rock Pool'. We have also begun learning the songs too! We celebrated some fantastic work and it was put on display in our year 1 shared area. In English, we have started our learning journey on "The Lighthouse Keeper's lunch". We predicted what Mr Grinling might have in his lunch. In Health and wellbeing, we started our new learning all about the importance of water. 

Friday 14th July - Week 6

This week we were really lucky, and had the chance to visit John Hanson for their gymnastics festival. We had the chance to use trampolines, trampettes, and the air track! The children were on their best behavior and we were really proud of how they followed our code of conduct whilst off site.

Friday 7th July - Week 5

What an amazing week! This week was Arts' week and we have had a wonderful time. We studied Austrialian aboriginal art and focused on the composer Mirrie Hill. We created pieces of collaborative art using the dotting technique, as well as individual 'rainbow serpents'. We also took part in afternoon workshops including drumming, samba and bollywood dancing!

Friday 30th June - Week 4

This week we have loved taking part in 'Scooter-ability' lessons. We learnt how to stop and move off using our scooters safely. We also practiced moving around obstacles and pedestrians. We were very sensible!

Friday 23rd June - Week 3

Striking and Fielding

This half term we are learning striking and fielding games such as rounders, baseball and softball. To start our learning journey we have been recapping our throwing strategies. 

Week 2 - Reading for Pleasure

This week in guided reading we are focusing on reading for pleasure. We have enjoyed trips to the library to explore a wide variety of texts. We have been sharing the books with one another and talking about what we enjoy. We love to snuggle on a bean bag and dive in to a new book!

Week 1 - Gardening

As part of our Health and Wellbeing Curriculum, children get to spend lots of time planting and growing food. Today we planted some new vegetables as our lettuce was ready to harvest. We enjoyed eating the lettuce!

Rooksbury Mill Trip - Week 6

This week we visited Rooksbury Mill as part of our Longitudinal Study! We were looking for features of Spring and were so excited to see a baby coot, and a gosling! We were so sensible crossing roads and keeping ourselves safe. Our teachers are so proud of us!

Summer 1 - Week 5

Building on our drama and skills sessions from last week, today we published our final Jack and the Beanstalk stories. The children were very excited to become real life authors and publish their final works. Here is a snippet of what the children created. We are so proud of how hard the children have worked this week so make sure their work was the best it could be. 

Summer 1 Week 4

Jack and the Beanstalk

This week we were amazed to find a beanstalk growing in the Year 1 area! The Year 1 children were very quick to remind us of the story 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. To show off their story knowledge, we created an 'in the round' theatre and acted out the story. 

Summer 1 - Week 3

This week, Year 1 children enjoyed a visit to the 'Tricky word woods'! 

Children had to hunt for as many tricky words as they could, read them to a partner and write them down. We had lots of fun. 

Summer 1 - Week 2

This week children have enjoyed their first computing lesson of the half term. Children got to grips with the programe 'Scratch Junior', and coded commands to animate a character. 

At the start of each computing lesson, we begin with a short Talk Toolbox on E-Safety. This week we were discussing the rules for staying safe online. We revised our 'Think then click' policy which we have in place at the Federation. Children were so sensible when using the tablets, following instructions carefully and not clicking on anything which they had not been instructed to. Well done Year 1!

Summer 1 - Week 1 

In Health and Wellbeing this week we have been discussing...

What does Safety mean to us?

Here are some of our responses;

"Don’t swing on your chairs"

"Don’t push people"

"Don’t cross the road when a car is coming"

"Wait for the traffic lights to cross"

"Don’t talk if the teacher is talking – they might be trying to keep you safe!"

" I feel safe in my house" 

Once we had shared a response, we put our fingerprint on our poster to show our contribution to the Talk Toolbox session. 

Geography

In Geography this half term we have been learning all about our town - Andover! Over the past few weeks we have been learning to identify human and physical features. We created mini 3D ariel maps of a small area in Andover to share with our classmates. We then discussed whether the features we had drawn were human or physical. 

Music

This week in music we played follow the leader! We recapped our prior learning on tempo, volume, rhythm and pace by responding to the beat Miss Bolton played to us using her drum. We used untuned percussion instruments to each take a turn at being the 'leader' setting the beat for our friends!

Counting in 10s

This week we have been learning to count in 10s. We have been using a variety of practical resources to group and count. Later in the week we applied our knowledge to problem solving.

Tree Planting at Bury Hill

We had a fantastic time planting at Bury Hill this week. We learned how to dig a hole, plant the tree and identify it for future visitors. We got very muddy but had so much fun!

Rooksbury Mill Trip 

This week we went for an Autumn walk to Rooksbury Mill! We went as part of our longitudinal study to observe wildlife, weather and trees. 

The children were extremely well behaved and asked some fantastic questions. 

We saw robins, swans, cormorants and even a heron!

"I will huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down...

 The children love to perform and made the most of the woodland amphitheatre to perform The Three Little Pigs as part of our English learning journey.