Year 1AI: Blog items
Date: 26th Jun 2022 @ 5:10pm
This week we finished the Masai shields with Mrs McAffer. We filled the shield with patterns using oil pastels and then used our sewing skills to sew some stitches around the edge of the shield. Later on in the week we used the shields to finish off our front covers for our connected curriculum books. We used green screen technology to create some photos as if we were a Masai tribesperson in Kenya. It looked very real!!!
Date: 19th Jun 2022 @ 5:24pm
This week in our maths lessons we have been learning about arrays and how they can help us with multiplication. An array is a set of objects or pictures that are arranged into rows and columns. We made arrays using counters and then had a go at drawing arrays.
At the end of the week children requested the station carousel of activities so we consolidated our learning doing just that! Station 1 activity was read the statement and make the array and station 2 activity was read the statement and draw the arrays. Finally station 3 activity children had to read the problems and decide if they were going to draw or make the arrays.
By the end of the week, children were becoming much more confident at understanding and using arrays. They will continue to use these when they get into Year 2!
Masai Shields with Mrs McAffer
Date: 19th Jun 2022 @ 5:18pm
Last week we started our next art project with Mrs McAffer. We looked at the Masai Tribe from Kenya, with a particular focus on their shields. We discussed the colours and patterns on the shields. Mrs McAffer showed us the technique of rubbings using different patterns and oil pastels. We created some of these rubbings and then cut the piece of paper into different shapes to glue on to the shield template.
Next we are going to fill the rest of the shield using oil pastels and use our sewing skills to sew a border stitch all around the edge of the shield. Check back next week for the finished Masai shields!
Date: 12th Jun 2022 @ 11:47am
Welcome Back to the last term of Year 1!
What a start to the half term it has been this week! On Friday we launched our final topic called 'How do we get to the Masai Mara?' This topic is all about the vibrant continent of Africa with a particular focus on the country of Kenya. The focus of this topic will be geography and science objectives from the curriculum.
However, we started the topic with fabulous day of learning where we completed a variety of activities which began our journey into this great topic. We did a carousel of activities that included making a Kenyan flag, designing some African prints using patterns and different colours and finally creating a Masai tribe necklace.
We also had a visit from Mrs Ganner who came to teach us how to play a simple beat on a traditional African drum called a Djembe. We also joined Miss Higgin's class in the afternoon in the hall to learn a simple African dance! It was lots of fun and a good start to our final topic in Year 1!
Date: 26th May 2022 @ 2:31pm
This week we had a very special day on Wednesday to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. This means that the Queen has been the Queen of England for 70 years! We came to school dressed in our special party clothes and had a fun filled day of activities, singing, dancing and eating a special Jubilee Tea Party lunch.
We learnt facts about the Queen and saw some of the Queen's Coronation where she became the Queen. We also listening to the story 'The Queen's Hat' and designed our own hats for the Queen. We made union jack flags and watched the Jubilee cartoon that is based around the story 'The Queen's Hat.' The children really enjoyed it and if you would like to watch it again click this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLDvLtLqQfA
Date: 22nd May 2022 @ 7:21am
This week we innovated the story 'Oliver's Vegetables' and imagined that grandpa grew fruit in his garden instead of vegetables. We thought of adjectives to describe these fruits and tasted some to support our descriptions. We then wrote a diary entry imagining we were Oliver trying a fruit and used some of the adjectives that we generated. In our Connected Curriculum work we continued with this innovation and did some design and technology. We designed, made and evaluated some fruit kebabs. They were delicious!
Date: 15th May 2022 @ 8:04am
This year in school we have had a focus on using different strategies during our learning in and out of the classroom. These strategies develop children's thinking skills and can promote teamwork and collaboration.
This week we used GAS (go and stand) in our CC (topic) lesson on Wednesday, we were learning about deciduous and evergreen trees. After listening to the video and reading some information we were given some pictures of leaves from different trees. With our partner we had to go and stand under the correct heading - deciduous or evergreen. We had to explain to our partner why we were under that heading by looking at the shape of the leaves.
Everyone had to talk - no one stayed quiet!!!
Date: 5th May 2022 @ 2:08pm
This week in maths we have continued our work on fractions and have been exploring how to find a quarter in shapes and amounts (numbers). This is new learning for us in Year 1 and the children have persevered and tried their best to understand what a quarter in shapes and amounts will look like and how to work it out.
Below is a collage of children working out a quarter in amounts by sharing equally between 4. They worked well together with their friend and helped each other out when they were unsure. By the end of the week children were becoming more confident at understanding that a quarter is 1 part out of 4 and each part needs to be equal.
Great teamwork 1AI!!!
Manchester Libraries Author Zoom Visit!
Date: 1st May 2022 @ 10:48am
On Thursday last week we took part in a authro visit by Manchester Libraries. The author was Rachel Morrisroe who was reading and doing activities about her book 'The Drama Llama.' The story was about a little boy who developed a llama evrytime he got worried. His llama went away when he talked to someone who helped him. We created our very own Drama Llama's.
Date: 24th Apr 2022 @ 1:08pm
Welcome back!
I can't believe we are entering the final term of Year 1! Where has this year gone!!
The children have come back to school ready to learn and have also grown a little taller. They are all looking so grown up and are now getting ready for Year 2!
Our topic this half term is called 'How does your garden grow?' In this topic we will be learning all about plants, how they grow, what they need to help them grow and learning about different types of flowers, plants and trees. We launched this topic with a planting afternoon this week. We planted a sunflower seed and we will observe and watch what happens to it over the next few weeks. We also discussed what we knew about plants and created our CC book front covers using our drawing skills. They look amazing!
Keep checking back over this half term to see what else we have been getting up to!
Date: 13th Apr 2022 @ 5:27am
On Tuesday and Thursday of the last week of term we had lots of Easter fun! The children created some wonderful Easter Bonnets at home and brought them to school for our very first outdoor parade on the playground. On Thursday as part of our Behaviour Treat we had a Easter Egg hunt in the playground. The team that found the most plastic eggs were the winners and received a chocolate bunny. Everyone who took part in the fun also had a chocolate egg as well.
Design and Technology Car Project
Date: 13th Apr 2022 @ 5:17am
The last week of term was very busy in 1AI. To finish our topic linked to transport we designed, made and evaluted our very own cars. We started the process by exploring what a wheel and axle was on a car and how it helped it to move. We then used ideas to design our vehicles, made our vehicles using recycled bottles, tubes and boxes and finally we tested out our cars on a wooden ramp to evaluate if it was a good design. It was a great project from start to finish and the chidlren really enjoyed it.
Well done everyone:)
Date: 27th Mar 2022 @ 6:21pm
This week we learnt about the first flight and The Wright Brothers as a follow up from our visit to Manchester Airport last week. We found out what inspired the Wright Brothers to make the very first glider and learnt that the first flight lasted for only 12 seconds. We also learnt about Bessie Coleman and why she was an important figure in the world of aviation and flight. We were amazed at her determination to become a pilot and the class were very humble to learn that she learnt French so that she could go to France and learn how to become a pilot! We learnt something new and made some origami gliders out of paper. We then took them out on to the playground for a glider competetion to find out which design went the furthest. Kairo was our winner and saw his glider fly the furthest away on the playground. Well Done!!!
Next week we will be exploring cars and going into the world of Design and Technology. Watch out for next week's blog!
Date: 19th Mar 2022 @ 11:20pm
Here's more photos from our day at the Runway Park at Manchester Airport...
Date: 19th Mar 2022 @ 11:18pm
What a busy week we have had in Year 1!!! On Wednesday we dressed in yellow and blue in support for the children of Ukraine. On Friday it was Red Nose Day where we came to school dressed in red and tried something new. In 1AI we have been trying yoga with Miss Prescott which was new to us. It was a little tricky doin the poses but have decided that we will continue with this each week and become better at it.
On Thursday we had an amazing trip to the Runway Part at Manchester Airport. This was our very trip out of school for these children due to the Pandemic. The children were realy excited and their behavaiour was amazing. All the grown ups that went on the trip were super proud.
The day was filled with lots of learning about aircraft parts, jobs at an airport and the parts of Concorde. We even sat inside the cockpit of an aircraft and imagined what it would have been like to be a pilot. We saw Concorde up close and it was amazing!!! We learnt that it used to have 100 passengers, it had supersonic speed and 12 wheels. We also found out that the queen travelled on Concorde as well! We saw aeroplabes land and take off on the runway outside. We saw some great big planes which belonged to the airline Emirates and Qatar Airlines. They were huge planes!!!
It was an amazing day which was filled with lots of learning!!!
Date: 13th Mar 2022 @ 6:16pm
Last week we continued to think of the place value of numbers within 100. We learnt about the greater than, less then and equal signs and how we can use them to compare numbers. We used Numicon to make numbers and then explored which sign would be needed in the middle to compare. We used the vocabulary greater than, less than and is the same as/equal to to say our sentences.
Date: 4th Mar 2022 @ 11:05am
On Thursday we celebrated World Book Day in school. It was a magical day with some amazing, costumes, stories, KS1 parade and even a special version of the 'Gingerbread Man' performed by the staff in Year 1 and 2!!!
Our class was given a box which had some information and books by the author Sue Hendra. We read some of the stories and did some creative activities in a carousel over the day. We made some Evil Pea's, Sue Hendra story character bookmarks and designed new shells for Norman the Slug.
It was an amazing day! We had loads of fun!!!
Date: 17th Feb 2022 @ 9:25pm
This week in our maths lessons we have been doing some new learning linked to counting within 50 and recognising how many tens and ones are in 2-digit numbers. We were using diennes or sometimes they are called base 10 to support our learning. We read 2 digit numbers and used diennes to make the numbers and recognise how many tens and ones are in the 2-digit number. It was a little tricky but we persevered and began to understand how to use the diennes.
Date: 12th Feb 2022 @ 6:05pm
On Tuesday we were lucky enough to have a visitor called Allison from the Freshwater Theatre Company. She transformed into a Toy Museum Curator and took us on a journey into her Toy Museum. We used our drama and imagination to move through this museum into four different rooms- teddy bears, moving toys, dolls and New toys. We used drama, dance and our speaking and listening skills to move our bodies like different toys, learn lots of facts about toys from the past and we invented our own toys.
It was lots of fun!!!
Date: 12th Feb 2022 @ 5:45pm
This week we continued to read our story called 'Lost in the Toy Museum.' In this book a toy cat called Bunting was the leader of some toys in a museum. However, one night the toys decided to run away and play hide and seek. In our writing this week we were going to help Bunting and write some clues to help him look for the toys in the museum. To get us started with this piece of writing, on Monday we did our very own hunt in the classroom by reading some clues and finding objects that matched these clues. It was lots of fun and we did some great partner work.
Date: 27th Jan 2022 @ 10:20am
This week we have had the pleasure of working with Mrs McAffer for our Art learning. We learnt about using our observational skills to draw objects that are bigger, smaller, wider, thinner, longer and shorter. We learnt about using a continuous line to draw and had a go in our sketch books. We were given a toy that we had to draw using our observational skills using graphite pencils and then coloured it in using oil pastels. It was lost of fun and we can't wait to see what we will be doing next week!!
Date: 21st Jan 2022 @ 2:22pm
This week in ICT we were introduced to the programmable toy - Beebots. This linked very nicely to our toys topic this half term where we compared and sorted old and new toys. We found out that new toys needed batteries or we had to charge them up using electricity. Beebots needed batteries and some needed to be charged up using their special tray and electricity. Beebots are toys that need to be programmed or given an input in order for it to move. We used the following commands to programme the Beebots and give it an input to make it move:
forwards
backwards
left
right
The Beebot moved once the commands were inputted, which was the output. We were learning lots of technical language and were amazed that we were able to program something to make it move!!!
Date: 15th Jan 2022 @ 5:07pm
This week in one of our Connected Curriculum lessons we explored toys from the past. We discovered the names of these toys and had a go at playing these games. We really enjoyed the games 'shut the box,' playing cards, spinning top and the puppets 'Punch and Judy.'
Date: 15th Jan 2022 @ 5:03pm
On Tuesday we had a visitor called Liam who delivered a maths workshop for us. He set us a challenge to use large 2D shapes to create some pictures. It was a bit challenging but with some perseverence and teamwork we were able to make the pictures using the shapes.
Date: 9th Jan 2022 @ 9:58am
What an amazing start to Spring 1 we have had this week!!!
The children have all come back raring to get going with their learning and we have got stuck back into our timetable. The beginning of a new term brings a brand new tpic questions that we will explore. This half term our topic question is called 'Is the XBox more fun than our grandparent's toys?'
In this topic we will be exploring the world of toys old and new. To get us started on Friday we had a launch in school. We had a Games Afternoon where we played with some games and toys from the past and present. We worked together in smaller groups and went around 5 stations of games. After each game we worked as a team to give the toy/game a star rating out of 5. The most popular game was actually from the past called 'Shut the Box.' The children really enjoyed this game and have asked to keep it out in the Maths area for next week! 